Wedding Girl

By: Stacey Ballis
Published Year: 2016
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 416

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I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Top pastry chef Sophie Bernstein and her sommelier fiancé were set to have Chicago’s culinary wedding of the year…until the groom eloped with someone else in a very public debacle, leaving Sophie splashed across the tabloids—fifty grand in debt on her dream wedding and one-hundred percent screwed on her dream life. The icing on the cake was when she lost her job and her home…
 
Laying low, Sophie moves in with her grandmother, Bubbles. That way, she can keep Bubbles and her sweater-wearing pug company and nurse her broken heart. But when Sophie gets a part-time job at the old-fashioned neighborhood bakery, she finds herself up to her elbows in dough and reluctantly giving a wedding cake customer advice on everything from gift bags to guest accommodations. Before she knows it, she’s an online wedding planner. It’s not mousse and macarons, but it pays the bills. But with the arrival of unexpected personal and professional twists, Sophie wonders if she’s really moving forward—or starting over from scratch...

                                                           First Impressions

I read the summary of this book before seeing the cover and it was adorable. I immediately knew I wanted to read this book. The cover I’m 50/50 on. I like the title a lot and that would’ve caught my eye, but I’m not crazy about the cover as a whole. I like parts of it but other parts I feel like I might’ve put it down without reading the summary.

                                                            What I thought

While reading this book, I felt like I became Sophie’s best friend. I wanted to know everything that was going on in her life, support her, and make sure that everything worked out ok.

Sophie is left on her wedding day and (rightfully so)has a bit of a meltdown. While she doesn’t melt down at the wedding, over time she self-destructs until she finds herself in debt, out of a home, and out of a job. Luckily, she has a supportive family so she moves in with her grandma AKA Bubbles. When she visits the local Jewish bakery, she finds out that the owner is looking for part-time help. Since she has an enormous amount of debt to pay off (from the wedding) and no job prospects, she takes the job.

Background wise, Sophie and I could be the same person. I am from Chicago and my family is Jewish. I immediately felt connected to this book and it made me feel like I was eating a comfort food, which is what Sophie wants people crave in order to come to Langer’s Bakery.

The writing of this book is so real and so strong that I even ended up watching a classic film one night through influence of Sophie and her Bubbles. Each chapter title is the name of a classic film with a quote from the movie (which was adorable). The best part about Sophie was that I never felt like I wanted to shake her and yell “Get over it already!” I was on her side 100% the entire time.

To me, this novel is exactly what chick-lit should be. It was light and fun, but had a serious side to it. Nothing extremely tragic happened and it was everything that I expected it to be. I never felt like Ballis was trying too hard to pull something over on the reader, or to force the reader to feel a certain way. The writing was just so genuine that you couldn’t help but fall into the story. 

I really enjoyed this book. It was everything I wanted it to be and everything I needed. If you enjoy chick-lit, you need to grab this book. Ballis’ writing is solid and compassionate, like a big bowl of Mac & Cheese. I've already passed this book on to two of my coworkers and one of them loved it as well! I am looking forward to checking out more of her writing and will definitely be re-reading the book in the future.