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A Catered Affair (2011)

by Sue Margolis(Favorite Author)

3.29 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0451233352 (ISBN13: 9780451233356)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

NAL Trade

review 1: Family drama can be so.....dramatic. This is especially true when you are a woman in your thirties settling down with a family that is, well, unique. Take a mother who will do about anything for shock value, a grandmother who tries to be trendy, a sister who breaks convention, and a former boyfriend and mix it with a young Jewish couple who just wants to be in love. The wedding gets a little out of hand. Sue Margolis brings you a book that will keep you entertained in A Catered Affair.This was the first book of Ms. Margolis' that I have read. I was hesitant because it was chick lit. It's not that I don't like that genre, but it takes some time to get into and can be slow at times. As expected, it took awhile to get into the story, but it was well worth it.The storyline was... more funny with a few detours that were not quite necessary, yet it all came together. The best part of the whole book were the characters. They were hilarious and so unusual. I could just see this as a movie. I was laughing so hard.While it was funny, it was also a book about commitment and dealing with our past while we deal with our future and present. Life can be funny while it is being painful.This is a book I highly recommend if you like chick lit and a good laugh. Ms. Margolis gives the reader that and more.Note: This book was given as a gift from a friend.
review 2: At 34, Tallulah is ready to settle down but when her notoriously commitment-shy fiance leaves her at the alter her neatly arranged life collapses around her. It's the reception caterer, Kenny, that provides a shoulder for her to cry on despite the support of her best friend and family. Bewildered, Tally has to reconsider her recipe for happiness and choose between her head and her heart.Oddly enough I wasn't that keen on Tally, I found her to be a bit self involved and was much more forgiving of her if I mentally took ten years off her stated age. Despite not really identifying with the main protagonist, I thought characterisation was the strongest element of the novel. I liked the slow development of her romance with Kenny who is a nice guy. I really enjoyed the quirky support cast who were involved in small stories of their own. Tally's eccentric mother and her accidental role as a telephone counselor is amusing as are Nana Ida's snappy one liners and attitude. Scarlett, Tally's sister, and her relationship with her partner Grace, added depth and interest to the theme of 'meeting others expectations' that wove through the novel.While there isn't anything startlingly original in terms of the main story, I thought it was written with a nice balance between humor and drama. It lost me a little near the end where there is what I thought to be an incongruous gap in the timeline between Tally and Kenny's breakup and makeup. Particularly when it again leap frogs eight months for an epilogue of sorts, though this nicely gathers the loose threads of the subplots together. Still, the ending is traditionally satisfying, with 'happy ever afters' bestowed upon the characters.A Catered Affair is a British contemporary romance by accomplished chick lit author, Sue Margolis. A pleasant way to spend an hour or three it's an engaging and easy read. less

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