Dear Fellow Reader,

I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction works and as usual when that happens, I have to skip back over to a “popcorn” fiction book. Just a light snack of a book. The kind of book that keeps your mind occupied but moves quickly. A lovely little break to let your mind re-set.

Luckily, I had just the thing waiting for me. I had a book to review – you know the books that I am given in exchange for my fair and unbiased review. So I picked it up and read it.

Before I get to that, I have a question for you. I have gotten to the point that I have a negative reaction when I look at the summary of a book or a piece of promo for a book and they tell me that it is like this or that author or is reminiscent of a movie. I never seem to agree with whoever makes these comparisons. I find it a bit of a turn off. I am not sure that I would want my book compared to someone else’s book. How do you feel about that? Do you pay any attention to it?

Part of what brings this to mind, is that in the promo for this week’s book, the book was compared to the movie Love Actually. I thought that was a bit odd. How often is a book compared to a movie? The exact quote was “in a joyous Love Actually – style braided narrative. Hmmm.

It Had to Be You starts off by introducing us to Liv Goldenhorn. Liv is a wedding planner. She and her husband have a wedding planning company. Liv is at a wedding where everything is going wrong. Horribly wrong. And her husband is no where to be found. He was supposed to fly back to New York from Kentucky, and he isn’t back yet. With things going from bad to worse (think bride insisted on lavender for the winter wedding and the scent of the lavender, which was intensified due to the heaters had woken up a bee’s nest. And then the bride gets stung on the lip.) Liv gets a phone call. Her husband has died in Kentucky. Liv is shell shocked. But that is not the end of unpleasant surprises for her.

Through the story, we meet the woman who Liv’s husband left his half of the business to, two bandmates who frequently work for Liv, florists who are Liv’s friends and they work her weddings, and a world-traveling server who will work for Liv’s caterers. The stories about each of these people spin around the story of Liv and her wedding planning company.

So, I guess if you really wanted to compare it, you could compare it to a Love Actually web of characters. The thing that I fear with books with multiple character lines is that you won’t know who you are reading about when the next chapter starts. I did not have that problem with this book at all. It was very clear who was who. Okay, sometimes I read to fast and I wasn’t clear about the ethnicity of two of the characters but it doesn’t truly matter.

I did enjoy the book. Here is the rub if you wanted to rush out and get it – it will be published on May 4, 2021. Yes, I know. But I am in the position of needing to review it while I remember it or waiting 3 months and trying to remember it. I have opted for telling you about it in advance. Write it down in your calendar for May 4. I will try and remind you about the book when it is being published. (I’ll mark my calendar.) 

I hope you are doing well and finding lots of great books to read.

Thanks for reading!