NEW RELEASE
Bittersweet - Melanie La'Brooy (2010)
aka The Wedding Planner
From the moment I read the prologue I knew I was going to love this book: "The sole reason Sabrina was marrying Edward was because she had genuinely and irrevocably fallen in love with him at first sight. The only problem was, so had Mimi." It is a tale of two very different sisters - Mimi has returned to Australia having blown her inheritance. Her sister, Sabrina, who she hasn't spoken to for years after an argument, is a Gold Logie-winning soapie star who is about to marry a very eligible investment banker. With no one else really to trust, Sabrina hires her sister to act as bridesmaid and liaise with the secretive wedding planner. As the wedding countdown begins, the secrets each sister is keeping from the other start to emerge, as well as their dark family history. This is a captivating story that doesn't necessarily spin off in all the directions you suspect. And for those who devour Aussie soaps, you'll get an extra laugh out of the celebrity stuff. This is La'Brooy's best yet.
Australian author Melanie La'Brooy's latest novel Bittersweet (known as The Wedding Planner in the UK) explores the bittersweet bonds of family as a celebrity sister gets married. The summary says: "Sabrina Falks is the golden girl; a beautiful, successful actress who is engaged to the too-good-to-be-true Edward. Her life is glamorous and seemingly perfect - apart from her recurring desire to run away. Her younger sister Mimi is funny and bright but also hopelessly lost, with no career prospects, no money, no love life and a string of disastrous mistakes in her past, all of which seem to be curiously linked. Returning from overseas, Mimi is forced into a reluctant reconciliation with her estranged sister when Sabrina hires Mimi to be her bridesmaid. The sisters then join forces to do battle with intrusive paparazzi, out-of-control dress designers and, occasionally, with each other ..." You can read an extract at her publisher's website. In an interview on the Penguin site, La'Brooy says Bittersweet delves into more serious themes than her previous romantic comedies. La'Brooy has recently moved to South Africa.