The Guest List By Melissa Hill

[amazon_link id=”0340993456″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’The Guest List’ is the latest book by Irish author, Melissa Hill.

When funny, kind and gorgeous Shane proposes, Cara is over the moon and can’t wait to share the news of her their engagement with all their friends and family. Excitement, however quickly turns to apprehension when it seems thar everyone has a fixed idea of the perfect wedding and offers of help come flooding in. With tussles over the ceremony and the size of the guest list, sibling rivalry and insistent in-laws-to-be, Cara can see her vision of the big day being ripped to shreds. So she and Shane determine to make a stand and do things their way. But when they announce their plans for a beach wedding on a beautiful Caribbean island, there is uproar. Threats are made, family secrets are revealed and things turn decidedly stormy. Will Cara and Shane manage to overcome all obstacles or will their dream wedding turn into a nightmare?

I am ashamed to say that ‘The Guest List’ is actually the first book that I have read by Melissa Hill and the book was so good that I read it in a day.

I was unable to put the story of love, sibling rivalry and wedding planning down. Seen from the perspective of Cara, who is the female lead in the story, we join her as she prepares for the happiest day of her life, but it seems that everyone has an opinion on how her day be, from her interfering mother to her slightly over the top sister Heidi, Cara quickly realises that her dream day is no longer her own and all that seems to matter to everyone is what everyone else will think. Cleverly written, the story is also seen through her eyes of Cara’s immediate family, her mum Betty, who dreams of a huge church wedding. The youngest and spoilt sister of the family, Heidi who is wonderfully dramatic, self-absorbed and obsessed with her first pregnancy, she thinks the world is against her and regularly gets herself into a state. The scenes with Heidi, I particularly enjoyed, I found her teenage tantrums and dramas entertaining as she treated her first pregnancy as an illness and expected everything to be done for her. Also there is Kim, who is Cara’a sister-in-law, a outspoken driven career woman who is also faced with an unexpected pregnancy and finally there is Danielle, the eldest of the sisters, estranged from her family, she now has a new life in Florida and harbours a secret that would threaten to ruin everything, she holds dear if it was ever exposed.

With a beautifully glitzy cover of the happy couple, ‘The Guest List’ is an enchanting and compelling story that I couldn’t put down, packed with warm hearted and expressive characters, the story reflects on whether blood is actually thicker than water, as both Cara and her fiancé Shane, battle with their parents, over their wedding day. With more dramas than an episode of Dallas and a particularly interesting twist at the end of the story, that you could never see coming, this book is the perfect distraction from life. The first of many books that I intend to read by Melissa Hill, ‘The Guest List’ is a brilliantly sweet, captivating and fun story that you can easily absorb in a day.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”0340993456″ target=”_blank” ]The Guest List on Amazon [/amazon_link] and is available to buy from good bookshops.