My Favorite Wife by Elizabeth Andre is a humorous romance set in the somewhat bizarre world of Las Vegas.
Aisha has it bad for straight ally Vanessa, who has awesome hair and enjoys flirting. They “marry” at a pro-gay marriage protest while in college, then Vanessa disappears from her life.
Years later, Aisha and Kris are days away from their wedding. They’re ecstatic to have all their supportive family with them in Vegas and everything is going great until Aisha’s long forgotten and apparently for real wife shows up. Kris is hurt by the news her fiancée is already married, and questions whether she can now go through with their very thoroughly planned and much anticipated wedding. Afraid of how her beloved fiancée will react to the news, Aisha is still susceptible to Vanessa’s flirting and having trouble finding a quickie divorce in the land of quickie marriages.
Writing
This quickly moving story is full of quirky misunderstandings, goofy but supportive families, and the general bizarreness of the Las Vegas experience. It’s a nice balance between romantic drama, familial humor and Vegas shenanigans, like Bill and Ted meets Father of the Bride.
The big misunderstanding is a clever idea that is well used throughout and does a lot of heavy lifting with the humor and romantic suspense. I don’t know if it’s true that a protest marriage would become a legal marriage after Obergefell, but I was easily persuaded to suspend my disbelief on the matter. It also creates some nice uncertainties about where the story will end up.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
Aisha does a good thing for the cause, “marrying” the woman she has a severe crush on during a college protest for gay marriage. Running into her in Vegas years later, days before her very real and very planned out wedding is shocking enough. But finding out she’s been actually married all this time is funny and a heck of a problem to overcome. The author uses the set-up to mine a lot of humor from what would otherwise be a fairly traumatic experience, often using both Kris and Aisha’s family to land the jokes.
It also sets up nicely the slide into more bizarre storylines than you might expect. There is a spa sequence that had me laughing in surprise a few times. There are a lot of characters, giving the author a lot more material to work with. Both families are very supportive, and one crazy aunt reminded me of my crazy aunt.
Hints that the story may veer into surprising territory on this crazy trip to the alter kept me on my toes and never quite sure what was going to happen, like the possibility of not one but two second chance romances. Like the balance between humor and drama, the light mysteries of unexpected romance works well and kept me guessing.
Heads Up
Nothing.
The Conclusion
A comedy of errors begins with Aisha “marrying” Vanessa in a college gay marriage protest. Years later while in Las Vegas to for real marry Kris, who is the love of her life, Aisha runs into her long lost crush Vanessa and discovers they are actually legally married. Now she must somehow find a way to get divorced in time for the wedding.
This first book in a series begins with a humorous romp through the weird streets of Vegas with two supportive families trying to help Aisha get a quick divorce so she can marry Kris. It’s funny with some darker elements thrown in to create a good balance that makes for a fun read.
Excerpt from My Favorite Wife by Elizabeth Andre
“This is going to be amazing and sort of weird,” Aisha said.
“Getting married in Vegas?”
“Yeah. I mean, I think it’s great and I’m glad we’re doing it. I never thought I would get married, but it’s still weird.”
Kris tapped her index finger on the part of the door panel that met the window. “We decided together to get married here. We agreed.”
“Yes. Yes, I know. We agreed. Weird doesn’t mean bad. Baby, what’s going on?”
After inhaling and letting out a long exhale, Kris said, “Nothing. I just want everything to go well. That’s all. And I want to feel like we’re in this together.”
“You know I’m all in, so I know that’s not it,” Aisha said, gently. “You want it to be perfect, from our vows right down to the beverage napkins.”
Kris fidgeted a bit, embarrassed to be caught out but also comforted that there was someone in the world who knew her so well.
“But as you always say, honey, perfection is impossible.”
Kris knew that deep down, but she still wanted perfection so badly, and her fiancée knew it.
“You’ve got all your lists, so what could possibly go wrong?”
“Are you teasing me? Have we been watching the same reality shows? What if the organist dies and doesn’t show up? What if the florist sends carnations instead of orchids? What if my outfit gets ruined?
”Aisha laughed softly. “We should have never watched those shows. This is why I went to all those marriage equality protests back in the day. For this. So I could marry you. This means everything. You mean everything to me.”
Kris thought she would melt right there in the passenger seat into a puddle
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Bits and Bobs
ASIN number: B0C4N5D3BC
Publisher: Tulabella Ruby Press
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