A WEDDING ON PRIMROSE STREET (Life in Icicle Falls #7) by Sheila Roberts-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 28, 2015

There’s nothing like a wedding!

The joy, the fun, the memories—the stress. As a wedding planner, Anne Richardson has seen mothers of the bride turn into Momzillas, and she’s determined not to do that when it’s her daughter’s turn to get married. But once Laney gets engaged, all bets are off. Anne becomes obsessed with giving Laney the perfect wedding she herself never had. And that wedding needs to be held in Icicle Falls at Primrose Haus, the perfect setting.

Roberta Gilbert, owner of Primrose Haus, has been hosting events at her charming Victorian for thirty years. She’s an expert on weddings, but not on mother-daughter relations. When her daughter, Daphne, comes home and decides to help with the business, the receptions become truly memorable—and not in a good way. Then there’s the added complication of Roberta’s gardener, who seems more interested in Daphne than he is in planting primroses…

Tying the knot is a business that has everyone tied up in knots!

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REVIEW: A WEDDING ON PRIMROSE STREET is the seventh installment in Sheila Roberts contemporary Life in Icicle Falls romance series focusing on the men and women of Icicle Falls. A WEDDING ON PRIMROSE STREET is a bit of a departure from Sheila’s romance relationships as this particular novel focuses on the relationships between mothers and daughters-the good, the bad, and the heartbreaking disappointments.

Sheila Roberts takes a closer look at two mother-daughter relationships: Anne and Laney Richardson as Laney prepares for her upcoming wedding and Anne, as a profession wedding planner, wants nothing to do with Laney’s choices: and seventy one year old Roberta Gilbert, and her thrice divorced daughter Daphne whose personal life has imploded leaving Roberta to pick up the pieces where Daphne is concerned.

A WEDDING ON PRIMROSE STREET is a bit of a slow build that focuses on mother –daughter relationships using flashbacks, memories, dreams and recollections. Roberta’s own relationship with her mother was strained and virtually non-existent most of her adult life but with it comes the realization that the apple doesn’t fall very far from the proverbial tree. Anne, on the other hand, is a wedding planner whose own wedding dreams were quashed with a hasty wedding without any pomp and ceremony-Anne is unknowingly trying to live vicariously through her own daughter’s wedding and in this Laney begins to put up walls between her mother and herself.

The premise is at times heartbreaking knowing that some mother-daughter relationships are irrevocably destroyed while others are strengthened through understanding and love. The premise may be familiar to many readers whose own relationships are contentious whether it be through wedding planning-momzillas and bridezillas-or through the daily struggles between mother and daughter.

A WEDDING ON PRIMROSE STREET is more of a chic-lit storyline with relateable issues, characters, struggles and dreams. Sheila Roberts writes an encouraging, hopeful and impassioned story where sometimes taking a step back is the only thing keeping the love alive between two people tied together by more than blood. The ending was not unexpected in my opinion, as it was building from the very start.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley.

Reviewed by Sandy