Once Upon a Wedding

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't make it past page 60...
Review: I was very disappointed with this book. I bought Once upon a Wedding because I am a huge fan of Kathleen Eagle. I should have known something was up when I saw the pink and pastel colored cover; her books, in the past, have never been pink and pastel; they are rich and earthy.

The story was forgettable with forgettable characters. Camille and her friends are in their late forties, but act and speak like they are in their eighties. Frump this; frump that.

Camille, who is openly concerned and whiny about her daughter dropping out of college, doesn't bat an eyelash when the daughter announces she is going to marry a childhood crush she met the day before at a wedding. Huh? If you are going to whine about something, this would be a good thing to crank about.

I don't know what happens in the end. Maybe she gets upset. I don't know...I couldn't make it past page 60.

If you like gather-around-the-girlfriends chick books flavored with a beige plot, this book is for you. If not, save your money and buy one of her other books.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I'd expected or hoped
Review: Kathleen Eagle is one of only two authors whose hardbound books I've consistently bought new ... with everyone else I wait till the paperback, or at least till the hardback prices have dropped.

I value her writing for its deep insights into the human heart, emotional honesty and intensity, social consciousness, admirable and irresistible heroes, and the fact that most of her heroines must be Virgos like me. ;-)

So, it is with a sigh that I see that the trend I detected in The Last Good Man - away from romance and toward the kind of women's issues novels that Barbara Delinsky and Patricia Gaffney and many others also have embraced - is continuing. I sigh, because I find women's issues novels really, really boring ... but that's my bias, and obviously one many women don't share, or good novelists wouldn't find their editors encouraging them to write that kind of thing.

Once Upon A Wedding is about three generations of women and women friends, and only peripherally about a mature (nearly 50) woman discovering that she still loves her gifted, charming but unambitious ex-husband. I was reminded now and again of LaVyrle Spencer's Bygones in terms of situation, but not in impact, because I also wondered if Ms. Eagle was as bored by the constraints of this style as I am ... I experienced no deep involvement, no pangs, no real concerns about the people involved, no real liking, actually, for anyone in the book but Rosemary, with her cancer treatments and eBay addiction.

After Night Remembers and Sunrise Song, This Time Forever and Reason to Believe it's deeply disappointing to find Ms. Eagle's novels getting shorter and more superficial, apparently turning away from the things that draw me to read and re-read all of her earlier books, not just the mass market ones I mentioned above.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I'd expected or hoped
Review: Kathleen Eagle is one of only two authors whose hardbound books I've consistently bought new ... with everyone else I wait till the paperback, or at least till the hardback prices have dropped.

I value her writing for its deep insights into the human heart, emotional honesty and intensity, social consciousness, admirable and irresistible heroes, and the fact that most of her heroines must be Virgos like me. ;-)

So, it is with a sigh that I see that the trend I detected in The Last Good Man - away from romance and toward the kind of women's issues novels that Barbara Delinsky and Patricia Gaffney and many others also have embraced - is continuing. I sigh, because I find women's issues novels really, really boring ... but that's my bias, and obviously one many women don't share, or good novelists wouldn't find their editors encouraging them to write that kind of thing.

Once Upon A Wedding is about three generations of women and women friends, and only peripherally about a mature (nearly 50) woman discovering that she still loves her gifted, charming but unambitious ex-husband. I was reminded now and again of LaVyrle Spencer's Bygones in terms of situation, but not in impact, because I also wondered if Ms. Eagle was as bored by the constraints of this style as I am ... I experienced no deep involvement, no pangs, no real concerns about the people involved, no real liking, actually, for anyone in the book but Rosemary, with her cancer treatments and eBay addiction.

After Night Remembers and Sunrise Song, This Time Forever and Reason to Believe it's deeply disappointing to find Ms. Eagle's novels getting shorter and more superficial, apparently turning away from the things that draw me to read and re-read all of her earlier books, not just the mass market ones I mentioned above.

Rating:
Summary: Not Kathleen Eagle's Style!
Review: Kathleen Eagle usually writes emotional books. This one is easy to put down, easy to forget, and totally unemotional. Go ahead and skip to the last page for the one touch of emotion. If she wants to wait until the end to put Camille and Creed together, go for it, but she should have covered romance with James and Jordan, don't just skip the emotion a good book should possess. The story line (front and back covers of the hard book) reminded me of Bygones by Lyverle Spencer. Kathleen Eagle should read that book and then rewrite hers. Spencer covers emotions not just wedding plans. Very forgettable. Kathleen Eagle needs to go back to her original writing style. Fire and Rain, The Last True Cowboy, What the Heart Knows. Real emotion.

Rating:
Summary: Universal Truths with Heart
Review: ONCE UPON A WEDDING is as beautiful and as masterfully written as the cover art suggests. Buy one for yourself, your mother and your daughter. It is a woman's touchstone, a talisman to carry in your heart as one journeys through the rites of passage as a woman.
Enter into Kathleen Eagle's ONCE UPON A WEDDING and recognize yourself in the mirror of her reflection. Revisit passages claimed as your own or ones that reside in your future. Dig deep into the depths of emotion through thoroughly honest and often sparkling dialogue. Put your arms around generational relationships that are universal.
Kathleen gently lifts layers of love and disappointment to reveal the residing emotions that swirl around her characters. This places them in your heart with ease.

Rating:
Summary: Universal Truths with Heart
Review: ONCE UPON A WEDDING is as beautiful and as masterfully written as the cover art suggests. Buy one for yourself, your mother and your daughter. It is a woman's touchstone, a talisman to carry in your heart as one journeys through the rites of passage as a woman.
Enter into Kathleen Eagle's ONCE UPON A WEDDING and recognize yourself in the mirror of her reflection. Revisit passages claimed as your own or ones that reside in your future. Dig deep into the depths of emotion through thoroughly honest and often sparkling dialogue. Put your arms around generational relationships that are universal.
Kathleen gently lifts layers of love and disappointment to reveal the residing emotions that swirl around her characters. This places them in your heart with ease.

Rating:
Summary: eloping is simpler!
Review: This is my first foray into Kathleen Eagle's world! My rough-hewn self wanted to categorize ONCE UPON A WEDDING as a fantasy...except, this author does have a way with words, & women will drool over them.

A womanly read, about articulate women well versed in relationships; unafraid to murmur awful things to each other, & make up afterwards - it is rich with textures, scents, family scenes, rueful memories & second chances at happiness, at getting it right. Will they take the plunge?

Rating:
Summary: It's Different, But I Liked It
Review: This is not a Romance Novel, or even a love story. I figured that out pretty early on. But is is all about love. It's a heartwarming multi-generational story about relationships. Complex female friendships, the often turbulent mother-daughter relationships, and the power of enduring love. As soon as I got over my surprise, I settled into it and loved every page. You gotta give Kathleen Eagle credit, she's no formula writer, Bless her.