Friday, March 23, 2012

The Wedding Beat-Devan Sipher

The Wedding Beat


Devan Sipher

NAL, Apr 3 2012, $14.00

ISBN: 9780451235794



On New Year’s Day in New York, wedding columnist Gavin attends a party he hates as everyone attending is tied to medicine. The only positive is when he sees her across the crowded room. Escaping to a patio, he is surprised to meet Melinda who asks if he has a bungee cord so that they can flee the lunacy without walking through the gauntlet. As they chat while strolling in the moonlight, New York style, he is attracted to Melinda but fails to get her last name, phone number or email address.



After kicking himself in the butt for being an idiot, Gavin tries to locate Melinda with the information he knows about her. This leads him to other women, but no Melinda. His paper assigns him to cover a wedding in which Melinda is the bride to a groom whom Gavin feels is unworthy of her.



The Wedding Beat is an enjoyable intelligent character study of a romantic seeking a woman he fantasizes over. The support cast is solid as most add sarcastic humor like his dad who has his son divorced even though he never married. Although the final coda weakens the impact of a strong bittersweet love story, readers will enjoy the quest of the wedding reporter who works on a paper filled with Pulitzers.



Harriet Klausner



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