"Fun contemporary tale"

In just a few months, San Diego kindergarten teacher Cate Padgett has earned a Purple Heart as she has served in combat, being a bridesmaid at four weddings. Besides purchasing gifts that the members of the Cheney energy task force could not afford and buying and wearing one time use ugly dresses, Cate also attends boring bachelorette galas.

Cate is sick of helping others on their trip down the aisle. She feels ready to plan her own wedding. However, she wonders whom she should encourage as her mate. Should she select the centerfold hunk "No Call Paul" or her faithful companion dependable nice guy Ethan? That is assuming either would even walk down the aisle with the perpetual ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID.

Fans of contemporary tales will find the amusing ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID quite entertaining especially the scenes leading up to and occurring at a wedding. Readers will recognize the diva from hell, the drunk who was stoned before arriving, and other disasters that typically make up a decent sized wedding ceremony. Though who should prove the victor between the rivals is too obvious to everyone as Paul's ego is bigger than the Pacific Ocean, making him the top discerning fan a loser. Still this is Cate's choice so that the audience will have to read this amusing charmer to decide whether either one is the groom or if there even is one in this unhappily unmarried chick lit tale.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted January 15, 2004

Summary

What do you do after you walk down the aisle in four weddings in a few months-none of them your own? What's left after you've donned the must-have-not dresses of the season, forked over your cash, and fake-smiled your way through countless photos? After you've dealt with the smashed guest, the smooshed cake, the dashed hopes, and the missed bouquets? That's what Cate Padgett is starting to wonder, as she embarks on stint after stint on the sidelines, watching friends swap bar-hopping for baby- naming...while her own love life goes nowhere fast. But is Cate unwilling to settle down-or just unwilling to settle? And can anyone really judge her if they haven't walked in her dyed-to-match shoes? Wild, witty, and full of weddings to cry over, Always the Bridesmaid is an endearingly romantic comedy about standing out in the crowd even when everyone's wearing the same celery-green dress...and daring to make every day The Happiest Day of Your Life.