The Five Minute Bride

Emily St. Clair has live her life doing what others have expected of her. When she finds out just prior to her wedding that her fiancé has another girlfriend/mistress, she leaves him at the altar and drives away. She ends up in Ruxton, North Carolina: a small town where nobody knows her. For the first time, Emily finds herself free from expectations and takes this opportunity to find herself. She also finds Beau Ramsey, the studly bachelor sheriff of said town.

This is the first book of the How to Catch a Princess series and is just plain fun. Both Emily and Beau are wary of trusting Emily's feelings as she was just about to marry someone else. Is this just a rebound thing? Will she eventually want to move back to the excitement of the big(ger) city? (She's from Roanoke which is not exactly big city.) Beau has three elder sisters who are constantly trying to "improve" him. I guess all this loving interference has put him off long-term relationships with women. So far he has preferred casual sex and currently has "an arrangement" with local business woman Donna who has been around the block a few times. He's stunned when Emily makes it clear that she doesn't feel the need to change him or his home.

There were a couple of things I did find somewhat odd. Emily shows up in town in her wedding dress after having just run out on her own wedding. When Beau's sister sees it her, she immediately recognises the dress as a Dior. Okay, I guess these small town ladies could be more sophisticated than I'd expect and happen to really know their fashion. No way would I recognise a Dior wedding dress just by sight (yes, I'd probably realise it was a high quality designer/couture dress, but I wouldn't know which designer). Anyway, these fashion conscious women are then not sophisticated enough to understand that Emily doesn't want to wear the dress again at her next wedding; they're totally shocked by it. Now I get that it's beautiful and extremely expensive, but really, what woman would want to get married in the same dress she wore to her previous failed wedding where she was jilted? Granted, Emily wasn't actually the one left standing at the altar, but still... And then there's the whole Donna thing. Beau doesn't have "relations" with Donna after meeting Emily, but not for lack of trying. Donna wants him, he doesn't want her though, which he finds frustrating because he wants to want her. It's not an unusual scenario, but I didn't like it. While Beau is making moves on Joanna, he also wants to (want to) sleep with Donna. As for Donna, she is fairly aggressive about wanting Beau and tells Joanna that she wants to keep their "arrangement".

Putting aside my small complaints, this book was just a joyful romp. The dialogue is fun and I found myself smiling through most of it. For example, when Emily was getting married to Mr. Sleaze, when the time came for her to say, "I do," she instead says, "I don't believe I will. Thank you very much." Loved it. I'm looking forward to the rest of this series if this is any indication of what they'll be like.