Dress Rehearsal

I thought this book would be about all the couples and weddings the main character caters to for her legendary (or luscious) cakes. Instead, it was about what being in a relationship does or doesn't mean to three different women. It wasn't nearly as "fluffy" as the cover led me to believe, but it was funny and had great dialog between the friends(favorite line: the one about the "right hand rings" diamond companies are hoping women will buy). I liked the issues it addressed and the fact that it didn't take itself too seriously but still had smart characters. A nice surprise that was more substance than sugar, more fun than frosting.

I had a great time reading this, it was like spending an afternoon with your best friends. At times it was laugh out loud funny, at others more serious, but fun and real none the less. I think all of my friends could relate to something one of the three characters were going through, and that's why I loved this book. I'm not a pastry chef, and I've never wanted to get even with an ex-husband (ex-boyfriend, sure) or broken off an engagement, but Lauren, Robin and Paige were people I'd like to hang out with.

Lauren Gallagher trades in safe and stable boyfriend, Neil, in search of a more adventurous life and ends up finding professional success when Lauren's Luscious Licks becomes the "in" wedding cake boutique in all of Boston. In addition to becoming the Vera Wang of wedding cakes, Lauren discovers her talent for predicting martial bliss (or disaster!) by observing what couples select as their ideal vision of flour & frosting for their wedding day. For Lauren, the trouble begins when she's forced to apply this frosting forecasting to her own life as ex Neil enters her boutique (w/new fiancee in tow) and selects Lauren's exact dream cake for his wedding! And the chaos ensues when she flip-flops between Charlie, a man who shares her zest for life and her supposed sense of humor regarding the cliche of the happily-ever-after, and the ex who according to her pastry prediction has to be THE ONE!! Amidst all the delicious fun of cake, fillings, and fondant is Lauren's journey to figure out how to live life w/out a safety net and the risks & rewards of giving in to love when there's no guarantee that your heart won't break like egg shells in the batter. . .As with O'Connell's first novel BACHELORETTE #1, the author manages to get across a meaningful message in a fun and witty page-turner.

What do you get when you take a fortune-telling pastry chef, her bitterly divorced and soon-to-be-wed best friends, and a grouchy Italian baker who thinks her boss is nuts? A truly fun story. I also read the author's first book, which I enjoyed, but for some reason I liked this one better. The relationships between the friends, and between Lauren and Maria, the woman who's in the kitchen baking, are really endearing. Boston is the perfect setting for this book, and there are a few twists that keep this from being "just" a book that has something to do with weddings. The wedding of her friend is just the starting point, and I thought that the book was more about the women, their friendships, and making choices you can live with than just dress shopping and choosing the right flowers (thankfully). The story moves fast and kept me interested until the very end, which, like a few others have mentioned, was great and really fit the characters and the story.

In this fun, highly humorous chick-lit novel Jennifer O'Connell serves up a collection of lovable empathetic characters and a storyline that is easy to relate to. Lauren is the proud owner of Boston's premier wedding cake bakery or as she likes to call it, her "boutique." She's a 32 year old single woman and she's okay with that...sort of. She certainly not going to throw herself into the arms of any guy willing to offer her a ring. She has very strict criteria that she adheres to when it comes to men and she feels certain that the best indication of mutual compatibility lies in the way a man and woman choose their wedding cake. If their tastes are dramatically different their relationship is destine to fail. As silly as the theory sounds she has been able to predict enough divorces to win her friends over to her way of thinking. Her friend Paige even uses it as one of the justifications for breaking off her engagement. However when Lauren's old boyfriend walks into her boutique (and her life) along with his new fiancée just days after a charming divorce attorney asked her out her theory is put to the ultimate test. But instead of a simple plot about a love triangle this book ends up being more about self-discovery and, ultimately, personal growth. Several reviewers have made a point of calling this novel "fluff." It's true that there is nothing Orwellian about O'Connell's writing style and Dress Rehearsal is definitely a quick, "feel-good" story; but it's also not the lightest chick-lit I've ever read. Lauren's control issues, and her fear of making the wrong choices with her life are things that most women can easily relate to and the novel does make you stop and reexamine the reasons why people get married without ever belittling the institution or glamorizing it.