Bonus Review: Picture Perfect Wedding

Picture Perfect Wedding

By Fiona Lowe

Publisher: Carina Press

Release Date: August 12, 2013

Erin Davies dreams of owning her own studio, seeing her photographs in bridal magazines, and winning a coveted award. All of these things may well be in her grasp if only every detail comes together perfectly for the very expensive wedding of one demanding client who has  decided that she wants a field of sunflowers in Whitetail, Wisconsin, as the backdrop for her wedding photographs. The only problem is that the farmer who owns the field keeps saying no to the request to use his field. But Erin is determined that one stubborn farmer will not block her dreams. She sets out for Whitetail in her vintage vehicle with a sexy-voiced GPS and an unshakable conviction that one stubborn farmer will not prove an insurmountable obstacle.

Luke Anderson has enough on his hands managing the family farm that has been his responsibility since his father retired six months ago and left him in charge. Not only is his work load relentless, but being the decision maker is just not bringing Luke the peace and satisfaction that he thought it would. He is where he has wanted to be since childhood, but he has an empty feeling, as if there should be something more. He doesn’t need some city-girl photographer and her bridezilla client complicating his life. His refusal is to rent out his sunflower field is non-negotiable.

Their first meeting leaves Erin frustrated with the intransigence of one grouchy farmer who is too sexy for her comfort and Luke eager to see the last of the airhead city girl whose curves make him all too aware that he’s been celibate too long. Scientists may insist that in our universe there are no irresistible forces and no immovable objects, but romance writers know that in the dimension of emotions, the paradox can certainly appear to be true. And when it occurs, things get interesting—and explosive. With Erin Davies and Luke Anderson in one small community, Whitetail, Wisconsin is about to see some fireworks.

Picture Perfect Wedding is the second book in Fiona Lowe’s Wedding Fever trilogy, following Saved by the Bride (April 2013). Whitetail is an appealing community filled with interesting characters who are devoted to their city and to taking care of each other. Luke is one of their own, and they welcome Erin both because they need her photographic skills for the wedding business that is putting Whitetail on the map and because they value her warmth and creativity.

Watching Erin and Like skirmish and flirt and fight a losing battle against this backdrop is a delight. But despite the fun and games, hearts and lives are on the line, and both Erin and Luke have real issues that must be resolved before they find their way to the HEA. It’s not surprising, given that Luke has the foundation of a stable, loving family, that his issues should be less complex that Erin’s.

I really enjoyed the details about Erin’s photography and Luke’s farming. The jobs of these characters were not just necessary inclusions but vital parts of their identities. I also like the context of family dynamics in my romance novels, and Lowe provides rich contexts with conflict and power struggles even with a family in which all the members really do love one another, and she includes a villain who is completely believable because he is not evil personified but rather a man whose weakness and greed are greater than his desire to do the right thing. The relationship between Erin and Luke is sizzling hot with good measures of humor and sweetness.

The secondary romance between widow and Whitetail wedding planner Nicole Lindquist and Tony Lascio, the town’s new fire chief, adds another layer of sexy sweetness, although it provides my only major dissatisfaction with the novel. I would like to have seen their story more fully developed--perhaps in their own book, or at least in a novella. I thought they deserved more than the rushed treatment.

Picture Perfect Wedding didn’t prompt me to send emails recommending it to friends as Lowe’s RITA-winning Boomerang Bride did, but it is a terrific addition to any contemporary romance collection. If you like small-town contemporary romances with heat, humor, and heart-winning characters, I think you will enjoy it as much as I did. I recommend this book.

Boomerang Bride was the first book I read by Fiona Lowe, and it’s freshness and mix of character-based humor and credible complexities impressed me. Perhaps unfairly, I will probably always measure her books by that one. Has the first book you read by an author ever set a standard that subsequent books could have difficulty meeting?

Tuesday Review: Saved by the Bride

Saved by the Bride

(an electronic book)

By Fiona Lowe

Publisher: Carina Press

Release Date: April 15, 2013

Annika Jacobson returned to her hometown of Whitetail, Wisconsin, after a bad breakup and a savaging by art critics left her with the artist’s equivalent of writer’s block. Since childhood, she has had the reputation of being a helper and problem solver. Thus, when Whitetail needs an acting mayor to lead the battle for the economic revitalization of a town that has been devastated by the loss of its largest employer, Annika takes on the job. Concentrating on Whitetail’s problems allows her to avoid her own problems such as an inability to paint, rent that is in arrears, and a bank balance filled with zeroes.

She is not enthusiastic about her fellow Chamber of Commerce members’ idea to persuade Bridget Callahan, only daughter of wealthy industrialist Sean Callahan, that their town is the ideal location for her upcoming wedding and Weddings that Wow, their embryonic wedding planning business, the perfect choice to make her wedding all that she dreams of its being. Nevertheless, Annika agrees to crash the heiress’s engagement party, which is being held at Kylemore, the family’s vacation home on Lake Whitetail. She may have little faith that Bridget Callahan will do for Whitetail, Wisconsin, what Chelsea Clinton did for Rhinebeck, New York, but she is more hopeful of persuading Sean Callahan to put to use the warehouses in Whitetail’s business park that he recently purchased. He has ignored her letters, faxes, and phone calls, but he won’t be able to ignore her in a face-to-face meeting. Unfortunately the plan that seemed promising goes awry in major fashion. Denied entrance to the party by a security guard, Annika makes a window entrance only after falling victim to a sprinkler system and falling into the hands of the brother of the bride-to-be.

Finn Callahan is not happy to be part of his sister’s scheme for playing happy family at Kylemore. In fact, gathering his father and his current wife and his mother, the first Mrs. Sean Callahan, under one roof seems downright foolhardy to Finn, given that the acrimony between his parents is still going strong even though the divorce happened years ago. Sean Callahan wasn’t much interested in being a father when Finn needed him; now Finn makes certain only business ties him to the man. Finn retreats to the library, one room mostly unchanged since his grandfather’s day, to check his work email and avoid the party until his presence is required. When his privacy is invaded by a pair of sexy legs wriggling into the library via a window, he is intrigued enough to offer his help. But suspicion soon overcomes his interest. Annika ends up in the Whitetail jail, and Finn ends up angry and self-righteous. They both end up thinking too much for their comfort about a passionate kiss they exchanged. 

Neither one is prepared for the chain of circumstances that leaves Finn forced to spend two months in Whitetail as acting CEO of AKP Industries with Annika as his PA and housemate in his one-bedroom island cabin. Her own history had made Annika wary of handsome men, and anti-marriage, anti-family Finn has limited his relationships to women who are satisfied with dinner and mutually satisfying sex. Despite an attraction that is on simmer just about to heat up to full boil, they are determined to keep their relationship that of employer-employee. But Finn finds Annika’s warmth and light irresistible. Even her klutziness becomes endearing. And Annika knows that Finn is in need of connection and laughter and a life that is more than business. She longs to see him reconciled to his father. They agree on a summer fling, but Annika is still too busy finding solutions for everybody else’s to confront her own, and Finn is too frightened by love’s power to look into his own heart. They have to discover the truth of who they are before they can earn their HEA.


Saved by the Bride, the first book in Fiona Lowe’s Wedding Fever series, is a delicious romantic comedy that combines laugh-out-loud physical comedy, sigh-worthy love scenes, and enough heartbreak to keep it real. I liked not only Annika and Finn but also Finn’s sister who is headed toward Bridezilla status in her quest to see that a perfect wedding protects her and her endearing beta finance from the sad ending that her parents experienced. Frothier than Lowe’s Rita-winning Boomerang Bride, this book has the same charm. Tobin and Whitetail have more in common than their Wisconsin address and the wedding business. Give this one a try. I think you’ll be glad you did. 



The citizens of Whitetail succeed in making their small town a destination wedding site. Destination weddings (average cost $22,000) are the fastest growing segment of the wedding market. Do you find the idea romantic, or does a traditional wedding seem more romantic to you?