A Wedding at Sandy Cove

Bella Osborne 

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a bride in search of the perfect dress must be a total
pain in the bum.’

DESPITE its inevitable drawbacks, Ella Briggs’s job as a bridal frock seamstress is her dream come true… but as she helps one of her best friends to prepare for her beach wedding, Ella can’t help but reflect that at twenty-nine years old, she is still very much alone.

Bring out the sunshine smiles and raise your champagne flute because award-winning, feelgood rom-com author Bella Osborne (pictured below) is back to warm our hearts and tickle our funny bones with a fabulously frothy concoction of fun, friendship, romance… and yards of white tulle.

A Wedding at Sandy Cove – which originally appeared as a four-part serial but is now published as a complete story in one package – whisks us away to the sandy beaches of Norfolk where the sounds of wedding bells fill the air, and a trio of friends discover that the course of true love never did run smooth. Ella Briggs is in the business of making brides’ dreams come true with gorgeous white dresses brought to life by delicate lace and sparkly sequins. She works as a seamstress at the upmarket shop, Frills, Frocks and Fairy Tales, and loves her work despite the shop’s owner, Wanda, being the boss from hell.

Ella adores cutting and tucking dresses for the lucky customers who have found the person of their dreams and are preparing for the big day, but her own love life couldn’t be further from a fairy tale.

Recently dumped by her boyfriend and with her best friend Brittany’s wedding only months away, Ella feels down in the dumps. It will be her eighth time as a bridesmaid and it’s looking increasingly likely she might never be a bride. But her other best friend, lawyer Lucy – who firmly believes that if death is the worst thing that can happen to you, ‘marriage comes in a close second’ – has other ideas. Lucy is determined to fix up a blind date and Ella finally accepts her friend’s offer.

However, a mix-up at the pub venue on the night throws Ella into the path of handsome (‘in a rough and ready sort of way’) builder Kit O’Leary instead, and Kit is most definitely not the man (a

sophisticated estate agent) she was supposed to meet. But despite their relationship getting off to a bad start – mainly due to seem painful misunderstandings – Kit might just end up changing Ella’s life in ways she never thought possible.

Osborne certainly knows how to make her readers laugh and cry, and this holiday escape to sunny Sandy Cove proves to be drama, romance, comedy and friendship in perfect harmony as we join Ella, Lucy and Brittany for some sparkling summer loving. At the heart of the story is the lovable and kindly Ella who beats a chequered path to the altar with her very different – and very entertaining – friends, a hilarious collection of Bridezilla clients, a hyperactive dog, and a blind and three-legged rescue cat in tow.

Add on some tear-jerking moments, a handsome, hunky hero, a plot that twists and turns through some madcap antics, and all the paraphernalia of the wonderful world of weddings, and you have a fun and blissful beach read that will slip happily into your suitcase.
(Avon, paperback, £7.99)