I was thrilled to have been gifted the chance to review the latest book from Mandy Baggot, ‘One Greek Summer Wedding’. Spring in the UK seems to be struggling to assert itself this year, so what better than a literary trip to some Mediterranean sunshine, to perk oneself up.
Our Heroine, Cara and her Aunt Margot, work in the luggage industry and are road testing their new shrinkable suitcase, that holds a ton of luggage and then shrinks down to a cabin bag size! The mechanics hadn’t yet been perfected so I hope it made it to their destination hu! I must confess to a sense of relief when the ‘Maxi-Go’ case arrived at the ladies’ Corfu hotel in one piece; I hadn’t been able to get the image of their belonging being strewn across luggage carousels and all over the airport! Cara does seem to be surrounded by rather ‘colourful’ characters in her life, ranging from her reasonably normal Aunt Margot, to her distinctly ‘off centre’ parents, AKA Nettlewood Aurora and Briarbanks Wisteria! Unfortunately there did seem to be some kind of frisson of unease between Cara’s Mother and her Aunt; Cara must have found her parents such horribly hard work. Margot does however seem a great companion though; full of fun – but why did she move Cara into her own hotel room? What on earth was going on? I guess it could serve both the ladies interests, though.
Akis, with his ‘magical’ laugh, seemed to have had just as whacky an upbringing as Cara, and I really felt for him – how unwelcoming his own Mother was towards him. She seemed more concerned with keeping up the right appearance than anything else! I was just looking forward to his path crossing with Cara’s at his Brother’s wedding, which Cara and her Gran had been Invited to. Looking at Stakis’ Mother’s erratic behaviour, I just hoped that the travelling pair really had been invited to the upcoming nuptials; Margot certainly seemed most lackadaisical (I was very pleased with my use of that word, and then saw it was used in the text!) about it all! Anastasia, Akis’ Sister could have been considered the most welcoming member of the wedding family members – but did she have an ulterior motive in being nice to Cara? She certainly seemed to have no qualms about plying her with alcohol! I preferred to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that Anastasia was pleased to have someone at the wedding around the same age as her! Akis’ Gran,Irini was a great character, certain to have been fun whilst the grandchildren were growing up, and long afterwards. Nothing says fun, quite like having a full-size, live donkey in the house!
Milo. ‘The Groom’. A sensitive soul, and has been, all of his life. Akis seems to look out for Milo i n a fetchingly caring way.
There are giggles aplenty throughout this book, but the incident that made me laugh most, was Akis’ reaction upon realising that he was performing in his stage show, in front of his Sister-in-law’s hen party, including his Mother, who was still hellbent on him joining the Priesthood! It was all starting to feel a little as though it had the potential for a pier head farce! This incident was closely followed by Cara’s embarrassed reaction upon realising the fact that she had unwittingly tried to confess her sins to Akis, while he was doing an unintentional impression of a priest, and the signal mix up at the show! The funniest moment for me though (at a very serious moment) was the idea of Pig the donkey sitting on a chair in the kitchen!
On a more serious note, we know that Akis lost a finger in a childhood accident, but one does wonder whether or not he had and facial injury too, that has left him so self conscious that he feels the need to wear a mask on his face? Regardless, the irony was not lost on me – that despite his Mother’s overwhelming desire for him to chose the Priesthood as his ultimate career path, Akis has ended up in a ‘Hen’ show, dressed as a priest throughout! Could the family curse, that Sofia wanted to mitigate by Akis becoming a priest, be a real thing? Everything certainly seemed to be going wrong in the build up to the wedding!
What had happened in Moldova, such that Cara couldn’t leave her Grandmother at the Hen night, and get herself back to their hotel? It seemed more than thd loss of Seb? We know it was something to do with Cara singing, but we are initially a little scant on detail. As for when the truth comes out as to why Cara is at the wedding………..it seemed like she was well and truly set up!
Can Raj help with the future of the Maxi-Go, even if he’s not going to be at the wedding, or will all Margot’s scheming name be in vane? Margot seems to be an ace manipulator, but can anything good ever come out of it?
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Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/OneGreekSummersocial
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