Title: Marry Me, Charlotte B!Author: Carla de Guzman
Publication Details: April 30, 2015 by Midnight Books
Genre: New Adult
Links: Goodreads - Amazon - Smashwords
You are cordially invited to the wedding of the year!
Nellie Canlas loves her job. She loves being assistant to reality TV star and wedding planner goddess, the fabulous Charlotte Bertram, and she loves working with couples to make their wedding dreams come true. What she doesn’t love is having cameras following her all the time, especially when she’s crushing hard on the lawyer from another floor.
Robert Bertram doesn’t like planning weddings. He doesn’t like being on TV either. But when he finds himself in possession of Nellie’s diary, he thinks he can turn her into anyone’s dream girl. If he doesn’t fall for her first.
Marry Me, Charlotte B! follows Cornelia "Nellie" Canlas, an assistant to the famous wedding planner and TV reality star Charlotte Bertram, as she navigates her life from 'just an assistant' to someone who's chosen to coordinate a big wedding. But not only was she given a chance to prove her worth to the profession she loves, she's also in for a chance to finally embrace herself, be confident in her own skin and perhaps find love along the way.
This book is a short, cute, fun read! I did enjoy reading about Nellie and the behind-the-scenes of a wedding. It actually made me want to have my own wedding ASAP. But first, boyfriend! Haha!
Anyway, I liked that the book does not focus solely on wedding planning but also on the lives of the characters as they are being filmed for a TV reality show. In relation to that, I really liked the way the story was told. Marry Me, Charlotte B! was narrated in a third person voice from the perspective of someone watching a reality show (or an omniscient third person POV), complete with flashbacks and interviews. It gave the whole book a refreshing take to story-telling. However, remove the TV show part and it could be a bit cliché. But overall, plot-wise, Marry Me, Charlotte B! is a good read.
Characters
Despite the seemingly one-dimensional approach, I felt like I was able to know the characters. All the characters are likeable and that's really a plus for me because it made my reading easier.
I was able to relate to Nellie since like her, I'm kind of struggling with self-confidence and am always coming back to what is comfortable, not wanting to venture out more often. I liked her character development though. Nellie was able to break out of her shell. And though in little steps, I'm pretty sure that she'll fully embrace who she really is in the future.
Rob is another book boyfriend. Reading about him made me want to have my own Rob. Haha! He's such a good friend and is sweet both to Nellie and his mom. Not only that, he's also creative and talented. One order of Rob, please! Haha!
As for Charlotte, at first I did not know what to make of her. I have this idea in my head that thought of Charlotte as an unlikeable one. But thankfully, I was proven wrong. She played a big role in Nellie's development that kind of 'sparked' things up.
As I've mentioned earlier, the characters are all likeable. For a short-read, I think they are well-written and everyone played a part in the protagonist's development.
Writing
I like the author's writing style. It has a smooth flow and is easy to understand. I liked that I was able to picture the scenes in my mind easily (as what I've also experienced in her other book, Cities). I liked how she incorporates into the story a concept that brings a refreshing take to the whole book.
I'm not sure if the copy for this blog tour was a finished one. But I've seen grammatical errors. I'm not usually particular to grammar (Hey, I commit mistakes too!) but I noticed quite a few.
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Over all, I did like Marry Me, Charlotte B! I'm still puzzled by the title of the book, but I'm guessing it's the name of their TV show? I'm not really sure. Haha! Anyway, if you're looking for a short, cute, fun read yet poignant, I do recommend this one.
Carla de Guzman (ck.deguzman@gmail.com) had horrible handwriting as a kid. That didn't stop her from writing, though. Riddled with too much energy and a vivid imagination, she started writing every midnight. She grew up with her toes in the sand and her bags packed and ready to go on adventures. These books are chronicles of her journeys, with a silly love story mixed in.
When she’s not sitting in a plane or working, Carla writes for her blog, Some Midnights, Modern Filipina and for When in Manila.
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