The Wedding People
Alison Espach, Phoenix
Books as fun as this one are few and far between. Every room in a luxury American hotel is booked out for a ludicrously OTT wedding – except for one. Phoebe Stone is preparing for something quite different: she is going to end her life in the most expensive suite. When spoilt Lila, the bride to be, realises that someone is getting in the way of her perfect day, mayhem breaks loose – but not in the way you might expect. This novel is unexpected and delightful, funny but never cruel, and loving and tender towards all its characters, even the villainous sister-in-law. If you feel your romcoms are getting a little too predictable, this is the book for you: pure enjoyment, and an excellent gift for almost anyone.
Say You’ll Be My Jaan
Naina Kumar, Penguin
“Think of it like Tinder,” we’re told of arranged marriage. “Except your parents are the algorithm.” Fake-relationship romances are nothing new, but this one is particularly lovely. Karthik is work-focused and trying to placate his mother; Meghna is still in love with The One Who Got Away and needs a plus-one for his wedding, so they agree to an arranged engagement – and guess what? Kumar jumps perspectives easily and keeps things moving in a novel that’s so warm and funny, and particularly good on food and cultural expectations, that’s it’s incredibly impressive that it’s a debut.
What Does it Feel Like?
Sophie Kinsella, Bantam
A tiny gem of a novella about being diagnosed with brain cancer that also manages to fit a deeply funny and affecting love story into its 128 pages. Closely mirroring Kinsella’s own life, it explores what happens when the person you love has to tell you over and over again that you have cancer, because the cancer means that you keep forgetting. If this sounds grim, it is quite the opposite; the book is life-affirming in the very best way. The idea of romance as something that persists when everything else is gone – a true love that will stay solid as a rock over a lifetime – is incredibly affecting.
Small Bomb at Dimperley
Lissa Evans, Doubleday
Evans’s ability to not just write historical fiction, but to bring us what feel like newly unearthed novels from the time, is unparalleled. Small Bomb at Dimperley is an utterly delightful postwar romance in which the dashing heir to England’s ugliest stately home has been killed in the war, so younger son Valentine inherits, to everyone’s disappointment. Zena is the working-class secretary helping his uncle Alaric write a very boring book, and class, money and changing political times throw them together. It feels as though it could have been written by Eva Ibbotson: there can be no higher praise. The episode involving a horse and a train toilet was my funniest scene of the year.
The Echoes of Us
Emma Steele, Mountain Leopard
Robbie and Jenn are on the brink of reconciling after a breakup when they are hit by a truck. Robbie is thrown back in time to witness episodes from their original relationship: where it went wrong, and how he can save it in the future. With One Day-style scenes over the years, a time-travel mystery and an endearing romance, this extremely enjoyable novel is a proper Christmas page-turner.