The wedding season

A heartbroken woman rediscovers her spunk in this witty rom-com from Birchall (The Secret Bridesmaid). London brand manager Freya Scott is left reeling when her fiancé, Matthew, breaks up with her minutes before their wedding. Freya desperately tries to forget her pain and humiliation, but with seven weddings looming in her social calendar, it feels impossible. Her best friend, Ruby, cooks up a plan to help her move on from Matthew--a task list entitled "How to Survive the Wedding Season." Freya must complete one challenge at each ceremony, with tasks ranging from stealing a man's cuff links to securing a good-night kiss. As Freya embraces the survival guide, she's inches closer to healing--and even starts to fall for someone new. But Matthew's also in attendance at the weddings, and their interactions leave Freya tempted to succumb to their familiar connection, even if it means unraveling all her hard-earned progress. Birchall strikes gold with the comedic cadence of her prose and balances the humor with her winning heroine's sincere efforts to find her inner strength. This is a snappy, empowering pick for fans of Sophie Kinsella. Agent: Lauren Gardner, Bell Lomax Moreton Agency. (May)

Freya Scott was dumped by her fiancé the day before their wedding. Theirs was to be the first wedding of the season, and now Freya has eight of her friends' weddings to attend while coping with the emotional fallout of her breakup. She and her friends come up with a plan to keep Freya from focusing on what should have been: at each wedding she'll have a decidedly un-Freya-like task to complete. Over the course of the year, between flirting with a stranger and streaking down a hotel hallway, Freya does what she thought would be impossible: she begins to have fun. Freya is a believable, likable character who goes through significant emotional growth over the course of this contemporary romantic comedy. The secondary characters are lightly developed in comparison, but that doesn't detract from the fast-paced, well-written story. Freya's happily ever after is a given, and it's no surprise who she ends up with, but the real HEA ending is Freya's realization that being jilted was a beginning, not an end. VERDICT Recommended for all public library collections.--Heather Miller Cover