KEEP CALM AND CARRY A BIG DRINK
From the There's Cake in My Future series, volume 2
by Kim Gruenenfelder
Gruenenfelder (There’s Cake in My Future, 2010, etc.) brings back wisecracking college friends Nic, Mel and Seema as the three prepare for another wedding and one friend follows her dreams.
Mother-to-be Nic and single teacher Mel are on hand when it’s their friend Seema’s turn to get married, and they’re determined everything will go according to plan. That’s a pretty tall order, especially since Nic’s bridal shower game, the cake pull, resulted in a major mix-up, and she’s planned the same game for Seema’s shower. This time, Nic assures Mel and Seema, the cake’s set up perfectly, and the three friends will pull out the charm that’s meant for each of them. It’s foolproof, at least in theory. Each girl ends up with a different charm, and rather than the passport (signifying travel) she’s been promised, Mel ends up with a money tree (signifying reward). That’s not the only problematic aspect of the wedding week, however. As members of both families flock into town to attend two very different ceremonies—an Indian-style extravaganza involving the groom riding astride a white stallion and a conservative Western-style walk down the aisle—Nic’s jolted with pains, and Seema and Scott find themselves with pre-wedding jitters and facing a possible catastrophe before the nuptials. Mel can handle the snags in her friends’ lives, but she’s not as adept at handling her own problems. She needs to find a new place to live, faces the possibility of losing her job, and is in a relationship drought. One of the problems is solved when Seema’s suave, hunky older brother flies in from France for the wedding, and his visit awakens Mel to other possibilities that take her from the streets of Paris to the canals of Venice and the beaches of Hawaii. Although her journey doesn’t always go smoothly or as planned, the charm proves prophetic as Mel seizes control of her own destiny and finds fulfillment.
Although the humor can be forced and crude, Gruenenfelder’s characters are charismatic, entertaining and distinctive.