Christina Jones - An Enormously English Monsoon Wedding

After a few weird/fantasy books, I went onto something extremely normal and soppy from my point of view which isn't unusual for me but isn't particularly regular either as I find paranormal-romance and urban fantasy books a lot more interesting because I like the completely different stories that come from not being based in reality but in my mind could still happen if certain things were different or real.  However, back to reality or what is considered to be reality in chick flick books.

An Enormously English Monsoon Wedding is a chick-lit novel from Christina Jones who is known to write a number of these type of books which I consider to be holiday books where you just sling it in your bag when you are going to the beach or sitting by the pool and just want something fun to read.  After looking at other books from Jones, I have found her to be similar to Jenny Colgan and Abby Clements whose books I enjoyed as well so I thought it was worth a shot.

Rating: 7

Recommended To: Holiday book readers

Favourite Characters: Gina - loveable, funny, beautiful, yet insecure

Favourite Part: Jay smiled gently. 'I told her I loved her too.'
Oh God... Erin sighed.
'And that I'd marry her if she gave me all her samosas.'
'What?'
Jay laughed.  'We were at my Aunt Ganika's birthday party.  We were eight years old.' - Page 269

Good Points: Interesting to see a multi-cultured wedding; easy read; the inclusion of other couples not just the happy couple

Bad Points: Everything ended up going a bit too smoothly

An Enormously English Monsoon Wedding picks up in the middle of Erin Boswell's engagement to Jay Keskar and everything is going their way so that both of them can have the wedding they dreamed without any interference until his parents come to visit them and announce that they want to become 'involved' in their plans as Jay is their only child and believe that he should have a proper Indian wedding because of his cultural heritage.  This includes Erin wearing a sari and both Erin and Jay are observing all of the pre-wedding ritual ceremonies.  Erin and Jay are shocked by this and Erin is particularly annoyed because they want to keep all of their wedding day plans a surprise.

What makes this book stand out from other romance books where the main characters get married is that this one featured a multi-cultured wedding where the groom, Jay, is of Indian descent and expected to have a traditional Indian wedding while the bride, Erin, is from British descent and could be expected to have a traditional British wedding so they've combined their two types of wedding into this colourful amalgamation of a wedding with the best bits of a British and an Indian wedding working in perfect harmony.  No one should be forced to have a wedding they don't want, for example Erin wearing a sari when she's not Indian (not saying she couldn't wear one if she wanted to), as it shows how well everything could work together if both parties are willing to compromise.

Much like other book I've read in this genre, chick lit, such as Christmas at the Cupcake Café by Jenny Colgan and Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop by Abby Clements, I found this book really easy to read as the story wasn't overly complex or intense and one of these kind of books that can be shoved into a bag to be taken on holiday so you can lounge by the pool or on the beach.  I found this good because I have been reading some strange books recently so this was like a palette cleanser as it was normal yet very sweet and very easy to read and therefore quick to get through.  Even though the story starts in the middle of the lead up to Erin and Jay's wedding, it is easy to catch up with their backstory which was impressive as it is common for authors to lose readers when they do this because they are skipping key moments of a relationship; Jones throws you in but keeps you informed through brief mentions, almost flashbacks to how they met and fell in love.

Rather than focussing on just one couple in this entire book, Jones focussed on others such as Gina, the pub landlady, and two different men, one she has just finished with, Erin's uncle, and Kam, the new man in town who happens to be Jay's cousin and new business partner.  I enjoyed how the focus wasn't on just Erin and Jay as it may have become too stale always talking between these two loved-up people who are in a major stage in their relationship while showing Gina with Kam shows a new relationship beginning which is exciting and thrilling for them as they explore something that could develop into a more serious relationship.  It adds another dimension to this story of love that cannot be achieved by just displaying one relationship; even showing Gina's relationship with Erin's uncle Doug adds another dimension despite how brief it is because it shows a relationship coming to a close which is a contrast to the other relationships in this book.

I have a tendency to get attached to one of the main characters but this time it was a supporting character; I adored Gina, the pub landlady that allows Jay's cousin Kam to stay in one of her guest rooms in the pub before the wedding.  I found Gina to a very loveable character as she was funny and beautiful yet completely insecure which meant I just wanted to jump into the pages of this book and hug her.  I wanted her to understand that she was able to fall in love and not resist them, she needed to see herself through the eyes of the other characters, especially Kam because even though she was older, she was incredible.  I find characters like that interesting because I find them more real than ones who think they're wonderful.

Despite all of the stressful moments that Erin goes through during this book with Jay's parents and family trying to help (well stick their oar in to the wedding), the final wedding goes off without a hitch in the end which for me was disappointing because it could have added a bit more drama to the book.  I found everything to just go far too smoothly and everyone was extremely happy; I was expecting there to be more of a clash between the bride and the groom's family as there was constantly a clash between Erin and Jay's mother all the way through the book, yet none on the wedding.  It just seemed unrealistic to me and was therefore a little disappointment in the end but maybe I'm expecting too much for a chick lit book.

Jay smiled gently. 'I told her I loved her too.'
Oh God... Erin sighed.
'And that I'd marry her if she gave me all her samosas.'
'What?'
Jay laughed.  'We were at my Aunt Ganika's birthday party.  We were eight years old.' - Page 269

I thought this moment was very cute as Jay was teasing Erin when she's being paranoid about Jay and his childhood friend, Nalisha, becoming an item despite the fact that Jay is besotted with Erin just as she is with him.  This told me there is only one woman for Jay and it's Erin so I had complete faith that there wasn't going to be any silly love triangles which wind me up a treat.  I like to see couples joke about in books like this because it keeps the mood light despite the stressful thing they are committing themselves to, marriage.

Overall, this was a satisfying read that allowed me to escape from day to day life which is what a book is for me; while I've never been in a relationship like Jay and Erin's, Jones's writing made me understand what they were doing through which was excellent.  However, everything going extremely in the end disappointed me a bit too much but maybe I like drama.  This was a good read for sitting on the beach or by the pool so have at it holiday-goers or those looking for a light read.