The Wedding Planner's Daughter by Coleen Murtagh Paratore

★★★★½

Another book that got a resounding 5 stars from Isabelle!

In many ways, this book reminded me a lot of The Mother-Daughter Book Club series. While The Mother-Daughter Book Club had characters named Emma and Darcy in tribute to Jane Austen, The Wedding Planner's Daughter pays homage to Charles Dickens with a main character named Estelle Havisham. Both books feature a middle school girl who loves to read, aspires to be a writer, and has typical middle school problems. Both books also make frequent mention of other popular children's classics that might be worth reading, even going so far as to start each chapter with a relevant literary quote. Finally, both books incorporate the location - Concord in the mother-daughter series, Cape Code in this book - almost as a character in itself, and information about local history and lifestyle are peppered throughout.

In this book, 12-year-old Willa is the daughter of a famous wedding planner, Estelle, who suffered such a heartbreak that she has closed herself off from love entirely. Estelle has spent years literally running away from her fears, but now that they've moved to Cape Cod, Willa finally feels like she's found a home, a place where she belongs. The only thing missing is what she wishes for every chance she gets: a father. Luckily, there's an eligible man right next door, and Willa starts to get her hopes up.

Chapters are short and easy to read. Like the Kirkus Reviews blurb on the front cover says, the story is a "smart and funny fairy tale". It's an uplifting read, and probably good for upper elementary school girls. Willa engages in a bit of name-calling in private, which is realistic in the emotions of middle schoolers, and at least she doesn't make fun of people out loud.

I stopped short of giving this book 5 stars because there was one incident that didn't quite sit right with me towards the end of the book. I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I'll just say that it bothered me that when Willa thought her best friend Tina may have betrayed her, she got angry, but when she found out that it was really Joey, her love interest, who betrayed her, it didn't matter. I just think it sent the wrong message of a double-standard, like, don't let your girlfriends get away with betraying you, but it's okay if your boyfriend does.