NEVER THE BRIDE (Dilbury Village #1) by CHARLOTTE FALLOWFIELD :: REVIEW

Standalone in a series : British Romantic comedy

Reviewed by Jenny & Gitte

4 Stars

“If you both love each other, that love bridges the fault and anchors you together through any storm. He doesn’t have to be perfect, and neither do you….”

We first sampled Charlotte Fallowfield’s Rom-Com talent in Collide last year, finding ourselves, immediately captivated with the warmth, classic British humour and sweetness of her writing, and were thrilled to bits to hear a new series, set in the quaint English village of Dilbury, was in the works, and here it is! Charlotte once again had us in stitches, laughing at – and with, her loveable, madcap characters, delivering a sweet heart-warming story, with friendship and community spirit at the forefront. We loved spending time with this group of piss taking prankster friends who we’d love to pack up and spend time with. These characters made us want to pull up a stool at the Cock n Bull, order a sneaky Voddy, and spend hours, laughing hysterically with this cast of quirky characters.

To summarise, Abbie is a 28 year old Accountant who’s pretty happy with her lot, she lives in her old family home in Dilbury, with her neighbours, best friend, Georgie, Daphne who is like a Mum to her, and the newly arrived Charlie, the erotic romance writer. She loves her work, her home and her friends and even has a soft spot for her cantankerous, farting, lazy bulldog Mr Sumo, who returns none of her affections.  The one thing missing is a man to share her life with. And, thanks to a silly pact she made with a group of ‘friends‘ in boarding school  12 years ago, she is committed to always being the bridesmaid never the bride, as she fulfils her promise after promise to perform bridesmaid duties  wearing hideous dresses at these weddings. Abbie is fast approaching the unlucky 13th wedding, believing that once this happens, she’ll be jinxed; forever being the bridesmaid, never the bride.

However, across the room at one of the receptions, she meets the gorgeous Miller Davis, who instantly grabs her heart, experiencing a connection the likes of which she has never felt before. He of the ‘soft, full, kissable lips, movie star teeth, dimpled chin, and square jaw‘…and that’s just the start of Mr Davis’ attributes. He was rather luscious! They both feel the connection, and we think we gasped right along with Abbie when their eyes first met ….sigh…

‘Wow, hot, sexy and chivalrous. I felt like I was in Vegas at the slot machines, and the jackpot just sounded the alarm.’

However, things don’t go as planned as there’s a great big ocean separating them with Millers life being firmly entrenched in New York, and Abbie in her homely little village of Dilbury.  Can they overcome the long distance? Can one make the choice to move? Is there more to Miller that Abbie doesn’t know? Can Abbie give it all up for love? All will be revealed when you pick up Never the Bride.

“The moment I saw you, it was like I was looking at a missing part of myself. Like I’ve been alone all of my life, and suddenly I wasn’t anymore.”

Charlotte Fallowfield has spot on comedic timing and certainly knows how to deliver those laugh out loud crazy moments. We had tears from laughing. The friendship connections, the riotous situations they find themselves in, and the zany, hilarious residents of this wonderful little community had us in stitches and her British humour is something we particularly enjoy and hope this never changes.

However, we found the comedy aspect overwhelmed the romance a little and as much as we loved Abbie and Miller, and did enjoy how it eventually played out, we didn’t feel or connect to them as a couple the way we had hoped. Comedy wise it delivered, romantically, sadly it just fell short for us. We needed more ‘Abbie and Miller time’ to allow us to fully connect and live their romance. We loved though how the author delivered some real and touching moments amid the humour ridden chaos.

Whilst we did adore this book, it didn’t quite win us over the way Until We Collide had previously. In saying that, we can’t wait to get back to this little village for some more rip-roaring fun when Georgie’s book releases in a few months, and we know this one will be a hoot! This time around, we absolutely felt the com, just not as much rom as we had hoped.

THE DILBURY SERIES