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Cate Padgett, a 26-year-old kindergarten teacher, has the summer off, but she will be far from bored. All of her friends are getting married and she's a bridesmaid for all of them. She's busy helping them plan their showers and buying typical, never to wear again, bridesmaids' dresses. She'd much rather be planning her own wedding but with the way things are going with her and her boyfriend, Paul, it doesn't look like they'll be saying their 'I do's' to each other any time soon. All the weddings and festivities are costing her money that she doesn't have, so when she meets her old friend, caterer Ethan Blakley, who offers her freelance work as a photographer taking pictures of his dishes, she jumps at the opportunity. Cate and Ethan have been friends since they were children and have always got along very well. She's happy to discover that, even though they haven't seen each other in a while, their close-knit relationship is just as strong. He calls her at night to see how she's doing, they go out to lunch, and he's interested in her life. Her boyfriend, Paul should only be so attentive! She dreams about marrying Paul and changing her name to his. She imagines about how Paul will ask her to marry him. She wants to stop being the queen of bridesmaids and to have her own wedding. The only problem is that Cate isn't sure if Paul feels the same way. He goes away on business trips all the time and returns her phone calls so infrequently that Cate dubs him 'No Call Paul.' But Cate does have her friends and family around her, and of course Ethan, who she's spending a lot of time with lately. Hmmm. ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID is author Whitney Lyles's first novel. Even though it's quite predictable, the fun of the book is reading all about Cate's trials and tribulations as a bridesmaid. Ms. Lyle has an uncanny ability to be able to describe every type of person who comes to weddings: the family drunk, the person who will make the biggest fool of themselves, and especially the happy brides themselves. One great character is Cate's friend, bride-to-be, Leslie. Leslie is so caught up in the planning of the wedding that everything after that is downhill. Being a true 'Bridezilla,' Leslie forbids her bridesmaids to eat on the day of the wedding because she's afraid that they will ruin their bridesmaids' outfits. Her friends call Leslie the 'bride slave-driver.' ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID has some enjoyable characters and surprisingly, Cate is rather likeable, as are all her friends, even bride slave-driver Leslie. Don't expect a memorable book here. Everything about the story is conventional and you know what the happy ending is going to be well before you're halfway done. I bet you can even predict the ending from this review. But it is a fun read. If you need a light book with a nice, solid, happy ending, pick up ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID. It will cheer you up and make you smile.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, January 2004
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