While it has a slow beginning, when it picks up, London is the Best City in America becomes an emotionally riveting tale that centers on moving forward and not looking back on what-ifs.

Emmy thinks her weekend will be simple, or as simple as your brother’s wedding could entail. But when her brother reveals a drastic secret, she goes on a literal and reflective journey across the Rhode Island area that has her thinking about her own decisions.

This is a simple straightforward book. At 246 pages, it makes for a good beach read or something to look at if you’re bored during a sporting event. While certain moments can be a bit sappy/over dramatic, everything falls under a realistic scale. The characters are written in an understandable way. I also found the message of the book uplifting to me, as I related to Emmy’s struggle of feeling stuck.

If you can find this book for $1, like I did, then it’s an easy recommendation. Short and simple, with an ending that will have you thinking about the complexities of life.

This is just what I like to read in between heavy books/series. A standalone, light-hearted, self-contained story. The writing style is easy to follow, and the chapters are mostly short.

I only didn’t love the ending so much. It felt forced, as if the author didn’t know how to wrap it up and decided to push some characters together. Like she knew Emmy and Matt shouldn’t be together, but wasn’t sure how to accomplish that. And like she knew she wanted Josh to end up with Elizabeth, but again wasn’t sure how to accomplish that.

I really enjoyed reading about Emmy and her figuring out what to do with her life. It was comforting. All of the events of the weekend seemed to fall into place perfectly and were very entertaining. There was always something going on.

I thought, based on the title, this book would be set in or reference more about London. It wasn’t and it barely referenced the city. I also had the impression it would be more lighthearted - that’s probably on me not the author. But it really was a slog. I was hoping for more excitement and adventure on the “road trip” which turned out to be really short and boring. Maybe that was because the 2 road trippers were boring and unlikeable.

A sweet story about love, being true, weddings and a summer heat wave. I can see LD honing her craft in this earlier novel. Nice one to start the year!

I don't see an entry for paperback with this cover, but out of desire to be accurate, letting you know I in fact have a paperback with this cover, rather than this hardcover edition. HOPEFULLY it's the same contents!

I'll also be honest: Almost every wedding story I've ever heard makes me glad we skipped all that and went to the courthouse. It feels like they blew a hundred thousand dollars on everything they had, including the luxury hotel suite (for basically nobody, since the bride didn't have a bridal party) and venue, and expensive catering to the outdoor rehearsal dinner buffet, assuming I'm remembering everything correctly.

Granted, in 2006, MAYBE that was only $50k. I don't know. I know ours was way less than the cash money we received as gifts (and absolutely didn't request). Also, ours was way less of a disaster than the one in this book.

OTHER than the wedding shenanigans, the other shenanigans... I know the idea is that Emmy felt like her life was stuck, so everything is a bit doom and gloom, cloud of guilt about throwing her life away hanging over her head all the time. I get it, but I still hated reading it. The ending is fine, maybe a bit low-key for what I expected (although I don't know what I expected), but then I feel bad about "throwing my life away" too... until I remember that our lives are what we want them to be, so if it's spent playing shitty phone games all day while waiting for something better, and it's not hurting anyone else, why NOT play shitty phone games all day?

I do feel bad about the tapes, though. Also the litter. (I'm glad it's fictional litter, at least.)

An okay read if you're into wallowing in self-pity while also dealing with pity for others, maybe? I don't know who I think would be interested in reading this book specifically. Like, "Want to read about a trash fire of a wedding?" maybe?

4⭐️

I read 26 pages and then stalled… couldn’t bring myself to keep reading. Wasn’t my speed. But then today I powered through and didn’t want to put it down.

The reality and the tough situations each character dealt with spoke to me. The author makes you really feel for characters that in other books would be labeled as the bad guy or the ass, and then writes in a way to get you to see the human behind the worst situations. Plus it has just enough romance for me to root for a character that I would normally be annoyed with.

I’ll definitely continue to pick up her other books as I come across them.

If you enjoy sitting in a dentist chair having your teeth drilled, you might like this book. Frankly I was surprised. I usually enjoy this author. This book was a painful recitation of horrible things that happened in the past, horrible things happening in the present, and I guess I will force myself to finish. I am at 85% completion and I am ready to skip to the end and put it and me out of my misery. There is no like ability in the characters. Did Laura Dave actually write this?

Something was missing in this story. It seemed to reach for an Ann Patchett “learning” or “experience” vibe but sacrificed exploring the depth of the characters. Not much happened. Not much to care about. Not much of anything that I’ll think about later.

I think I loved this one an extra star because of Rebecca Lowman's audiobook narration. I could listen to her all day.

But I did really like the story as well even if I'm not exactly sure why. It's set over a long weekend in Rhode Island in the lead-up to MC Emmy's brother's wedding...but it ends up being a journey of self-discovery for the narrator who has been living in a seaside town hiding out from life after breaking up with her fiancé several years before and also an impromptu road trip with her brother.

There's a little bit of romance, some good family dynamics, and great characterizations. There's also a big infidelity storyline, which I generally have no patience for, but tolerated here with gritted teeth.

This was my book clubs most recent pick that came highly recommended. It was a complete and utter waste of time. Written by a novice author, the characters are underdeveloped, flakey, and totally unrelatable to me. There are holes in the story the author fails to fill. But you don't walk away wondering, you simply walk away.

3.75 - It was a quick read (which I need with a newborn at home because I can't seem to make time for reading at all this year!) and something different from books I usually read. I felt like the final two scenes were a bit sappy and dragged, but it was otherwise enjoyable.

I mostly disliked all of these characters, especially the narrator. Why does she talk like that? Why do any of them talk like they’re being written by an inspirational quotes twitter account? Who actually talks like that? Why does she have to repeat every thought of hers twice, like it’ll be more impactful the second time? Why is not a single soul mad that they’re being cheated on or that someone is cheating on their loved one? I have so many questions.