I love this series.

Lovelace ends the stories of Betsy's childhood with a warmly written story about the triumphs and misadventures of being a wife. The story continues to shows Betsy's faithfulness to her family, friends, and now her husband, while giving a glimpse of life in the World War I era. Betsy's Wedding is a young adult book with charm, period grace and accuracy (Betsy is very concerned about learning to cook for her wonderful groom Joe) but also prescient in its concerns for her budding career as a writer (a la Jo in "Little Women").

Betsy and Joe are not only great friends; they are also very much in love. Betsy supports her husband through his blue moods and silences, while Joe supports Betsy's writing at every opportunity. Most couples would do well to emulate their example of treating each other with kindness, consideration and respect.

One thing that always impressed me about this book is how Betsy manages to defer to Joe during times of crisis without losing her identity. In other words, she's more interested in making the relationship work than in getting her own way all the time. Joe also shows the same respect to Betsy when he knows something is important to her. Theirs is a truly beautiful relationship, one that mirrored Maud Hart Lovelace's marriage to her husband, Delos. She once wrote to a fan, "Delos and I found that marrying each other was the perfect solution to life." You can tell she meant it after reading this book.

The Betsy-Tacy books were highly autobiographical and Lovelace perfectly captures the innocence and magic of childhood. If you read this book and love it, please read the series. It will be books that you will never forget as long as you live. I also recommend the "Betsy-Tacy Companion" which is an amazing book that disects each book and compares it to it's real-life counterparts, including pictures of the "real" Betsy, Tacy, Tib and all the gang.

I had the pleasure of visiting "Deep Valley" (aka Mankato, Minnesota) for a Betsy-Tacy convention back in 1996. It was incredible to step back in time and enter Betsy's world. We toured the city and I was actually able to step foot in "Tacy's" bedroom and sit on the famous bench at the top of the big hill. It was truly a life-altering experience. I have to thank my sister, Julie for introducting these books to me and changing my life.

It's obvious how much these books mean to me. My first born child was named Tacy Kelly Maloy. Please read and enjoy. They are a treasure!

I enjoyed the first few chapters when Joe and Betsy reunite and decide to be married, as well as them making a home as newlyweds, and their kindness to take in an aunt to live with them for a little bit.

Loved their proposal in these lines:
"Betsy," he said at last, "I love you. I love you from that cloudy dark hair down to your slender feet. I love your eyes, and your soft hands, and your sweet voice, and the way your laugh chimes out. Everything about you is enchanting to me. But Betsy, it's lots more than that."
He seemed to be thinking out loud.
"I can always talk to you," he said. "I can make plans, or puzzle out ideas, or build castles in the air. I don't need to think what I'm saying or guard my words. You understand my high moods and my low ones. You understand ME, I guess."
"I want to be married to you and have you around all the time. I want to come home to you after work and tell you about my day. I want to hear you humming around, doing housework. I want to support you. I want to do things for you. If we were married and I was coming home to you tonight, I wouldn't care if we had just bread and milk."
"You know, Betsy, we never quarrel when we're together. We never will, I really believe, when we are married. But if we aren't, something might come between us again."
"Betsy, you fit into my life as perfectly as a rose fits its stem. You and I match like the pieces of a broken coin." After a long pause, he said, "Love me always, Betsy! I have given my whole heart to you."
Betsy could not answer for a moment because her eyes and throat were full of tears. The restaurant was empty, except for Minette who was counting money busily into a long black bag. Betsy leaned close and put her wet cheek against Joe's.
"I love you, too. Just the way you love me. And we'll be married. I promise."

Did anyone else find it super amusing that after five books’ worth of Betsy and Joe only sharing a couple of brief, tantalizing scenes, this book just opened with them meeting after years of silence and Joe saying, “Let’s get married next week”? It’s like Lovelace suddenly got tired of the slow build-up and fast-forwarded like nobody’s business.

Truthfully, I think that this book should have been titled Betsy and Joe rather than the eighth installment—because this is definitely where Betsy and Joe’s relationship comes to life and Joe actually feels like a fully-developed character. I know that Lovelace didn’t meet her husband (upon whom Joe is based) until after high school so the Betsy/Joe scenes in previous books were fictionalized whereas this book drew from Lovelace’s actual married life, and I think the difference really shows. Joe is so much more outspoken and sassy than any of the other books ever hinted, and watching him and Betsy learn their way through their first couple years of marriage is really sweet.

Like the rest of the series, Betsy’s Wedding is unfailingly pure and kindhearted, but I feel like in many ways it’s a step up from its predecessors because the changes that the characters encounter are so significant. My concerns stemming from Betsy and the Great World were addressed here—the book does a better job than the previous one at balancing the cute daily incidents with the bigger changes going on with World War I, and it even ends on a slightly ominous note (much to many readers’ chagrin). The only place where the book really backslides is in Betsy and Tacy’s determination to marry off Tib despite Tib being perfectly happy in her single existence—yes, I know that it was a different era, etc., but the fact that both Betsy and Tacy, who dreamed of seeing the world and having grand adventures, criticize Tib for just living her best life rather than settling down and being a housewife read as really sour to me.

Still, it’s a worthy ending to this series and, when one looks back on how the series began with Betsy and Tacy meeting as five-year-olds, concluding with the girls as married, responsible women (with Tacy even being a mother) is a pretty impressive feat. It might even be my favorite entry in the series, and that’s definitely not a bad way to go out.

This book was amazing this series was amazing I just loved it all! There are no more words.

it rly freaking sucks that i have to give this 4 stars because up till the end it was all systems perfect score, but then oh we HAD to start up world war i and get enlisted
i still give it a 4.5 at least simply for the redeeming quote that was “war! women never invented it!” because say that
yall dont want my thoughts on war i will never stop so i wont start
in other news why was this the most romantic book… ever??? like
austen holds nary a CANDLE to this diva
this was NOT good for my need to be married and a homeowner right this very second like you guys dont get it i need a ring on it (not until after college) but still
truly though where are the joe willards of the world? where are the men who want to get settled down the minute you reunite years after your messy breakup that was entirely your fault? where are the men who choke down the burnt to a crisp pie you made for dinner and compliment it? where are the men who take you out dancing and canoeing years into the marriage? where are the men who are interested and keep up with your younger sister’s and her friend’s high school tea???
i could go on, maud you outdid yourself, and the fact that he’s based off your hubby, congrats queen

i cant believe this is the end of betsy ive been with this girl since 8th grade, im so emo like thats fam

Rereading the last book in a beloved favorite series, this is the one about what it's like for Betsy to be a newlywed. The brief honeymoon, their first home, furniture shopping and cooking disasters. Betsy and Joe are obviously in love. As much as this is Betsy's story, it is also Tacy and Tib's. Especially Tib, it is her story of being a single working girl in Minneapolis. She goes out dancing; she dates but cannot find Mr. Right. Being the good friends they are, Betsy and Tacy who is now a mother attempt to find her a husband, Will they? Can they keep Tib safe when one of her suitors acts inappropriately?
What makes rereading the Betsy-Tacy series most interesting is discovering details that I had forgotten. In this one, I had forgotten about Aunt Ruth coming to live with newlyweds Joe and Betsy. And like Betsy and the Great World, the events in Europe (i.e. World War I) are on everyone's mind, especially Tib's. She is a German-American, can she and her family prove they are loyal to America? Is it possible for the United States stay out of the War?
A satisfying conclusion to a beloved series.

I read "Betsy-Tacy" and "Betsy-Tacy and Tib" when I was in grade school, and I liked them a lot. I felt like Tib really added something to the close friendship that Betsy and Tacy (there's a nickname for Anastasia that you don't hear anymore!) had formed. And I enjoyed living vicariously through Betsy's "Great World" adventures, even though I'd never read about her high school or college years.

Now she's back in town, newly engaged to Joe, and he wants to put a ring on it ASAP. And so he does, within hours of her arrival, and makes it an actual wedding band! Then he quits his job and vows to marry her as soon as possible. But, oops! Betsy's father wants his future son-in-law to be employed AND have his permission to marry her. In the shortest job hunt ever, Joe lands a new journalist gig, spends two hours talking to Mr. Ray, and the wedding's still on....in twenty-four hours!

Despite being a last-minute event, everything is perfect and beautiful and goes off without a hitch. Then they move into a new apartment and Mr. Ray sends them a truckload of groceries as a housewarming presents. Larks! Then Tacy dares to have a baby son, instead of the daughter she's been promising Betsy. And he's ugly! Woe! But then he gets prettier, and all is forgiven.

Then, of course, Betsy and Tacy get to be Smug Married Women together and decide to make still-not-married, independent Tib their new matchmaking project...all because they are OBSESSED with being bridesmaids at her wedding. Really, they talk about it like being a bride was just a second-best option, as was being EACH OTHER'S bridesmaids, and the true matrimonial privilege is being TIB MUELLER'S MOTHERF***ING BRIDESMAIDS. Nothing else will do!

So they set Tib up with an older millionaire. It doesn't work out.

Then a narcissistic newspaper man sweeps Tib off her feet. It doesn't work out.

When her friends finally despair of marrying her off, THEN she meets the perfect guy,dates him for three weeks, and gets engaged. Betsy and Tacy act like she just singlehandedly ended world hunger.

When America enters the First World War in 1917, Joe enlists in the Army. Betsy tries to hide how miserable this makes her, and gets a newspaper job to help with the war effort. Joe reassures her that he'll come back and they'll start a family. Tacy has another baby and Tib has a military-themed wedding. We never find out if Joe really does make it through the war, because the book ends at Tib's wedding reception.

Read September 1, 2006

Betsy and Joe are married early in this book, Tacy has two children and other than a few moments of matchmaking with Betsy for Tib, she is a mostly silent friend. Tob's main purpose is to find a husband. Ends on the brink of War with Germany.....all in all, a sweet and naive story but maybe not the best story for a modern girl as most of the notions are a bit misogynistic and placating old fashioned ideals. For example, Betsy a writer has yet to actually write or publish any works on her own since a brief mention in book #9, even though Maud Hart Lovelace is clearly writing often in her early marriage to her husband and prior to her marriage.

It’s bittersweet to finally be at the end of this series. The first three books brought me so much joy as a child, and then discovering for the first time the entire series, as I’ve read them aloud to both girls, has only deepened that joy. For the time period, for the subject matter, we found these books unexpectedly progressive and thoughtful in small ways and so full of warmth and good humor. I’m thrilled to have shining examples for all three of us of healthy friendships which allow for growth and change.

I loved the way Betsy's journey ends (for the reader). Her wedding focused on beginning her life with Joe, and the growth that they showed as a couple made you feel OK about how the book ended.

Some people criticize Lovelace for writing Betsy as a stereotypical housewife in this book. People back away from this book because they view her setting up initially as a housewife as Betsy losing something. I don't think that is the case at all.

First of all, when you find a person you want to spend your life with, you work on growing the COUPLE sometimes, not the individual. You never get the impression that Betsy is doing anything she doesn't want to do. Joe never once is heavy-handed with her, and they learn how to approach things together. Her writing is always encouraged, and they always talk.

Second, wanting to do domestic things is not some sign of resignation or weakness. I wish cooking, cleaning, and sewing were not viewed as some manner of servitude.

Lastly, each person (Betsy and Joe) has the thing the other needs in the relationship. She has her sense of family and her willingness to learn. He has his "can-do" attitude and his appreciation and pride of his wife. You see them both grow and be human but in a lovely way.

As with all of Lovelace's writing (maybe less so in book #9), you get a very matter-of-fact writing style. She lays the events and feelings out and help you identify with emotions and thoughts universal to us all. I love her writing for the beautiful moments like this.

I will miss this series and enjoyed it very much.