Book Smart Kate

Book: 🌟🌟🌟 Audiobook: 🌟🌟🌟🌟Spice: N/A

by Mary Hollis Huddleston, Asher Fogle Paul

Set in Nashville, this is a light little story about Claire, a writer for Piece of Cake, the South’s premier bridal magazine, and her idea to keep the magazine afloat as print moves to digital in the post-pandemic world. I was very excited to read this as the premise and location hit close to home for me – I met my husband at a wedding, and he was living in Nashville at the time.

Claire is a Dallas trust fund kid disavowed by her family and living independently in Nashville. She pitches a docuseries to her bosses, and it gets green-lit, as long as Instagram influencer Dominic “the bridesman” Gravino comes on board to do the videography. Over a couple of months, Claire and Dom document several unique (and sometimes chaotic) weddings for the series while transitioning from enemies to friends to could-be-more.

This is a cute little book if you love weddings. If you love Nashville, it is peppered with locations and activities that those in the city love and loathe. However, a couple of things rubbed me the wrong way. Claire is meant to be independent, learning the error of her ways and living on a shoestring budget. However, she drives a Range Rover, wears Louboutins, and eats Jen’s ice cream (it is $12 a pint). She is also swift to judge for someone who doesn’t want to be judged. Although I liked the idea of this book, I didn’t feel the heart and spark between the main characters that I hoped for. 

I listened to this on audiobook from @netgalley in exchange for my honest review. The audiobook narrators elevate the text. The female narrator’s southern accent is perfect – not too much, not too little. The male narrator is charming.