bachelorettepartyTitle: The Bachelorette Party
Author: Karen McCullah Lutz
Genre: Women’s Fiction/Chick-Lit
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Summary:
Zadie is of the mind that love and marriage are as evil as Satan himself.  After she’s stood up at the alter by her soap opera star fiancé Jack all she has left is her job as an English teacher at a posh LA private school and her best friend Grey.   The biggest problem with that?  Well, not only is she spending the majority of her time lusting after her Abercrombie and Fitch model [slash] student Trevor but now Grey has moved to the dark side.  Her best friend has gone and gotten engaged to be married ….even worse, his new fiancé is her Stepford sized cousin Helen.

Helen is as prim and proper as they come, so when Grey asks Zadie to make sure his fiancé loosens up at her bachelorette party she reluctantly accepts the mission.  Immediately thrown into dealing with Helen’s uptight (or are they?) friends as she tries to convince them to go from a day of tea parties and yoga to drunkenness and debauchery Zadie navigates a wild night that punctuate a series of situations that further affirm her “no love, no marriage” mantra.

In the end Zadie learns several valuable lessons that relate to family, friendship, professionalism and most importantly opening her life up to the possibility of sharing it with that special someone.

Opinion:
I adored this book!

From the first page McCullah Lutz’s witty and sarcastic humor jumped off the page.  Zadie is as saavy as she is amusing while her best friend Grey tempers her cynicism with a more pragmatic outlook.   More than that the author does a wonderful job developing the myriad of supporting players.  Helen as the perfect cousin, Trevor as the lusted after student, all the ladies in attendance at the bachelorette party; each of them were well characterized and highly entertaining in their own right.

The simple plot – showing how Zadie navigates her perception of love and marriage through her experiences at the bachelorette party – was easy to follow and enjoyable in all respects.  There were even a few unexpected twists and turns that caught me off guard — twists that ultimately alter the course and resolution of the story.

I strongly encourage anyone who enjoys a good laugh to pick up this book.  You won’t put it down again until you’re finished.