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The Wedding Date: The laugh out loud romantic comedy of the year!
Zara Stoneley
A USA Today Bestseller!‘All the fun, love and laughter of a real wedding–but without having to buy a new dress!' Debbie Johnson'The best date I have ever been on…my most favourite book of 2018' Kaisha, The Writing GarnetOne ex.One wedding.One little white lie. When Samantha Jenkins is asked to be the maid of honour at her best friend’s wedding, she couldn’t be happier. There are just three problems…1) Sam’s ex-boyfriend, Liam, will be the best man.2) His new girlfriend is pregnant.3) Sam might have told people she has a new man when she doesn’t (see points 1 and 2 above)So, Sam does the only sensible thing available to her… and hires a professional to do the job.As the wedding draws closer, gorgeous actor Jake Porter plays his part to perfection and everyone believes he is madly in love with Sam. The problem is, Sam’s not sure if Jake is acting anymore…Everyone loves The Wedding Date:‘Full of laugh out loud moments’ Sunday Times bestseller Heidi Swain‘The rom com date of the year’ Phillipa Ashley‘This book made me smile from beginning to end, every girl needs a Jake rooting for them’ Jules Wake‘Lovely, warm and witty’ Tilly Tennant‘Makes you laugh out loud, feel joyfully tearful and believe in happy ever afters…I loved it’ Cressida McLaughlin ‘A terrific summer romp’ Bella Osborne‘Beautifully charming, deliciously sweet but with an unexpected bite! I loved it!’ Jo Robertson, My Chestnut Reading Tree‘As frothy as a wedding gown and as full of fizz as the very best bubbly’ Emma Reid, Screenwipe‘Has everything I look for in a romantic comedy – romance, comedy, gorgeous man…pure, enjoyable escapism’ Rachel Random Reads
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HarperImpulse an imprint of
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First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2017
Copyright © Zara Stoneley 2017
Cover design by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Cover images © Shutterstock.com (https://www.shutterstock.com)
Zara Stoneley asserts the moral right
to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction.
The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are
the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is
entirely coincidental.
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and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
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No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted,
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whether electronic or mechanical, now known or
hereinafter invented, without the express
written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008301033
Ebook Edition © April 2018 ISBN: 9780008301026
Version: 2018-10-02
Table of Contents
Cover (#ud0fc9ca3-3909-5482-b53f-13d24bd8ba68)
Title Page (#u3cca842b-a491-5d5b-87ad-649ccc17a363)
Copyright (#uaad2a3da-2476-5772-ac3d-bc54c2c6bcf7)
Dedication (#u4424fb8d-fb7f-5eee-8195-f0af3c952250)
Act One – The Invite (#u1ef3a503-582e-5650-9e5f-93c879685410)
Chapter 1 (#udb8cd141-cc5b-5018-9c47-79faab8d4dce)
Chapter 2 (#ua9bb2418-d6c2-5201-b7d8-ed98648f7cae)
Chapter 3 (#ue10b9213-305e-5cc9-9aa8-2886aba6278d)
Chapter 4 (#u110bcc00-4005-5616-beb3-e6c1d45ac149)
Chapter 5 (#ua757c39e-9c9f-5e88-b25a-e95f8ad75f7e)
Act Two – The Date (#u86add446-d6ad-5af5-9ffc-ad35167a5753)
Chapter 6 (#u9964c4a8-e032-5ef5-967d-58f9090fa00a)
Chapter 7 (#ue91ee6d3-2613-52f1-bc34-eac27d346a7d)
Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Act Three – The Wedding (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 25 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 26 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 27 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 28 (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
Also by Zara Stoneley (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
About HarperImpulse (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
For my parents. With love.
ACT ONE – THE INVITE (#u437ea336-06cb-5850-b452-e9111d4f3024)
Chapter 1 (#u437ea336-06cb-5850-b452-e9111d4f3024)
Reasons I, Sam Jenkins, cannot go to this wedding:
1 1. I’m too fat, and just don’t have time to get down to a look-okay-in-a-posh-summer-frock weight.
2 2. Lemon is so not my colour (which is the colour theme – Jess knows my aversion to over the top dresses and so has gone for a theme rather than providing the type of dress she loves and I hate). Mum says it drains me.
3 3. I have far too much work to do. And house-cleaning, and gardening.
4 4. I don’t have a date.
5 5. The last man I dated ripped my heart out, stamped on it and is going to be the best man.
Reasons I have to go to this wedding.
1 1. Jess was is my best friend.
I could add ‘and my hair looks crap’ but that one is easily handled. Much more easily handled than losing the chocolate-cake-and-chips stone in weight that has very comfortably settled itself round my stomach like an unwelcome lodger who intends to stay. Healthy food is on my to-do list, it just hasn’t made it on to my shopping list yet. I mean, you have to prioritise, don’t you? And I’m not quite ready.
Now don’t get me wrong, I can be pretty determined when I want to be, and show amazing self-control (last summer I lost 5 lb in weight the week before we went away, which meant the 7 lb I put on during the week was totally acceptable), but there are times in life when only a super-size bag of crisps and a bottle of wine will do, and the last few months has been one of those times. It has also been a time for espresso martinis and bumper bags of gin and tonic popcorn.
I was dumped, and now this.
A wedding invite. Well, advance warning of a wedding invite to be more precise.
Normally I love a good wedding, who doesn’t? But, right now, cheering on any happy couple would make me feel slightly hopeless and weepy for all the wrong reasons. And this is worse. This is the worst.
This isn’t just any wedding invite; it’s from Jess. My bestie.
We’ve known each other forever. She told me some time ago to ‘save the date’ (when I was still the deluded half of a happy couple), and now she’s emailed to tell me why.
She is getting married! The invite is in the post! It will be here any day! She is excited! Dan is excited! Everybody is excited! Her mum has already bought a hat!!! The wedding is going to be A-MA-ZING!! (The exclamation marks are hers, not mine – she is excited.)
Normally I’d be pretty thrilled too – after all, I love her to bits. I want her to be happy, I truly, truly do, and she will be. But normally was the time before Liam shredded my heart, hopes, and the perfect future I’d created in my head, as thoroughly as he shredded his very private and confidential banking documents – and pretty much every other sheet of paper left carelessly lying around. And Jess is marrying Dan. Liam’s brother. And Liam will of course be the best man. Not that ‘best’ or ‘man’ are words I’d voluntarily apply to him.
So I am not thrilled. I am imagining walking up the aisle behind my best friend towards the man who cheated on me. And everybody there will know he cheated on me. I will be the elephant in the room, the person that everybody stares at but avoids talking to because it is all so embarrassing and we are all so terribly British.
And if I’m totally honest I actually feel like an elephant, as in big and an anaemic shade of grey - and I don’t have time to remedy the situation. I’m not sure any spray tan or control knickers are slimming enough.
