Everything's Coming Up Rosie

September 4, 2006
The week-long pre-wedding house party for Doug Llewellyn's cousin Lili-beth is slated to be the social gathering of the decade-or a seven-day ordeal of shrill matchmaking and grim self-reflection, as it would seem to Doug-in this latest contemporary romance from Michaels (Stuck in Shangri-La). Handsome, intelligent, witty-and "matrimonially un-catchable,"-Doug is a successful 40-year-old Philadelphia architect dreading the tireless matchmaking efforts of Lili-beth's mother. Ditto for sassy, independent web-site designer Rosie Kilgannon. With no graceful way out, Rosie and Doug figure "us victims have to stick together," and proceed to undo Bettie's best-laid plans. Meanwhile, disaster rules at the pre-nuptial festivities: the groom is showing a dark side, Bettie is methodically bedding each of the band members, the wedding planner drinks more than she pours, and Lili-beth isn't sure she wants to get married after all. Lots of flirting, slap-stick antics and eccentric characters, including light-fingered 85-year-old Aunt Susanna and Lili-beth's secretive childhood friend Delbert, make this a cheerful, lighthearted read.