The Wedding People by Alison Espach

Phoebe Stone has a plan. She’s arrived in her best dress, no luggage, and with a suite reservation at a fancy beachfront hotel in Rhode Island. She’s left her life in St. Louis behind, is too sad and depressed to continue it, and has no intention of returning. However, she didn’t count on Lila, who thought she’d booked the entire hotel for her lavish and absurdly expensive six-day wedding celebration, and is horrified to discover a suicidal intruder who could ruin everything.

The American author Alison Espach writes in the style of Monica Heisey et al. – bitingly clever, devastatingly funny, more than capable of facing hard truths. Supposedly, Phoebe, an English Professor, is at the lowest point in her life, struggling with the breakdown of her marriage, and Lila is at the peak of her life, about to fulfill her late father’s wish and marry a handsome doctor. But amid the wedding whirlwind she’s inadvertently been drawn into, Phoebe discovers that she hasn’t lost all hope (or feelings of desire). And as a disinterested observer, she soon becomes a confidante not only to Lila, but also to the groom and several other members of their families. Not everything is as the façade of the rich, privileged woman suggests – and Espach picks apart everyone’s insecurities, regrets and weaknesses with tender compassion, while making you snort with laughter. She shows us that it’s not always a disaster when the best-laid plans go awry. The best read of the year so far.
Phoenix £20 per person384

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Things We Do for Love by Miranda Dickinson

How can you liven up the standard enemies-to-lovers plot? Miranda Dickinson’s solution is to add a little of the Bard. Lucie is a Shakespearean actress eking out a series of part-time jobs in Stratford-upon-Avon, hoping for her big break. Theo was on the verge of breaking into Hollywood’s A-list before beating out an influential director. Now he has a crucial chance to play Hamlet at the RSC and kill some time. When he ends up temporarily joining the small Garden Players troupe alongside Lucie, she is less than pleased. But as word of Theo’s presence spreads and the pair’s sizzling chemistry is noticed, they are commissioned to perform Shakespeare’s greatest love scenes for ever-growing audiences.

Miranda Dickinson revels in the portrayal of the life of an actor – memorizing lines, chaotic rehearsals, stage kisses. And her likeable leading ladies – who outdo each other with barbs and quips, plagued by self-doubt but determined to keep the show on the road, and dealing with scheming exes – prove to be entertaining company. Does it all end well? What do you think?
HQ £9.99 per person 480

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Amphibian by Tyler Wetherall

Feverish female adolescence is not a subject that is currently under-represented in contemporary literature, but Tyler Wetherall’s contribution has a foul-smelling, compelling power. It stirs a particularly poisonous brew in amphibiantells the story of Sissy, a 12-year-old girl who tries to understand what is going on with her single mother and what is happening to her own body.

She’s an outsider at her new West Country school until she earns the respect of cool girl Tegan. The pair begin an intense friendship, searching in each other for what they lack in their very different but equally chaotic and unhappy home lives. Soon an explosive mix of secrets, lies and mental health issues surround them as they learn too much too soon about sex and desire. And as they explore their changing bodies and play spells in the woods, concerns grow about girls being abducted by a mysterious male kidnapper.

Wetherall’s prose is filled with the horror and wonder of those turbulent years of physical change, and is shot through with mythic, mystical overtones – and a rather disturbing dose of magical realism. Her wild heroines, who pose as Tallulah and Tatiana on MSN chat, are heartbreakingly out of their depth – thrilled to be called beautiful and desperate for love.
Virago £20 per person307

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The Spark by Holly Miller

Neve’s life was destroyed ten years ago when Jamie, the love of her life, was killed in a car crash. The workaholic interior designer hasn’t cared much for relationships since then, but then she meets Ash, a handsome architect who rose to local fame after being struck by lightning – the same night Jamie died.

As Neve gets to know him, she notices more and more uncanny similarities between Jamie and Ash – until she comes to the obvious conclusion that, erm (looks up), Jamie’s soul must have passed into Ash’s body that fateful night. Oddly enough, he’s not particularly impressed with her “walk-in” theory. And while the premise is absurd, it does make you think about the strange places heartbreak can lead.

Holly Miller pushes more emotional buttons with subplots that involve Neve trying to cope with her emotionally chaotic mother and reconnect with her former best friend. Get ready to get the tissues out.
Hodder & Stoughton £9.99 per page 404

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