Kat French - Undertaking Love

When Marla Jacobs discovers that the shop next to her Little White Wedding Chapel is to become a funeral parlour, she declares all-out war.
Marla’s chapel in the sleepy Shropshire countryside has become a nationwide sensation, but the arrival of Funeral Director Gabriel Ryan threatens everything Marla has worked for. She can picture the scene: wedding limos fighting for space in the street with hearses; brides bumping into widows; bouquets being swapped for wreaths.
Marla’s not going down without a fight. She enlists a motley crew of weird and wonderful local supporters, and battle lines are drawn. But, as soon as Marla meets her nemesis, she realises just how much trouble she’s in. His rugged good looks and Irish lilt make her stomach fizz – how is she supposed to concentrate on destroying him, when half the time she’s struggling not to rip the shirt off his back?

Comment: This was the other Christmas gift I was given this past month. Unlike the previously commented book, which was what I'd say is a fiction contemporary, this one I'd label as chick lit. This "genre" can be a hit or miss for me and I'm sad to say this was mostly a miss...

In this story we meet Marla Jacobs, an American woman who moved to England with her mother but when she divorced her english husband and went back to the US, Marla stayed. Now she has a wedding business and her place of work is a chapel, which can be turned into what the bride wants. The business has been quite successful so far but Marla fears things could change because the place next door is going to be a funeral home.

Gabriel Ryan has been in the funeral business his whole life, since his father also used to own such a business. Now on his own, away from his Irish home, Gabriel wants to bring such a necessary business to people who would need to wait hours before any professional could arrive. Everything looks good on paper but it seems the woman next door, along with many of her friends, want him gone. It's just too bad they seem to like each other anyway...

Reading my little summary above, this feels like a potentially funny romantic comedy but I can assure you I don't understand why there are so many high rates because this didn't read as funny for me. In my opinion it went more towards the "silly" camp and it can be quite a disappointment when the premise indicates you will have a certain type of book but the execution is actually very different.

The idea of having such antagonist types of business (wedding and funeral) just one door away could have its perks in terms of allowing for funny situations. However, instead of bringing the characters together or making them realize working alongside each other could benefit them both, Marla immediately goes on the offensive and claims the funeral parlor couldn't be there or her wedding chapel would go to bankruptcy. While I can imagine her initial behavior as understandable, what follows just seemed very childish and silly. Yes, we are supposed to believe that playing pranks or turning the population against Gabriel and seeing him gaining the upper hand is what would happen in such a cute fictional town but sincerely, I just think it was ridiculous. 

I think one of the biggest issues - apart from the plot itself - is the lack of likability I have for all the characters. Marla just behaved very childishly but when she had her monologues, It could be understandable why her fickle mother would have given her the sense one couldn't trust others. But she just didn't seem very approachable and I wasn't convinced anyone would really want to be with her besides the basic.

Gabriel, the hero, was more balanced. I liked him and probably he was the most reliable and convincing character in the whole book, and it's the only reason why this wasn't rated even lower for me.

Sadly, all the secondary characters have problems in their characterization. Except an older couple which obviously personifies stability, everyone acts silly and negatively. Some characters are clearly clichés (like gay Jonny or one dimensional villain Rupert) and others are only useful for the story to have some more filling (like best friend Emily's desire to have a baby/rocky marriage/cheating or Melanie's jealousy/fixation on her boss). Even the ones who promised a little bit more depth (like understated Dan and his inner feelings) were put aside to show case shenanigan behavior and silly plot moves. I think this story was a huge pile of missed opportunities to turn it into a reliable romantic comedy.

The plot moves towards a specific scenario but the path getting there is just so silly and sometimes avoidable. There are some situations which only seem to have been included to shock or to magnify the drama factor. But for me it was melodrama, so superficial it looks like.

It'0s really a pity the author chose to write things like this. The potential is definitely here and with a bit more planning, this could have been much more balanced and captivating.

Based on this story alone, I don't feel like trying another one by the author.

Grade: 5/10