The Wedding Charade by Caroline Mickelson

Sweet, Delightful Double Romance

I’m a sucker for romantic stories that feature older protagonists. Love stories shouldn’t just be about young people. This book has both. The author has set up a fascinating premise. Basically, the two older adults think the two younger adults are rushing into marriage, so they are planning to show the younger people how foolish it is to get married so quickly by patterning it themselves. Everyone in this story is inherently a good person acting with good intentions, even if they’re not well thought out and have not-so-good results. When I write this premise out, it might sound a little ridiculous, but the author manages to pull it off with warmth, caring, gentleness, and a little humor. The father-son relationship between Zander and Matt seems realistic, as does the aunt-niece relationship between Kayla and Whitney. Within the family units, these are people who genuinely love and respect each other; I love it when authors can pull that off in stories about families. Even with Zander and Kayla’s good intentions, things go sideways in a variety of ways. Again, the author has made this completely believable and relatable, showing vulnerabilities and possibilities. The reactions seemed so very human. This is a sweet, lovely double romance that I thoroughly enjoyed getting immersed in.