RW: In the Pink

Not counting my own, I've been involved with some strange weddings. One of my friends got married to her honey on Hollywood Beach, and we all wore bikinis to the ceremony (this was way back when I had a bikini bod.) Tom, my technosavior here at the blog, married his lovely wife twice. The first ceremony took place at a hospital chapel in the middle of a work shift (long story) and Tommy barely had time to say I do before we had to leave to respond to a freeway pile-up (later we had a proper ceremony, with all the family present and no radios going off.)

I've also handmade and tailored a traditional white wedding gown with only two days notice, and baked a nine-layer wedding cake from scratch, and catered a reception for 75 people on a shoe-string budget -- three reasons why I won't ever get married again.

Somewhere in hell, I suspect, is a level where the damned have to run disastrous weddings for all eternity. And somehow, I think Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer may have gone there to research their latest novel, Agnes and the Hitman. I picked up a copy on impulse over the weekend. I haven't read these two before now, but seeing how hard Jennifer worked at cleaning up her office made me want to show my support at the bookstore. Also, I knew it's one that Darlene wanted to read, and I'm terminally curious about the books you all pick for your TBR stacks. So I jumped in, and discovered why -- these two authors have cooked up some delightfully wicked stuff together.

There is Agnes, a food writer who will lose her house unless she hosts a wedding for the daughter of a childhood friend. The friend's crazy mother, however, is doing whatever she can to wreck the nuptials. Then there's the tiny problem with intruders who keep breaking into Agnes's new house, trying to shoot her and kidnap her dog. There is Shane, the hitman whose favorite uncle persuades him to set aside his latest assignment in order to protect Agnes from the steady stream of hitmen coming after her. Add in felonious families, a flaming pink wedding dress, fine food, missing fathers, flamingos, flying bullets, unfaithful fiances and five million mob bucks, and you've got all the ingredients for a fantastically funny farce.

But as always, you don't have to take my word for it. In comments to this post, name your favorite wedding-themed book or movie (or if you're not a fan of wedding fun, just throw your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Friday, September 21, 2007. I'll pick three names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners an unsigned hardcover copy of Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.