The Divorce Planner by Angela Lam @authorangelalam / Books Teacup and Reviews

The Divorce Planner by Angela Lam
Publication Date : May 20th 2019
Publisher : The Wild Rose Press
Read Date : May 19th 2019
Genre : Women’s Fiction / Chick Lit
Pages : 301
Stars : ★★★★ /5

When her daughter suggests Darcy Madison attend her ex-husband’s wedding, Darcy enlists the help of her colleague, divorce attorney Victor Costello, to pose as her dashing young date. But when Victor proposes to Darcy at the reception, Darcy forgets they are pretending and says, “Yes!” Between her false engagement to Victor and her daughter’s suggestion to have a double wedding, Darcy falls even further in the fantasy of being a blushing midlife bride. The longer the masquerade continues, the more Darcy starts to wonder what is love and can it last forever in a world where divorce is the only language she knows?

The Divorce Planner revolved around Darcy who was 50 something, professionally divorce planner trying to mend relationship with her daughter by planning her wedding. In between juggling the divorce planning and wedding planning, she found someone who changed her belief, made her to think about love again. The book was about divorce vs wedding, love vs logic and realism, second chance to love, and midlife and married life crisis.

I loved many things in the book. Writing and plot was fabulous and gripping. It was third person narrative from Darcy’s POV. Her voice was charming that pulled me into the story right from the beginning. Humor, romance, drama, conflicts, and insights everything was there to make the book enjoyable.

Book started with Joyce calling her mother Darcy to plan her wedding. But the thing is Darcy was the divorce planner not wedding planner who was against marriage. She vowed not to marry ever. Darcy was so sure of no true love, no happy ending, no fairy tales and no forevermore and adamant all things related to love and marriage end disastrously. But when she met Victor at gala event and later for business, all her beliefs threatened to go wrong. Things got even worse when they attended Darcy’s ex-husband wedding as fake madly-in-love couple.

I was curious to see how they will get out of their lie, what they will experience once their fantasy ended and were forced to come back in reality, will Darcy break her vow and give love a second chance, and how they will confess their true feelings. There were little surprises here and there that kept the story gripping and exciting.

The best part was characters, especially Darcy. She was my favorite character in the book. Like her name she was man in women’s body- realistic, cynical, and practical. Darcy’s story of her previous marriage, how it ended horribly that affected her relation with her daughter, how she failed to mend it ever since the divorce, and how a party planner Darcy turned to divorce planner. It showed endurance, patience and strength. I liked her cynical thoughts on marriage, love and divorce. The way she handled her clients, work life, social Life and daughter’s wedding all at once was admirable. Darcy’s emotions throughout the book were perceptible. I could feel her exasperation, confusion, fear, and struggle. As a mother I could see how difficult it might be to cope with Her ex-husband, Nathan and daughter, Joyce who were irritating and blamed Darcy for anything that went wrong with them. Many times I put down the book to think how Darcy might have dealt with them for so many years.

First chapter and I already hated Nathan. He repeatedly blamed Darcy for their divorce. He was liar who turned everyone against Darcy even their daughter. And now that she is planning Joyce’s marriage he called her a bad luck for their daughter’s marriage! No wonder Darcy is a divorce planner.

Joyce was no better than Nathan. She loved her dad more than Darcy even though he cheated Darcy. She was Bridezilla who wanted her mother to put her work and clients on sidelines to organize her perfect wedding and she didn’t even appreciate all Darcy did for her till date. Not just that she threatened to fire Darcy!! She was petulant, controlling and spoiled person. But things changed by the end of the book and I liked the way both father and daughter realized their mistake, it was realistic.

Here comes my second favorite character of the book. Victor, 37, so younger than Darcy that he could be her eldest son. Handsome divorce attorney at Darcy’s best friend’s firm, workaholic, sensitive and romantic. He was such a gentleman, sweetheart, and perfect marriage material, it was surprising he never married or didn’t have life outside work. I loved him when he asked Darcy to take him as a date to her Nathan’s wedding and his logics for it were fabulous.

All characters were relatable, I could understand their feelings and emotions. I felt like I was part of their story. Those Books and Booze club discussion were fun to read. All members of the book club were interesting and unique. I even loved their little stories after climax and their discussion on Darcy’s love life. It made me want to find a book club with regular meet to have that kind of fun.

So many things happened between climax and end. This portion was felt longer but was filled with humor, drama and lots of emotions. I loved the way characters realized their mistakes and tried to make things right between them. End was good and fun. Another good book-to-screen kind of story. I would love to see this as a movie.

Everything about the book was enjoyable but it was little predictable. Sometimes characters acted childishly. Joyce telling all private details of Darcy to everyone, Victor sharing things to Tyler before consulting Darcy, Nathan and Tanya’s friend belittling Darcy and Victor! They were all adults and I wished they acted accordingly.

Overall, it was entertaining, romantic and relatable chick-lit with interesting characters and their views on marriage and divorce.

Author Links:

Website: www.angelalamturpin.com
Facebook: Author and Artist Angela Lam
Twitter @authorangelalam
Goodreads: Angela Lam

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon

*** Note: I received e-copy of this book from the author, in exchange for an honest review. ***