Fall in love with Heart’s Landing,a romantic wedding destination, in the first book of a Hallmark series.Jenny always dreamed of getting married at Heart’s Landing. But when she finally visits the charming small town, she’s there to make wedding arrangements for someone else: her cousin, who also happens to be her boss and a famous movie star. To keep the event secret and avoid a media circus, … movie star. To keep the event secret and avoid a media circus, Jenny pretends she’s the one getting married.
Nick is intrigued by this bride-to-be who starts visiting his bakery every afternoon for sweet treats and conversation. He has to keep reminding himself that she’s already spoken for.
As Jenny deals with her cousin’s ever-changing demands, she tries to hide her attraction to Nick. Planning this wedding couldn’t be more complicated…and what will happen once the truth comes to light?
This funny, heartwarming romance includes a free original recipe for the best-ever Lemon Bars.
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A fake wedding, even for the best of reasons, leads to complications & hard feelings. Jenny would do anything to show her aunt & cousin how much she appreciates them. She’s been her cousin Kay’s personal assistant for years. Now that Kay is an established actress & is now engaged to another actor, Kay needs Jenny more than ever. Jenny goes to Heart’s Landing undercover. While pretending to be setting up her own wedding, she’s really organizing Chad & Kay’s wedding without reporters catching wind of it. She just didn’t expect to make the friends she did & feel like she wears deceiving them.
Nick had come back to Heart’s Landing to take over his father’s cake shop, I Do Cakes. In the ten years he’s been running the business it’s grown to where he has very little free time to find his own happy ever after. He hopes to find that special someone but didn’t expect her to be engaged to someone else & planning her wedding. As circumstances keep throwing them together, his feelings grow stronger.
I really enjoyed this story. Everyone pulled together to try to give Jenny the wedding of her dreams & real friendships developed from it. The pace of the storyline was perfect. The scenery was well described & as a reader, I could picture it in my mind as I read. I really loved the way the relationship between Nick & Jenny slowly developed over time instead of the “instant” love that many enjoy. I would love to read more stories in the same setting!
In traditional Hallmark fashion this is a sweet romance story that will leave you with a few tears while smiling. The town of Hearts Landing is the dreamy wedding locale that every girl dreams of, even our heroine Jenny. When jenny is asked to impersonate a bride and plan a wedding for her famous cousin, Jenny has no choice to comply. I felt bad for Jenny because of the situations she was forced into but it helped that Nick the “hot” baker always had time and kind words to talk Jenny off a ledge. She set out to plan a wedding but she in turn gained so many friends and found her passion. Very enjoyable. I can’t wait to read more in the series.
Evelyn is running her cousin’s business while her cousin is on his honeymoon. With a contest, she finds herself competing for the business to be the setting for A Wedding in a Week against her high school crush, Ryan. Though years have passed since high school, she still feels attracted to her.
Ryan still has feelings for his best friend’s cousin. After she turned him down cold in high school, he is trying to protect his heart. Being forced together in the midst of the contest makes it hard to protect his feelings.
Opinion
I listened to the audiobook. The narrator was a soft spoken woman and was absolutely perfect for this book. The MC’s guiding voice for weddings would most certainly be more soft spoken, at least when it comes to dealing with the bride and groom.
The story itself was a sweet. It was fitting for a book built around a wedding. This is the perfect beach read.
Many thanks to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook.
Romance, clean; contemporary Hallmark movie adaptation
Clean romance, Jenny is an assistant to her cousin, a famous movie star. In order to keep her cousin’s wedding plans secret, she pretends she is the bride planning her wedding in Heart’s Landing. The town’s wedding venues and businesses are always looking for a “True” Heart’s Landing Bride. Jenny’s kind, genuine, sweet personality, have Nick and the other vendor’s labeling her a “True” bride and making concessions to help her have her dream/ideal wedding. As her cousin repeatedly changes her mind, things get tense. Nick helps Jenny with ‘her’ wedding plans, the vendors, and making decisions, and takes her around Hearts Landing, and just to help her decompress. Nick fights his attraction to an ‘engaged’ woman, as he spends time with Jenny, he can’t help but lose his heart to Jenny. Genuine, honest, characters, with sweet chemistry, fun, unique romantic setting, Jenny and Nick’s romance and fall was a fun escape read. More of a 3.5 for me as a reader.
I received ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. My opinions are my own.
This was the first Hallmark book I’ve read and I loved it.
A WATERFRONT WEDDING
..Leigh. Duncan
Evelyn stepping in for Jason while he was on his honeymoon, The couple did put a deposit down, this was the second time she got a vibe, saying something wasn’t right. Now learning that Jeramy Court a childhood friend has bought Boat Works, planning to hold weddings venues there.
For Jeramy another couple hesitating to reserve the venue, he didn’t have the capital to spread decoration just for some pictures. The waterfront view was one of a kind for weddings here in Hearts Landing
The “wedding in a week” event brought Evelyn Jason and Jean Marie to hear the details. The couple that won, had three choices , and the three venue places of theirs and everything paid. The news that Jean Marie had suffered damages and wouldn’t be available.
Working with Ryan could Evelyn see a bigger picture of planning weddings ,As Ryan explain his side and the visions he has. A lot of pressure to get the couple’s wedding done in a week. Could there be minutes for them to realize the love they too have.
These stories are great as though you or one you are close to, is planning that special day. The characters seem real, the problems and frustration they are dealing with. Seeing love in the couple but is there love for them.
Given ARC for my voluntary review and my honest opinion
I enjoyed this book all the way through.
This was my first story by this author and I enjoyed it so much! A nice refreshing story about a girl, Jenny, who works for her cousin who is an actress and wants Jenny to plan the perfect small wedding at the popular wedding destination. Problem is Jenny’s always wanted to get married there. When she gets there, she loves the town, the people, the baker Nick. Follow her story as she tries to plan the perfect wedding for a star studded event, without letting the town know who the wedding is actually for!
5 stars for this one grab it asap!
I really liked Leigh Duncan’s book that is related to the Hallmark movie. I liked how country star, Bradley Suttons returned to Mill Town to finally let go of his painful past. His parents died when he was thirteen and he moved immediately to Nashville after marrying his best friend and neighbor, Sarah. He is now back years later to find closure and sell the house before he marries Catherine, an actress.
The chemistry between Sarah and Bradley makes you want to continue reading to find out what will happen between them or if he will still marry Catherine. I especially liked the epilogue. It was also nice to know you can return home and what is more romantic than knowing you had met and married your true love at age thirteen. I received an advance copy of this book and I willingly chose to write an honest review.
A Simple Wedding, by Leigh Duncan, is available at booksellers on 3-10-20. Simple Wedding is book 1 in Ms Duncan’s new Heart’s Landing series. Hallmark Publishing has been putting out some good reading material and Simple Wedding is no exception. Only my second taste of Ms Duncan’s writing style, I’m hooked. A Country Wedding is one of my favorite books and Simple Wedding is now added to the list. I like the characters, I became engaged in their story line. I felt sorry for them when things were down and celebrated when it all worked out. I’d like to live in Heart’s Landing, please. Never thought much about Rhode Island but the descriptions of the scenery make me want to go explore. I love this fictional town and hope Hallmark is smart and commissions the entire series as movies…please.
Nick Bell & Jenny Longley are prefect for each other. He bakes and she loves his cupcakes. The instant attraction is almost a character itself. Knowing it was not to be, forbidden, was tough. Nick is determined to be a good guy, and he really is. Jenny is devoted to family and gives up hope of a relationship with Nick for love of her cousin. Two really lovely characters doing the best they can under trying circumstances. I’m looking forward to the next installment in the series, A Cottage Wedding, available in June 2020.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Happy reading.
#LeighDuncan #ASimpleWedding #Heart’sLanding #Netgalley #HallmarkPublishing #Romance
Another Hallmark Publishing homerun, they know how to pick the winners! This is the first book in a Hallmark series. I enjoyed so many aspects about this book that I’m really looking forward to reading the next one. Firstly, I read it all in one sitting, which means that it is a super easy read with a fluidity that makes it seem like the pages turn on their own; I didn’t even realize that I had gotten through the book until I was in the last forty pages. Second, the map in the front of the book helped me imagine the town as a whole reading about each shop on each street and where everything would be in correlation to each other. Third, the imagery surrounding the Captain’s Cottage with the flowers was almost like I could smell them.
Anyone who reads my reviews knows that I really love books that can transport me into them, well this one was no different than the other Hallmark books I’ve read. I felt like I was there moving through the wonderfully idyllic town of Heart’s Landing along with the characters. It’s a town I wouldn’t mind settling down in (even if it is was all about weddings). I loved all of the characters, especially the minor players like the twins of the sweet shop, where again I could picture them even without the descriptions I could just imagine what they must look like. The main characters of Jenny and Nick are very likable yet a bit irritating in certain aspects. So yes I did yell at my book telling Jenny to grow a spine with her cousin and Nick to tell Jenny how he was feeling.
In whole I laughed, cried, jeered and cheered for all of the characters and the special circumstances that brought Jenny to a place that would give her the feeling of belonging. In turn it speaks to the hope of belonging in most of us who are either looking, needing, or just plain hoping of finding. This is a sweet, fun and joyful book that everyone should enjoy, it screams “READ ME”!
Leigh Duncan’s “A Simple Wedding” was a sweet, romantic story featuring likeable, well-developed characters and a charming setting in the small town of Heart’s Landing, Rhode Island. I couldn’t help but empathize with the female lead character, Jenny, who found herself in a difficult position when her cousin, Hollywood megastar Karolyn “Kay” Karter, asked her to lie and say that Jenny was planning her own wedding in order to keep Kay’s wedding plans a secret from the press. Jenny seemed like a genuinely nice person who wanted to do the right thing, and she knew the kinds of problems her cousin’s demands and last-minute changes would create. While I wished for Jenny to have a bit more backbone in dealing with Kay, I understood why she didn’t feel that she could say no to her.
The male lead character, bakery owner Nick, also seemed like a genuinely nice person, and he made a wonderful match for Jenny. They were obviously drawn to each other from the first time they met, but couldn’t act on their feelings since Jenny was pretending to be engaged to someone else. However, they quickly struck up a friendship, and though they tried to resist, their feelings of friendship grew into something more.
While I mostly enjoyed this story, there were a couple of elements that didn’t entirely work for me. First of all, I wasn’t quite sure why Jenny’s cousin Kay couldn’t just ask the wedding service providers to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to prevent them from leaking her plans to the press. If she had done that, Jenny wouldn’t have had to tell so many lies. Second, I wasn’t clear on how a “true Heart’s Landing bride” was identified or why everyone in town went out of their way to help one. I don’t remember a specific description being provided, but it seemed like the main criteria were a certain look in one’s eyes and not acting like a total bridezilla. Have we really fallen so far as a society that it has become necessary to reward people for acting like decent human beings and not throwing temper tantrums when everything doesn’t go their way?
At any rate, I would recommend this book and look forward to reading more stories set in Heart’s Landing.
*ARC provided by the author/publisher via InkSlingerPR. All opinions expressed are my own.
I received this book as an ARC in exchange for my review. Fans of Hallmark movies will like this book, it’s characters and especially the town of Heart’s Landing. Jenny Longley knows everything there is to know about the quaint Rhode Island town that turns every bride’s fantasy wedding into reality. Since she was a young girl, Jenny hoped one day to be one of those lucky brides and marry the man of her dreams in Heart’s Landing. However, as personal assistant to her cousin, movie star Karolyn Karter, things take a very different turn when Jenny is asked by Karolyn to plan her upcoming wedding in Heart’s Landing. Not wanting her wedding to become a media circus, Karolyn decides this would be the perfect place far away from Hollywood and the ever present paparazzi. To make sure there is no chance of being discovered, she comes up with the plan of having Jenny pretend to be the bride, make all the arrangements and then arrive with her fiance the night before the wedding. She assures Jenny that all will go well because she only wants a small, intimate affair with 50 guests. In other words, a simple wedding. Jenny flies to Heart’s Landing and begins to set the plan in motion. She meets the different shop owners who go out of their way to make sure she has everything she wants even though they are working with an almost impossible time of four weeks. Nick Bell is the local baker who becomes her friend, feeds her his wonderful cupcakes, shows her the local sites and slowly starts to fall in love with her. His problem is thinking she is about to marry someone else and therefore he is in a no-win situation. Little does he know Jenny is feeling the same way about him. As the weeks pass, Karolyn makes constant changes and the wedding becomes anything but simple. Jenny manages to adjust with the help of Nick and everyone in town. She has come to think of these people as her friends and hates deceiving them. Her only hope is that they forgive her when Karolyn and Chad finally arrive and they have two huge movie stars getting married in their town. Can she pull it off? Will the town maintain it’s image as the perfect place to get married? What will Nick think of her once he learns the truth? I’m not going to answer those questions so I don’t spoil the ending. I will say they should make this into a movie. It would be cool to see Heart’s Landing come to life
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I thought this was the perfect novel to make into the next summer feature film on Hallmark.
Poor Jenny is the personal assistant to her famous cousin Kay, and Kay sends her on the impossible mission to plan a simple wedding for an anything but Hollywood Star. As a reader you fall in love with Jenny and just pray that she will tell her new friends from Hearts Landing the truth behind her abrupt change in plans. Kay upsets me so much in this story I feel like she needs to receive a major wake up call that you can’t treat people like she does. Jenny is a much better person than I am to have her as part of her big day.
The last chapter and epilogue of this story broke my heart because it was all such a big waste of money and supplies! Good thing it all took place within the pages of this book.
Nick owns I Do Cakes and Jenny is a very busy assistant to her celebrity cousin. When her cousin decides she wants a hidden wedding she sends Jenny off to set everything up. Things are difficult from the start but the town takes Jenny under their wing and assures her they will give her the wedding of her dreams. Such a sweet romance where strangers fall in love.
A Simple Wedding
Leigh Duncan
A very sweet romance with lots of twist and turns. Your dreams and heart has always been set on a wedding at Hearts Landing, and you know what you want, except the plans are for someone else. Love the story and the characters , both are well written. If you love a good Hallmark story , then you will love A Simple Wedding. Things gets a little crazy when the bride keeps changing things around, but she is the bride.
I was given a complimentary ARC copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed this well-written, clean, HEA sweet romance set in the wonderfully romantic Heart’s Landing. I appreciated Nick’s honor and restraint, but felt bad that it took so long for them to finally be together — mainly because all of Jenny and Nick’s interactions were based on a lie. It wasn’t malicious, but could have been fixed earlier.
This is a first time read of this author for me, but I look forward to reading more!
I received a free copy, and would honestly recommend this book.
“A Simple Wedding”, by author Leigh Duncan, is a delicious book–the first in a charming new contemporary series from Hallmark Publishing. Beautifully descriptive writing, which makes the reader feel as though they are actually experiencing the sights, scents, sounds, and tastes detailed by the author, enhances the sweet love story. Jenny Longley had long dreamed of a fairy-tale marriage ceremony at Heart’s Landing, a quaint little Rhode Island town which was home to a renowned destination wedding resort. When Jenny does arrive in Heart’s Landing for a wedding, it’s not hers–it’s the wedding of her boss, who is also her cousin, Karolyn Karter, fabulous film star and Diva. Karolyn;s mother and Jenny’s mother had been sisters, and when Jenny tragically lost her parents as a young child, Karolyn’s family gave her a home. Feeling bound by lifelong gratitude, Jenny reluctantly agrees to help Karolyn make her own wedding a reality. Posing as a bride-to-be, complete with a fictional fiance, Jenny makes all the arrangements, which are subject to continual change by the real bride. Heart’s Landing is even more wonderful than Jenny had imagined, and she feels drawn to the place and it’s people–especially the handsome baker, Nick Bell, who is the owner and operator of “I Do Cakes”. Nick is as appealing as the sweet treats he creates, and a mutual spark is felt by both he and Jenny. However, he can’t quite figure out this soon-to-be-married and “off limits” lady, who doesn’t act like any bride he’s ever met. With the date of Karolyn’s wedding looming ever near, Jenny can’t wait until all is said and done and she can explain her actions to Nick and the townspeople of Heart’s Landing. Jenny has fallen in love with Nick, but will he, and the town, understand and forgive her? Will giving Karolyn the wedding of her wishes cause Jenny to lose the love of a lifetime? “A Simple Wedding” was a delight to read, and I look forward to further entries in this series.
Book Copy Gratis Hallmark Publishing
4 1/2 STARS!
Sweet, romantic and delightful! With the first book in her new Heart’s Landing series, Leigh Duncan spins a romantic tale of falling for someone when you least expect it in A SIMPLE WEDDING.
Jennifer Langley is a really easy to like character. She’s sweet, she’s kind, she has a whimsical heart. I really felt for her and the position her cousin was putting her in.
Nick Bell is small town romance gold. He is masculine yet gentle, well liked by the community yet unassuming and by some twist of fate hasn’t found his happily ever after yet. Until now!
I highly recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a sweet romance in a close-knit small town. There’s a bit of a subterfuge going on though out, but it doesn’t hinder the development of the characters. I’m looking forward to visiting Heart’s Landing time and again!
A Simple Wedding by Leigh Duncan is a sweet, heartfelt, feel-good, romance that is the beginning of a new series. It is everything a “Hallmark Romance” should be. Heart’s Landing is an adorable community and I really think it could be a great setting for many novels to come. When the residents of Hearts Landing get wind of a “True Hearts Landing Bride” in their midst, they are all eager to help her plan her perfect wedding. The only problem, the bride is a fake! I could truly empathize with the Jenny, who is planning her famous actress cousin’s wedding and in her role as her personal assistant. Changes frustrate her as do all the vendors, including the local baker, Nick, who becomes her friend and sounding board. As time passes and her feelings for Nick grow, it becomes increasingly hard to keep the bride’s true identity a secret. Jenny and Nick had great chemistry were able to handle the curveballs thrown their way on their path to finding each other. I enjoyed the story of Jenny and Nick; loving how Jenny grew throughout the book and stood her ground when it was needed. I enjoyed getting to know the characters in the shops. The town of Hearts Landing sounds so sweet, with streets and businesses with wedding themed names; making it is the perfect town for a dream wedding.
Ms. Duncan wrote a sweet, heartfelt, feel-good, romance that should not be missed. This tale abounds with emotions, sexual chemistry, humor, wonderful dialogue, and endearing characters giving Daphne and Jonah a chance at love, a family, and forever. I highly recommend A Simple Wedding to other readers and I will be looking forward to reading more books by this author.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.