I wasn't sold on Visions in White till I read the excerpt. Then, it couldn't be released fast enough. So this is going to be my entry to Brie's contemporary romance challenge for this month :)
Visions in White by Nora Roberts
published by Berkley in April 2009
Wedding photographer Mackensie "Mac" Elliot is most at home behind the camera, but her focus is shattered moments before an important wedding rehearsal when she bumps into the bride-to-be's brother . . . an encounter that has them both seeing stars.
A stable, safe English teacher, Carter Maguire is definitely not Mac's type. But a casual fling might be just what she needs to take her mind off bridezillas. Of course, casual flings can turn into something more when you least expect it. And Mac will have to turn to her three best friends--and business partners--to see her way to her own happy ending.
Genre: contemporary romance
Series: Brides Quartet, book #1
The Story: No need to sum up the book, the back blurb does a good job (for once).
My Opinion: Truthfully? I really enjoyed Visions in White. It's been a while since I read a book that really was simply straight contemporary without any intrigue/mystery. It really focused on relationships, not just between the H/H, but the heroine and her friends and simply everybody.
I have to say, the first line of the book was awesome:
By the time she was eight, Mackensie Elliot had been married fourteen times. She'd married each of her three best friends - as both bride and groom - her best friend's brother (under his protest), two dogs, three cats and a rabbit.
Isn't that a great opening given that the 4 friends grow up to be business partners in a wedding planning company? Anyway, one of my aspect in this book is to see those 4 friends running the company. It's really impressive and I guess it's been a while since I last went to a wedding, but boy... it's a lot of work and Mac and her friends really know what they're doing :)
Anyway, onto Mac and Carter. I would say Mac is a typical heroine of Ms Roberts. Strong, confident, but with some emotional baggage aka as her mother. She's a photographer, she knows how to do her job and she's really good at it :) She's the kind of woman who eats pop tart in the morning and has a messy closet :P and with the example her parents set, she's afraid of commitments. Carter... Oh, Carter, Carter, Carter! If I had a type, he would be it :) He was sooo cute! The nerdy, shy type :) He made me laugh and he made me smiled ;) He was just perfect for Mac! I love how he had a list of pointers given by his friend, how important and monumental little tasks became - such as buying flowers, how he rehearsed his dinner preparation so everything would be perfect when he had Mac over! :) Oh and it was sooo sweet of him to admit he had a crush on Mac in high school LOL :)
Visions in White is basically about two persons with completely different personalities who meet and fall in love. Ms Roberts didn't make it happen too fast or too slowly. I thought the pacing was great :) They spent time together, getting to know each other. They went out on dates, they had sex... they panicked, got worried, got angry, reconciled and so on. Someone else mentioned in a review how she didn't like it that Ms Roberts didn't mention the condom in the sex scenes. I didn't care about it... If memory serves, Ms Roberts never does. That's the way she writes... am I going to let that ruin the book for me? No.
As usual, Ms Roberts handles the friendship between the characters with ease :) It's fun to see 4 grown women being so close - knowing each other so well, spending with each other, having fun :) I can't wait to find out about the other women: Emma, Laurel and Parker. I think Ms Roberts did a great job keeping the focus on Mac. Oh and let see, I bet that Emma is going to be with Jack, so that leaves Delaney (Parker's brother) to Laurel... and Parker's hero has yet to be introduced - he'll probably be in the business somehow :P
My only complaint about this book was the ending. I did feel that it was rushed a little bit and that Mac's fear of committment, while understandable, was just too convenient as an obstacle for the romance. And Corinne, Carter's ex, scenes were really superfluous. Otherwise, I thought Visions in White was a great book and reminds me of Ms Roberts' earlier trilogies :)
My Grade: B+. I really enjoyed it :) especially Carter and I thought the money I spent on it was totally worth it. I wasn't happy at first when I found out that Visions in White was trade-size, but now, I'm really happy. The cover is very pretty and they put efforts in the presentation... How the inside flaps are cut and the "unsanded" pages.
