Becca might be a real bridezilla but Mallory is sure she didn't murder over a replica Gone with the Wind (GWTW) dress. Seriously. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't plan the wedding of my ex, especially when he's marrying someone like Becca, but then it's Mallory's business. There's also a lot of crime going on in Port Quincy, especially for a small town. This wasn't my favorite of the series (it's fine as a standalone) but it was nice to visit with Mallory again. There's always a few chuckles of horror at how people behave about weddings and she's a good character. Is this the last time we'll see Keith? Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This book has a lot going on with the characters, choking, drowning, fire, shootings, all while trying to stage some weddings and other events. I found it a little bit tedious, especially when the ending is so abrupt. But still it's a good book & worth a read. #GownWithTheWind #NetGalley

This is a great book. Mallory is a wedding planner with her sister Rachel. Mallory is putting a wedding together for her for her former boyfriend and the girl he was cheating with while they were engaged. It has been one mess up after the other with Helene, the fiancee's mother. She's running the show. Despite Helene, Keith's mother taking over and upsetting Becca, the wedding should go on as planned. Just throw in a secret marriage, an affair, stolen jewels, a Gone with the Wind fetish, along with two brides fighting over a Scarlett O'Hara wedding dress, several murders and you have a great business plan. It was a thriller mixed with unscrupulous people with some comedy thrown in. Who committed the murders and why? Several surprises in store for readers, including the ending. I loved the book. 5+ definitely. I received this book from Net Galley and Kensington Books for a honest review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Wonderful and complex, this cozy mystery will have your head spinning in the best possible way. So many dramatic events, so many shocking revelations! I loved every page.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid for this review.

Gown with the Wind is the fourth installment in the Wedding Planner Mystery series set in the small town of Port Quincy, PA and features Mallory Shepard, owner of Thistle Park B&B and wedding planner. With grave misgivings Mallory and her sister Rachel have agreed to host the last minute wedding of Mallory's ex fiance Keith to Becca Cunningham, the woman that broke up her engagement.

The bride has a chosen a Japanese cherry blossomed theme but unfortunately Keith's mother - and Mallory's nemesis - Helene, has other ideas. Determined to manipulate and manage Becca in the same way that she'd treated Mallory, Helene wants the exact same stuffy theme with all of the same decorations and flowers that she'd forced Mallory into using.

The bride's grandmother, Alma owns the largest and most prestigious collection of Gone with the Wind memorabilia and several people desperately want to get their hands on it. When Alma is found strangled, the victim of an apparent attack, Becca quickly decides that she wants to change to a Gone with the Wind theme for her wedding to honor the elderly woman. With the last minute change of plans, Mallory finds herself having to accompany Becca to a wedding dress fitting that ends in fisticuffs when the bride gets into a fight over a Scarlett O'Hara lookalike dress with her childhood rival, Felicity Fournier.

There is a lot going on in this book; an unsolved murder, an attempted murder and a recent murder. Exes, rivalries, protests about racism, jewel smuggling, arson, etc. might leave some readers with a spinning head. Overall a fast paced addition to the series.

I received an advanced copy of Gown with the Wind from NetGalley via Kensington Publishing. While not required to write a review I am more than happy to offer my honest opinion.

I do declare, I like this series!
Mallory Shepard is planning the wedding of her ex fiancé and his new bride to be, Becca, after a last minute cancellation and boy is she glad she didn’t walk down the aisle with him. While she’s used to drama with the brides as they plan for their big day, this one takes the cake!

First the bride’s grandmother, Alma, is found after being strangled by an intruder then her life long frenemy is found dead in her swimming pool, wearing Becca’s . It’s hard to tell who has the strongest motive for murder, but Mallory finds herself in the middle of it. Add to this Alma’s love for all things Gone With the Wind and you’ve got a truly eccentric family and even more motives for murder.

Add in a large cast of potential suspects and you’ve got enough red herrings to keep your mind busy as Mallory and her sister Rachel work their way through solving who done it! A delightful read and enjoyable cast of characters.

I had to stay sharp to keep up with Stephanie Blackmoore's latest in her A Wedding Planner Mystery series. It was helpful to know some history in order to sort all that was happening, with personalities and events. The outcome is totally worth the investment with engaging characters, expert mysteries and a great flavor for the Pennsylvania setting. Go get the entire series, you will be glad you did!

A charming and fun addition to this series. The detail to this book made it enchanting. I love how the characters have grown and the mystery was executed perfectly. A great read.

Mallory Shepard has agreed to plan the wedding for her ex-fiancé and the woman that he cheated on Mallory with. And it is a nightmare come to life…The novel is full of bridezillas, a terrifying mother-in-law, murderers and other crimes, and Gone with the Wind aficionados. Mallory takes it upon herself to find the person responsible for the murders, attempted murders, and all of the various crimes taking place in Port Quincy before the wedding that she has worked so hard to plan is completely ruined.

I initially requested GOWN WITH THE WIND from NetGalley because the description of the novel – two soon-to-be brides fighting over a Gone with the Wind replica wedding gown – intrigued me. And, while all of the Gone with the Wind references were interesting – the bride’s grandmother has the premier collection of Gone with the Wind memorabilia and the family’s obsession with the film plays a role throughout the entire novel – it wasn’t quite enough to keep me interested in the story. The novel also couldn’t really hold my interest because I found that I didn’t care about any of the characters, including the main character. Mallory Shepard has what I would consider to be one of my Top 10 Nightmare Jobs. She’s a wedding planner…but she’s not quite sure how she feels about the whole marriage institution. That just boggled my mind. Plus, I can’t fathom why she would agree to plan her ex-fiancé’s wedding to the woman that he cheated on her with. Keith is an extremely unlikable man, and not enough of Mallory’s past relationship with him was explained for me to grasp what she initially saw in the jerk. Not to mention that his mother is so insane that she makes my ex-boyfriend’s mom look like an angel. How and why no one killed the groom’s mother amazed me. I wanted to kill her just to save myself from having to read any more scenes involving her.

Overall, there is way too much going on in this novel – an unsolved murder case, a current murder investigation, arson, assaults, robberies, weddings and other events, love lives and affairs, illegal smuggling, plus many more…I could barely keep any of it straight as the novel bounced around so much between all of the different storylines. There are multiple crimes and multiple bad guys throughout the novel, and I felt like not all of their crimes were explained well enough for the reader to understand how all of the crimes were committed and why.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is the third book on wedding planners this year; not by the same Author. I find it irritating that thirty-year-old women cannot find time for the men in their lives! Mallory instead runs around trying to solve crimes; which she is not good at; she thinks everyone is the killer, except the real killer. How many good-looking, hard-working men does she think she is going to come across? I can see why feminist never stay married; they are too self-absorbed! I wish I had not wasted my time on this book; either write a good mystery; or go all the way with the boyfriend; who happens to love her, and she says, she loves him. I do not believe she knows what the word means!
I do not recommend. Thank you Netgalley.
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Readers need to take Dramamine before reading Gown with the Wind. There were so many twists, turns,and curves in this story, it was too much at times. Every few pages there was new, over the top drama, and honestly, it was excessive. At first, I found the story and characters engaging, but every event brought either another dead body, disaster, or violent occurrence. This book was exhausting to read. I did like the story, but maybe tone down the drama just a bit.

Published by Kensington Books

18th December 2018

I love Gone with the Wind, books with puns in the titles and cosy mysteries so this was always going to be a winner as far as I'm concerned.

Main character Mallory is a professional wedding planner, running a fancy B and B that she has inherited from her ex-fiancé's grandmother. The ex-fiancé is now getting married to Becca, the woman he cheated on Mallory with, and she is planning their wedding. This would not happen in real life!

The Bride's larger than life grandmother is obsessed with Gone with the Wind and owns one of the world's biggest collections of memorabilia. At the local bridal boutique and her frenemy end up arguing over a replica Scarlett O'Hara dress and before you can say Fiddle-dee-dee someone is dead.

The plot to this novel is ridiculously complicated. There are a lot of exes and in-laws and their complicated relationships and some very tangled webs. But it just about holds together.

The small town setting and characters are quirky and likeable enough for you to be able to suspend your disbelief and go along with the ride.

I enjoyed this book and am definitely adding the previous books in the series (this is number 4) to my TBR pile.

It's fun escapism and if you thought organising your own wedding was stressful, be grateful you were trying to plan these ones!

Thank you to Stephanie Blackmoore, Kensington Books and NetGalley for this advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Fun series and this is a fantastic read and addition to it. Weddings can make people crazy and this story shows how true it can be with one disaster after another and plenty of twists and turns to keep you engaged.

Love, love, love this series! The Wedding Planner Mystery series never disappoint me. I love the characters, the plot and all the delightful twists and turns! Wedding planner Mallory finds herself planning the wedding of her ex-fiancé but the bride to be isn’t making it easy, in more ways than one. You’ll find yourself getting lost in this story line and won’t want to put the book down until its final page.

Wow. Head is spinning after I finished this, but in a good way. Fantastic read, lots of twists and turns, never a dull moment. So much fun and craziness. You have to read this book!

This story is such a fun read. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing until the big reveal.
Mallory and her sister Rachel work well together and their tenacity in this particular book was great.
As Mallory is knee deep in wedding preparations for her ex fiance, all things come to a drastic halt when Becca shares some shocking news.
This book is jam packed with excitement and I was hoping this book would never end.
I can't wait to read more in this series.
I volunteered to read and review an ARC of this book provided by the publisher and NetGalley.

Book four in this mystery series starts with the looming wedding of Becca and Keith, Mallory’s ex fiancée. Becca’s family and Helene, horrible and pushy mother of Keith, play prominent parts in this novel. Alma, Becca’s grandmother is attacked, and then Becca's frenemy is found floating dead in the pool wearing her coveted Gone With the Wind wedding gown. I enjoy the general premise of this series, and other books have been interesting, but this particular book had its ups and down concerning plot. If I had to read one more repetitive sentence that Keith is Mallory’s ex fiancée, or that Mallory dislikes Becca, or Mallory feels sorry for Becca etc., I was going to put this book down. I hope this is the last time we hear of Keith, and plots develop elsewhere.

This is a fun cozy mystery with great characters, a complicated plot with plenty of suspects and a lovely setting in Thistle Park, a quaint bed and breakfast in Port Quincy, Pa. which Mallory Shepard and her sister Rachel have turned into a wedding space/bed and breakfast. When Mallory's ex-fiance Keith and his new one, Becca, ask Mallory to plan their wedding it turns into one disaster after another. If it wasn't enough that Becca turned into a bridezilla, Keith's mother, Helene, is interfering in every aspect of the plans. But when Becc'a grandmother Alma is attacked and some of her beloved Gone with the Wind collectibles are stolen a year after Alma's husband was shot to death, things really heat up. And when Becca and her long time rival Felicity come to blows over the same wedding dress, and then Felicity is found dead in Becca's pool, the plot thickens - only to come to a boil when Becca's ex-husband shows up claiming they are still married! Once again it is Mallory to the rescue - fixing crimes and wedding plans galore. I adore this series and can't wait for the next book.

Action and intrigue on every page. Mallory is setting up the wedding of her former fiance Keith to the woman he cheated with, the obnoxious Becca. As bad as that may be it's not even in the top 5 crazy things that happen in the days before said wedding. This book is a delightful wild ride from the first page to the last. I read it in one sitting because I couldn't bear to miss a thing.