Four Weddings to Fall in Love is the story of Max Mok and Kim Sung. Their meet-cute happens at mutual friends’ wedding and is quickly followed by a lackluster one-night stand. They both think the worst is behind them, and they can just move on and never see each other again. Except, there are three more weddings that summer that they are both attending (which happen to be Max’s first cousins and family friends of Kim’s). At the second wedding Max attempts to ameliorate his poor performance, after the third he asks Kim on a proper date, and by the fourth they must decide if their burgeoning relationship has a chance of success.
The plotting here is relatively straightforward but is complicated by the character of Kim. She’s sex positive and relationship negative, coming to the action of the book with a history of poor experiences, particularly with ex’s families (of a variety of ethnic backgrounds). While Max’s history has him on the hunt for someone who doesn’t just view him as a checklist of acceptable traits, Kim’s has her in a place of not wanting to be in a relationship at all, but Max’s innate goodness, and his healthy relationship with his family (both parents and three brothers), begins to give Kim the view of a new possibility.
I appreciated the variety of characters that Lau introduced and the way in which the world is lived in (and features some people and locations from her other works). But where it lost a full star from me was in the pacing, particularly between weddings three and four, and in the emotional development of the characters in the relationship. Lau writes excellent steamy scenes, and this book features some of her most steamy since A Big Surprise for Valentines Day, so those scenes weren’t lacking, but it made the emotional beats resonate less. I am rounding up to four stars though because Lau releases her third act tension point without a breakup. Kim’s fears are assuaged by a conversation with Max’s mom and while I wish there had been another interaction between those two characters, I thought this a great way to let Kim’s feelings be validated and fears be proven false without her and Max separating.
Bingo: Part One. This is the first book in the Weddings with the Moks series, and I’ve received an ARC of book two, Three Reasons to Run and my review will be forthcoming.
