Erie, Pennsylvania – Present Day

Many years ago, a young bride named Vancy Bashalde unwittingly cursed her own family after her carefully planned wedding fell apart. Today, the elder Vancy is called Nana, and her granddaughter and namesake, Vancy Salo, refuses to believe in the so-called Salo Family Wedding Curse, which causes all the Salo weddings to fall apart at the seams. None of Vancy's siblings were able to go through with their planned weddings, but Vancy believes the only thing that stopped those events was just a string of unfortunate accidents. Nothing will stop her wedding. She's planned for every catastrophe and even the chance of inclement weather. What Vancy did not plan for is her missing groom. OK, maybe she didn't really love her intended, but that was no reason for him to elope with someone else.

And another Salo wedding bites the dust.

Alone in her lavishly wedding-decorated home, Vancy picks up her pride and sets about destroying every memory of the expensive event. First to go must be the landscaping she designed and contracted to Matt Wilde, owner of Everything Wilde Landscaping, the hottest new business in Erie. Vancy telephones Matt and demands that he come over immediately and remove the offending greenery from her yard. When Matt shows up with two young boys in tow, she realizes that she just might have interrupted his family time. And when literally dozens of reporters and news vans show up right behind him, determined to interview Vancy about the Salo family curse, she's trapped. Now she must find a way out of her house and somewhere else to stay until this all blows over. But Matt and the boys are trapped inside her house as well. Vancy needs a place to hide. Matt needs a sitter for the children. Do you sense a story coming here?

EVERYTHING BUT A GROOM is a charming tale about hopes, dreams, and family curses gone wrong. Vancy does not believe in old wives' tales or curses. Her grandmother, Nana Salo, does. After all, Nana's the one who caused all this misery, and she feels mighty guilty, but she did try to warn Vancy. And if Vancy would just have listened to her, all this pain could have been avoided, the reporters would go away, and Vancy might fall in love with Matt. But Vancy laughs her grandmother's concerns aside. She isn't looking for love; she has a business to run, and she just wants everyone to forget about her failed wedding. Matt is busy building his own new business, and he can't afford to lose Salo Construction as a customer, so when Vancy asks him for a favor, he comes up with a plan to help her situation and his own.

The secondary characters are all dynamic and funny. Nana Salo is a major player in this story, along with Matt's nephews, the twins, Chris and Rick. Love is found in unexpected places, and Matt and Vancy just might start a new tradition of their own for the Salo family.

This lighthearted story is the perfect quick read that will warm the coldest winter night. EVERYTHING BUT A GROOM is a guaranteed keeper.

Diana Risso