Book Review: A Cross-Country Wedding

Last Christmas season I read and loved A Cross-Country Christmas by Courtney Walsh. In that book, Lauren and Will go on a road trip from LA to Illinois to visit family. Will is Lauren’s brother’s best friend since they were kids and Lauren used to have a huge crush on Will. They hadn’t seen each other in years and Lauren can’t stand Will after he hurt her feelings years ago. The road trip brings them back together and ends happily, of course! A Cross-Country Wedding follows Lauren’s best friend, Maddie, and her guy best friend, Simon, road tripping again from LA to Illinois, but this time for Lauren and Will’s wedding.

Simon and Maddie have been friends since college when Simon and Lauren were in a study group together and Maddie was Lauren’s roommate. Simon, a straight-laced, organized, responsible guy who thrives on structure and a schedule had an instant crush on the free-spirited, spontaneous Maddie. But Maddie is never looking for anything serious or grown up-y.

After 10 years, Simon doesn’t know if Maddie will ever see him as anything other than a friend. When the opportunity comes up for him to move to Seattle, he decides that the wedding road trip will be his chance to tell Maddie how he really feels and if she doesn’t feel the same way he will move so he can move on with his life. Will he reveal his true feelings to Maddie or chicken out? Will Maddie see Simon as more than a friend and believe Lauren and Will when they constantly tell her that they’re perfect for each other?

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as A Cross-Country Christmas. I liked Simon and Maddie, but at times Maddie irritated me. There’s free-spirited people and there’s just irresponsible people and she definitely leaned more towards irresponsible. That wasn’t the most irritating part though. Maddie always thought Will was too good for her and she’s too much of a mess for someone as “perfect” as Will. Her feelings are realistic, but it was her constant thought throughout the entire book until the end. It got to be really repetitive. However, it didn’t make me dislike the book – it just made me not like the book as much as I wanted to. And I definitely liked Simon more than I liked Maddie lol.

Overall, I did enjoy the book and I loved seeing Lauren and Will again!

Read this if you want a clean, friends to lovers romance!