About Books #87: Five Wakes and a Wedding

You know how sometimes a book can just come out of nothing and randomly make you fall in love with it? Well – guess what. That’s exactly what Five Wakes and a Wedding did to me!

I was offered an ARC by Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are strictly my own.

The story

Nina is your average 30-year-old with a steady job, a nice home – and dead bodies in her basement. As an undertaker, she often prefers the company of the dead to the living – they’re obliging, good listeners and take secrets to the grave.

Nina is on a one-woman mission to persuade her peers that passing on is just another part of life. But the residents of Primrose Hill are adamant that a funeral parlour is the last thing they need… and they will stop at nothing to close down her dearly beloved shop.

When Nina’s ‘big break’ funeral turns out to be a prank, it seems like it’s the final nail in the coffin for her new business. That is, until a (tall, dark and) mysterious investor shows up out of the blue, and she decides to take a leap of faith.

Because, after all, it’s her funeral…

The opinion

Now, as I said at the beginning: I did not expect to like this book. As a matter of fact, it was something of a “eeh, might as well” situation. Where I might as well try it, because, you know, I’ve obviously got nothing else to read, right?

And boy did Five Wakes and a Wedding prove exactly why I force myself to do that from time to time. You know, the whole “randomly choose a book and see what happens”. Because not only did I thoroughly enjoy this book? It actually made me think.

You see, Nina is right: the concept of death makes most – if not all – people incredibly uncomfortable. So to have a story which takes, as its basis, someone trying to subvert that feeling? Already a good start.

Add to that the amount of subterfuge Nina’s neighbours will go to to get her out of “their street? And of course, the stories of Nina’s room mates, Gloria and Edo? Honestly, those two alone would deserve their own books! And of course – the perfect type of romance in a book like this: the one that doesn’t need to take the forefront.

The rating: 4/5

I’d say it’s pretty clear by now that I really enjoyed reading Five Wakes and a Wedding. The pacing is high enough to really grab you the moment you start reading, the characters are a great bunch of completely separate people, and most of all? This was just a really enjoyable read! (Goodreads)

-Saar