Love women’s fiction, but looking for a bit of a change? Try The Wedding Beat by Devan Sipher — a romantic comedy from a man’s point of view. Loosely based on Sipher’s real life experiences as the author of the “Vows” column for the New York Times, The Wedding Beat is a charming and funny story of a man looking for Ms. Right.
What must it be like to be perpetually surrounded by happy couples… couples expressing their love and commitment to one another, when you can’t even find Ms. Right Now, let alone Ms. Right?
If there is anyone who truly understands the pain and annoyance of such a life, it is Gavin Greene. As the wedding columnist for the esteemed newspaper The Paper, nearly the entirety of Gavin’s life is consumed by weddings — huge, lavish ones, at that. Eventually it gets tiring to be the single guy hanging out, taking notes at people’s most joyful occasions every week. Particularly when you truly want to find a love of your own with whom you can make a life.
One New Year’s Eve, Gavin’s luck seems to change and he meets the woman of his dreams. Melinda is a dimpled, travel writer who seems to be just as into him as he is to her. Just as Gavin is about to get Melinda’s number, though, she is swept away by another man. Gavin would give anything to find her once again — hopefully before he finds himself writing about her wedding.
The Wedding Beat is a charming and funny look at the pursuit of love and romance from a man’s point of view — a point of view that makes it largely unique in the genre of romantic women’s fiction. Author Devan Sipher knows what he is writing about, since the book is loosely based on his own life. Sipher writes the popular “Vows” column for the New York Times, writing (in that time) about over 1000 weddings. He is the only single man writing in the weddings section of the paper — providing him the material to write The Wedding Beat with a verve and reality that will capture the hearts of readers.
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