Three Weddings and a Bar Mitzvah: A Novel

I'm not too fond of series that end with everyone happy and with a significant other and with no family/money woes etc. etc. But I like the author, I like her style and it was ok.

Wedding bells are ringing at 86 Bloomberg Place as Lelani begins to prepare for her wedding to Gil. As someone who's recently finished with her own wedding, I totally understand the importance and struggle of trying to have a small wedding. To me, weddings are supposed to be a celebration of a marriage and the union of two people who love each other. They are NOT supposed to be a party where you invite anyone and everyone just so they don't feel left out. For that reason, I just kept getting irritated with Gil's mother for trying to go against every one of Lelani's and Gil's wishes. On the other hand, I was really proud of the couple of standing up to her. I hate seeing people become doormats during wedding season! The girls were run to read as everyone's trying to prepare for the celebration. I really like seeing how they've grown since their arrival at house 86. Each one of them has matured and has found their niche in life and has taken full advantage of it. Once again there's lots of humor in this book, and for the most part I can really relate to these girls. They are my age and do things that I would do and like things I like. As I've said before I would have loved to share a house with them.The only thing I didn't really like was that I felt Kendall's marriage is extremely rushed. I know that she had matured a bit since the beginning of the series, especially due to the baby. However, she's still not really that responsible to me and her rushing into marriage like this doesn't seem very wise at all. It doesn't help that her parents are very good people to turn to in times like this and don't have that much advice to give her. Her roommates try to advise when they can but even still, it feels like this might end up being a mistake. There's also the fact that this seems to be a long distance relationship that hasn't taken time to fully grow and it's not even really mentioned how often the couple has seen each other. One off beat note is that the bar mitzvah is not really a big factor in the story as the title seems to imply.Other than this, I have really enjoyed reading this entire series. I have felt that I have gotten to know the girls really well and I shall miss reading about them and their adventures. This is probably the chick lit-tiest of all of Melody's books and I think that it has appeal to the general market as well. I hope that she'll be writing another series in this same fashion again.

I did not know that this was the final book in a series, and I had not read the preceding titles; however, I was able to follow the plot. One of the characters has a small child and the care of the baby takes up a good deal of the storyline. The planning of weddings and showers are another major portion of the plot. The Bar Mitzvah is quickly glossed over.The characters are somewhat believable, but I wonder at some of the dialogue. There's a sense of being in love with love. Anna dates and works with Edmond, yet days goes by without any communication and a giant misunderstanding ensues. Megan and Marcus have an odd relationship, and I found the conclusion hard to imagine. Kendall's island love is confined to a few phone calls. Lelani and Gil are the most believable couple, but with a domineering mother, neither get disturbed enough to react.I did not like the twisted theology presented when after a death, one character wants to "pray in reverse" for the deceased. After a prayer, there is a sense of satisfaction that now the deceased is a Christian. I find this strange for a book that is labeled Christian fiction.I'm sure that those who have read the first three books in the series will enjoy reading how it all ends.