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Friday 26 April 2013

Review: Undertaking Love by Kat French

The moment love-phobic Marla Jacobs discovers that the shop next to her Little White Wedding Chapel is to become a funeral parlour, she declares all-out war.
Marla’s chapel in the sleepy Shropshire countryside has become a nation-wide sensation, but the arrival of Funeral Director Gabriel Ryan threatens everything Marla has worked for. She can picture the scene: wedding limos fighting for space in the street with hearses; brides bumping into widows; bouquets being swapped for wreaths
Marla’s not going down without a fight. She enlists a motley crew of weird and wonderful local supporters, and the battle lines are drawn. But, as soon as Marla meets her nemesis, she realises just how much trouble she’s really in. His gypsy curls and Irish lilt make her stomach fizz – how is she supposed to concentrate on destroying him, when half the time she’s struggling not to rip the shirt off his back?
Funny, romantic, and dangerously sexy, UNDERTAKING LOVE is a delightful debut from an exciting new voice in Women’s fiction.


I was lucky enough to receive an early copy of Undertaking Love  from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you've read Knight & Play  by Kitty French then you'll be familiar with her work. This is her debut novel under the pen name Kat French and wow, what a debut it is. If you're looking for another Lucien Knight you won't find him but you WILL find Gabriel who's totally different but equally sexy and swoonworthy!! 

I read Undertaking Love  over two nights, would have read it in one day but work got in the way! Loved it and can't recommend it enough. 
The story centres around the two main characters Gabe and Marla but it also delves into lives and loves of their friends and neighbours.
Think of the film Love Actually  and you've got Undertaking Love  in a nutshell...a funny and beautiful story of love shining through no matter what. 
I fell in love with the sensitive but passionate Gabriel immediately, who wouldn't with his dark curls and sexy Irish accent? 
I cried, I mean really cried, with Marla in one scene but can't say why without giving away some of the plot. 
My heart melted and broke for Dora and Ivan and I loved Jonny, Marla's witty and flamboyantly gay wedding celebrant with his "Oprah-inspired neck wiggle."
I laughed quite a lot at some of the hilarious scenes, the dinner party being one of my favourites and I also sobbed until I couldn't see to read and my throat hurt... seriously, at the OMIGOD jaw droppers. Without going into too much detail (don't want to spoil it) the letter broke me! You'll know why when you read it.
Undertaking Love  is a MUST read for all you hopeless romantics out there.




Somehow, tea served with a side order of formaldehyde didn't hold quite the same appeal.


Gabe's accent was enough to make a nun's knicker elastic twang.



His soft Irish lilt was full of gravel, as if the man had actually swallowed a bucket of blarney stones.



She is more than just my guiding light. She is the rock that this lighthouse stands on.

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