Wedding Bell Blues

by Julia Watts

When Lily's lover, Charlotte, is killed in a tragic car accident, Charlotte's homophobic family threatens to exert their legal rights and seize custody of their daughter's biological child, Mimi. The... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1562802305
• ISBN13: 9781562802301
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Naiad Pr
• Length: 231 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Gay Novel is New Twist on Romance "Marriage of Convenience" Plot

It has not been a good month for Lily. She lost her much-loved partner Charlotte in a car wreck. Charlotte's obnoxious family is trying to take custody of their daughter's biological child, whom Lily has been helping to raise since birth. Thus Lily finds herself entering a sham marriage with a gay man who happens to have family connections that may help them keep custody. To top it all off, her married name is now Lily McGilly! WEDDING BELL BLUES takes a standard romance-novel plot--the marriage of convenience--and gives it a unique queer twist. In a standard romance, of course, the fake bride and groom eventually find true love with each other. Here, alterna-gal Lily and preppy Ben just try to survive the experience, and not give themselves away. Along the way, they both find love again, though not with each other. Although it deals with serious real-life issues, most notably the threat of custody loss for non-biological gay and lesbian parents, the book is not a heavy read. In fact, it's tremendously entertaining and often laugh-out-loud funny. While cartoonish stereotypes abound--Charlotte's pinch-faced fundamentalist parents, Ben's garish, wealthy but loving family--when push comes to shove and the relatives have to decide who they stand with, the emotions are realistic and touching. The best parts of the book are the fish-out-of-water scenes where Ben and Lily try desperately to fit into small-town Georgia life in Versailles (pronounced Ver-sales) Georgia. Lily wrestles with the nightmare of step aerobics and trying to keep her tattoos hidden, while Ben's happy mother stuffs her until-now vegetarian granddaughter full of Happy Meals. The custody battle results in courtroom drama between the pious, holier-than-thou Maycomb family and the genuinely good-hearted McGilly clan. The courtroom scenes are suspenseful, although the resolution is slightly contrived. Still, it's easy to maintain suspension of disbelief in what is essentially an enjoyable fluffy read. It's a light quick read, perfect for a warm afternoon on the porch.

a funny story and a great idea!

When i read the back I knew I had to read it. Such a novel idea: a lesbian and a gay man getting married to keep a child. The more I read Wedding Bell Blues I began to get a sense of who Julia Watts is. I wondered how much of herself she put into the book. The idea of two fixed Atlanta midtowners (myself included) moving to a small hick town in rural Georgia is a laugh in itself. When the christian radials come to take away Lilly's baby Ms. Watts leads up evenly through. The book isn't very long but is moving, funny, and very heart warming.

Best book of the year

I laughed my --- off,last time I read something this good was quite sometime ago. This story had everything going for it and the author described things so well it made you feel as if these people lived in your town. I think she should turn it into a movie so everyone can enjoy it. Just stay true to the book and a movie won't go wrong. :)

The best book yet by this excellent author

I first discovered Julia Watts in an Appalachian literature class with Wildwood Flowers. We all liked it so well we went and bought them all! This one is the best one yet. It falls slightly in the Southern Gothic style as Lily, a lesbian children's book author is forced to marry and move to rural Georgia to save the child she had with her dead lover.As always with Watts the characterization is amazing and the book is sidesplittingly funny. Anyone who buys Fanny Flagg should go after Julia Watts. I think people are turned off by the press, don't be. Julia Watts merits your attention now and Wedding Bell Blues is an American classic.

great book

WEDDING DAY BLUES WAS A GREAT READ. I STARTED READING THE BOOK AND I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN. I LOVE THE CAST OF CARTICATURE. THAY HAD ME LAUGHING OUT LOUND. IT WAS REALLY A FUN BOOK TO READ. I CAN'T WAIT FOR JULIA WATTS NEXT BOOK.