I love Kevin Kwan, he writes the most juicy, opulent and fun books that basically revolve around a bunch of rich people behaving badly. These are all themes I love and Kwan always does justice.

I do however feel like I am still chasing that same feeling I got when I read Crazy Rich Asians and unfortunately his other books haven’t quite been as good.

Lots of antics and characters nonetheless, though a bit too long.

Kwan fans will still love all the same.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the eARC all opinions are my own.

I was excited to read this book because I flew through the Crazy Rich Asians series, it was my go-to book birthday gift for my girlfriends one year. I had high hopes for Lies and Weddings and while I don't think it quite lived up to the Crazy Rich Asians series, it was a fun, dramatic, escapist read. I liked the alternating points of view and I LOVED the short chapters. Nothing makes me more compelled to keep going in a book more than short chapters so I can say to myself "oh just one more chapter!". The writing was good, the footnotes were hilarious, and I can't wait to recommend it to my friends when it comes out!

The Duke of Greshambury shook things up when he married a model from Hong Kong. His wife, Arabella, spent years climbing to the top of British aristocracy’s social ladder, while also building an exclusive hotel empire, and raising her three children to be the kind of desirable match any of the European royalty would be happy to marry their children to. Her daughters upcoming wedding to one such prince, in Hawaii, at her newest and grandest hotel is supposed to be her triumph. But her son won’t chase the heiress she has picked out for him and is spending a bit too much time with the doctors daughter. Her other daughter has yet to make a match. And the volcano she built her hotel beside might have something to say about its new neighbour. Her kids have all had enough of her meddling and impossible standards. And her husband has been keeping some critical information from her. As things spiral out of her control years of secrets will come undone for everyone involved.
This was such a fun book! @kevinkwanbooks covers so many themes in this book, from race, class, addiction, family, love, trust, loyalty while also creating a cast of unforgettable characters. I was not board for a second reading this book. I absolutely recommend you check it out when it hits shelves May 21 2024.
Thank you to @netgalley and @doubledaybooks for letting me review #liesandweddings
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▪️And so, with a mind at war with itself, she came forth armed to do battle against the world's prejudices, those prejudices she herself loved so well.
-Anthony Trollope's Doctor Thorne

If anyone knew the pulse of the movers and shakers of Victorian England, it was Anthony Trollope. And the same could be said of Kevin Kwan. He truly knows today's incredibly wealthy international rich. Both come to their insight from the viewpoint of a social satirist observing from the sidelines.

Kevin Kwan is a huge Trollope fan and his latest novel, Lies and Weddings, is a modern-day retelling of Doctor Thorne. It follows the plot of Doctor Thorne quite closely - Mary Thorne is Eden Tong and lives with her father in a cottage on the Greshambury Estate. Both are doctors. Eden grew up in the shadow of the Greshams, accepted by the Duke of Greshambury and his three children but never by his wife Arabella.

Doctor Thorne is a novel with hidden truths, extravagance, debt, class prejudice, addiction and debauchery along with some humour and plenty of heart. Kwan has taken all of this and turned it up to 11,000,000. Of course, the modern-day uber-rich (and uber-debt-ridden rich) are now more extravagant than Trollope could ever have imagined.

Kwan changes the class prejudice to racism for Lies and Weddings. Arabella Gresham is from Hong Kong and is proud of the life she has created with her British husband and her three mixed-race children. She's internalized the racism she's experienced and will do anything to marry her children off to European wealthy families. Arabella is probably the worst character in Doctor Thorne and she is in Lies and Weddings too. But, like Anthony Trollope, Kevin Kwan allows us to see why she is like this and although he never condones her actions, this knowledge at least lets us understand her better.

I really enjoyed this book - it's a very wild ride. Like with all his books, I spent my time googling the art, fashion and places that Kwan mentions and laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. I was also chortling with every Trollope Easter Egg Kwan hid in the story - not just from Thorne but also some Palliser nods as well!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC.

Thanks for the ARC but I couldn't finish this book. The author felt it necessary to include small bios about where each character went to school and it was distracting. I couldn't know if I would need that information later in the story and I attempted to make connections between characters which ultimately took me away from the scene. By the time the story started to move forward, I felt disconnected and I couldn't make up that ground.

I can understand why the author thought that school resumes would be important to the characters in the story but it didn't play for me and I couldn't continue.

I really enjoyed his previous books and was really excited for this one. I hope to try again with his next one.

Lies and Weddings is exactly the glossy, gossipy, insider-style book you’d expect from Kevin Kwan. From an English village, to Hawaii, Texas, California, Italy and Africa, his take on the lives of the obscenely wealthy, and those in their orbit is a fast-paced, fun read that would make a great film. A friends-to-lovers story between a young viscount, and the actual girl-next-door, with intriguing characters, overbearing mothers and international jet setting billionaires.

Thanks to Doubleday & NetGalley for the ARC!

I will never not read a Kevin Kwan book, never! While this scratched an itch for me, it felt like I had already read it and halfway through knew exactly what was about to happen - probably because it happened later in the CRA series so it felt a little Deja Vu. I also needed for Arabella to get hulk smashed to bits because she couldn’t have made me more mad.

3.5 stars.