I had a blast reading this. I’ve been in the mood for escapist reads lately and this one was absolutely that! The volcanic eruption that started the domino effect set the tone for this perfectly. The drama and the money spent was larger than life. I lost count of the amount of private jet trips around the world starting with Hawaii, to LA to Marrakech to Venice. I was invested in the multiple plots this one had from the mystery to the romance. I would have liked a bit more depth to the main romance in this one and more character depth . But while I didn't relate to any of the rich people behaving badly with rich people problems, I enjoyed the chaos of it all.

I enjoyed the audiobook of this one. With A LOT of people and perspectives involved, I was a bit surprised by the single narrator. Jing Lusi managed to do a lot of emotive and different voices for the crazy cast in the story. Especially with some extra dramatic characters things got loud! If you like your audiobooks more on the calmer side, this one might be a bit much. But if you like drama to come through your ears, this one is really fun!

Thank you Doubleday for the ARC!

Kwan knows how to write books that let you escape from reality. This time the book is set mostly in England and the United States but follows the lives of the ultra-wealthy...or those who appear to be ultra-wealthy. Lots of fun.

Huge thank you to @netgalley and @doubleday for an advanced gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.
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This has been one of my most anticipated books of the summer and it didn’t disappoint. Crazy Rich Asians will forever be one of my fave, fun reads. Kwan delivers another wildly, fun book detailing the lives of the rich and famous and what they will do to stay on top. This globetrotting romp travels all over the world all in the quest of money, marriage and perhaps love.
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Pack this one for vacation or if you are not going anywhere you can read this and pretend you’re there, especially with the gorgeous description of the multiple locations. This one comes out on Tuesday!

This is a story about a man struggling between obeying his family's expectations or following his own heart and the results are sometimes shocking, dramatic, and outright hilarious. All the different crazy characters, the setting of an ecoresort and an active volcano, the pacing and humor of the book, all of it had me flipping pages lost in the drama.
Thanks to Doubleday Books through Netgalley for the advance copy of this book. The opinions in this review are my own and given voluntarily.

Loved it! This was just as entertaining as “Crazy Rich Asians,” and I was genuinely sad to have it come to an end. I love the descriptions of all the luxury, and the funny footnotes are great. Yes, it’s basically a soap opera-style story, but the characters are fun and the fairytale ending was satisfying. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic, easy read for summer. Takes you on a lavish luxurious holiday filled with terrible people and you don't have to leave your backyard.

Read if you like:
🌏Asian Culture
💰Wealthy Characters
🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Family Drama
#️⃣ Lots of Characters

What a FUN read! Full of drama that is definitely reminiscent of Crazy Rich Asians but updated for today’s social climate.

I enjoyed the storyline, following a man who wants what the heart wants and a mother who wants status instead. The heart opens with a doozy of a predicament and shocking start.

As we move though the story, the characters come to life and I found myself engrossed in the choices they were making and where this story was headed.

This was a great story to get lost in! Thank you so much to the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my review!

Kevin Kwan’s *Lies and Weddings* is a dazzling, scandal-filled romp from the beaches of Hawaii to the skies of Marrakech. Rufus Leung Gresham, the future Earl of Greshambury, must save his family from financial ruin by seducing a wealthy woman at his sister's luxury wedding. Torn between duty and love, Rufus navigates a tangled web of secrets, lies, and unexpected twists.

Kwan’s witty, sophisticated storytelling makes this a must-read for fans of high society drama. With eccentric characters and luxurious settings, *Lies and Weddings* is a juicy, thrilling escape that will keep you hooked from start to finish!

😇Thank you @doubledaybooks and @netgallet for the gifted galley! Book releases on May 21, 2024

I wanted to enjoy this book. I know that patrons are going to be excited to read it. I just had a hard time getting into this book. The story itself jumps around a lot. It jumps between characters and experiences, that make sense towards the end of the book, but don’t always make sense in the moment. I personally didn’t love any of the characters. Granted they are all rich and snooty, but normally I can find a character to rally behind. The writing was extremely clunky, and it was not helped by all the footnotes that honestly were not necessary. Overall, this book is okay. It is nothing that I will go out of my way to recommend, but if people love the author, I’ll let them know he has a new book and let them make their own opinion.
Thank you to Double Day Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

This was a fun & humorous fictional read about the problems of those with too much money. As I was reading, I couldn’t help but think that this would make another great film, just like his previous novel Crazy Rich Asians. This book was a great escape from reality.

Heavily inspired by the plot (and using some names) from a somewhat obscure Trollope novel, Doctor Thorne (1858), the author continues to explore uppercrust Asian and Eurasian society, but without quite capturing the verve of his debut novel.

This time our central characters are an aristocratic Anglo-Chinese family, the Greshams, and their close friends, Dr Tong and his daughter Eden. Marriages, finances, and secrets drive the plot as we move around the globe from weddings to parties to the idyllic British countryside. The novel takes a while to get into a rhythm as early chapters are short and disjointed and though it does settle a little once the characters and their motivations are established, it still felt a bit staccato to me.

We start at the wedding of the oldest Gresham daughter, Augusta, in the family’s resort in Hawaii but the real romance is between Rufus Gresham and Eden. Rufus is a free-spirited artist who’d be happiest just chilling in his $5m surf shack on the Big Island. Personally, I thought Eden was a bit of a sanctimonious pill: though ostensibly an NHS doctor she never actually goes to work and spends the entire novel wearing designer gowns and private jetting to Hawaii, LA, and Venice. Yes, I know it’s a fantasy but still.

As with previous novels, there is much name-dropping of haute couture houses, interior designers, and, new for this one (or perhaps I didn’t notice it before), contemporary artists. It feels like a lot of research was done to get just the right name in the right setting, but there is very little actual description of the gowns, designs, and artwork so, beyond getting the general impression of a lot of money and good taste, I’m not sure of the point.

The tone is again frothy and fizzy, and things zip along hitting most of Doctor Thorne’s beats. Though it is set in a much more rarified strata than Trollope’s Barsetshire, the analogy of contemporary ultrawealthy Asian society with Victorian English aristocrats is well made.

The author has carved himself out a very comfortable niche to play around in and, while he may never again capture the thrillingly fresh effervescence of Crazy Rich Asians, he’s always worth a few hours of my time. Plus I enjoy the witty, fourth wall-breaking footnotes,.

Thanks to Doubleday and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

I wanted to love this, I really did. The crazy Rich Asians books were so hilarious to me, but I couldn't get into this one!

Soap opera past meets modern day twist....

I had a particular affinity for this book. Why? As a great granddaughter of a duke, whose grandmother had an arranged marriage in Hawaii, this book resonates. This is about Rufus, the Viscount St. Ives needs to marry and marry well, as in want of an incredibly wealthy wife, to save his titled family from financial ruin. He has two solid, rich choices to woo at his sister's wedding. But he really wants his life long best friend, and poor girl next door, Eden Tong. Eden and Rufus have a long history of communicating sweetly with each other, no matter where in the world they were.

There is the backstory set in 1995 (of course there's a connected backstory).
The present day story that takes place in England, the Big Island and Asia.
Recommend for more over the top, crazy money fun. Although, there is no surprise with how the money sitch ends.
Recommend.

Another fun, escapism read from Kevin Kwan - true romance, people behaving badly, insane wealth, sibling issues, and a bunch of crazy characters. If you liked the "Crazy Rich Asians" series then you'll enjoy Lies and Weddings.

This was exactly the book I needed to read this week! It was so much fun. I laughed, I gasped and I got to make fun of LA, which is a favorite pastime of all Angelenos.

As always, Kevin crafts wonderful, superficial, characters mixed in with some true gems. His story pacing is perfect, and I love how scandalous his books are.

I hope this book is also turned into a movie. If you’re looking for a fun read, put this on preorder now!

According to his mother, Rufus Leung Gresham must marry a wealthy woman to save his family from ruin. The family’s seemingly unlimited funds have been squandered but society is not yet the wiser.

Determined to help her son snag a woman of means, his parents throw his sister an over-the-top Hawaiian wedding. When a volcano erupts at the wedding, and a hot mic exposes a secret affair, everything seems to be going up in flames.

Told from a few perspectives, this story is heavy on the drama but light on the communication. It portrays the majority of aristocrats as extravagant ninnies only concerned with money and their reputation, spending little time on underlying motivations. In short, it’s a fun lark but don’t go in expecting depth.

Why I Liked It: While not quite up to Crazy Rich Asians’ level of juicy, this story is still filled with all the scheming, sex, and showboating I’ve come to expect from Kevin Kwan. I listened to my copy and found myself thoroughly entertained during household chores.

The characters and dialogue were wooden and clunky. The plot was beyond predictable. This should have been a romp, but felt like a slog.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

Lies and Weddings is a fun, if slightly predictable, read. I found that it lacked both the charm and evocative descriptions of Crazy Rich Asians. While I very much enjoyed Eden, the multiple locales and large cast work against the book as a whole. I found that many characters were flat and real consequences didn’t seem to exist.

A solid beach read, but not a must read.

The author of Crazy Rich Asians is back in his new novel, Lies and Wedding. I have been able to read every book by Kevin Kwan so far, and overall, I really enjoy his writing. I will say, and this could totally be a "me" thing lately, I did have a little bit of trouble keeping all of the characters straight. It is almost like there are 3 stories going on at once, and I had to write down names and descriptions to keep everyone straight. In some ways, this one feels a lot more character driven than his previous novels. Kevin Kwan is the master at creating luxurious and opulent settings, and readers who loved that in his previous novels will find that here as well. Kwan also does a fantastic job of incorporating culture into his stories, and I really felt like I was transported to another world. Wedding season is in full bloom, and Lies and Weddings is the perfect summer read. Thank you to the publisher for giving me the chance to read an early copy of this book.

I was a huge fan of Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians series and the movie. Lies and Weddings was another book showcasing what this author does best. Aside from giving us a glimpse into the lives of the 1%, he shows us how utterly ridiculous and hilarious the obscenely wealthy are. It's very reminiscent of another of my favorite authors, the late Dominick Dunne, except Mr. Dunne's novel mostly revolved around NYC's elite.

The story was narrated via dual timelines, and although the former was sporadically sprinkled in, it didn't take long for me to figure out how both timelines were connected. However, there were still many laugh out loud moments to keep me entertained. I can 100% see this novel being a very popular beach read.