Bridesmaid Lotto, McMaster the Disaster, Book 1 By Rachel Astor

Review by Amber

Josephine McMaster is pretty and smart, but very much a klutzy mess. Finally, at 26, she may have actually lost the dreaded ‘McMaster the Disaster’ nickname that has followed her around her whole life.

Josie’s quite content to be single, much to her mother’s disappointment. So when a bizarre contest is announced where a socialite is holding a lottery to pick her bridesmaids (and rake in a little extra cash), she can’t roll her eyes fast enough, even if it does mean meeting Jake Hall, her one and only movie star crush.

Obviously, Josie doesn’t enter the bridesmaid lottery, so you can imagine her surprise when her picture pops up among the winners, thanks to Mom. With a little prodding — okay bribing — Josie agrees to participate.

The wedding turns into the event of the year, and Josie finds herself in the middle of a paparazzi feeding frenzy, which gets even crazier after Jake Hall takes a special interest in her.

Can Josie handle the pressure in the spotlight? Is it possible she might really have a chance with Jake Hall? And if she’s busy worrying about all that, how in the heck is she going to keep ‘McMaster the Disaster’ from showing up in front of the entire world?

Bridesmaid Lotto is the story of Josephine McMaster, otherwise known as McMaster the Disaster by her classmates in school.  This book was a fun chick-lit style romp.  The voice is extremely easy to read and many parts of the book were laugh out loud funny.  This is definitely for people who enjoy the chick-lit style.  Though there’s a romance it’s not the focus of the story.  Instead, it’s the journey of Josie, McMaster the Disaster, as she navigates the world of the super rich after winning a contest to be the bridesmaid of one of New York’s glitterati. 

There’s a lot to charm in this book, if you like the style.  A lot of people say that chick-lit is dead, but I still love to laugh while reading which makes chick-lit still a favorite for me. 

That being said, there’s some things that didn’t work for me in this book either.  One of my major issues, I can’t explain without giving a major spoiler.  But I’ll just say that one of the characters behaves in a way that makes no sense to me given this person’s long standing relationship with the heroine.  It bothered me.  The justification just wasn’t there.

The romance in this book actually didn’t work for me.  But that isn’t the fault of the author.  It’s my own issue.  During Josephine’s process of acting as bridesmaid she starts a relationship with an actor, a Hollywood heartthrob who happens to be the brother of the groom.  I’m not sure why I just can’t fall in with this kind of relationship.  It might be that I just can’t suspend that much disbelief.  And it’s pretty unbelievable.  Especially to consider that it might be successful.  I think I’m just too much of a pragmatist.  Or it might be that the idea of being with a famous person of any kind just leaves me cold.  Since it isn’t my fantasy, the opposite of my fantasy, more like a nightmare, the fiction doesn’t work for me. 

Either way, I enjoyed the book, was pretty much unmoved by the romance, and would definitely read another.  As an added bonus, this book is free on Amazon right now or was when this review was written. 4 out of 5 stars for Bridesmaid Lotto.

Find out more about Rachel Astor on her website www.rachelastor.net