This book is tremendously fun. Both hilariously absurd and surprisingly real, I laughed and felt for the characters. 

I had seen the movie several times already and was pleased to find that the book had similar energy. I enjoyed getting more story from some of the characters, especially Astrid and Nick. They are both characters who I could root for, but who were also deeply flawed. 

The conniving and gossiping relatives also felt, unfortunately, very real. When Rachel started meeting the extended family at the initial party, it was so funny and perfect, the first thing I thought was *this* is how you write meeting a large and crazy family.

I’m looking forward to finding out what is in store in book 2!