I think this is my favorite in the series so far. I really enjoyed watch Suzannah come out of her shell and learn to live life a little bit. Staufer was a great compliment to her personality, without it being too storybook perfect. Olivia finally gets a break after living a very horrible life as well. I was surprised to find the politics and court maneuvering a very good part of the story. It's so easy for that to take over in a story, but this was layered just right to create an atmosphere that let the characters experience danger and grow into their own.

It was incredibly hard to get into this book without having read the prior in the series. It moved far to quickly for me to give the characters spots in my head that made them unique and I never got to really know them.

Jumping between four couples/potential couples is way too much going on for such a short book. Very hard to follow and figure out what is going on.

I really enjoyed how the author wove two stories together - one for Julia and one for Emily. While Emily's romance played the primary role, seeing Julia's alongside it was a nice way to broaden the horizons a bit. Unfortunately, their stories mirrored each other a little too much - especially their adventure near the end.

This read a bit like a LitRPG story - people are kidnapped and put into a game with other people controlling them (not 100% LitRPG, but a lot of the same concepts). I did find the alien races interesting. And it was nice to see Mickey playing a bigger role in this particular adventure.

This was a great wrap-up (at least so far) to the Souther Eclectic series. Duffy and Lucy have a long history that ar first seems to get brushed aside when Lucy returns to town. But I really liked how that shared past gradually came to a head and became very important in a few ways.
Duffy is a great character that often got a little harshly judged by his cousins and family - he has some growing up to do and some issues to figure out (his ex-wife), but he's such a good and geniune person. I couldn't help but like him.
Lucy is struggling with the fact that she isn't struggling with the death of her husband. Throw in a very large helping of meddling/controlling in-laws, and her life isn't feeling so great right now. Lucy has a lot to deal with and worries that she can't keep up with everything - and that may mean cutting Duffy out of her life.
Their romance was a slow, sweet one, and I loved every second they were together (even when they were arguing).

I really struggled with story and I'm not entirely sure why. The writing was beautiful and the characters intriguing. I feel like the description was just a tad off. I feel like it was accurate for the last 10% of the story and the rest was all buildup. The buildup was important, but I kept wondering where all the things promised were. 

While this is a bit of a bridge novella between stories - it is a wonderful addition to the series. When an event planner can't manage to plan her own wedding it gets a little intense. It also gives fun little updates on the McCreedy family in general and sets the stage for Duffy's story.