Operation: Nebraska Author-The Marrying Type

What would you get if you took Anne Elliot from Jane Austen's Persuasion, dropped her into the 21st century and made her into a wedding planner?

You would get Elliot Lynch from Laura Chapman's The Marrying Type.

Persuasion is one of Austen's lesser-known novels and, I am ashamed to admit (due to my adoration of the author), aside from Pride and Prejudice the only Austen novel I've ever read (Unless you count Pride & Prejudice and Zombies in that case, I've read 3). The short, short summary of Persuasion (because I read it in high school and don't remember the minutia of the story) is that when Anne Elliot was young, she fell in love with a boy and they planned to get married. Her family talked her out of it because they felt he wasn't good enough for her. He joined the navy (?) and made something of himself. They ran into each other again years later, she was still unwed, I want to say he was a widower (?), and the sparks were still there.

Picture from Lost in British TV blog and the 1995 movie version of Persuasion.
You can just smell the attraction.

Persuasion stuck with me over the years because it is one of the only/the only novels that Austen wrote where the heroine is an older woman (and by older, I mean Anne was in her 30s, rather more relatable to me now than when I read it), instead of a 19-21 year old and it called attention to rash decisions people are apt to make when they are younger.

In The Marrying Type, we find Elliot Lynch, wedding planner extraordinaire in Charleston, SC who is trying to bring her family's wedding planning business back from the brink of bankruptcy, fighting her family to make the necessary changes to do just that, and planning the picture-perfect weddings her clients demand, all while being filmed for her cousin's reality TV show "The Marrying Type" that is following wedding planners from all over the US, showing what it's like behind the scenes.

The wedding that Elliot spends most of the book working on is for an adorable couple, Sadie and Adam, who recently moved back to Charleston and want to throw together a huge, society wedding in three months. Elliot sets out to do it on her own as her father and sister are working on landing a huge PR gig for a local society matriarch and her assistant is busy not assisting.

Oh, and the bride's brother is Elliot's ex-fiance.

Elliot and Eric met in college, fell in love, and got engaged. Then, when the app he designed took off, he dropped out of college, and headed for California. Elliot planned to go with him but felt that 19 years old was too young to get married and, with her mother's death less than a year earlier, she wanted to be close to her family.

The Marrying Type was a great modern take on Austen's Persuasion. The gradual re-kindling of Elliot and Eric's love amongst the drama of reality TV, Elliot's aggravating family, the threat of a buy-out, and a wonderful cast of relatable characters made it a great read. It was very well written, the characters had great development, not to mention the many laugh-out-loud moments; it was hard to put down.

I discovered The Marrying Type at the Nebraska Book Festival, a day-long event full of workshops with dozens of authors and publishers on hand to talk writing and sell books. In the few minutes I had to talk to the author, Laura Chapman, she was a warm, down-to-earth Nebraska gal who was more than willing to share her experiences and offer advice.

Other books by Laura Chapman:
Hardhats and Doormats
First & Goal
Going for Two
Three & Out
and many others

You can also follow Chapman on her blog Change the Word.