cover image Brides: Sherri's Perfect

Brides: Sherri's Perfect

Zoe Cooper. HarperCollins, $3.99 (128pp) ISBN 978-0-380-78699-2

College student Sherri is head over heels in love with Marc, who has ""bedroom eyes"" and ""really [brings] out the caveman in a girl."" Luckily, Cooper keeps this kind of corny prose to a minimum in the inaugural installment of the Brides series, which promises to expose the joys as well as the anxieties of brides-to-be. After Marc pops the big question--on the Ferris wheel at Coney Island, no less--Sherri encounters more lows than highs as the whirlwind preparations for their nuptials begin. The once-blissful couple are beleaguered as their respective parents get into the act, and the stage is set for some amusing exchanges between the pushy, status-conscious mother of the bride and the sniffling, manipulative mother of the groom (""All right, so Mrs. Decorator gets high-and-mighty about the ice sculptures. Can I just get a carved swan for the fruit salad?""). Though there's never any doubt that things will turn out for better rather than for worse, Cooper maneuvers her plot quite fancifully to ensure that Sherri's big day is, indeed, ""perfect."" The knot-tying finale will set teens sighing. And adults concerned with the retro theme can take comfort in Sherri's dream of a career in industrial design. Ages 12-up. (June)