What He’s Been Missing

Octavia (Playing Hard to Get) follows wedding planner Rachel Winslow on her rocky road to love. Rachel’s upscale wedding-planning business in Atlanta, Ga., hasn’t brought her any closer to finding her own happily-ever-after—in part because her views on love were colored by a difficult upbringing: her mother died when Rachel was three months old, leaving her distraught father and grandmother to raise her, and an early romantic relationship ended disastrously. When her closest friend, Ian—a professor at Emory—announces his plans to marry his girlfriend, Scarlet, Rachel questions her feelings for him, and realizes that they aren’t as platonic as she’d thought. Things become even more entangled when the couple ask Rachel to plan their nuptials. Confused—how can she create a dream wedding for her best friend when she wishes she was the bride?—Rachel makes a series of questionable decisions, including a new romantic relationship; coming clean to Ian about her feelings; and an otherworldly visit to a New Orleans witch doctor. Will the wedding planner one day be the bride? The author’s deft characterization will make readers care about the answer. An affecting tale of second thoughts and second chances. (Dec.)