Without a Hitch

By: Mary Hollis Huddleston, Asher Fogle Paul

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley

Sweet Home Alabama meets Emily in Paris in this hilarious romp through the world of extravagant southern weddings.

Ringless, jobless, and hopeless, Lottie Jones commits to doing the only thing she truly studied in school: wedding planning.

When floundering and unlucky-in-love twenty-something Lottie Jones lands a new career as a wedding planner at a top-tier boutique event firm, she begins navigating a cutthroat workplace specializing in over-the-top details, unlimited budgets, and a broad spectrum of taste. Whether planning for parachute landings or wrangling intoxicated groomsmen, she has her hands full at every million-dollar wedding she helps organize.

After her boss announces he's opening a new office, Lottie sees her chance to finally carve out her place, and earn an income that justifies her dating app subscription fees. The weddings get bigger, the clients get wilder, the mishaps get funnier, and the stakes get higher. And Lottie's forced to discover what she'll risk for love and how far she'll go to find herself.

Set against the glamorous, ruthless world of high-end Southern weddings and inspired by real events in the authors' lives, Without a Hitch is a hilarious romp about taking ownership, facing fears, planning your ex-boyfriend's wedding, and choosing a happy ending that wasn't what you once expected.

"A sweet, Southern confection of a book about what it takes to orchestrate everyone else's happily ever after when your own heart has been broken. This sneak peek into the world of high-end wedding planning will keep you laughing as Lottie deconstructs the fairy tale and finds her authentic self."—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Wish You Were Here

©2021 Mary Hollis Huddleston (P)2021 Thomas Nelson

Easy Listen

The story could’ve been better and more exciting but overall it’s a good read. The main character is somewhat relatable. Narrator is great as usual!

One anecdote after another

Ah, the funny stories of planning weddings, and how things can go wrong in hilarious ways. A lot of Lottie's anecdotes had me in stitches. Brittany does it once again performance wise, excellent as always.

Not as good as I thought it would be

I was disappointed. I follow the author on instagram and the book was hyped. It was boring and unimaginative.

Not bad. just longer than it needed to be

Not bad, just longer than it needed to be. The narration was very good, and the story had minimal trumped-up drama.
I strongly recommend speeding up the narration to at least 2.5x to get rid of the dragging on pauses..

4.5 Stars!

This book has some elements of romance, but it focuses more on Lottie finding herself. She had a devastating breakup back in college and never really got over it. This story is her journey to get closure and really figure out what she truly wants out of life, despite others’ expectations. I truly enjoyed this story, particularly all the wedding mishaps and shenanigans. It doesn’t necessarily end in HEA, more of a happy for now with a good outlook on what’s to come.

I normally prefer dual narrators, but Brittany Presley did an amazing job!

Pretty much what I expected

This is really a 3.5 for me. I wanted something light and silly, which is what this story gave me. It was predictable, but of course it was. That didn’t bother me.

I would have given it four stars if not for two things: Lottie’s inability to let go of Brody and “everything they might have had” (I mean, it’s been SEVEN years, for crying out loud) and Griffin’s preachiness about social issues. This was a rom-com. I didn’t sign up for lectures on social issues when I downloaded this book. Those instances didn’t completely turn me off, but given those and Lottie’s clinging to her past, I won’t be quick to read another book by Huddleston and Paul. The book needed neither of these two elements to work. I wish the authors had realized that.

Sweet and Funny Story

This was a sweet and fun book. It has most of the elements I'm looking for in a "beach read" the only thing missing was some spice. If you are looking for a good PG book this one is for you. It perfectly captured the mindset and way of life for a lot of college age couples and the push to get married. I love how Lottie really finds herself by the end of the book.

What is the plot?

I am over a third of the way into this book and still don't know what the story is about. And now there is a chicken themed wedding? This book isn't even funny.

Just eehh

I was excited for a fun Rom Com, but what I got was elaborate details about several expensive weddings. You couldn't even really call it a coming of age story either, as the protagonist merely went from hating her job and bidding her time to continuing to do the same job, just with a raise. The characters were all fairly cliché and predictable, which is sometimes ok if the story line is interesting. Not so much here.
Lottie works for a wedding planning company. She didn't choose this job, she just fell into it and is really just hanging out until she decides what to do with her life. She works wedding after expensive (and overly described) wedding where something inevitably goes wrong and she is blamed for every single problem. She also kind of likes the wedding photographer but is too scared to put herself out there. The author tries to create tension or interest by having Lottie and her love interest both be gun shy, but it isn't done well and ended up just being annoying as nothing else was happening either.
I was pretty disappointed with this book. It had potential. If you like extensive depictions of elaborate parties, then this might be for you.

So Boring!

if you really love weddings and want to job shadow a wedding planner this book is for you. Every detail is covered. There is barely a romance - maybe this is what they call Christian fiction? I didn't laugh once...not hilarious. Just boring!