“Rachel Gladstone’s The Weekend Wedding Assistant is the comical, captivating and cinematic tale of a woman who loses her fiancé, then finds herself. Unpredictable, utterly entertaining and brimming with wisdom, this heart-grabbing novel is the beach read that’s never out of season.”―Jennie Fields, author of Age of Desire

“The Weekend Wedding Assistant is a story about figuring out who to become once you’re outside of defining relationships…It’s an uplifting message that never grows old.”―Foreword Reviews

★A Romantic Comedy about Death and Second Chances! The author Rachel Gladstone brings her wit and skill to the lifeblood of protagonist Julia, who’s wobbling through grief with equal parts devastation and humor.

30 year-old Nashvillian, Julia Holmes is just weeks away from becoming Mrs. Aaron DeMinthe. For as long as she can remember she’s dreamed of getting married at Whitfield Chapel and now her dreams are about to be realized. Julia has meticulously planned every detail of her big day from the flowers to her gown but the one thing she didn’t plan for is Aaron’s announcement: he needs to tick something off his bucket list before they tie the knot and that something is to hike the last leg of the Appalachian Trail; a project several years in the making. Julia is appalled by this idea and tries to dissuade him from going but his mind is made up and so, she reluctantly gives him her blessing. Less than 48 hours later, as he summits Mt, Katahdin, the last mountain of the trek, he’s struck by lightning and killed, effectively kicking the bucket while ticking something off his bucket list.

Julia is grief stricken and inconsolable and despite the fact that she’s surrounded by her best gal pals, her parents and Lincoln Douglas, who was on Mt, Katahdin with Aaron when he died, she loses her grip on reality and quickly starts unravelling at the seams. Returning to Whitfield in search of closure she happens upon the Chapel’s Wedding Director who offhandedly mentions that they’re looking for a Weekend Wedding Assistant and before she can even think about it she takes the job. As she ushers four brides a weekend down the aisle she was supposed to walk down herself, Julia tries to understand why she said “I Do” to a job she never set out to get, in a place she’d only meant to occupy for an afternoon and wonders if she’ll ever find true love again.

Rachel Gladstone
Rachel Gladstone is a staff writer for Dish Magazine (www.dishmag.com) where she reviews books for her column All Booked Up and wrote a TV pilot, “Hopeful Times” for Cornerstone Entertainment which is now in pre-production. Rachel has also contributed work to The Nashville Scene, Ourselves, Foundations, GX, The Lipscomb College of Business and Nashville Lifestyles magazines and her blog, The Petty Chronicles, about the funny side of divorce had 30,000 readers