Wedding season’s in full swing and not just in real life – this
week sees the first Meet Cute wedding when The
Boy and the Bridesmaid is released on Thursday 16th June. But as well as one of the couples tying the
knot (I won’t tell you which!) there is, naturally, another meeting...
I wrote The Boy and
the Bridesmaid not long after my best friend’s wedding, when the excitement
and promise of a couple committing to each other was fresh in my mind (they’ll
be celebrating a year together on 20th – happy anniversary Jen and
Chris!) But of course, along with the
romance that is an intrinsic part of any wedding day, there’s also an enormous
amount of stress involved. For the bride
and groom (and possibly their families too) there’s the expense and the desire
to provide a fun and memorable day for both themselves and their guests. For the wedding party there’s the pressure of
speeches or readings. For guests there
are issues around what to wear, or where to stay, and what’s a suitable amount
to spend on a present? All in all,
weddings can be stressful.
For Maria, the protagonist in The Boy and the Bridesmaid, being in the spotlight is a big
deal. Although she’s delighted to be a
bridesmaid and keen to support the happy couple on their big day, she suffers
from social anxiety and the thought of being in a crowded room sets her heart
and mind racing. She’s petrified she’ll
have a panic attack and ruin everyone’s day.
Maria’s story isn’t my own, but I did draw on my personal
experiences of depression, anxiety and panic attacks when writing the
story. At the moment my mental health is
the most stable it’s been in a long time, but I’ve no shame in admitting to
having taken anti-depressants on a number of occasions and also speaking to
bereavement counsellors – some better than others. One of the sessions I went to
taught me some of the basic techniques of mindfulness and it changed my life
completely. That’s not to say I’m
totally ‘cured’ – I’ll probably always have low self-esteem and a fear of being
in large groups – but I have a tool I can use when I feel the tightening in my
throat and chest which signals the start of a panic attack. I wanted Maria to be strong and proactive
despite her mental health and that’s why she too makes reference to mindfulness. It turns out the seemingly confident boy she’s
attracted to also values meditation. It's not a story of 'girl meets boy and suddenly all her problems disappear' but there's an understanding between the two of them and that's what I love most about their meeting.
This is the final story in the Meet Cute series – the end of
an era! – but it's so fantastic knowing people have related to the characters and enjoyed the excitement of seeing nine couples get together. Thank you to all the readers who've taken time out of their day to tell me they're following the stories. Your support makes all the difference and I hope you'll all enjoy The Singalong Society for Singletons just as much when it's released this autumn.
The Boy and the Bridesmaid blurb -
There's nothing as wonderful as a wedding, especially when it's your sister getting married. But for Maria, who struggles with social anxiety, being a bridesmaid is a struggle as well as an honour and when she finds herself overawed the person by her side is the last person she'd expect to understand…Published by Harper Impulse, the digital first imprint at Harper Collins on June 16th 2016
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Also available from iBooks and Sainsbury's Entertainment
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