When I was asked if I’d be interested in taking part in the blog tour for Erin McCahan’s debut novel I jumped at the chance. It sounded exactly my kind of book.
Bronwen feels she is stuck in the wrong family, so much so that when she was younger she invented Phoebe Lillywhite. The girl she was switched with at birth. The girl who is living out what should have been her life in a family of brunette, ketchup haters. The feeling of being out of step with her family persists as Bronwen grows up.Â
Then she meets Jared, the perfect guy with the perfect family. They adore Bronwen as much as she adores them. When Jared proposes Bronwen accepts without hesitation. As the wedding draws closer though she starts to question whether you can become an Us before you’ve ever really been a Me.
I really liked the premise of this book. As I met my husband when I was 18 I’m quite a fan of first love being forever love and I was interested to see how this story would end.
I Now Pronounce You Someone Else hooked me from the start. I loved Bronwen’s voice and immediately connected to her. It took me longer to warm to Jared. He was a little too perfect for me and his habit of telling Bronwen to “dream of him” grated on me. Apparently I am less of a romantic than I thought, or maybe the husband is rubbing off on me. Jared did end up winning me round though, by basically being a throughly likable guy and listening to, being there for, and respecting Bronwen.
Bronwen and Jared’s relationship  moves swiftly, but I felt Erin did a great job of showing us enough of their time together and their conversations to make their relationship believable. She also showed, through scenes with Bronwen’s mother and stepfather, why Bronwen is so eager to create a new family. This actually broke my heart a little and I was so sad and mad on Bronwen’s behalf.
Without spoiling anything for anyone, I have to say the end of the book was pretty much perfect, with one exception, I would have liked to have seen more of what happened with Bronwen and her mother. I actually wouldn’t have minded a sequel as I was enjoying the characters and the story and the end comes very fast with more telling than showing.
Overall I Now Pronounce You Someone Else was an excellent read. I really liked Bronwen, and I liked her journey to find out who she was and who she wanted to be. I also liked the exploration of families and the holds they exert on us. This was definitely my kind of book.