20 Minutes Before the Wedding (20 Minutes #14) by Daniel Hurst
Genre: Psychological thriller, Novella, Quick Read
Read: 9th March 2025
Published: 13th August 2021
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
The big day has arrived for several characters as the 20 Minute Series continues...
The blushing bride. The dashing groom. And a whole lot of champagne. The nerves. The excitement. And all the unpredictable things that no amount of wedding planning can ever prepare for.
Will it be 'I do?'
Or 'I don't?'
MY THOUGHTS:
And they're back! Just one month after the nailbiting events of "20 Minutes on the Road", we return with blushing brides and dashing grooms, several nuptials and a lot of nerves, bubbling champagne and a whole lot of chaos. And unlike in previous books, this one doesn't have the requisite twenty characters to twenty chapters as our main stars of the series - Jelena and Bogdan - have two chapters each.
Certainly Jelena and Bogdan are pentultimately the main characters as much of the beginning of the story and some of that in between has centred around them. All the while, with many other stories both interconnected and unconnected.
Things are kicked off with Jelena about to walk down the aisle to marry Bogdan in a luxurious hotel by a lake in countryside England. But their celebrations are about to go awry when someone from their past is also getting married at the same venue and the couple recognise them. It was only a matter of time before the fireworks began.
Lindsey continues to be just as blind to Diego's true nature but will April be in time to put a stop to the wedding going ahead before the vows are exchanged? And will Lindsey believe her? Or will Diego slither his way out once again?
Over on a secluded Greek island, Will and Chantelle exchange their vows in front of a hundred of their family and friends, under the sun overlooking the magnificent cobalt blue of the Mediterranean Sea. A stunning venue, if ever there was one. It was touching when Will paid tribute to his mother Ruth who envisioned the couple marrying long before they did.
The net is tightening for Valentin as Paula and her team set up surveillance on him, hoping it will lead somewhere and not be a waste of precious time and resources. But can he outsmart them or is he just a little too cocky for his own good?
And will Ronnie finally get his comeuppance?
Harry is back with his friends, attending a friend's parents' wedding and still somehow manages to find himself in some sort of mischief, even if he wasn't the one wielding it this time. I had to laugh when he and his friends were anticipating a delicious meal of maybe pizza or a burger and chips and they all looked down at their plates, confused by the small chunk of cheese and leaf of lettuce sitting there. LOL
A few regulars return with a couple of new faces but their stories are pretty much background to what is essentially the main event here. As I flipped the final page I was like NOOOOO! It cannot end there. So I guess I will be picking up the next one almost as soon I've posted this review.
I did notice one discrepancy towards the end when Jelena and Bogdan's photographer appeared to be transgender (and not in the usual sense) but rather they went from being female, then male and then back to female again in the space of a paragraph or two. But it isn't enough to detract from the excitement that's to be had in this installment and it's another pounding five stars as we begin the climb to the penultimate climax of the series.
Next...20 Minutes in Court
MEET THE AUTHOR:
He has been employed in several glamorous roles in his lifetime, including bartending, shelf stacking and procurement administration, all while based in some of the most exotic places on the planet, like Bolton, Preston and South London.
Daniel writes psychological thrillers and loves to tell tales about unusual things happening to normal people. He has written all his life, making the progression from handing scribbled stories to his parents as a boy to writing full length novels in his thirties. He lives in the North West of England and when he isn’t writing, he is usually watching a game of football in a pub where his wife can’t find him.
Since following his lifelong passion for writing in 2020, he has amassed a loyal and devoted set of readers, and regularly has several books in the top 100 of the Psychological Thriller Charts on Amazon. His title The Passenger became the #1 selling psychological thriller in the UK in October 2021. The Doctor's Wife is his first publication with Bookouture.
A prolific writer, Daniel likes to keep readers on their toes by self publishing even more books in between those released through his publisher.
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