ONE WEEK TO THE WEDDING

Olivia Miles writes women’s fiction and contemporary romance. A city girl with a fondness for small town charm, Olivia enjoys highlighting both ways of life in her stories. She lives just outside Chicago with her husband, young daughter, and two ridiculously pampered pups.

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“One Week To The Wedding is a book about second chances, it is a book about finding love when you least expect it. It is a book about forgiveness and family. This book took me through an array of emotions, laughter, tears, and in the end, my heart was light with the love between these friends, and families.”—HarlequinJunkies.com

“Kate is an engaging character — her insecurities combined with her endearing personality make the wedding planning ever more likable.”—RT Book Reviews

1. As she plans Elizabeth’s wedding, Kate works to hide her own heartbreak over Jake’s betrayal. Talk about a time when you had to hide your feelings from a loved one. Why did you do it? Do you think it was the right decision?

2. Kate says about her dog Henry: “Henry deserved a life that was overflowing with love. Didn’t everyone?” How does this belief illustrate Kate’s general outlook? How do you think that outlook affects Kate’s relationships? Do you think it made it easier for her to forgive Charlotte at the end of the book? Why or why not?

3. At one point, Kate notes that “thirty is a far cry from eighteen, when the world felt so full of promise.” How does your outlook change as you grow older? Do the possibilities for your life really diminish, or does it just feel like they do? Have they for Kate? How does her journey throughout the book illustrate that?

4. Charlotte’s “life hadn’t taken such a traditional route, but was instead being taped and glued together piece by piece.” What’s the value in living a glued-together life? What’s the downside? Has your life followed a traditional route, or has it been more cobbled together?

5. When asked about whether or not he thinks that the town should undertake renovations on the Misty Point Lighthouse, Alec says yes, adding, “The only way for progress is to move forward, not stay rooted in the past.” How does this apply to the way he lives his life? What about Kate? Do you believe that you can have progress without letting go of the past? Why or why not?

6. In the beginning of the book, Alec and Kate can’t stand each other, and by the end they’ve fallen in love. How do you think they were able to overcome their initial bad first impressions? Has there been a time in your own life when you’ve realized that your first impression of someone was wrong? What made you realize that?

7. Both Alec and Kate struggle in their relationships with their siblings but ultimately find peace. How do the two very different sibling relationships illustrate the complicated ways that families interact emotionally?

8. At the end of the book, Kate forgives Charlotte, after hearing what really happened with Jake. Why do you think what seemed like an impossibility for Kate happened so easily in the end? Do you think that forgiveness lessens the pain caused by a betrayal or strengthens it? What makes forgiveness so hard?

This novel is a bit of a departure for you. What inspired you to write it?

Kate and Charlotte’s conflict is such a big one that I wanted to explore their complicated relationship a bit more while still developing their individual story lines. A year had passed since they’d spoken, and yet they were both at a turning point in their lives that triggered mixed feelings. While this novel still has a romantic subplot, ultimately the center of the story is sisterhood.

Misty Point is such a lovely setting. Is it based on anywhere you’ve been in real life? Where did you get the idea for it?

Misty Point is loosely based on Newport, Rhode Island. I grew up in New England, and I will forever hold a fondness for it.

Kate is asked to forgive a major betrayal by her younger sister, Charlotte. Have you ever had to forgive someone when you didn’t want to? How did that experience help shape the way you wrote about it here?

Every long-term relationship has its share of ups and downs—whether it’s a marriage, a friendship, or, in this case, a family situation. I tried to be very careful with how I handled Kate’s feelings toward Charlotte, because deep down, she loves her sister, but she also recognizes a side of her that she doesn’t always like.

Two of the most important relationships in this book are sibling relationships: William and Alec, and Kate and Charlotte. Are either of these sibling relationships close to your own? What inspired the different conflicts these two sets of siblings experience? Do you think our siblings shape us as people?

In order for Kate to sympathize with Alec, I felt there was a need for commonality, which in this case was the complex relationship he had with his younger brother. For both Kate and Alec, they are the older sibling, the more responsible one, and they don’t feel they have the same freedoms as their younger siblings do, which in time they start to resent a bit. It was through their sibling dynamics and conflicts that they were challenged to break away from their family roles and finally become the people they wanted to be.

One of the most fun parts about this novel is that it’s centered around a wedding. Were there any similarities between your own wedding and Elizabeth and William’s? Was it more fun to plan their wedding or your own? Tell us about your wedding.

I had a winter wedding, in a city, so there were very few similarities between my wedding and Elizabeth’s. But I always love thinking of how my wedding day might have been in a different season or location, and by writing this book, I could do just that! And of course it’s a little more fun to plan a fictional wedding, because you don’t have to worry about actually organizing anything. You just get to sit back and enjoy your dream wedding, as a guest.