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A review by maggiemaggio
The Chapel Wars by Lindsey Leavitt
3.0
3.5 stars
Las Vegas has always been an interesting place to me. Not the whole get drunk and throw away money and smoke indoors side of Vegas, but the historical side of Vegas. My maternal grandparents got married in Vegas, on Christmas Eve, in 1949. They had met in college on the east coast and after they graduated my grandfather moved to Vegas to teach and my grandmother moved to New Mexico to work as a dental hygienist on an Indian reservation. My grandma went to visit him over Christmas and the rest, as they say, is history: five years later my mother was born, 36 years later I was born, and 64.5 years later they are still happily married.
Maybe it’s because of my personal connection to Vegas, but I was immediately taken in by the world Lindsey Leavitt created in this story. Holly’s grandfather, who’s pretty much her hero, passed away suddenly and at the reading of the will (which pretty much sums up her grandfather’s flair for the dramatic) Holly learns that she has inherited her grandfather’s Vegas wedding chapel. Holly is still reeling from her grandfather’s death, but she’s excited to take on the challenge of running the chapel. She’s a numbers girl, she likes to count everything and calculate odds on everything from sports to how long couples will stay married, plus she goes to a special business high school, so she feels as prepared as a seventeen year old can to run a business.
Unfortunately that business isn’t doing too well. Holly’s grandfather wasn’t the most fiscally responsible man and Holly quickly learns that she needs to raise a large sum of money to pay back a loan. There are many reasons this is problematic, but a big reason is the chapel next door, a gaudy, soulless place owned by her grandfather’s archenemies, Victor Cranston. One of her grandfather’s last wishes was for Holly to deliver a letter to Cranston’s grandson, Dax, and when she does she immediately takes a liking to him and they strike up a secret romance.
The strongest parts of this book had to do with Holly’s family (no surprise from Leavitt) and the Vegas setting. Holly’s love for her grandfather is obvious, but the rest of her family is pretty screwed up. Her parents are recently divorced, something that came out of no where since she’s never seen them argue and her older sister is distant and pretentious and away at college and her younger brother, a piano prodigy, is pretty much one bad decision away from juvenile detention. Even though this is a different kind of family than I’ve come across in Leavitt’s other books, I still really liked them, especially Holly’s younger brother. They’re far from a perfect family, but they all love the chapel and they’re each trying to honor her grandfather in their own way.
The family that Holly created from her friends is also great. Holly’s best friend is a boy named Sam and she and Sam are part of a group with a few other guys. As a numbers person Holly is very black-and-white and closed off emotionally so she fit in well with this very teenage group of boys, who I immediately liked even though they are obnoxious at times. Sam is also in a relationship with a girl named Camille and even though they were secondary characters I liked what their relationship brought to the story. Sam is very devoted to Camille and wants to get married once Camille finishes high school, but Camille’s parents are overprotective and don’t want Camille dating anyone so she and Sam have to sneak around. I enjoyed the juxtaposition between Sam and Camille’s relationship and Holly and Dax’s romance.
Then there’s the setting of Las Vegas. Having never been to Vegas I have nothing to go on, but I fell in love with the Vegas in the book. Dax is new to the city and as he and Holly go on dates and hang out she introduces him to different parts of the city beyond what I think of as the typical tourist traps. They go to old school Vegas restaurants, this neon sign museum (which sounded amazing), and a creepy tattoo parlor. At one point they even go to the Bellagio fountain which is definitely cheesy, but it fit into the Vegas story really well.
That all sounds good, right? It was, but there was also something about the characters, especially Holly, that just never sat right with me. The death of Holly’s grandfather and the problems with the chapel are really emotional issues, but I didn’t think it read like an emotional book (although it was very funny). Part of this is probably due to Holly being so closed off. I certainly never felt like I really knew Holly despite spending a lot of time in her head. There was also something about the romance with Dax that never worked. Because he’s a Cranston I worried the whole time about his intentions and I was bothered that Holly wasn’t worried more about them. The romance between them also happens really quickly and beyond both coming from families that own wedding chapels and both having lost a close family member recently, I wasn’t quite sure what their connection was.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but these characters are older than Leavitt’s typical characters. Holly is seventeen and Dax is almost nineteen. It makes sense that Holly would have to be older to be able to run a business, but I wonder if that’s part of the issue here. Also, I wish the story had taken place over the summer because technically Holly and her friends should have been in school, but that was never really mentioned after the beginning of the book. Also, was Dax in school? It was never really clear and it kind of drove me nuts.
Bottom Line: I loved the family-run wedding chapel and the Las Vegas setting, but The Chapel Wars didn’t live up to my love of Lindsey Leavitt’s other books. I still liked it and I’d recommend it for a summer read, but my lack of connection to the characters and to the romance held me back from fully enjoying it.
I received an electronic review copy from the publisher via NetGalley (thank you!). All opinions are my own.
This review first appeared on my blog.
Las Vegas has always been an interesting place to me. Not the whole get drunk and throw away money and smoke indoors side of Vegas, but the historical side of Vegas. My maternal grandparents got married in Vegas, on Christmas Eve, in 1949. They had met in college on the east coast and after they graduated my grandfather moved to Vegas to teach and my grandmother moved to New Mexico to work as a dental hygienist on an Indian reservation. My grandma went to visit him over Christmas and the rest, as they say, is history: five years later my mother was born, 36 years later I was born, and 64.5 years later they are still happily married.
Maybe it’s because of my personal connection to Vegas, but I was immediately taken in by the world Lindsey Leavitt created in this story. Holly’s grandfather, who’s pretty much her hero, passed away suddenly and at the reading of the will (which pretty much sums up her grandfather’s flair for the dramatic) Holly learns that she has inherited her grandfather’s Vegas wedding chapel. Holly is still reeling from her grandfather’s death, but she’s excited to take on the challenge of running the chapel. She’s a numbers girl, she likes to count everything and calculate odds on everything from sports to how long couples will stay married, plus she goes to a special business high school, so she feels as prepared as a seventeen year old can to run a business.
Unfortunately that business isn’t doing too well. Holly’s grandfather wasn’t the most fiscally responsible man and Holly quickly learns that she needs to raise a large sum of money to pay back a loan. There are many reasons this is problematic, but a big reason is the chapel next door, a gaudy, soulless place owned by her grandfather’s archenemies, Victor Cranston. One of her grandfather’s last wishes was for Holly to deliver a letter to Cranston’s grandson, Dax, and when she does she immediately takes a liking to him and they strike up a secret romance.
The strongest parts of this book had to do with Holly’s family (no surprise from Leavitt) and the Vegas setting. Holly’s love for her grandfather is obvious, but the rest of her family is pretty screwed up. Her parents are recently divorced, something that came out of no where since she’s never seen them argue and her older sister is distant and pretentious and away at college and her younger brother, a piano prodigy, is pretty much one bad decision away from juvenile detention. Even though this is a different kind of family than I’ve come across in Leavitt’s other books, I still really liked them, especially Holly’s younger brother. They’re far from a perfect family, but they all love the chapel and they’re each trying to honor her grandfather in their own way.
The family that Holly created from her friends is also great. Holly’s best friend is a boy named Sam and she and Sam are part of a group with a few other guys. As a numbers person Holly is very black-and-white and closed off emotionally so she fit in well with this very teenage group of boys, who I immediately liked even though they are obnoxious at times. Sam is also in a relationship with a girl named Camille and even though they were secondary characters I liked what their relationship brought to the story. Sam is very devoted to Camille and wants to get married once Camille finishes high school, but Camille’s parents are overprotective and don’t want Camille dating anyone so she and Sam have to sneak around. I enjoyed the juxtaposition between Sam and Camille’s relationship and Holly and Dax’s romance.
Then there’s the setting of Las Vegas. Having never been to Vegas I have nothing to go on, but I fell in love with the Vegas in the book. Dax is new to the city and as he and Holly go on dates and hang out she introduces him to different parts of the city beyond what I think of as the typical tourist traps. They go to old school Vegas restaurants, this neon sign museum (which sounded amazing), and a creepy tattoo parlor. At one point they even go to the Bellagio fountain which is definitely cheesy, but it fit into the Vegas story really well.
That all sounds good, right? It was, but there was also something about the characters, especially Holly, that just never sat right with me. The death of Holly’s grandfather and the problems with the chapel are really emotional issues, but I didn’t think it read like an emotional book (although it was very funny). Part of this is probably due to Holly being so closed off. I certainly never felt like I really knew Holly despite spending a lot of time in her head. There was also something about the romance with Dax that never worked. Because he’s a Cranston I worried the whole time about his intentions and I was bothered that Holly wasn’t worried more about them. The romance between them also happens really quickly and beyond both coming from families that own wedding chapels and both having lost a close family member recently, I wasn’t quite sure what their connection was.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but these characters are older than Leavitt’s typical characters. Holly is seventeen and Dax is almost nineteen. It makes sense that Holly would have to be older to be able to run a business, but I wonder if that’s part of the issue here. Also, I wish the story had taken place over the summer because technically Holly and her friends should have been in school, but that was never really mentioned after the beginning of the book. Also, was Dax in school? It was never really clear and it kind of drove me nuts.
Bottom Line: I loved the family-run wedding chapel and the Las Vegas setting, but The Chapel Wars didn’t live up to my love of Lindsey Leavitt’s other books. I still liked it and I’d recommend it for a summer read, but my lack of connection to the characters and to the romance held me back from fully enjoying it.
I received an electronic review copy from the publisher via NetGalley (thank you!). All opinions are my own.
This review first appeared on my blog.