WEDDING BELLES (Haywood Smith)

Unfortunately, as I was reading this book I had a minor disagreement with my own daughter, one which led me to imagine all sorts of foreboding future scenarios thanks to Smith's spot-on depiction of a serious rift in the relationship between Callie (the bride) and her mother, Georgia. This is the third in Smith's Red Hat series, the ongoing story of five 50-something friends who have weathered marriages, addictions, children, careers, and crises together. The tone of the book is funny and upbeat, but the relationships between the women, the loyalty and devotion among these 5 friends, is what draws the reader back to Smith's novels again and again. Are the characters and situations realistic? Probably not, but each of them has traits that we have all seen in ourselves or a close friend. These are the kind of friends that every woman of "a certain age" would like to have.