To say I’m a fan of Jenny Colgan’s Mure series would be an understatement. Have I lost endless time on Google, trying to find the island that inspired Mure? Maybe. Have I mentally cast an entire limited series in my mind? Perhaps. Have I imagined moving to this fictional island and befriending its fictional inhabitants? I don’t want to talk about it, okay?!

Once again, Jenny Colgan knocks it out of the park (appropriately, since I may or may not have spent most of a baseball game reading this one. Shhh).

New to Mure? Or perhaps it has just been a bit since you visited? Never fear– Colgan includes a quick, funny synopsis at the beginning. Considering I’ve read quite a bit since the last Mure release, I was grateful for the speedy catch-up to remind me what loose threads remained.

Flora and Joel are in the midst of planning their wedding when Jan’s famous Instagram influencer sister announces she wants to get married on Mure, despite having not been back in ages. The Rock hosting a big fancy wedding would certainly help the recently opened hotel’s finances, and so Flora agrees. But influencer life is more complicated than she anticipated, as is juggling family life, the hotel, and the Seaside Kitchen. Meanwhile, Lorna and Saif are still secretly meeting, and maybe even daring to dream of the future a bit.

As always, Colgan’s characters are so thoroughly developed they feel like long-lost best friends to the reader. They’re just flawed enough to be realistic, without being so irksome that you’re tempted to throw the book across the room. They’re faced with hard choices, and make reasonable mistakes along the way, but the strong community continues to bind them together.

The setting is a character unto itself, with the quirky island of Mure as a gorgeous backdrop to the cast of spunky characters. From six year old Agot’s insistent demands to sweet little Ash and brave Ibrahim and solid, steady Saif, the secondary characters feel just as real as the primary players. The overall effect is a completely lovely read…almost.

Although Colgan can make me laugh out loud, surprising myself and everyone around me, she can also make me randomly burst into tears. So brace yourselves for that, and make sure to have tissues ready.

I struggle to write this review a bit, because when the book concludes, I didn’t have that warm, fuzzy feeling I so often have at the end of a Jenny Colgan novel. This one feels a bit more real, a bit more raw. I’m still in the feels over it, to be honest. There are particular plot threads that are certain to stay with the reader long after returning from their (albeit mental) visit to Mure.

Breaking News: Apparently this is the FINAL book in the Mure series!?!? I truly didn’t realize, and now I’m even more heartbroken than before. All the tissues, friends. You need all the tissues. Also…I need to have a chat with Ms. Colgan about the future of Mure. There are some things I NEED to know, and I need to know them now, please and thank you. *Sniffles* Also, I retract my statement about not wanting to throw the book across the room. I’m a bit there, now that I know it’s the end.

An Island Wedding will be available June 21, 2022. Thank you to author Jenny Colgan, HarperCollins, and NetGalley for an advanced e-copy such that I could share my honest review.

You can pre-order An Island Wedding on Bookshop.org here. Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org. I will earn a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you click through and make a purchase.