"Another beach-ready confection starring pampered people in designer clothing behaving badly — this time at a decadent Hawaiian wedding where secrets erupt with the force and heat of lava."
—The New York Times
“An irresistible tale of eye-popping glamour and shocking deception...This romantic romp circles the globe, hitting luxury locations and high comic notes in classic Kwan style.”
—People
"A hilarious, richly detailed family affair that takes place around the world, from Hawaii to Venice to Los Angeles to the English countryside."
—Megan McCluskey and Olivia B. Waxman, Time
"If you loved Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan’s latest won’t disappoint....Alliances are made and unmade. Fortunes are won and lost. Rich people, trying to get richer, outwit themselves. Poor girls, armed with only their stubborn integrity, stake a claim on happiness. And the laugh lines arrive punctually....Kwan has a gimlet eye.”
—Louis Bayard, The Washington Post
"Nouveau riche voyeurism at its finest....Kwan knows (or seems to know) how the ultra-wealthy, specifically the Asian and Eurasian ultra-wealthy, toss around their dough and how they disport themselves in assorted world capitals."
—Joanne Kaufman, The Wall Street Journal
“[Lies and Weddings] bounces from England to Hawaii to Morocco, with enough designer labels, priceless artwork and luxurious accommodations to make Beverly Hills seem folksy. But there’s an undertow beneath the froth.”
—Elisabeth Egan, The New York Times
“Kevin Kwan delivers more laughs than lava in his new rom-com, Lies and Weddings....Fans of Kwan’s wildly popular Crazy Rich Asians will warm to this tale of aristocratic hilarity.”
—Ron Charles, The Washington Post Book Club
“Kevin Kwan is the king of summer reads. . . [An] outrageous comedy of errors. Imagine a rom-com paired up with a psychological thriller, and you've got Lies and Weddings....From Hawaii's black-sand beaches AND Marrakech's dramatic skies to Los Angeles' glitzy bachelor pads and England's oldest estates, Kwan delivers a juicy, hilarious, and sophisticated tale where love, ambition, and lies intertwine in unexpected ways.”
—Savoir Flair
“The Crazy Rich Asians author is back with more lavish weddings and lusty affairs of the wealthy.”
—Hailey Eber, New York Post
“If you’ve missed the twists, laughs, and jetsetting of Kevin Kwan's glamorous novels, check this one out immediately. IOHO, it isn’t summer without him.”
—The Skimm
“Private jets, $40,000 dresses, and a benevolent bachelor blissfully unaware that he’s on the brink of bankruptcy: It’s a trifecta that can only come together in a Kevin Kwan novel....In his latest, Lies and Weddings, he goes back to the well to deliver another delicious romp through the lifestyles of the rich and wannabe famous….Hopping among Hawaii, Marrakech, the British countryside, and Beverly Hills, Kwan tells a story like only he can, sending up the 0.01% while underlining that the heart wants what the heart wants, regardless of tax bracket.”
—Sheila Yasmin Marikar, Bustle
“[Kwan's] latest book chronicles challenges faced by the biracial children of a British duke and a former Hong Kong model. There’s an opulent Hawaiian wedding with a palace carved out of ice, a murder and, of course, an Asian mother who is intent on meddling in her children’s lives.”
—Saira Khan, Wall Street Journal
"Kevin Kwan one-ups his Crazy Rich Asians series with Lies and Weddings, a luxuriously frothy book about secretly poor billionaires with love problems."
—Greta Johnsen, WBEZ Chicago
"Delish and deceptive."
—WBUR
"This novel is vintage Kwan and this time we take a hilarious dive into the Anglo-Asian billionaire scene which is populated with fierce Chinese moms, power-mad aunties, penniless English Lords, fabulous weddings, stately homes and too many secrets to mention. Imagine Crazy Rich Asians mated with Saltburn and you've got Lies and Weddings—a heavenly summertime read!"
—Plum Sykes, New York Times best-selling author of Bergdorf Blondes
“Known for his style, humor, and love of decadence, Kevin Kwan's latest novel follows Rufus Gresham, the future Earl of Greshambury, and the owner of a whole lot of debt. It doesn't take long before his scheming mother comes up with a plan—win the heart of a women with money at his sister's luxe wedding, duh! . . . But when a volcanic eruption exposes his family's true intentions, can the family rise again from the ashes or will a secret tragedy hidden for over 20 years reveal a shocking twist?”
—Chaise Sanders, Cosmopolitan
“[A] sly, hilarious comedy of manners about the high class, the low class, and the rich with no class....Kwan dishes out another juicy, satire-tinged romp about the lives of the opulent class with aplomb. The characters behave to the standard his fans have come to expect [and] the third-person omniscient narrative voice follows each character's movements with the chattiness of a gossip columnist....Readers hungry for an escapist tale with a soupçon of social criticism and a dash of true love overcoming obstacles should find Lies and Weddings a delicious diversion.”
—Shelf Awareness
“[Kevin Kwan] has entertained millions of Americans….If you think the mother in Crazy Rich Asians was a terror, wait until you meet the mom in Lies and Weddings.”
—Traverse City Record-Eagle
"Kevin Kwan...is back with another page-turner of a romance."
—Book Riot
"The author of international sensation Crazy Rich Asians has returned with a new story you won’t be able to put down....A sprawling, globe-trotting adventure, filled with deceit, murder, love and humor."
—SheReads
“In [Lies and Weddings], Kwan continues to wrap fairy-tale love stories in glitz, glamour, couture, fine art, and delicious wit….Still more brilliant escapism among Kwan’s 1 percenters. Too much is never enough.”
—Kirkus (starred)
“Kwan returns with another irresistible comedy of manners….[Lies and Weddings] allow[s] Kwan to indulge in his flair for vivid party scenes [and he] delivers on his reputation for breezy prose, encyclopedic references to art and haute couture, and quick-witted dialogue laced with Cantonese. The author's fans will devour this.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Rollicking...Delightful...Like every Kwan novel, Lies and Weddings is chock-full of scheming characters and breathtakingly lavish scenes....Kwan remains a cheekily hilarious writer....I drank this book up like the chilled bottles of Sancerre these characters are constantly drinking. Pure pleasure.”
—BookPage
“Kwan is back and better than ever....From the beaches of Hawaii to Marrakech, and Los Angeles to England’s oldest family estates, Kwan’s latest is a juicy and hilarious story of love, money, murder and sex.”
—PureWow
"Kwan mines the trials and tribulations of the uberwealthy to great effect in this winning, modern-day comedy of manners...Kwan weaves together the drama of a nineteenth-century novel with timeless themes about identity, love, racism, and family loyalty, all while dropping snarky asides via footnote and details of the decadent lifestyles of the rich and famous. A fizzy, delightful confection perfect for devouring by the pool."
—Booklist
"Kwan took us to Singapore in Crazy Rich Asians, and he’s whisking us away to Hawaii, Marrakech and the English countryside in Lies and Weddings....A hilarious tale of love, lies, sex and money."
—Readers Digest
★ 06/14/2024
Kwan (Sex and Vanity) makes his triumphant return with another irresistible tale of the ultra-rich and uber-dramatic. In this novel, readers are treated to the saga of the Gresham family—a British earl, his Hong Kong supermodel wife, and their three adult children. The earl's son Rufus and his childhood friend Dr. Eden Tong provide the down-to-earth core of the story as the soapy action builds around them, from volcanic eruptions and shocking family secrets to matchmaking, scheming, and seduction, all played out by larger-than-life characters in the kinds of locations most can only dream of visiting. The book is written in Kwan's inimitable style, loaded with footnotes both interesting and snarky and chock-full of descriptions of luxury objects, ridiculous fashion, and globe-trotting travel. It has its serious moments too, reflecting on race, class, and extreme wealth, but the bulk of the novel is scandalous fun. Some readers may find the constant product placement exhausting and the large cast confusing, but fans of Crazy Rich Asians will be delighted by another romantic, melodramatic treat from Kwan. VERDICT A delicious novel that takes readers on a wild journey.—Jenny Kobiela-Mondor
★ 2024-01-20
Let us not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Or, maybe let’s.
In his second follow-up to the blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, Kwan continues to wrap fairy-tale love stories in glitz, glamour, couture, fine art, and delicious wit. (It’s possible that the author is on a diet because the food component seems slightly less dominant than usual.) This time, our star-crossed lovers are Rufus Gresham, Viscount St. Ives, a man whose beauty has been driving women to distraction since he was photographed in his boxers ironing a dress shirt at age 16, and Eden Tong, a young doctor who lives with her widowed father on the family property at Greshamsbury Hall. Though Rufus has been madly in love and planning to marry Eden since childhood, he is about to run into a solid wall of opposition from his mother, Lady Arabella. Since she and Lord Gresham have managed to drain the family coffers, she is determined to save the family by having each of her three children marry serious money. But right from the start, when an active volcano interrupts the wedding of daughter Augusta to Scandinavian royalty, things don’t go her way. Often hilarious epigraphs and fourth-wall-breaking footnotes include this: “Founded in 1875 in Venice, Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua was also the official supplier of precious fabrics to the Vatican until Pope Paul VI decided to tighten the belt on luxury goods. (This would explain the pillows from Target I saw in the waiting room during my last audience with the Pope.)” One also enjoys the gossip articles, invitations, and menus sprinkled through the text, and the little icons used to signal location changes—Hawaii hibiscus, London Big Ben, Greshamsbury tea set, Houston oil derrick, etc.—are adorable.
Still more brilliant escapism among Kwan’s 1 percenters. Too much is never enough.
Jing Lusi's first-rate facility with accents highlights Kevin Kwan's latest globe-hopping tale of the excesses of the super-rich. Lusi portrays the large cast of men and women of differing classes from all around the world, keeping them distinguished from one another. Once again, Kwan takes us on a wild ride while chronicling racism, classism, poverty, and environmental destruction. Lusi is memorable as the Countess of Greshamsbury, a Chinese woman married to a British Earl, as she tries desperately to upstage her snooty, wealthy, upper-class counterparts, who will always view her as inferior. It's too bad Lusi's choppy cadence diminishes some of the humor of the many footnotes and parenthetical asides. Those who enjoyed CRAZY RICH ASIANS should consider giving this a listen. S.G. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
