My Intended

In post-WWII France, marriage vows were occasionally formalized posthumously to protect the children of unmarried lovers from social stigma. First-time novelist Scollins-Mantha riffs off this short-lived historical practice to tell a saccharine, contemporary story about a New Jersey woman who struggles to redefine ""commitment"" and marry Drew, her true love, even after his unexpected death from a heart attack. Hannah, caught up in her grief in the weeks after the tragedy, can't bring herself to cancel the wedding, which, after all, has already been paid for. In part to expiate her guilt over previous lack of vigorous enthusiasm for the nuptials, she opts to go through with the ceremony sans groom in an effort to prove that it's never too late to set the love record straight. To do so, Hannah enlists the aid of her oft-married and heretofore emotionally absent mother, Ruby. While a singleton wedding might sound like a wacky concept, the author burdens her material with too much emotional gravitas to make interesting use of the humorous possibilities. There's an inherent absurdity in Hannah's painstaking search for just the right dress, and in her writing Drew's parents to inform them of her intention to marry their dead son. But Scollins-Mantha takes the serious route: Hannah indulges in wistful longing for the perfect wedding with her lost love, and also tritely reconciles her troubled relationship with Ruby. While Ruby is the one who ostensibly helps to heal her daughter's broken heart, she and other supporting characters, such as flamboyant gay sidekick Foxboy, seem rather to support Hannah's exhibitionist obsession and her implausible love crusade. (Mar.)