Reviewed
Read Time
9 min read
Reader rating
4.2 · 7,982 Amazon ratings, as of Oct 2026
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Our review
Lies and Weddings
Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan Review: A Trollope-Style Wedding Romp
by Kevin Kwan
Kevin Kwan's Lies and Weddings sends a debt-ridden heir, Rufus Gresham, to a Hawaiian wedding to marry money, though his heart belongs to the girl next door. Reviewers find it fast, funny and Trollope-flavoured, with an idealised heroine as the main complaint.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers who want a quick, glossy, gossipy comedy of manners with a classic British inheritance plot underneath, plus some sharp class and race observations beneath the froth.
Worth it if
Worth reading if you want escapist, page-turning froth and can enjoy a lovable but over-idealised heroine and familiar beats as part of the book's indulgent vibe.
Skip if
Skip it if you want psychological realism or a fresh plot, since reviewers find Eden too perfect and some beats predictable or recycled from Kwan's earlier books.
What readers & critics say
Reviewers lean positive. Kirkus Reviews calls it "still more brilliant escapism" with delicious wit, and the book bloggers at Book Club Chat and The Fiction Addiction describe a fun, engaging read. The reservations are small: Eden is too perfect and some beats feel familiar, while Rich Horton at Amazing Stories finds Kwan a less engaging narrator than Trollope.
“Still more brilliant escapism among Kwan’s 1 percenters. Too much is never enough.”
— Kirkus Reviews4.2from 7,982 Amazon ratings, as of Oct 2026— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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Kevin Kwan's Lies and Weddings sends a debt-burdened aristocratic heir to a Hawaiian wedding with orders to marry money, while his heart points toward the doctor's daughter next door. Reviewers describe a quick, glossy narrative built on a classic British inheritance plot. It is an indulgent, page-turning treat, with an over-idealised heroine and familiar beats as the main caveats.
- Is it worth reading?
- Reviewers who cover it directly are warm. The Fiction Addiction's blogger calls it a fun read with page-turning pacing, and Rich Horton at Amazing Stories calls it good fun. The complaints concern an over-perfect heroine and some predictable beats rather than any lack of enjoyment, and no review we found calls it dull. It rewards readers who want froth with a little social observation tucked in.
- Similar books
- The closest match named by reviewers is Kwan's own Crazy Rich Asians, which a BookBrowse reader finds similar in spirit, with characters even crazier and richer here. Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto offers another comic, family-driven wedding story. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid suits readers who like glamour and secrets with a romantic core. Horton also points to Kwan's Sex and Vanity, built on A Room with a View.
- Who should read this?
- It suits readers who enjoyed Crazy Rich Asians-style excess, readers of Trollope or Austen who like spotting borrowed machinery, and anyone after an escapist wedding comedy with a forbidden-romance spine. Rimsha's Corner recommends it for romance, humour and satire in one package. It is a weaker fit for readers who find a lightly disguised classic plot predictable.
- What age is it for?
- This is a novel written for adults, not a children's or YA title. None of the reviews we found describe its sexual content or language in detail, so no specific minimum age is given. Reviewers note Cantonese-laced dialogue and wealthy-set glamour.
- What themes does it explore?
- Class and money drive the plot, from a bankrupt aristocratic family to the pressure to marry wealth. The Fiction Addiction's blogger sees a thoughtful layer under the froth, with Eden mistaken for a maid or an assistant more than once. Horton adds that racism is a minor force for the well-off Tongs but hits poorer characters such as hotel maids more directly, and notes Dr. Thomas Tong is looked down on for being Chinese in origin.
- Who is the standout character?
- Reviewers single out Martha Dung, the venture capital genius. By comparison, Eden Tong draws the most criticism for being almost too perfect.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
What age is it for?
What themes does it explore?
Who is the standout character?
Summarize this book
Rufus Leung Gresham, heir to the Greshambury earldom and son of a former Hong Kong supermodel, is told by his mother to use his sister's wedding on the Big Island of Hawaii to find a wealthy match, because the family trust has been drained. His options include the French hotel heiress Solène de Courcy and the tattooed venture capitalist Martha Dung, but he is drawn to Eden Tong. A volcanic eruption and a hot-mic revelation upend the wedding, and the story travels on to Marrakech, Los Angeles and England. A secret tragedy hidden for two decades sits beneath it all.
Follow up
Does the book have a happy ending?
Where does the story take place?
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Our Review
We review the evidence: published critics, reader verdicts and BookTube reviews, gathered and weighed with AI assistance and edited by LuvemBooks, rather than one reader's first-hand take.
Worth reading, if you want a fast, glossy, gossipy comedy of manners with a classic British plot underneath. The sources that review it directly are warm, and their caveats are about idealised characters and familiar beats, not about the fun.
Lies and Weddings: A Novel by Kevin Kwan front cover
The case for it is the pleasure it delivers. The book blogger behind The Fiction Addiction calls it "such a fun read, with page-turning pacing", and Rich Horton at Amazing Stories sums it up as "good fun".
The caveats are small by comparison. Both are about character and familiarity, and they come up in the sections below.
What happens in Lies and Weddings?
Rufus Leung Gresham, future Earl of Greshambury and son of a former Hong Kong supermodel, has a problem, according to Penguin Random House's synopsis. The legendary Gresham Trust has been drained by decades of profligate spending, and behind the magazine covers and Instagram stories of manors and yachts sits a mountain of debt.
His scheming mother's solution is for him to attend his sister's wedding on the Big Island of Hawaii and seduce a woman with money. The candidates include Solène de Courcy, a French hotel heiress with a royal bloodline, and Martha Dung, a tattooed venture capital genius.
The heart's choice is Eden Tong, the doctor's daughter next door.
Then a volcanic eruption burns through the nuptials and a hot mic exposes a secret tryst. The synopsis promises a globetrotting plot that reaches Marrakech, Los Angeles and England's oldest estates, and a secret tragedy hidden for two decades.
This is also a romance of the forbidden, class-crossing kind. Rufus and Eden are the central couple: the girl-next-door love story pits heart against family fortune.
How do reviewers read the Trollope connection in Lies and Weddings?
Rich Horton of Amazing Stories reads the book as a modern echo of Anthony Trollope's Doctor Thorne. The Greshams carry over from Trollope, and Dr. Thomas Tong is looked down on not only for being less rich but for being Chinese in origin.
Horton enjoyed following the plot turns as a reader of the older novel, and says knowing Doctor Thorne may deepen the experience without being required.
He judges Kwan the less engaging writer and not the master of omniscient narration that Trollope was. He still likes the sardonic footnotes, which he sees as a clever stand-in for Trollope's chatting narrator, apart from one explaining how Spam spread through the Pacific, which struck him as unnecessary.
The Fiction Addiction's blogger sees a different set of models: Pride and Prejudice, with Lady Gresham as a wealthier and more stylish Mrs. Bennet, and Doctor Thorne vibes in Rufus's romance with the girl next door. She calls the book a manners novel, a comedy and an inheritance drama at once.
What did critics find to praise?
She also saw a thoughtful layer beneath the froth: Eden is mistaken for a maid or an assistant more than once, and the book makes sharp observations about class and expectations.
Horton likewise credits the novel with showing racism as a minor force for the well-off Tongs while acknowledging poorer characters, such as hotel maids, who feel it more directly. He prefers Rufus and Eden to Trollope's equivalents: Eden has more agency than Mary Thorne, and Rufus is more active than the dithering Frank Gresham Jr.
The publisher-supplied quotes are warmer still. Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly, as quoted on BookBrowse, point to the vivid party scenes, breezy prose and quick-witted dialogue laced with Cantonese, with Publishers Weekly saying fans will devour it.
Those lines come second-hand through a retailer page, so they are best read as the trade's welcome rather than a deep assessment.
The book blogger behind Rimsha's Corner enjoyed Kwan's sharp, witty prose and his mirror held up to the hyper-wealthy elite, and found Martha Dung a vibrant contrast to the debutante Solène.
Where does Lies and Weddings fall short?
The recurring criticism concerns Eden. The Fiction Addiction's blogger admits she is a bit much: a perfect, understanding NHS doctor with a heart of gold, whose friendship with Augie and Bea she could not quite understand.
Rimsha's Corner makes a similar point, noting that Eden's idealism may feel too perfect.
Horton's reservations are about craft rather than pleasure: Kwan is not Trollope as a narrator, and the Hawaiian Spam digression struck him as unneeded. He also found one character, a reader favourite in the original, funny but less satisfying in Kwan's version.
No review in hand argues the book is dull. The weaknesses are predictability and an over-idealised heroine, which matter less in a book sold on froth.
Is Lies and Weddings worth reading?
Weighing these reviews, the tension is between froth and substance. The Fiction Addiction's blogger says plainly that Eden's perfection is "kind of the book's vibe", and Horton values the fun of seeing a Victorian plot reworked, with a modern Eden and Rufus.
Taken together, the reception is about indulgence: the book is meant to be a rich, quick, escapist treat with some class commentary tucked in.
That points the book toward readers who enjoyed Crazy Rich Asians-style excess, readers of Trollope or Austen who like spotting the borrowed machinery, and anyone wanting an escapist wedding comedy with a forbidden-romance spine. It points away from readers who want psychological realism, since the sources themselves call the lead too perfect, or who find a barely disguised classic plot predictable.
The closest comparison the sources offer is Kwan's own Crazy Rich Asians. A reader on BookBrowse finds this book "in the same vein" but with characters even crazier and richer.
Horton also nods to Sex and Vanity, Kwan's earlier novel built on A Room with a View. The Rimsha's Corner blogger recommends it for anyone wanting romance, humour and satire in one intoxicating package.
The Vintage paperback came out in 2025, so it is no longer brand new.
The Washington Post, in a snippet from its review, framed it as another chapter in Kwan's fantasy of conspicuous transnational consumption and love against the odds.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- 1
- 2
kevinkwanbooks.com
- 3
bookbrowse.com
- 4
amazingstories.com
- 5
- 6
thefictionaddiction.com
- 7
penguinrandomhouse.com
- 8
barnesandnoble.com
- 9
Kirkus Reviews
- 10
Book Club Chat
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