The Run Around is a work of fiction in the romantic comedy genre. It is aimed at mature teen and adult readers and was penned by author Bernadette Franklin. The book follows the attempt of heroine Hope to plan the perfect wedding for her brother, as her patience and resolve get thoroughly tested by all involved. When the situation reaches rock bottom thanks to a head injury during photographs, Hope gets roped into helping the best man Fredrick plan his own wedding. The only issue is that Fredrick is the only man on earth she can imagine herself being happy with. What results is a charming and amiable rom-com with plenty of twists, turns, heartaches, and intrigues.

Author Bernadette Franklin has crafted another delightful tale here in and around the theme of weddings, which gives the central heroine Hope plenty of scope to find drama everywhere she steps. I liked the fact that this was a slow-developing romance tale without any insta-feelings or unbelievable plot: just a solid coming together of two characters with a realistic development in their time spent together. There is a sensitivity to the character development which endears you to both Hope and Fredrick from the off and keen emotional intelligence that shows strongly in the narrative and dialogue choices. Fans who enjoy light romantic reads which provide a welcome escape from everyday life are certain to fall in love with this tale, and overall I would highly recommend The Run Around for its quality characters and writing style.

The Run Around by Bernadette Franklin is a romantic comedy that centers around a ham-handed and hilarious woman named Hope. Playing the savior to her brother on his wedding day, Hope pulls out all the stops to get her prospective sister-in-law down the aisle. The reward for her hard work is a soak in the pond and a stray baseball to the head, followed by an intervention from the groom's best friend, Rick, and a trip to the hospital. Rick is intelligent, charming, rich, and gorgeous. He is also engaged. With love on the back burner in what Rick describes as a political match hailing from a true and tightly knit circle of the British aristocracy, Hope, who finds herself enamored by the groom, is tasked with planning his lavish wedding herself. What could possibly go wrong?

The Run Around is a fun, light-hearted read that features a perfectly imperfect protagonist in Hope. Bernadette Franklin does a wonderful job in carving out a distinctive personality for Hope, giving her a direct voice to the reader in a lively and perpetually acerbic first-person narrative. Some of the scenarios are a little kooky, but in the context of the story, they work well. For me, the best bits are in the supporting cast, ancillary characters that add all of the right shades of color and pull the story together with wit and laughter. Animal lovers will find that pets are given an equally clever reception, with Edgar Allan Paw and Annabel Lee factoring into a potential change of venue. The Run Around is a delightfully engrossing romp and exactly the style of diversion readers of the genre look for.