A modern retelling of The Philadelphia Story, Wasp’s Nest is a witty, gripping love triangle unfolding over the course of seven chaotic days at a Cape Cod wedding

Tess wants nothing more than for her upcoming society wedding to overshadow the failure of her first marriage. Her fiancé Warren, a steady soon-to-be state senator, is nothing like her first husband. Tess’s relationship with working-class artist Peter was a passionate crash-and-burn, and a chapter of her life that she’s ready to forget.

Peter hasn’t seen Tess in five years, so he’s shocked to receive an invitation to her wedding. But he’s moved on too, and it wouldn’t hurt to prove it by showing up with a handsome younger man as his plus-one. Mitch, an aspiring writer, is intrigued by Peter and jumps at the chance to pry into the lives of his Waspy ex-in-laws. What he’s not bargained for is developing serious feelings for both Peter and Peter’s ex―Tess, the bride. But Peter and Tess have complex desires of their own, and Mitch is dangerously close to uncovering them.

Wasp’s Nest is a fast-paced, humorous, and heartfelt exploration of the shape of our affections that proves real love triangles connect on all sides.

I received a copy of this audiobook courtesy of the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

A few years back, I was involved with a stage production of The Philadelphia Story. It was a cute show, a ton of fun to be involved in, and I’ve had a soft spot for that story ever since. So when this book landed on my radar as a modern reworking of it, I picked it up immediately. I ended up having a really good time.

What I appreciated most about this book is that Stoddard makes the story her own. The bones of The Philadelphia Story are absolutely there, and if you know the original you’ll catch the nods. But she pulls the whole thing into a contemporary world and queers up the love triangle, and that combination makes the book feel completely original rather than like a beat-for-beat update. It’s a remix done right.

In this version, Tess is about to get married. Her first marriage ended in flames, and she’d really like the upcoming wedding to be the kind of polished, society event that helps everyone forget the first one. Her fiancé Warren is steady, polished, and headed for political office. Her first husband, Peter, is none of those things. He’s a struggling artist with no family money behind him, and their whole relationship was passion and chaos right up until it imploded. Five years have gone by since Peter and Tess last saw one another, and Peter’s wedding invitation arrives out of nowhere. At first he doesn’t think he should go, but the more he thinks about it, the more he feels like he should show up and prove to Tess that he has moved on. He also plans to show up to the Cape Cod celebration with a much younger plus-one on his arm. That’s Mitch, an aspiring writer who is more than happy to use the trip as a chance to nose around in Peter’s old life and his very old-money former in-laws. To heat things up, Mitch ends up falling for bot Peter and Tess. TO further complicate things, Peter and Tess have their own knot of unresolved feelings, and over the course of one chaotic week, the whole thing tips over.

The book is told from three points of view. Tess, Peter, and Mitch and I don’t think the story would have worked as well had we not gotten all three perspectives. Each of them has their own version of what’s happening and their own version of what they want, and the gaps between those three accounts are where a lot of the tension lives. You can feel one of them pulling toward something that another one of them is pulling away from, all in the same scene. Stoddard handles those overlapping desires really well. Nobody is the bad guy. But then again, nobody is the good guy either which also works well.

The whole thing is a little messy, in the way good love triangles tend to be. There’s plenty of drama. There’s plenty of bad behavior. There’s a real sense of three people whose lives are too entangled and complicated to pull apart cleanly, even when separating would probably be the smart move. The characters are vivid enough that I won’t be forgetting them anytime soon.

I will admit I wasn’t wild about how the ending shook out. That’s a personal thing. I had my own preferences about who I wanted to end up with whom, and the book didn’t go that way. That’s fine. The book isn’t obligated to give me what I want. I just want to be honest that I closed it slightly wistful for the version where the pairings landed differently.

I listened to this one, and the narration is perfect. Eric Yang, Major Curda, and Mia Wurgaft each take one of the three perspectives, and each one of them completely nails the voice of their character. The voices are distinct, the rhythms are distinct, and the audio version really makes the multiple POV structure shine. If you’re an audiobook person, I’d point you to it before the physical book.

If you love a messy queer love triangle, smart dialogue, a glamorous setting, and a retelling that actually does something new with its source material, this is a great one. I had a lot of fun with this one.