🌸 Title: The Secret Bridesmaid
🌸 Author: Katy Birchall
🌸 Release Date: May 4th, 2021
🌸 Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Adult, Humor
🌸 A non-major spoilers review.
🌸 I received an ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
“I know you’re supposed to wait until midnight. But, right now, I don’t care. It’s like Cordelia says. Sometimes it’s fun to break the rules.
-Katy Birchall, The Secret Bridesmaid
Goodreads summary:
Matrimony meets mayhem in a modern British romcom about a young woman charged with pulling off the biggest aristocratic wedding of the year––and the misadventures that ensue.
Sophie Breeze is a brilliant bridesmaid. So brilliant, in fact, that she’s made it her full-time job.
As a professional bridesmaid, Sophie is hired by London brides to be their right-hand woman, posing as a friend but working behind the scenes to help plan the perfect wedding and ensure their big day goes off without a hitch. When she’s hired by Lady Victoria Swann––a former model and “It Girl” of 1970’s London; now the Marchioness of Meade––for the society wedding of the year, it should be a chance for Sophie to prove just how talented she is.
Of course, it’s not ideal that the bride, Lady Victoria’s daughter, Cordelia, is an absolute diva and determined to make Sophie’s life a nightmare. It’s also a bit inconvenient that Sophie finds herself drawn to Cordelia’s posh older brother, who is absolutely off limits. But when a rival society wedding is announced for the very same day, things start to get…well, complicated.
Can Sophie pull off the biggest challenge of her career––execute a high-profile gala for four hundred and fifty guests in record time, win over a reluctant bride, and catch the eye of handsome Lord Swann––all while keeping her true identity a secret, and her dignity intact?
Heartwarming and hilarious, The Secret Bridesmaid celebrates the joys (and foibles) of weddings, the nuances of female friendship, and the redeeming power of love in its many unexpected forms.
Is this ARC review a little late? YES. Is life hard? YES. I’ve been away for a while because of a lot of other commitments along with going on vacation to the Virgin Islands.
I’m going to be posting an update post in the next few days, but in the meantime, check out this ARC review of The Secret Bridesmaid!
The Secret Bridesmaid features Sophie, a girl who’s made it a job to be a secret bridesmaid for everyone but doesn’t focus on her own love life and tends to play things safe.
We receive a beautiful introduction to Sophie, our main character, right from the beginning. We see how kind and caring she is about others—but we also come to realize that she needs to take care of herself more and be willing to adventure and grow.
Sophie is quirky and a well fleshed-out character, along with Cordelia and her other friends!
Sophie’s so fun, and I absolutely adored her personality. She wasn’t just a character who stayed stagnant. Making the choice to be more adventurous and spontaneous, Sophie grows into the person she may have secretly always wanted to be. She just needed a nudge in the right direction.
Cordelia, in my opinion, had the best character development throughout the story. We learn about her regretful past and the reason for her lack of trust. But she slowly comes out of her shell to give Sophie a chance, and it’s they have some lovely moments.
However, the romantic leads in The Secret Bridesmaid were a little off-putting.
Daniel felt like he was only in the story to remind her of being a “boring” person. He didn’t feel like an actual character. I disliked him because he was a jerk, but I also disliked him because he just seemed like he was forced to be there.
Tom also felt like he was just sort of there to be the prince in shining armor. They have a few romantic moments, but there needed to be more for me to really feel like they were meant to be rather than the plot demanding a romantic lead.
Focused on friendship, The Secret Bridesmaid had many cute moments—but for a story that’s seemingly supposed to focus on romance, there was not enough to make this more than a decent read.
