This book was a delightful British romcom. If you are looking for a cute fun read The Secret Bridesmaid is perfect for you. This is the first book I have read by Katy Birchall and I am excited to see what she writes next.

Sophie is a professional bridesmaid, which is a person who helps a bride do whatever she needs to plan her wedding. Sophie ends up getting hired by Lady Victoria to help her daughter Lady Cordella plan her wedding. But, Lady Cordella is not happy about having a secret bridesmaid so she makes Sophie’s job harder than usual. We learn a lot about the main character's past as the story progresses. The secondary characters also add an aspect to the story and they are a great addition to the storyline.

The Secret Bridesmaid is a story of friendship with a little romance thrown in. The story had a lot of laughs throughout the story. Even though the story has a lot of laughs thrown in there are also serious topics that are brought up in the story.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book before it comes out.

Sophie Breeze is a bridesmaid for hire. She’s not a wedding planner, but more like a PA for the bride and she’s really good at her job. But can she survive the ultimate Bridezilla who is determined for her to quit? I LOVED this book. It has the perfect combination of friendship, love, and humor. It reads quickly and you fall in love with all the characters.

This a unique and adorable work of women’s fiction with a touch of romance! Sophie Breeze provides professional bridesmaid services, offering brides help with wedding planning as well as a reliable shoulder to lean on. Her life is hilariously disrupted when she is hired to assist with a royal wedding involving a bride who will do nearly anything to get rid of her. I felt such joy reading this book as I laughed out loud at the many outrageous scenarios in which Sophie finds herself. Devoted and witty, Sophie is a delightfully complex character with her own set of quirks. I was glad the novel primarily focused on her and her relationship with Cordelia (AKA the ultimate bridezilla), rather than over-emphasizing romance. This book is perfectly balanced and it has all the makings of a perfect escape read that you just can’t help but enjoy. Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for providing me with an e-galley in exchange for an honest review!

It was kind of slow, but it was very fun and good romance. I didn't like the pacing but I liked the family dynamics.

A super fun chicklit! It started out a bit slow but when the love interest and his horrible sister entered it was so much fun from there on.

This book was so entertaining. I was drawn into the story from the beginning and was involved until the end. The characters were complex and interesting. I found the story to be well paced and engrossing throughout the whole book. I was invested in the couple throughout the book and felt all the emotions through both the highs and lows of the story. If you want an entertaining and well written book this is it for you.

I adored this book! It is a fun, light, whimsical romantic comedy about a professional bridesmaid. What is a professional bridesmaid? It is a job Sophie Breeze invented with the help of her cousin. Sophie is paid by brides to be a bridesmaid, help them plan their dream wedding and to make sure their big day is perfect. She is the person that runs errands, books events, deescalates stressful family situations and is there for the bride any time they might need help.

Sophie is hired for a high profile wedding and needs to work with a very difficult bride. She has to decide whether this wedding is worth all of the hard work and humiliation she needs to endure to have her career really take off. This book is full of friendship, family, forgiveness and trust, weddings (of course!) and really funny, likable characters. 5 stars!

What a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
This book was smart. Funny. Brilliant! Amazing characters. And the writing was on point!
Just really enjoyed reading this! Thanks NetGalley publishers and author!

The Secret Bridesmaid was a thoroughly amusing and fun romp. The characters were rich enough, but everything stayed relatively light. The bridesmaid duties vignette at the end of each chapter frequently made me snort-laugh, and I ended up staying up past my bedtime to finish it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

I received this novel as an ARC from NetGalley. I loved this fun and fresh story of friendship and love. Sophie is a professional bridesmaid in London and has been hired for the biggest society wedding of the year. The bride Cordelia is a nightmare though and Sophie is developing feelings for her older brother. Watching her keep it all together is entertaining and ultimately sweet.

Thank you to @netgalley & @stmartinspress for an ARC of The Secret Bridesmaid by @katybirchallauthor.

A little background:
Sophie is a kind hearted person who genuinely enjoys weddings and decides to turn it into a career.
Cordelia is a closed off person who has been burned in the past by those closest to her. As a result, she has no intentions of allowing anyone new into her life.
The two meet after Sophie is hired by Cordelia's mother, the Marchioness of Meade, to be Cordelia's bridesmaid.

Okay. This book was really cute. Every character had a purpose and added something special to the story. I have to admit, Cordelia was my favorite character even though some of her behaviors were outrageous.
Sophie was a close second but there were a few times I questioned her passiveness and why she was allowing people to treat her the way they did.
What did I like about the book? I don't have any complaints. This fulfilled all my rom com needs and then some. It was an easy read and there were many times I caught myself laughing and smiling.
I highly recommend picking this book up when it releases in May!

This review has been posted to Instagram at @jesslikesreading

This book was a ton of fun with some actual LOL moments! I'm a sucker for when authors include fun things at the end of chapters that subtly move along the plot (text conversations, email exchanges, receipts, etc.) and this had some great ones. If you're looking for something light and fun (while a little predictable), this is a great choice! Would also be a great read while on a bachelorette party!

This book has the “chick flick starring Anne Hathaway” vibe to it. It’s a light-hearted and wacky quick read that makes you laugh and smile. It was a “girl-power female friendship” focus novel, which we love, and you never knew what to expect with the various wracking wedding scenarios. The text was occasionally broken up by texts or emails for various weddings she was working, which made it more interesting. However, I found myself skipping over a lot of the descriptions to get straight to the dialogue. Based on the description I was hoping for a little more steamy romance, which it didn’t really have. It also didn’t even really *start* until three quarters of the way through the book, which felt like far too late.

It was a good book, but honestly I think it would make a much better movie.

3 stars.

This book was super cute. It was a great beach read and was very light. I found some parts to be repetitive which made me hesitate with giving five stars.

I absolutely loved this book! Sophie was immediately someone I wanted to be friends with. The professional bridesmaid was such a fun concept (I mean, this isn't really a thing...is it?) I loved how she handled all of her brides and especially loved (and laughed out loud!) at all of the email/text correspondence included between Sophie and her brides/vendors.

Cordelia was....awful. But I have to say that I felt for her. It was obvious from things her mom had said that there was a reason for this. And every time Sophie would start to chip away and get closer I was so hoping we were getting somewhere, and then Cordelia closed off again. So many parts had me laughing out loud - between the swan whisperer and their conversation in the shady bar.

Obviously the little bit of romance added in was super sweet! My heart broke for Sophie when it came to Daniel...but she handled it so well - and it forced her out of her comfort zone a little! Then there was Tom...and I loved how it was all handled. I appreciated the focus being on the friendship in this story but obviously fully enjoyed the little bit of romance added in to.

I would 100% recommend this book to anyone wanting a light, fun read about friendship and love.

A lot of fun. .A breeze and very enjoyable read, the characters were for the most part very likeable. The fallout was a bit predictable.

What a fun read! I love a book that sucks me in. It was happy, upbeat, and positive. The writing was quick paced and well written. What a cool job to be a secret bridesmaid and make weddings a happy and easy day for brides! The main character is fun and quirky. You just want her to have her happy ending throughout the entire book. She’s wholesome and the writing brings such positivity. The story was cute, if predictable. I would definitely suggest this as a beach or pool side read.

Sophie is great. I’d love to have her job but to work with Lady Cordila’s daughter I’d have to take a hard pass on that one. You can guess what happens but you won’t believe what she goes through to get the brides down to the altar. The red hair request was a little over the top!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

CW: bullying, drug use/overdose (side character)

This was a fun read about a professional bridesmaid. As a current maid of honor in an upcoming wedding, I loved all of the tidbits, my favorite parts being the different wedding mishaps at the end of the chapters. I was howling at times reading everything.

I would not classify this book as a romance, rather a fiction read with a romance subplot. The romance was sweet and subtle, but this was Sophie's story as she deals with getting invited to her ex's wedding and learning more about herself.

I was not a huge fan of Cordelia. While I understood her more after learning her backstory, she was bullying Sophie constantly. Sophie was very naive and put up with a lot, and while some of it was meant as humorous I just found it downright mean. I would have loved a bit more conversation to resolve especially when Cordelia just exposes Sophie when secrecy is so much part of her job.

Overall I enjoyed this one but I would not go in expecting a romance.

Rating: 3.5
Steam: 0

I was looking for a fun, light-hearted book to read and this book more than delivered!

Sophie Breeze is a professional bridesmaids helping brides and their families plan the wedding of the bride's dream. Sophie has a natural gift of helping brides stay calm and give them the support they need during the wedding process.. So when Sophie is offered a chance to be a bridesmaid to Lady Cordelia, the daughter of a Marchioness, Sophie thinks she's up for the challenge. But little does Sophie know that this job will push her skills as a bridesmaid to the limit.

There were so many laugh out loud and sweet moments throughout the book. Katy did a fantastic job of crafting charming and endearing characters that you can't help but love. And even though there are some romance elements to the book, at it's core the book is about friendship and self-love.

If you're looking for a fun, upbeat and wildly entertaining book, I can't recommend this book enough.

The Secret Bridesmaid will be released on May 4, 2021.

I received a free copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press via Netgalley. My review is voluntary.