I loved this book, I really did! I will say that reading through some of the text messages was confusing on who was saying what and I wish that was more clear!

I’m pretty sure I found my favorite read #2 for this month!🥰

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sophie is a professional bridesmaid - the girl who is hired by brides to be their right-hand woman, posing as a friend but also working behind the scenes to help plan the perfect wedding. When Sophie is hired by Lady Victoria Marsh for her daughters upcoming wedding, it should be the chance for Sophie to show how talented she is. But Cordelia Swan isn’t an easy bride and Sophie finds herself attracted to Cordelias off limits brother. Many challenges face Sophie as she helps pull off one of the biggest weddings of the year. Can she do it?

I loved this book y’all🥰 I wasn’t really sure about it going in, but I actually really enjoyed it! It wasn’t a straight up romance, but more about friendships, growing and learning what you want. I enjoyed watching Sophie’s journey and the friendship grow between her and Cordelia. When you find your tribe, you know they’ll be there for you no matter what.

This book will be published May 4, 2021 and I think will make the perfect summer (or really any time of year) read! 💙

Rating: 🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪 / 5

First, I would like to thank the publishers and netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read The Secret Bridesmaid! I hadn't heard much hype about this one previously and it sounded so cute! I really liked it a lot and currently British rom-com is my jam! This had me cracking up and Sophie makes me want to be her best friend! My heart was happy and yours will be too!!

"The Secret Bridesmaid", by Katy Birchall, centers around Sophie, whose job is to be the perfect bridesmaid for overwhelmed brides, She's good at her job because she's able to calm frazzled brides and even become close to them in the process. As her popularity rises, she gets her dream job: a bridesmaid for the Marchioness of Meade. However, while she is excited, the Marchioness (Cordelia) is not. Cordelia intends to make her live a living nightmare. But there are a few upsides: Sophie learns to stand up for herself, and she meets Cordelia's handsome and charming brother.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty good book. I would have enjoyed a little more time spent on Sophie and Cordelia's brother and their growing relationship. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This novel is an engaging rom-com with perfect pace, a lot of humour, and appealing characters. The heroine, Sophie, is a professional bridesmaid--basically an undercover wedding planner who poses as the bride's friend while coordinating events behind the scenes. She has recently been dumped by her longtime boyfriend, but her business is thriving, so much so that her services are requested by the Marchioness of Meade for the wedding of her daughter Cordelia, a well-known socialite. The problem is that Cordelia doesn't want Sophie on the scene, and does everything in her power to make the "bridesmaid" quit. The ridiculous adventures that follow are entertaining and the romance that develops with Cordelia's brother is sweet, but the heart of the story is the friendship that develops between Sophie and Cordelia as the novel progresses. A misunderstanding late in the story leads to a final crisis and endangers that friendship, along with the fond relationships developing between Sophie and the rest of Cordelia's family. The epiphanies that both Sophie and Cordelia experience as the story progresses are believable and touching, the narrative moves along swiftly, the writing sparkles, and the happy ending is satisfying in true rom-com style. The Secret Bridesmaid is romantic comedy at its frothy best.

The Secret Bridesmaid is a laugh out loud romantic comedy by Katy Birchall. It centers around Sophie, who is so good at being a bridesmaid that she has made it her profession. Brides hire her to assume the role of a bridesmaid and Sophie adopts a new name and fake story of how she knows the bride so that no one (even the groom) knows that Sophie is a professional bridesmaid. When she is hired to work a huge society wedding, she thinks this could be the opportunity she needs to push her career to the next level. However, the bride wants nothing to do with Sophie and is determined to make her quit.

I really enjoyed this book! Sophie is an extremely organized type-A protagonist but it was demonstrative of how much she cared about her brides and doing her work well. The tête-à-tête between her and Cordelia was absolutely hilarious and I legitimately laughed out loud during several passages (there's a scene involving swans that was *chefs kiss*).

The romance was sweet but not the focus of the book. The Secret Bridesmaid had more depth than simply following the meet cute, driven apart by a misunderstanding, then reconciling because they can't live without each other rom-com trope.

I loved Sophie's group of friends/support system. They were very relatable characters and I appreciated how genuine these friendships felt. Sophie's cousin Cara was one of my favorite side characters and her consistent presence throughout the book as someone Sophie leans on was reminiscent of close relationships in my own life.

This is a heartwarming story and I give it four stars! I think fans of sweet romantic comedies will love this book. I will definitely read Birchall's future books and I can't wait to see what she writes next!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffin for a copy of The Secret Bridesmaid in exchange for my honest opinion.

If you're looking for an easy read, this book is for you. The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall is a relaxing, low stress read that gives insight to some of the craziness that can occur during the process of planning a wedding, royal or not.
This book has a bit of a slow start, but starts to "rev" up around 35% in. The relationship between Cordelia and Sophie is unlike many. While it was a bit dramatic and out there, you have to believe there are some people that actually act like this when planning a wedding. Watching their relationship develop through the book was heartwarming, but a little predictable. I found many of the relationship dynamics to be a bit predictable once you were introduced to the characters.
I would recommend this book to someone who is looking for a "feel-good" read to breeze through.
Thank you NetGalley & St. Martin's Publishing Group for allowing me the opportunity to read this ARC and provide feedback on this book.

What a delightful read!
I was rooting for the hate to love friendship between Sophie and Cordelia. Even though Cordelia starts off acting like a spoiled brat with very few redeeming qualities, you start to like her little by very little, despite her determination to push Sophie away.

Secret Bridesmaid was not a romcom in my opinion, at least not in the way I expected it to be, but that was ok it was so much more than that. It was a comedy and there was some romance but it was more about the friendship between Sophie and Cordelia and the drama around it.

The romantic buildup between Sophie and Cordelia’s dreamy big bro, Tom was a lovely side note to the main storyline. I’m normally all about the sexy, centerstage romance but I didn’t really miss it in this case.

If you’re looking for a witty, female friendship comedy with a side of romance and man swooning, you will absolutely love this.

This review will be posted to The Romantiquarian book blog and Goodreads

Cute, Cute, Cute book! Loved this heartwarming, sweet and very funny story! The characters are lovable, relatable, and will keep you turning page after page. Highly recommend and perfect for a beach read!
Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the romance and the shenanigans, but I really enjoyed that this was deeper than a typical romance book. The characters were well developed and the plot did not just focus on the cute boy and girl, but on all aspects of what was going on in the girl's life. This book was an easy, cute read. A perfect book to take to the beach this summer. The Secret Bridesmaid touches on the love and support of family, the importance of having the right kind of friends in your life and that Titles do not mean much past introduction. Creative and fun, with a perfect ending. I definitely recommend this book.

LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

Well this was a heck of a lot of fun! I couldn’t put it down! Between the antics and banter and secrets and royalty angle, I was engulfed completely in this oh-so-fun read! It has the right amount of heart, self-journey, friendship, love, family, and scandal. Gah. I just can’t stop smiling.

What a joy! I highly recommend to everyone that loves weddings and banter! Pick this up! Pre-order now! Do whatever you need to to read this awesome book.

Weeeeeeee! I feel like I’m floating and this story is the reason.

It’s the perfect book.

Thank you netgalley for the advance copy.

The Secret Bridesmaid was a cute, funny (um, Chewbacca!), easy read, and has great substance. This was my first Katy Birchall book, but I will be sure to check out her others!

The main character, Sophie, loves weddings and loves helping those around her. One day it's suggested that she combine those two things, and she becomes a professional bridesmaid, such a fun and interesting idea! This story makes me want to look into becoming a professional bridesmaid myself (who doesn't want to be someone else and go to lots of weddings!?!)!

I loved the characters, and felt they were well developed. The story focused on one specific wedding, but I loved seeing the shananagans of the other weddings she helped with through text messages and emails throughout the book.

I love that this book didn't just focus on love relationships, but also friendships. I highly recommend this book for those looking for a fun read that's romance, but focuses on relationships in general more than just romance.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

A Great fun rom.com great characters a unique story about a professional bridesmaid helping brides and finding love.

What a fun laugh out loud romantic comedy! I loved reading Sophie and her adventures as a professional bridesmaid. I was a bit thrown off at first by how much I disliked Cordelia, but as the novel went on she grew on me. I enjoyed Sophie and Tom’s relationship and would have liked to have even more of that in the book, but overall I greatly enjoyed The Secret Bridesmaid!

The Secret Bridesmaid is about Sophie, a professional bridesmaid (aka wedding planner/emotional support), who gets hired to work her magic on Lady Cordelia Swann's wedding, which would be great... if Cordelia didn't resent Sophie's presence. Hijinks ensue, some miscommunications, and lots of character development. While this is a romance, I think the best parts are the platonic love between Cordelia and Sophie as they push each other to become better people.

There were some confusing time jumps, but overall the book was light and really enjoyable to read.

Overall, I'd give it a 3.75/5.

I really enjoyed The Secret Bridesmaid. I love the idea of a bridesmaid for hire and the main character Sophie has taken her skills at planning and talking down bridezillas and turned it into a profession. If you love weddings and wedding planning, you will really love this book. The story follows Sophie as she lands the biggest and meanest bride of her career. She is determined to make it work and does whatever it takes to win her over, including a very funny scene where she tries to learn to be a swan whisperer. The Secret Bridesmaid made me laugh and cry and it is a perfect beach read.rs I love,

A thoroughly enjoyable British rom-com with an engaging premise. It made me laugh out loud a few times. The perfect pandemic read (if you can pretend that it's taking place in an alternate 2020/2021.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a sucker for a good rom-com, weddings, and anything London. This book had all threes! I fell in love with all the characters as the book progressed. I found myself laughing out loud at parts and smiling at others. This is certainly a feel good book if you need it.

The one thing I could do without are the little email and text exchanges regarding Sophie's other business as a hired bridesmaid. I think some people will love that aspect and seeing more into what crazy tasks someone might have to deal with, I just felt that they weren't necessary to the story and so I skipped most of them.

Overall I was a big fan of this book, and loved Sophia, Cordelia, Tom, and Jonathan. Safe to say this is a solid, happy romance if you're looking for one.

I didn’t expect to enjoy this book, but actually found it easy reading. Wedding planners would be very interested in this portrayal of a classy do. I don’t think there was a need to pepper it with bad language, but that seems to be acceptable in most adult literature. I think this book is aimed at 18-40 age group. A classic Chick Literature offering.

A female main character running her own business, a female friendship as the center focus of the story, plus some amusing wedding premises (Chewbacca bridesmaid anyone?) and it's a recipe for an entertaining read. I loved all of the funny wedding bits for all of the brides Sophie works for and I enjoyed the friendship that developed with her and Cordelia. The Tom storyline felt like a bit of an afterthought, and I got really tired of the Daniel arc.

Overall, really entertaining, and definitely reads like it should be a movie!

Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher through Net Galley. All opinions are my own.

I requested to read and review this book for free from St. Martin's Publishing. The setting for this story is in Europe. It has romance, comedy, mystery. The characters Sophie, Cara, Tom, Cordelia and a few others are great. You can feel the chemistry through the book. So many emotions felt in this book in a good way. This is for any type of reader! Who can trust? What is real and what isn't? What a unique position Sophie has! This is a great book to remember to be true to yourself and what you want in life!