Sophie is super organized! She is passionate about weddings and the best bridesmaid around. When she assists her cousin Cara with her wedding, Cara suggests she become a secret bridesmaid: someone who pretends she knows the bride well enough to serve as a bridesmaid but is actually at the beck and call of the bride. Sophie has some really crazy wishes she has to fulfill, but her biggest challenge is when Lady Meade hires her to help with her daughter Cordelia’s wedding. Cordelia has a fit. Given she has no friends and did not intend to have a bridesmaid, she knows no one will believe she even has a friend. Lady Meade insists she use Sophie to make sure the wedding goes off without a hitch. Sophie’s experiences with brides are so funny and unusual, but what she must go through with Cordelia is life changing. Great book, wonderful characters. This book is funny and poignant, showing what it means to be true to self, family, and friends.

A Challenge Too Far....?
As a professional bridesmaid Sophie is used to a challenge but finds herself perhaps having bitten off more than she can chew with her latest assignment. Can Sophie rise to the occasion whilst still keeping her identity incognito? Amusing, lighthearted romcom with plenty of awkwardness and chuckles along the way. Some guaranteed escapism.

This is a romance novel with a twist--the real romance is a friendship that develops between Sophie (a bridesmaid-for-hire) and Cordelia (a prickly, high-society, bride-to-be). Secondarily (WAY secondary), Sophie and Cordelia's brother find love.

Both women have been betrayed by loved ones--Sophie by an ex-boyfriend, Cordelia by people she considered friends--and so both are working on regaining self-esteem and trust. I liked the growth of the friendship a lot. There were some very funny parts, especially with the emails and message from other brides to Sophie.

I found the main plot (bridesmaid-for-hire) implausible. As much as she tried to differentiate the job from that of a wedding planner, she is basically a......wedding planner. The idea of a bride having someone she doesn't know as a bridesmaid just to help with wedding details strained my suspension of disbelief. Also, there is a whole bit about how she can't tell anyone she's been hired and has to sign an NDA because Cordelia is famous. But won't all her OTHER brides see the wedding pictures and be be able to tell the tale?

The book was enjoyable and fun, but the central flaw in the plot is difficult to overlook.

This was cute and had potential. Sophie is a professional bridesmaid. I thought this was really interesting. I liked the plot, the romance was lacking. The author could have upped the romance part a bit. I did like the friendship aspect. Thank you to netgalley for the arc.

Plot: This was so good! The idea of a secret bridesmaid was so fun and unique. I laughed so much while reading it! It reminded me of Sophie Kinsella's books, which is one of the best compliments I can give. I loved how female friendships played such a big role in the book (more so, I would say, than the romance.), which is something that I always appreciate. And I also liked the romance!

Characters: All of the characters were wonderful! Each one felt fully developed, and they all had such different, entertaining personalities.

The Cover: I like it!

Overall: I loved this book! I stayed up far too late reading it, because I wanted to know how it would all end, and it was worth it! I absolutely adored this book, and I can not recommend it enough. And I truly hope we get a sequel, because I would love to spend more time with all the characters from the book! Overall, I highly recommend reading it!

I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher.

This not your typical romcom story! It’s about Sophie who is a professional bridesmaid and goes to help out brides @ there weddings! Was an easy read and finished in one sitting.

This was a fun book to read with the well written storyline and characters that were very likable, believable and very engaging which made this book a very enjoyable and entertaining read!

Great story of learning to trust and move forward with your life after betrayal and heartbreak. Cordelia is famous and almost lost her life from an overdose. Sophie is a down to earth good girl who works as a professional bridesmaid. Cordelia helps Sophie step outside her comfort zone while Sophie helps Cordelia find the courage to open herself up to friendship again.

This book was such a charming read. Even though the characters skewed a bit trope-like and the plot has a lot of holes, I enjoyed escaping into this world. Katy Birchall has a knack for descriptions and dialogue that made Sophie and the members of Cordelia's family feel so familiar. My only criticism is that the text and email interludes between chapters felt a bit distracting and started to take away from the overall story. Other than that, it was a great rainy weekend book.

*2.5 STARS*

Description: Sophie Breeze is the girl you hire when you're not too inclined to hire a wedding planner but you still need help organizing your wedding. Everyone loves having Sophie around, she nice, friendly and a problem solver. Her life might not be how she wanted - her ex of 8yeras remarries before she even goes on a single post-breakup date and he has the audacity to invite his, but hey - work is going Great. Enter Lady Cordelia: hers would be the wedding of the century, but she refuses the help Sophie was hired to offer and instead tries to make her quit by being the most annoyingly diva person in history. But in the midst of trying to pull Cordelia's wedding off, her identity secret from the bride's handsome brother, Sophie and Cordelia spark an unusual...dare she call it... friendship?

My Thoughts:

Stuff I liked
>Sophie's inner monologue was very funny
>I like the peek into her other weddings
> The cover for the book is very pretty

Stuff I didn't like
- anything that had to do with Cordelia annoyed me beyond measure (I understand that is is the antagonist, but it is very difficult to brush aside the things she says or does once they become friends)
-the love-subplot felt, at best, out of place (there was no chemistry between them and they didn't contribute anything to the story so for me it makes no sense why they were ever paired up together)
-I didn't see why Sophie needed to "sass it up" or why it was such a big deal in the story. Was she not worthy being the main character if she wasn't sassy? (this is my personal opinion)

Bottom line: It was an OKAY read. I have to confess that past the 50% mark I had to push myself to finish it since it got increasingly annoying and uncomfortable (again, Cordelia's bullying took two starts off this rating). It was fun for a while and then it wasn't but hey, maybe I wasn't the target audience.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Sophie who lives in London is a full time bridesmaid. She makes it her job to assist the bride any way she can. Her newest client is going to require a lot of work to pull off a society wedding. I enjoyed this book.

First time reading a book by this author and i loved it . A very beautifull story . I loved all the weird things Sophie had to do for the brides . I liked how she handle the crazy orders Cordelia put her do . The only thing i missed was that i would like more scenes with Tom and Sophie .
I received this novel from net galley and the publisher as an ARC. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book is a delight. I really enjoyed how the format kept changing — regular prose, emails, dialogue, WhatsApp messages... all these different formats give you a real sense of everything going on. There were several moments when I started laughing out loud while reading with some of the hilarious wedding prep situations. And I just absolutely loved the entire story. Sophie is the perfect professional bridesmaid, and her biggest challenge yet with Lady Cordelia was such a fun read! Highly recommend.

I read this in one sitting, it means that it wasn’t only a fast read, but that I enjoyed it too. Before I begin, I want to say that this is my first time reading something by Katy Birchall, and also I can't remember last time reading a book with the royalty trope.

As for characters, I really did enjoy the cast of characters especially Sophie. I enjoyed hers and Tom’s relationship but it is more build up to a romance. Overall, it is a fast, easy and enjoyable read.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sophie Breeze makes her living as a professional bridesmaid, one who will help you choose your dress, organise the flowers, placate family, hire portaloos etc. She pretends to be a friend of the bride and just makes sure her special day is perfect from start to finish.

When she gets asked by Lady Meade to be a secret bridesmaid for the society wedding of the year Sophie is thrilled, this could be the boost her business needs. But the bride-to-be is surly, rude and wants to fire Sophie as soon as she meets her. This could be her most challenging wedding yet.

This had a bit of a Katie Fforde vibe, but maybe for a younger demographic (I love Katie Fforde). The aristocratic family, the practical jokes, the fancy dinners.

I absolutely devoured this in less than one day. It was cute, charming, it had lovable characters and zany situations. I also loved the comic element of the interactions between Sophie and her different brides.

If a rom-com featuring a professional bridesmaid who will do anything for her bride-to-be (including asking the Queen for a priceless tiara) then I think you'll adore this charming novel.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Had so much fun reading this one . Laughed so much at all the craziness Sophie gets her self into. She will do anything to be the best bridesmaid and make the brides day the best there is.

Ah, I loved it.

Sophie is a bridesmaid for hire, like a wedding planner, but more about not letting the bride lose her mind and making sure everything goes smoothly. Everything is going great until she's hired by Lady Victoria for her daughter Cordelia's wedding. Cordelia is basically a toddler in a grown woman body, and is determined to make things difficult. It only get's worse when Sophie finds herself falling for the brides older brother.

I enjoyed this so much, such a great light read. It reminds me a lot of one of my favorite books, so I have a feeling I'll be rereading this one the same way.

While there is a slight romance, the true love story in this book is the beautiful friendship that develops between Sophie and Cordelia. True friends are so hard to find, but so important.

There are a couple things that kind took me out of the story, the random emails or text conversations about other weddings that were inserted. They didn't seem to relate to the story in anyway, like they were just stuck in there to say "yes this is my job I'm doing many weddings". They were jarring and interrupted the flow of the story, no matter how humorous some of them were.

*Thank you to the publisher for this eARC.

Cute, funny, enjoyable, and heart touching, this ticked all the boxes for the perfect romantic comedy! Cant wait to read more from the author!

This book blew away my expectations. Sophie's secret is that she is a professional bridesmaid. She is paid to be there for the bride as her confidante and wedding planner. We see her in action through email exchanges (which I loved and thought provided insight into what her career really entails). She just went through a horrible breakup so she is a little vulnerable when she gets the job of being the bridesmaid of a high-profile wedding. The bride is a total bridezilla and Sophie struggles with her need to be like and maintaining her standard; it doesn't help that her bride has an attractive brother ;)

I loved this character and yeah at times she is such a good person she is almost a mythical creature but she has a enough depth that it was real. Her development is amazing and her journey was really rich. I enjoyed the tough conversations she had and how encouraging the people around her were.

THe romance is more of an undercurrent of the book but it fits it and doesn't take away--in fact here less is more.

*arc provided by NetGalley

The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall was unputdownable! This book was such an escape during dreary February. I loved reading about Sophie's adventures as a bridesmaid for hire. Birchall hit just the right amount of fantasy life with a good balance of friendship and love in The Secret Bridesmaid. I was sad when I finished this one and would LOVE to see a sequel!