Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The cover and the premise hooked me. I needed a light-hearted read and "The Secret Bridesmaid" delivered.
This book was delightful! It was funny and smart with lots of laugh-out-loud moments and a cast of charming characters. I especially enjoyed that that the book was more focused on friendship and loyalty than a tropey romance - the perfect escape book. If you like Sophie Kinsella books, you'll love The Secret Bridesmaid!

✨Review✨

The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall
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A bridesmaid for hire, a high profile bridezilla, and a good looking brother with a potential for romance. That's all it took for me to know that I needed to read this one. This book was so much more than what I expected it to be and was such a nice surprise. It not only had the flairs of drama and romance, which was expected. It also had a really nice storyline where the main character slowly discovered that it was ok to step out of her shell and try something new. This book had me LOLing, swooning, and wanting to punch a few sub-characters in the face.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Griffin, and Katy Birchall for a copy of the eARC in return for an honest review.

Sophie Breeze has an unusual job: brides secretly hire her to be their best friend and bridesmaid for their wedding day to make sure the day goes off without a hitch. But when a British marchioness asks for Sophie’s help with her impossible daughter’s wedding, she will be put to the test, with hilarious results. I freaking love British romantic comedies; I had never read anything by Katy Birchall before, but she has such a funny authentic voice it won't be my last book by her. Sophie has classic helper syndrome (those who help everyone else except themselves), but is evenly matched by a bride who could care less about her help. I enjoyed reading Sophie's character grow, AND her on the side romance with the hot earl who's refreshingly down to earth and actually NOT Mr. Darcy (thank you for that!). A perfect beach read for this summer.

Sophie Breeze is a professional bridesmaid, kind of like a personal assistant to the bride. When she's hired for the socialite wedding of the season, she can't wait for the business this is sure. to bring in if she does well. The only problem, the bride Cordelia is determined to make her quit. Her demands become more impossible and outrageous as the wedding creeps closer. I was laughing so hard and couldn't wait to see what ridiculously hilarious demand she'd come up with next. If you're looking for lighthearted and funny chic-lit, this is it!

I just couldn't handle the main character in this book, the voice was so arrogant that it even felt like the author thought she was better than me, I know that's not fair but it's how the story made me feel, it was just so over the top.

This was a fun book to read. Sophie Breeze is a secret bridesmaid. She doesn't want to be the wedding planner, she just wants to be there for the bride. Some of the exchanges are hilarious. She is being given an opportunity to work for The Swan family and the bride is Lady Cordelia. Talk about bridezilla. A non-disclosure agreement keeps her hopping through hoops to please the bride. Till she is fired. What this family doesn't get, is that she would never tell anyone what she holds confidentially. When the truth comes out, the apologies come in person. The wedding is on and it is perfect. Also, Cordelia's brother makes it known that he is interested in dating her now that the wedding is over. Let the countdown begin.

As a bride for the past 2 years who has had to postpone her big dream wedding, plan a tiny Covid friendly mini wedding, and find a new venue only 6 months out, I absolutely loved the Secret Bridesmaid! This book was perfect to help me get in the bridal spirit as we are getting closer to my big day! 👰🏻

Sophie Breeze is such a good bridesmaid and friend that she’s decided to make it her career! She’s part wedding planner, part confidante, and 100% in for crazy wedding shenanigans. She helps plan the wedding, the bridal showers, the bachelorette parties for the modern bride. Often these women are too busy to plan their own events and Sophie is perfect for the job. She is referred to a very high profile bride who... doesn’t want her help. But Sophie is determined to win Cordelia over- she’s a professional always! Things get even crazier when Cordelia announces that she’s getting married in only 2 months. Sophie must plan for this 450 person gala event and deal with this monster bride!

I just found this book so sweet and fun. I recently had some major wedding issues and I can completely understand Sophie and Cordelia’s headaches with wedding planning. More than even the bridal planning, I enjoyed Sophie and Cordelia’s friendship and seeing Cordelia evolve. I especially loved all the emails/texts/voicemails with the bachelorette parties and the vendors!

A great way to escape the from life for a weekend and be left with a smile. This was such a cute story about love, friendship, family, and betrayal. I enjoyed this book from the first page to the last and was left smiling.

More comedy than romance. This was a laugh out loud funny read, but it didn't feel like a romance. Sophie's a professional bridesmaid, as in she's paid to be a bridesmaid and fills in last minute or when someone needs an extra. Tom is the brother of the brother of the bride. He's in about 1/4 of the book, which is what makes me feel like it's not a romance. He also knows nothing real about her until the end.

While the book was hilarious and entertaining throughout, it read like women's fiction since the romance wasn't the central theme and Tom often feels like an afterthought. Because of this at times it felt like it dragged on and was too long. I wish there was more romance to keep it going.

I will definitely read more from this author in the future as the writing is fantastic and unique.

This book was a pleasure to read! I found this romantic comedy very entertaining, well written, and I loved escaping to London and the English countryside within its pages. I adored that the book is centered around, Sophie, a strong female lead character and an entrepreneur. As a fairly recent Bride, I can attest to the fact that a bridesmaid for hire is pure genius. I could totally relate to Sophie and her various Brides as they encountered some of the less than enjoyable tasks of planning a wedding. Definitely recommend picking up this easy-going beach read!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.
Reading the summary I was so excited to read the book, it sadly missed the mark for me. The writing felt rushed and it dumped so much pointless information that didn’t do anything for the story and just made me lose interest in the story. I was also not sure if it was the format on the ebook and it will be different on the print, but the WhatsApp messages conversations were hard to read and they were more annoying than funny. (And it seems this book really has it for wedding planners)
There is also the fact that no one is supposed she is hired to be a bridesmaid but the more clients refer her to friends, the more people would know she is actually hired and not a real friend of the bride, especially if it’s supposed to be a “tight” group of socialites. This book was a quick read that sadly was not meant for me.

And a little on the other side, native people have asked to stop using the phrase spirit animal unless you are native, which the main character obviously was not.

👩👗👠 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 / 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝗪 ⁣👩👗👠
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Title: #thesecretbridesmaid⁣
Author(s): @katybirchallauthor
Publisher: @stmartinspress #griffin
Pub Date: 5/4/21⁣
Type: #physicalbook / #arc⁣
On tour: @getredpr⁣
Genre: #contemporaryromance
Must Read rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

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.

My thoughts:

-If you want to die laughing and feel completely smitten for 400 pages, YOU MUST PICK UP THIS BOOK! I had tears in my eyes throughout this entire story and I truly never wanted it to end. I loved that this book included a mix of different chapter styles, like whatsapp, texts and email communication chains. It was a nice diversion and helped break up the story.

-Charming is likely the best word I can think of to describe this one ... thank you Katy for creating such a special experience for the reader. These characters and situations felt SO REAL and now I want to be a professional bridesmaid!

-Even in the face of a very difficult bride / wedding situation, I loved how resilient and whitty Sophie was as the main character. She always took the "glass half full" perspective and I really loved her energy.

-My only issue? There was basically no steam between Sophie and Lord Swann. I really wish the story had focused a bit more on their relationship in the book. I understand why that was a secondary plot line, but I was really craving a bit more from them!

i thought the plot sounded good, but i never imagine it'd be so much fun to read about a bridesmaid. it's the kind of book to pick you up, or get you out of a reading slump. it had less romance than i thought it would, it ended up being more women's fiction than romance, but still very enjoyable.

The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall is a really fun romcom about Sophie Breeze and her job as a professional bridesmaid. She is hired by brides to be a bridesmaid, but she is also working to make sure their weddings are perfect. Her latest client is the very famous British Lady Victoria Swann, who has hired Sophie to make sure her daughter's wedding is amazing. However, her daughter is not cooperative, and her son seems to be perfect. Does Sophie manage to produce a splendid wedding? Or does she get distracted by the handsome Lord Swann? I loved this fun, heartwarming romcom and would definitely recommend it! Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

A fun flirty story with an eclectic cast of characters. Sophie loves her job as a professional bridesmaid and wears many hats doing so. The author uses fun and hip language to pull in the reader. It is also written conversationally that makes it easy to read.

Thank you to the author and St. Martin's Press for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review. This was kind of the perfect book for this moment. It was light and fun and full of wacky antics. Fans of romance and chick lit will love the wedding setting. Sophie is a fun and (mostly) relatable protagonist who deeply cares about her bridal clients. If you are looking for a light page turner in the midst of the chaos of the world, then this is it.

A funny and easy read! I thought that this story was really unique, you don't hear too much about hired bridesmaids and I love reading/watching about weddings so this was particularly fun for me. I also thought the characters were well built, even if the main "enemy" or the royal bride that Sophie works with is a bit problematic and made me want to step away from reading it. I will add, if you're looking for a romance, this is more of a contemporary fiction. While there is romance in the book, I would say its not the central plot of the book and its a very low steam level. There's a cute relationship, but it focused more on Sophie being a bridesmaid, which is fine, but don't go into it expecting it to be a romance-heavy story.

A great rom-com about a professional bridesmaid (I had no idea of that kind of thing...), a high society wedding, a bridezilla, a brother of the bride absolutely tempting, another wedding to compete with the spotlight, and butterflies in the stomach with feelings that were not supposed to appear at that time.
Put it all together and laugh out loud.
4,5 stars

What I Liked:
-I want to preface my review by saying that I read this book 11 days before my own wedding, so my pre-wedding excitement could cloud my review a bit - BUT all that to say, I absolutely loved this book.
-I loved the characters and how dynamic they all were. I especially loved how REAL the "royal" family felt - it's so easy to make famous characters very surface level, but that was not true here.
-The settings and descriptions were fabulous.
-The whole concept of a professional bridesmaid was equal parts unique, hilarious, and genius. There have been times during my wedding planning I could have used that!
-There was a touch of romance, but it wasn't focused on that like I expected, which was a fresh change.

What I Didn't Like or Wanted More Of:
-Cordelia and Sophie's friendship felt kind of.... "kitschy" at times? I loved where they ended up and most of the steps it took to get there, but there was one point that it seemed like Cordelia's character took a complete 180 and she said things that were SO off base for her.

You Should Read if You Like:
-Rom-coms, weddings

I loved this book so, so much. I thought the writing was great and the story was even better. I will definitely be reading more from Katy Birchall.