Meet Lily. She's 32. Single. An aspiring writer who pays the bills writing PR writing for a science foundation. She's also her mother's worst nightmare. Reference the above single. Oh. And she's in 5 weddings in about 6 weeks.

This book is seriously everything! Having never been in even one wedding in my life save for ones I attended for myself (let's not talk about that number), I'm not super in tune with how this all works. However, this is written exactly how I can see weddings happening. With everyone trying to one up each other, and with Instagram being the bar we set for ourselves, we're no longer humans but human caricatures that live to literally just look like Barbie dolls. In order to vent about how things are going without hurting her friends, Lily starts an anonymous blog. Only it doesn't stay anonymous for long.

With a love interest thrown in for good measure and laughs on almost every page, this book was truly amazing! I love wedding rom-coms and this checks every box for a great rom-com, while also showing that relationships are hard. All relationships. And no one is harder on us than ourselves.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley, Sara Goodman Confino, and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free ebook copy of this book.

I really liked Lily, Alex and the plot for the most part. I haven't been to a wedding since I was a child, and have never been a bridesmaid, so I found it informative and amusing. I didn't like the body-shaming and the perception that being single is a fate worse than death. Lily's mum really annoyed me. I didn't like Sharon either. I would have liked acknowledgement from the brides that asking bridesmaids to spend thousands on someone else's wedding is completely insane.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing me with a free ebook copy of this book.

This was a cute book (though I suspect I'm 'too old' for the book, and not the target audience.) Still, it opened my eyes a lot to what it's like to be in a wedding! Wow! I never experienced any of the bridal shower/wedding traditions that are so talked about, and seeing what all was involved in the whole process just sounds like a nightmare!

Overall, I enjoyed the story, but it felt really heavy on the shaming - body shaming, marriage/life shaming. It got to be a bit difficult to read at times. I understand it's common for mothers to want to see their daughters grow up and start 'the ideal life' but it is discouraging to see books where the parents pressure the children to get married, have kids, etc ... I would hope that new books, new authors would stop feeding this trope.

I would rate this 2.5 stars, and I'll round up to 3. IT was a fun read, even with some of the problems.

I liked the book cover and I was skeptical about this book...but I actually had fun reading this book!

Meet Lily Weiss, who is thirty two years, single, her mother's worst nightmare and is working in a boring job at a science foundation. Lily is talented in writing. So when Lily is invited to be the bridesmaid of four weddings, including the wedding of her sister's, Lily starts a blog up writing her experiences about the wedding preparations and the nightmare of choosing the dresses. The blog goes quiet well and secretly...

I really like the plot of the story--it was actually a unique plot and Lily's character actually reminds a little bit of myself as I am also in my thirties and am still single. The story was quiet funny as well that there were some parts in the story where I burst out laughing, particularly Lily's exchange with her grandmother. The story is mainly told from Lily's perspectives so we do know what Lily is actually going through with nearly most of her friends getting married. Also, the writing was engaging and intriguing that the author did a good job drawing the reader to the story! I actually simply couldn't put this book down while I was reading the book, though I know the ending would be a predictable. Lily's character to me is a likable character and I enjoyed this book very much!

Overall, a cheesy romantic comedy that will make you laugh out loud and you wouldn't want to put this book down! Worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

I loved this book! Lily, a single 32 year old, has to be a bridesmaid in 5 weddings. She is overcame by it, so she starts an anonymous blog, bridesmania.

I laughed out loud reading the blog entries! Lily is a funny and sweet character, and I enjoyed reading the things she had to endure for her friends.

This book is the perfect summer read!

** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion. **

Lily is a bridesmaid in five weddings within a six week span (ekk). When she becomes fed up she makes an anonymous blog to document her grievances. As we all know things on the internet don’t always stay anonymous.

This book had a very rom-com feel to it. It’s a quick summer beach read about weddings, the toll they take on bank accounts and the lengths people are willing to go for their friends. Lily is a realistic character that isn’t perfect and makes some bad decisions. This book makes you sit back and think of how people need to see things from other perspectives. For the Love of Friends is full of drama and humor.

I gave the rating of three stars because there is a good amount of body shaming in this book that I wasn’t a fan of. With that being said I did enjoy the author’s writing style and would likely read another book she publishes.

I want to thank NetGalley, the author and publisher for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the e-ARC provided in exchange for an honest review**
This book was a big surprise. I was interested because the premise reminded me of the movie 27 Dresses, so I expected it to be a light book just to pass the time, but it turned out to bring a lot of interesting discussions and made me think about how we position ourselves in our relationships.
The story will follow Lily and her mission to be the bridesmaid of 5 of her friends. With that, she will find herself in the middle of dress fittings, planning bachelor parties, and having to deal with the egos of other bridesmaids, the expectations of 5 brides, and the constant questions of when she will get married.
The amount of effort Lily has to put into keeping it all together for the love she has for her friends is very beautiful, but it made me feel very anguished during the reading. Many times she suffers body shamming, hears insensitive comments, and has to make all the things possible to be financially able to make ends meet for this bunch of weddings. This leads her to find an outlet to deal with this whole situation, which is what results in the final conflict of the book.
I thought the romance was very cute and with a lot of chemistry, but that it was not the focus. What stood out for me was the protagonist's personal growth, and how she made the choices she felt was the best for her to live the way she wanted to.
It will aproach topics such as: love, friendship, parent-child relationship, sibling relationship; and demonstrate how easy it is sometimes to point out the faults of others and think about how we wanted the other to act, while we are doing the same thing as them and not looking at our own mistakes.
The ending was PARTIALLY good, because I wanted her to have cut off with certain people, and I disagreed with a lot of the things the other characters accused her of.
I believe it will be a reading that will make you laugh, get emotional, feel anguished, root for the protagonist's personal growth, root for the main couple, and be indignant with some of the situations Lily puts herself into. It is a very fast and fluid book with many layers, that makes you put yourself in Lily's shoes, experiencing life's dilemmas with her.
For the love of friends will be released on August 1, and it's worth reading for those who want a light novel, that also brings reflections.

A very cute and fun romcom featuring not one wedding, but five! When friends marry, they test the relationships they have with their best friends by asking them to be the bridesmaid or maid of honour. And in true Bridezilla style, these brides do not disappoint. But you can't tell them they are being horrible can you? So you start a blog, venting and chatting and letting it all out - anonymously off course! Except things don't always go to plan and anonymous is not always as anonymous as we would like.

For the Love of Friends by Sara Goodman Confino is a quick and easy read that falls into chick lit category in the best way for me.

It is to do with a weddings and a girl who is on a path of self discovery.
I really liked the main heroine and all the trials and tribulations she goes through in this book.
Characters are likable and funny. There is a lot of humor and great banter.
The style of writing is charming, the story flows and it is easy to read.
My main objection is that the plot was not very novel and truthfully very predictable.
It is a good and charming read.

This is a really funny romance with a perfect ending.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

As someone who was asked to be in *THREE* weddings in 2021, this book hit home for me! Lily was asked to be in five different weddings, with five extremely different brides. What’s the worst that could happen?

What I loved:
✨ The writing was so good. The characters were well described and felt real. The chemistry and dialogue between the characters was quirky and witty, the banter was perfect; nothing was forced.
✨There was a deeper sense of missing identity under the sarcastic veneer of our main character, Lily, and the impending implosion of her life was a slow and steady build as the story progressed. I couldn’t put it down. I knew something was going to blow up, but wasn’t quite sure how. This kept me turning pages well into the early hours of the morning when I should have been sleeping.
✨One of the five brides, hopefully not Caryn, will be relatable to anyone who has been a bridesmaid or maid of honor for a friend or family member. If Caryn is relatable, I’d love to hear about it.

What I didn’t love:
✨Some of the actions of the characters, namely Caroline, felt a little far fetched for an adult, but this didn’t detract from the story.

My favorite line:
“That, or engagements are contagious. Like the flu. If you don’t wash your hands a lot, you might wind up sneezing and wearing a diamond. I don’t pretend to understand it.”

For the Love of Friends is the story of Lily Weiss, a thirty-two-year-old woman who is unmarried, working a steady but unfulfilling job, and (apparently) destined to live the bridesmaid life. Her three best friends, from different parts of her life, are all getting married and, in the ultimate indignity, so are her two younger siblings. Lily loves all of these people, so of course she agrees.

But she doesn’t quite account for all of the negatives of being a bridesmaid once, let alone five times. Her every physical flaw (including her weight, her height, her bra size, and even her hair curl and color!) is perpetually on display and up for commentary as she tries on dress after dress. Her finances, while solid, don’t account for the destination weddings—and bridal showers!—that some of her wealthier friends expect. And she’s lonely. As she watches those she loves most start new lives, she feels left behind.

So, she makes a decision and begins a blog, Bridesmania, to let out all of her ire and heartache. She vents about the money she has to spend. She rages about her friends’ unreasonable expectations. She overshares about her sister being spoiled and too young for marriage. But she’s doing it anonymously, so it’s okay, right?

Of course, I knew from the beginning that the blog wouldn’t stay anonymous, so though there’s a lot of humor in this book—the parts of weddings that can be bad in the moment are almost always funny in hindsight—I also felt a sense of dread, waiting for everyone (including Lily’s grandma) to read exactly what she had written about them, which is often scathing to the extreme.

There is a romantic element to the book, too, as Lily befriends a groomsman in one friend’s weddings and begins to have stronger feelings for him. But since the novel began with Lily waking from a one-night stand with a groomsman (though she’s not sure which one . . . it’s a long story), she feels unable to search for love herself even while she’s supporting all of her friends’ happily ever afters.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. While there are some predictable elements, Sarah Goodman Confino does a great job shading those moments, adding depth and letting me as a reader feel Lily’s outrage and hurt and shame. I also liked Lily so much: she’s definitely a flawed character who makes some (REALLY!) bad decisions, but she’s also someone who is constantly striving to do better, someone who admits her mistakes, reflects, and seeks improvement. This is Confino’s debut novel, so I’ll be looking for more from this author.

This was a quick and fun read, though I do have a few gripes. If I had a dollar for every time a 24-year-old was called a baby who had no business getting married because she lived with her parents, I could pay off my student loans. It was obnoxious. And I have to say this is one of the most unlikable main characters I’ve read in a while—truly what a nightmare of a person. I would have liked more blog posts in the book since the whole conflict centered around the blog—why would you leave those out? I can’t decide if this is fair satire about ridiculous weddings or a book about a horribly bitter and jealous person who is self-centered and mean and has no idea how to tactfully say “no” like an adult. Maybe both? The writing itself was good but these characters made me crazy. Overall, I would recommend it to people who enjoyed “Hey, Ladies!” and don’t mind unlikable characters.

My thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an advance reader’s copy.

This is a really funny romance with a perfect ending. It’s got all the makings of a classic beach read- great plot, over the top characters, and a heroine who makes mistakes but knows she’s got to own up for her errors in judgment. I enjoyed it and read the book in one sitting! 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

As a 32 year old perpetually single gal with no dating prospects and lots of weddings to attend myself, I am HERE for this book! I laughed out loud at Lily's snarky Bridesmania blog (totally would read that if it existed!) and swooned over her budding flirtation with Alex. The writing flowed smoothly and kept my attention as I devoured the entire book. I found myself rolling my eyes in jest as I related to Lily's wedding drama (been there, done that as grandma's flight companion!), but also loved her contrition and her maid of honor speech at Megan's wedding. 

Remember everyone- this book is FICTION, so Lily's mean spirited comments didn't happen IRL. Still hilarious for anyone who has ever dealt with a bridezilla (or friends in general!). 

Also, as a Maryland girl myself, I appreciated the references to Baltimore and a crab cake salad (but how sacrilegious to throw it out!!)!

3.5 ⭐️

Lily is a thirty something perpetually single mother who has been asked to be a bridesmaid in five different weddings ranging from siblings to close friends to coworkers. Overwhelmed by the brides and bored at work, Lily starts an anonymous wedding blog to vent about her experiences and to share funny moments from each of the weddings.

I liked Lily’s character for the most part, but sometimes felt like she was a little too self centered and mean spirited. Overall I really enjoyed For the Love of Friends and thought it was a pretty good book, and is definitely something I would recommend for those looking for a quick read.

This book is easily a 5-star read! A story about Lily, a wonderful friend who is a bridesmaid in 5 of her friends’ and close family members’ weddings who totally rises to the occasion (with the help of alcohol and a blog to let it all out on) of fantastic bridesmaid who tries her best to deal with the high financial costs, crazy requests, and everything in between that’s asked of her while also finding her own sweet romance. Lily is relatable, hilarious, loving and just a fun protagonist to follow along with. I’d definitely recommend Sara Goodman Confino’s For the Love of Friends to anyone looking for a fun, heart warming read,

This is the perfect light summer read! A fun rom com book with an interesting main character that you instantly love. I enjoyed all the weddings! I will definitely read more by this author.

For the Love of Friends, is a very entertaining summer read that goes through one friend’s journey in being in five weddings held in May and June. Although it was very fun, it was an interesting reminder of the vast monetary differences between the average bridesmaid and the average groomsman. Although not every bride has the same wedding events (bridal shower, bachelorette party, etc.), it is still a huge financial commitment. Even just spending $100 on a dress is a lot for some people, so, for me, it was an additional reminder that being a bridesmaid/maid of honor/matron of honor can be a stressful burden on those that struggle financially. For 2021 alone, I was asked to be in three weddings and I declined them all (I will still attend as a guest) for the finances alone. Sure, some brides may be budget conscious, but the costs do add up and I love to support them by attending without stressing myself out with money. The main character in this story takes a different approach, where she said yes to all the weddings and I loved reading her experience.

Lily Weiss is a 32-year-old Communications Director at a science institution. She is asked to be a bridesmaid/maid of honor by five separate individuals almost back to back with the weddings taking place in May and June the following year. The first bride is her coworker and “work best friend,” Caryn. The second is her university roommate and friend, Sharon. The third is her current best friend, Megan. The fourth is her younger brother’s fiancé, Madison, and the final is her younger sister, Amy. Additional to the crazy schedule she will have with all the weddings, Lily is at a crossroads with her life and career. Lily finds herself bored at her job and wishes to have a different career relating to her degree in journalism. She is still single after some past failed relationships and is unsure if she will ever find love again. Her and her mother have a rocky relationship as Lily thinks that her mother puts too much pressure on her while giving her younger siblings a pass with any decisions.

I went back and forth about Lily because she both came across as selfish and selfless. It was an interesting thought experiment for me as a reader as her character really went back and forth, as the story progressed. I have been in six previous weddings before I decided no more, so at times it was difficult to comprehend some of Lily’s decisions and deliveries, as they were not the same way that I would have handled them. However, that was the joy of the character as it was a new perspective on some of the exact situations that I have experienced. Luckily, I did not go through everything this character experienced. She was still a very humorous character and very relatable as she was just trying to do the best for everyone and not fracture any of the relationships.

To help Lily cope with the craziness from all the weddings, she decides to write a blog as an anonymous author. I think the one thing I did not comprehend is why Lily just wrote about her experiences on the blog almost verbatim with only omitting names. To me, it did not make any sense why she would explicitly say how she was connected to each bride rather than keep it either vague, omitted, or slightly altered. The result would have been the same, but then it would seem as obvious about who she was talking about if she was discovered. Each blog post was very entertaining and read in a very relatable manner. I loved how the author altered her own style to reflect the character’s style in the blog post writing.

Overall, some of the situations with the different brides may have been exaggerated versions, but most of them rang true, including the specifics for hair and nails. The story has a nice balance of the weddings and Lily’s life while also mixing in some slow-burn romance. I also love Lily’s interaction with each bride and the other side characters as she was closer to some than others were, which reflects real life. It was a nice easy read and I enjoyed the pacing of the story. This was a very fun story and I would happily read more from this author!

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Lake Union Publishing, for the opportunity to read this enjoyable novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

What a great beach/summer read! I couldn’t put it down. Lily is someone I could see being friends with and can see some of her characteristics in me. The book was definitely funny, but also makes you sit back and think about how you really do need to put yourself in other people’s shoes and look at things from their perspective. A must read if you want some good laughs…especially if you’ve been in a wedding or 5.