To be honest I'm generally not one for romance, but this book did it for me!!

It follows Lily Weiss, a single 30-something writer at a science foundation, as she blogs her way through a wedding season where she's a bridesmaid in five weddings (over six weeks!). Now, it sounds like the plot of a cringe rom com. But somehow (I guess it's the magic of Sara Goodman Confino!!)

The character development was also superb (I felt lots of warmth and fuzzy feelings towards Lily at the end) and there was a brilliant amount of suspense because I knew that everything was building up to those five weddings.

In conclusion, I will be reading anything everything Sara Goodman Confino comes out with from now on, and I'd recommend this to anyone who feels like a rom com-y read but is easily turned off by cringiness or a bland plot.

𝔽𝕠𝕣 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕓𝕪 𝕊𝕒𝕣𝕒 𝔾𝕠𝕠𝕕𝕞𝕒𝕟 ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕠

Ever gotten so fed up and overwhelmed with the wants/demands of a 👰🏻 bride? Imagine being Lily, who agreed to being a bridesmaid in 🅕🅘🅥🅔 of her friend’s weddings. She creates a small anonymous wedding blog to document all of her crazy and outrageous experiences, but mainly to blow off some steam.

This. This. 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 is the book everyone needed about being a bridesmaid and friendships.

✨ 𝕀 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕖𝕟𝕛𝕠𝕪𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤. Lily was so relatable while being hilariously funny and snarky. We’ve all done things just to make our family/friends happy, even if we didn’t necessarily like it. At least I have 🤷🏻‍♀️.

✨ 𝕀 𝕒𝕓𝕤𝕠𝕝𝕦𝕥𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡 𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕃𝕚𝕝𝕪 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔸𝕝𝕖𝕩. At times, their banter had me laughing out loud!

For The Love of Friends was the perfect feel-good read, and I really enjoyed it. It definitely started out slow, but once I got into it (~Ch.8) I couldn’t put this book down!

Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Stars.

🗓 Mark your calendars! For The Love of Friends will be available for purchase on June 8, 2021.

❤️ Thank you to NetGalley & LakeUnionPublishing for this e-copy ARC of For The Love of Friends by Sara Confino in exchange for my honest review.

https://www.instagram.com/fablifebook/

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3787105569

As someone who has a slight obsession with weddings, this book was perfect for me. I adored it. I loved getting into all of the messy parts of weddings, as well as the fun parts. I really enjoyed Lily as a character. She was fun and bold and sassy, while also having some insecurities. She was a very realistic character. I found her relationships with her family to be really realistic as well. They weren't overly horrible or fake nice. There was real insecurity in her relationship with her mom and sister, which I think is pretty common. I loved that the relationships that were shown seemed real. That is always a huge plus for me in a book. I also very much enjoyed the plot of the book. It was a classic romcom plot with a bit of a twist to make it new, which is always fun. Most of all, I really appreciated how the author didn't shy away from the repercussions to Lily's actions. While I won't go into detail, she didn't get off scot free. She had real consequences and had to face real emotions. I hate when people just move on and pretend like nothing ever happened, since that doesn't happen in real life. Kudos to the author for that. Overall, it was funny and enjoyable and I would actually read this again! I definitely recommend it, especially if you love weddings like me:)

It is the love of friends and family that gets 32-year-old Lily Weiss to agree to be a part of five weddings within weeks of each other. A talented writer, Lily handles PR for a science foundation. But all her mother is concerned about is that she doesn't have a marital prospect.

At first her office colleague Caryn Donaldson asks her to be her bridesmaid, then college roommate Sharon asks her the same. Then best friend Megan asks her to be maid of honour. Lily has barely any time to recover when younger brother Jake announces his plans for a destination wedding with fiancée, Madison, and then it’s younger sister Amy getting married to her boyfriend, Tyler.

Lily finds herself struggling under the financial implications of having to scrounge and save and come up with money to buy five bridesmaid dress, five pairs of shoes, besides the stress and cost of throwing showers and bachelorette parties and paying for gifts for the showers and weddings. And then there’s the added cost of the hotel room and airfare to Mexico. All this without a date and her own mother rubbing it in.

The most unbearable part of it all is that on the night of Megan’s engagement, she got to know about Amy’s upcoming wedding, and in a moment of frustrated disappointment, drank too much and ended up sleeping with one of Megan’s groomsmen. And she doesn’t even know the guy’s name.

To make matters worse, there’s drama from Momzillas, Bridezillas, and even bridesmaids from hell. Thankfully, she makes a new friend in Alex, one of the groomsmen in Megan's wedding.

It’s a recipe for disaster. What’s a girl to do, if not vent? So Lily starts her anonymous blog, Bridemania, to talk about the drama that is now her life. The blog allows her to be sarcastic and snarky as she chooses to be. After all it's anonymous. But what will happen if people ever get wind of what she has written?





The writing is fun and witty; the style chatty. The book is a mix of narrative interspersed with emails, texts and blogposts.

There were naturally too many characters, and I agreed with Lily that they were mostly all alike. It was also hard to keep track of all the showers and parties and figure out just how badly Lily's bank balance was suffering as a result.

I did, however, enjoy the pop culture and current affairs references to Willy Wonka, Nellie Bly, Marty McFly, Doc Brown, Mean Girls, Austin Powers, Princess Leia, Goldilocks, Brangelina, even Azkaban.





I'd picked up this book, thinking that chick lit meant light reading but before long I found myself hyperventilating at the thought of all the Bridezillas, Momzillas and all their crazy demands.

Beneath the garb of chick-lit, the book felt like a cry for singles to be allowed space to be, for women to not be body-shamed, for mothers to treat their daughters with compassion and love, because the tone and content of a mother's voice is what a daughter carries all her life.



I don’t know how American women can cope with all the crap that bridesmaids have to face.

Of course, in India, wedding madness has been elevated to an art form. But even so, I think it’s unfair to expect women to pay for expensive clothing that’s too horrible to wear again, and have to throw showers and parties besides. I’d never sign up. The book becomes a critique of this element of the wedding culture. Also, a critique of the culture that forces people to fit in or feel left out.



I wasn't too happy with the ending honestly. The snarky tone could have been pulled down a notch, but the excessive apologies meant that all Lily's grievances were not only never fully addressed but also summarily dismissed. I felt that Lily should have been allowed to make a point about the fact that the wedding culture is so commercialised and that there was so little emphasis on the significance of the marriage.

Plus, the end of Sharon's friendship was unrequired. I felt bemused and aggrieved to note that while she broke off the friendship, it didn't stop her from keeping the gift that Lily sent.

i laughed, i cried, i gasped out loud in complete shock, i laughed some more. this was such a fun book to read and a perfect way to wind down during an evening alone! thank you netgalley for providing me w an e-arc :)

I have to say that a bride-to-be's obsession with the wedding has passed me by. This book takes place in the USA, where the requirements for a wedding (shower, batchelorette etc, etc) seem rather over the top. Lily is asked to be bridesmaid at 5 weddings taking place within a couple of months. On one hand this book is poking fun at the impossible demands that the bride to be makes upon her friends and family in this situation and the effect this has on the relationships between the friends.
Faced with enormous costs for 5 dresses , gifts etc, Lily starts a blog. Anonymous so that she can vent on the impossible demands placed upon her. At times these demands are very funny, at times quite shocking. The readership builds up gradually and it becomes a way to vent her feelings. As a reader, you understand her frustrations with the brides'obsessions with their wedding, though as the story moves on you also come to know what the brides think of her too.
All in all a good , entertaining read which becomes a real page turner towards the end.
Thank you to net galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

A perfect book to lose yourself in. Relatable in both the humor and ridiculousness of modern weddings as Lily regales the tales (and woes) of the five weddings she’s in. While slightly predictable, the story is one you don’t want to put down and features an important lesson about self reflection. Definitely recommend. Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC.

What a fun and hilarious read! I loved this. I laughed out loud multiple times, and connected so much to the main character and her tendency to make everyone happy. I really loved her growth throughout the story, and how good of a friend she really was.

Though majority of the characters are awful, Lily and Alex make up for it. And I feel as though, that's mostly the point.

In summary, this book is basically a realistic take on 27 dresses. I could see the scenes so vividly in my head, it felt like I was watching a romcom. Didn't want it to end.

Lily suddenly finds herself as a bridesmaid in 5 weddings in a 2 month period including those of her younger brother and baby sister. She is 32 and thought she had her life together and would be able to handle it, her friends were normal...until the bridal events started happening. Lily couldn't believe the demands and the behaviors and none of her friends were listening so Lily starts an anonymous blog to vent. It feels good to let it out but what will happen if someone figures out it is Lily writing it? A story of friendship, family, love and finding your voice even if it might not be what others want to hear.

Lily Weiss is 32, single, and in 5 weddings in the space of a couple of months. There are some real bridezillas - and mum-zillas, and these weddings are costing her thoudands. Her solution: start a blog to get it all of her chest, stretch her journalistic muscles, and maybe make some cash from the site ads.

This was an easy, rom-com read, complete with "it could only happen to me" hijinks and the hunky guy you can't have until suddenly apparently you can. It was well written, and the story flowed.

I got some serious second-hand anxiety because of the brides, which was mega uncomfortable but I think also shows that I engaged with what I was reading, and it all felt like it was just airing on the side of being ridiculous, but was also believable. I did also feel, at the end, that Lily had less apologising to do than some of the brides, but the brides barely acknowledged that they'd been anything less than reasonable.

I didn't find that I was furiously turning (virtual) pages to find out what happened next, but it was a low-effort, light read that's entertaining and fun.

I received an eARC of this book in return for an honest review - thank you to NetGalley.

This book follows our main character Lily as she navigates having to be part of 5 bridal parties within a couple do months, including her own younger siblings. Starting a new online blog to follow her journey, she unleashes truths about Bridezillas, evil bridesmaids and monster-Moms. All while thinking she was remaining totally anonymous.

I really enjoyed the main character, she was likeable, funny and I loved seeing her relationships with the other characters. It was also really lovely that we not only had her voicing the story but we were able to read from her blog, too - adding that extra dimension and viewpoint. With jealousy over her younger siblings getting married, tensions with the bridesmaids and juggling money to reach all 5 weddings, she felt like a very relatable and real character.

The concept of 5 weddings meant that there were a lot of other characters involved in this book, but their personalities were so well built up that it was easy enough to follow each individually. The love interest plot had quite a few twists and turns, the only let down for me was that the ending was quite predictable.

Overall I really enjoyed this, a perfect summer read, easy enough to be sucked into and breeze through.

If you loved, or even liked, the film 27 Dresses then I think you will love this - same same but different.

Lily Weiss is a writer, working for a prestigious science institute. It's her job to make complex (and often boring) science accessible to normal people. She's good at it, but it's not what she dreamed of when she used to write stories at night under her duvet as a child.

Her work BFF Caryn asks her to be a bridesmaid when she finally gets her boyfriend to propose. Caryn and Lily don't really mix in the same circles but Caryn begs Lily to save her from the toxicity of her other bridesmaids, including her sister-in-law-to-be, and Lily can't say no. But then things snowball, her college BFF also announces she is getting married and asks Lily to be a bridesmaid to protect her from her overbearing mother. Then her closest friend Meghan also announces she is getting married and guess what? You got it, she wants Lily to be a bridesmaid. Next her younger brother announces his engagement, and as a way to get her new sister-in-law he wants Lily to be a bridesmaid! Lily is at Meghan's engagement party when her baby sister, who still lives at home with their parents, announces she too is engaged. Suddenly at 32, Lily feels over the hill if even her foetus of a sister is engaged. The only solution is to mainline Chardonnay which leads to her waking up in bed with one of the groomsmen and no recollection of the night before.

At first things are hectic but manageable, Lily even manages to become adept at helping brides to choose their favourite dress (and not just the one their bitchy friends or controlling mothers like). But then the bridezilla demands start: buy this hideously expensive bridesmaid's dress; dye your hair; lose weight; fly to Chicago for dress shopping; fly to Mexico for a wedding; fly to Paris for a bachelorette party; etc. In frustration, because Lily would never say these things out loud, and in an attempt to earn some money to help her pay for all the dresses, shoes, gifts, parties etc, Lily starts up an anonymous blog called Bridesmania where she recounts the more absurd things her brides are doing.

Oh, and one of Meghan's groomsmen, Alex, is really sweet and charming but Meghan has ruled no drama, and after sleeping with one groomsman Lily can't risk any more disruption to the wedding so Alex must go firmly into the friend zone.

I think it will be fairly obvious to any reader/watcher of rom-coms, what is going to happen. But it's a fun read and Sara Goodman Confino walks a thin line between making the brides-to-be unreasonable but also showing that Lily's decision to take out her frustrations by writing a vitriolic blog was not the most appropriate response.

After DNFing so many books already this year (and with more on the horizon), this was a delight and proved to me that it's not me, it's the books. So if you fancy a light-hearted, hilarious, snarky wedding-themed rom-com that is absolutely ripe for being made into a movie then look no further. Highly recommended.

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

For the Love of Friends was an entertaining, feel-good read.

Lily is a single woman in her early 30s and finds herself a bridesmaid in FIVE weddings. The thought of that makes me want to rip my hair out. She tries her best to get through it, but has to deal with bridezillas and everyone having an opinion about her love life. Lily needs an outlet and starts writing an anonymous blog.

I can see how people might think Lily is a selfish person for broadcasting her closest friends’ and family’s dirty laundry. She really tried her best to be selfless, but how selfless can you be before you explode?

I loved the complexities of all of her relationships, especially her love interest. At first, it was difficult to keep all the characters straight; but I quickly fell in love with some of them.

This book is definitely one I plan to re-read and purchase a paper copy when it’s released.

Lily Weiss is a writer stuck in a prestigious but boring PR job who somehow ends up being a bridesmaid in 5 weddings simultaneously. As she manages her brides and family opinions on her weight, single status, and overall life prospects, Lily decides to channel her frustration into a blog called Bridesmania where she writes (mostly) honest and snarky recaps of her adventures. When she unexpectedly falls in love and reaches a breaking point, she has to climb out of a hole of her making.

While Lily was pretty heinous on the blog, I could have forgiven it had the main conflict in the book not been so absurd. My least favorite romance trope is months/years of tension based a simple misunderstanding, and that is the basis of Lily’s entire story. Without spoiling it, I felt as though we wound up to this huge cliff only to find out we had only climbed two feet off the ground. Lily is at times not a great friend, but more importantly, she has awful friends! A certain love interest redeemed the story - had this book simply been about friendship and family, I would have knocked another star 😕

this was actually cute and fun! i rarely read books within this genre because some don't just meet my expectations, but this was quite the book and i did enjoy my time with it. Another first from the author, a solid one and i would love to recommend.

This book was, for me, a little too complicated. I loved it, i love the author’s style and i love the dry wit of the main character, she made me laugh so many times, but i was also having a hard time following all the different characters. The point of the story is exactly that, that Lily has too many friends getting married at the same time, and the author showed the confusion of all the different friendships perfectly!
I loved it and will reread it for sure, as soon as i have enough time to delve in and remember the characters better!

What can I say?? This book was hilarious and heart warming, and showed the importance of friendship while still being light hearted.
Lucy is a single 32 year old who is invited to 5 weddings in two months, AS BRIDESMAIDS!. And to add insult to injury, two of them are her younger siblings.
And with her little income slipping through her fingers, mum-zillas let loose and killer bridesmaids, Lily finds it surprisingly cathartic to blog about it all. She can rant to a few thousand strangers and no one will know!
But what happens when everyone does know??
This book was so refreshing and funny and the writing was amazing! This is a classic for all lovers of rom-coms which are moderate on the romance and heavy on the comedy.

I LOVED this book. I cannot recall a moment where I was starting to get bored or uninterested. There was always a new little twist that kept me engaged.

Although I cannot directly relate to Lily, I can empathize with the way she is being treated by some of her closest friends and family. She had so many thoughts and feelings going through her head all at once, yet she did not want to upset any of the people she loved. So she translated those feelings into writing which is her biggest passion. This did come back to bite her in the butt when her post gains views. But there were a lot of lessons learned from this mistake that helped Lily develop as a character. I love the humor of her blogs and references to relatively recent events or people.

There were SO many relatable themes throughout the novel, which I think is what ultimately kept me so interested. I found myself reflecting about how I would respond in Lily's situation and understanding why she felt the way she did.

I think the way Sara Goodman Confino incorporated romance into this novel was clever and not too overbearing. It wasn't the main focus of the book, but it developed nicely and was really a cute story.

I would definitely recommend this as a joyful read with a great storyline, that'll leave you happy! Once I got into it, I had a hard time putting it down. I was reading every break I got, which says a lot about the quality of a book.

I would like to thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lily Weiss has been asked to be in five weddings. Naturally, Lily said yes, wanting to do the right thing for all of her friends, but wedding mania begins with Lily stuck in the middle of it. Evil bridesmaids, demanding mothers, garish dresses, how will Lily survive it all? For Lily, the answer is to start a blog, Bridesmania, and snark about all of the low points for the preparation of each wedding. For the Love of Friends is a hilarious story, following the main character, Lily, and her quest of succeeding at all of these weddings. Can she do it?

The cutest and best book ever! I honestly loved every single moment of it. Lily was such an interesting and enchanting main character, and I wanted to know more about her every moment I kept reading. The plot line of For the Love of Friends is creative, funny, and just so amazing! As soon I as started reading, I didn't want to stop reading. Confino did a really good job depicting the craziness of weddings, especially for someone, like myself, who has never been in a wedding before. To think about all the pain and labor that actually goes into a wedding is actually frightening, and Lily portrayed that for us by showing the behind-the-scenes horrors of each wedding.

There were many secondary characters that I enjoyed, such as Megan, Caryn, Becca, Amy, Lily's grandmother, but my favorite secondary character was Alex. The friendship Alex and Lily formed because of the weddings was honestly precious. I enjoyed reading anything about Alex, and I wish I had my own Alex. He is perfection! Without these secondary characters, none of the major drama in the book would've gone on, so I'm glad that they're there. Megan was so adorable, and I could tell how strong Megan and Lily's friendship was. Likewise with Becca. Caryn was amazing at first until she got into the nitty-gritty of her wedding. Then, she was an absolute beast about anything and everything, but it made the novel more enjoyable. Amy was so stuck-up, but I feel like Amy was more misunderstood than snobby. She was achieving the one thing that Lily hasn't achieved yet, and she was taking pride in it. Lily's grandmother was a hoot! Anytime Lily was around her, I was always ready to hear what her grandmother had to say. She was amazing!

I really enjoyed For the Love of Friends. It has all the important aspects of a romantic comedy. If you like Christina Lauren or Kiley Roache, you'll definitely like For the Love of Friends.

Happy reading!

As someone who has been a bridesmaid 11 times, I relate a lot to this story. After the kind of year we've all had, it's been really refreshing to read something lighter and fun!