3.5 stars

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing for the arc!

One sentence review: A snarky fictional commentary of one woman's experience as a bridesmaid in five different weddings that would be perfect for people who like books about weddings or who love shows like Real Housewives.⁣
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Lily Weiss finds herself as a bridesmaid at five weddings. And some of these brides, and what they ask of her, will just make you shake your head. Lily's way of coping? Well by writing an anonymous blog about her friends and family of course. What could possibly go wrong?⁣
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My thoughts:⁣
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- I really liked how this book explores the complicated dynamics of friends and family and how weddings can really bring out the worst in people.⁣
- This book is all about the characters. The author really brings these characters to life. I didn't necessarily like them all but that felt real to me.⁣
- Some of the antics going on in this story are pretty funny, while others are just cringe worthy. And I think it is a line that this book balances pretty well.⁣
- I didn't necessarily always find this book an easy read. However when I got to the end I really felt like the book did a great job of making everything come full circle. Life, especially friends and family, can be messy, and this book has fun illustrating this mess. ⁣
- If you are looking for a sunshine and rainbows story about weddings - this is not it. This book is snarky and passive aggressive and illustrates a lot of behaviors that aren't particularly admirable. However it really does a great job of capturing the weird emotions and expectations that occur around weddings that can bring out the worst in people. ⁣
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I recommend this book to people who like wedding stories with an edge. There is an element of romance to this but at its heart I'd consider this more a work of contemporary fiction or women's lit.

This was so much "27 Dresses" with a wonderful, cute spin. I love weddings, so I love For the Love of Friends by Sara Goodman Confino. While this was uncorrected, it seemed fine enough to read. It was in pretty decent shape to be uncorrected. The "I'm sure she's a very sharp spoon" line is such a funny one, and there are many more that are just like that in the prose. It was relatable, and I loved it!

I really enjoyed this! It was fun and I liked the little romance aspect. I do feel like the end was a bit of a let down, I wasn’t a big fan of how they all hanged up on her and didn’t really apologize for their own bridezilla behavior, but other than that, I loved it. It felt reasonably realistic, too.

I love 27 dresses and this was like a spin on it so that excited me. But, I found this book to be average but still funny and exciting at times. The thing that let it down was there weren’t many characters in the book I actually liked. I know the brides all had to be bridezillas but this meant I spent most of the book angry at them and really disliked a propropTion of the cast, unable to find sympathy when Lily our MC did. I liked lily and Alex’s sections and I really liked the twist at the end so that is why it is a 3 star from me

#Bridesmania is the perfect word Lily uses as her blog title, that she uses to write about the chaos of being in 5 weddings!

What fun I had reading #FortheLoveofFriends! Lily is a lovable character! I mean, what are the chances anyone would get asked to be in so many weddings at once? I would go berserk! Lily handles it all as she tries to manage being the forever bridesmaid! Her friends & family were quite ridiculous & rude along the way!
I’m not quite sure how she managed the craziness, but she did!!
Confino’s #debutnovel is not to be missed! I’m so ready for her next one!

“Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I’m guessing.”
“She’s not even a knife. She might be a spoon.”
“I’m sure she’s a very sharp spoon.”

I thought this was a cute read! Of course some events were obviously going to happen, but I still enjoyed this. There were some definite funny parts and I got some good chuckles out it, like the quote above.

Honestly, my biggest complaint was how awful everyone was to Lily! I could NOT believe some of the things that were said to her and I don't feel like anyone ever apologized to her! She definitely got the worst deal at the end.

All in all, it was a cute read and I enjoyed the romance. I also enjoyed the inside look into weddings!!

A fun, snarky and relatable read!⁣
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Have you ever been a bridesmaid? My core group of friends and I all got married around the same time. We essentially took turns being in each other’s weddings. This book brought me back to that time in my life and let’s just say that I haven’t laughed this hard in awhile with a book. There were moments where I was transported back in time, remembering crazy things that happened bc let’s be real, weddings are stressful as hell. ⁣
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Lily is a bridesmaid in 5 weddings over a six week period. Bring on the dress shopping, spanx, bachelorette parties and of course the hilarious bridezilla moments. She takes to blogging as an outlet for all the wedding shenanigans. Her blog was supposed to be anonymous and no one was supposed to know or get hurt. Unfortunately, as with most secrets, the blog does not remain hidden. I, on the other hand, am glad we were privy to her blog posts because they were hilarious! ⁣
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This book has so much wedding drama, snark, heart and romance. I adored Alex - he was just such a kind hearted, good guy. Their romance was sweet and I wish we had even more of it. For the Love of Friends proved to be a fun, summer read! I’m already looking forward to book 2 which will center around Lily’s very amusing grandma.

First things first, I love how the almost-impossible premise of For the Love of Friends (being a bridesmaids for five different brides in the same year!) is made just plausible. Does Lily get in over her head? Absolutely. Does she know this? Kinda. Is it fun to watch? One-hundred percent!

There is so much truth in how weddings (and other milestones) can bring out the worst in the people close to you- all those friends you’ve outgrown and family who let excitement or jealously get the better of them. And Lily gets to witness this- and become part of this- four-fold. Enter: Bridesmania, the Blog.

Borne out of the financial costs of attending/being a bridesmaid in five weddings, Bridesmania is an attempt to recoup some of the gallons of money she's spending on these weddings. The blog allows Lily to release all the things she can't say to the brides, their overbearing families, or their awful friends. It also allows her to poke fun at her situation since she can't really unload on her friends amidst their wedding-hazed brains. Would a therapist perhaps be a more appropriate confidante? Maybe. But no one pays you to go to therapy!

However, as much as I loved the themes of this book (and the compassionate truth buried within) I was a little disappointed with the relatively slow pace. It took a while for the wedding-tension to build and for the romance to get cooking, so there wasn't much to root for in the beginning. Once it started, though, the banter was on fire and the chemistry was THERE. Also they had a pretty sweet courtship. It just took a little while to get there.

Additionally, the way potential assault was handled rubbed me the wrong way since it wasn't really treated as such, though Lily did question the consent at one point. While it made sense for Lily to be hard on herself (for other reasons) it was a little hard to get past so casually.

TW: SA, body-shaming. A major plot point revolves around what Lily assumes to be a blackout-drunk hookup, though Lily is largely unaffected. Multiple body-shaming comments are made by the wedding parties, though Lily pushes back.

This book was a spin of 27 Dresses. Lily, a single 32 year old, spring has just gone crazy. Her friends and younger siblings got engaged and now she is in 5 weddings. She finds herself struggling to keep up with all the dates and the bridezillas. To let go of her frustration she starts a blog.

I adored 27 dresses and I really wanted to love this book, but i wasn’t able to, it was boring to me.

What a fun witty read. Lily is 32 and living a happy (mostly!) satisfying life. She thinks she has good friends, is healthy and a good, if not hypercritical mother. Her single status is the bane of her mothers existence and there is not a moment of her life that her mother doesn’t take the opportunity to yet again remind Lily of her feelings, her disappointment and disapproval in her life. And to top that off she is in 5, yes count the, 5 weddings over one summer. Her good friends, maybe not as good as she thought. Verbal jabs and barbs are constant and she realizes they are not who she thought they were. And so she starts a blog. It’s a perfect way to express all of her feelings. Until it isn’t and hits the fan. That’s it. Not spoiling anything for anyone, but f you need a wonderfully written laugh out loud book this is the one for you. The author has created a cast of characters and situations that are so real it was at times cringe worthy in the best way! I look forward to more from this author.

Y'ALL.

This book was the perfect summer read I didn't know I needed. It not only made me laugh out loud (so many times that I had to read certain passages out loud to my husband) but it also tugged on my heartstrings and was un-put-downable. Seriously, I carried it around in my purse and would read a page or two (or 10!) in my car between errands or at doctor appointments, and when I couldn't read it, I was thinking about it and not wanting it to end.

On the outside, this book is about the hilarity and shenanigans being in five weddings within a couple months can encompass, but at its heart, it's about relationships: the good, the bad, the ugly, the wonderful, the surprising. It's about the bonds between family members and friends, and how those bonds can strain, strengthen, change, or even disintegrate. It's also about your relationship with yourself - taking a good, hard look in the mirror and accepting who you truly are, flaws and all.

While this book made me laugh a lot, it was not all sunshine and lollipops. Some of the women and their antics really upset me, and the way they treated each other was sometimes so downright mean that I couldn't believe it.

For the most part, I really liked main character Lily a lot. Here intentions were often good, she really did try to help the brides whenever possible, and she was overall caring and a good friend. I appreciated her snark and the way she used her blog to vent feelings and frustrations, and though it ended up hurting people's feelings, I did think there was truth at the heart of it.

Goodman Confino did a fantastic job of not only creating a very human and relatable main character, but also rich and well-developed secondary characters. I adored Alex (those coffee notes were so sweet, I loved how he was a supportive sounding board for Lily, and he was the epitome of a good guy), I appreciated both Becca and Madison, and Grandma provided the best comic relief!

I loved watching Lily navigate her relationships with her mom and siblings, as well as being honest about the pressure she often felt from her mom. And the evolution of her relationship with Alex warmed my heart.

I could go on about this book all day, but really, just know that you don't want to miss it! It came out Aug. 1, so don't wait another minute - go grab your copy ASAP! And Sara, I'm absolutely here for Grandma's book; if you need an early reader, don't hesitate to ask!

If you have ever been a bridesmaid in multiple weddings at one time For the Love of Friends will resonate with you...and probably stress you out! I was having flashbacks to when all my sisters were engaged at the same time, that's for sure. Honestly, it had me grateful that my friends and siblings are more level-headed than some of the brides in this book.

Overall it was a quick, fun read, even if you know from the start what a disaster being in 5 weddings and Lily's subsequent choice to divulge details about the weddings on a blog is going to be. 3.5-4 stars for me. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

What’s a girl to do when she ends up a bridesmaid in five weddings taking place over the same six weeks? Start an anonymous blog to vent about the bridezillas and their families—even when it’s your own family since two of the weddings are your siblings. What could possibly go wrong?

For the Love of Friends by Sara Goodman Confino was a very fun read about single Lily who’s trying her best to be a good bridesmaid to all her friends and family, but can’t really take the botox suggestions, commentary on her larger chest, and exorbitant costs associated with the events. Holy crap these weddings got expensive. The wedding demands bordered for me on completely unbelievable, but that’s because it’s just not a world I understand (my husband and I got married in a kids jumps and jiggles room and I barely had a combined shower/bachelorette party at a friend’s house). I imagine these sorts of antics are all too common.

I really liked main character Lily, even though it was clear the blog was almost definitely going to blow up in her face. She was a great, funny character and her struggles felt all too real. I wish she would have said no a little more often, but I completely understand why she didn’t. I also loved Alex, a groomsman in Lily’s best friend’s wedding, who becomes a swoony friend and confidant. Their text messages were great and made me long for the days of getting to know someone new.

This book would be perfect for people looking for fun, light romcoms, anyone addicted to Say Yes to the Dress, or anyone who’s experienced a few bridezillas of their own.

Thank you so much to @letstalkbookspromo, @amazonpublishing and @saraconfino for the gifted copy and the amazing bookish items!

What’s the worst thing you asked someone in your wedding party to do or the worst request you got as part of a wedding party? I’ve been a bridesmaid in three weddings. One included the phrase “Have you ever heard of an artist name Meat (hard stop) Loaf?” (because the requester had only recently been introduced to the Dashboard Lights crooner by her betrothed) right before a request to have me sing “you took the words right out of my mouth, it must have been when you were kissing me.”

For The Love of Friends was an absolute joy for me to read. It is the story of Lily, a single woman in her 30s who is in 5 weddings in 6 weeks and is ready to lose her mind. To deal with all of the pressure she is feeling - not having enough money to pay for everything, attending all of the events, the body shaming, dealing with mean girls in the wedding parties and the bridezillas and dealing with her own family dynamics, she vents through a blog detailing her adventures. Let me tell you, this book is hilarious. Laugh out loud, snort your coffee entertainment. The brides, mothers and bridal parties are all so over the top in a hysterical way and yet Lily remains so relatable. She has the best snarky one-liners as comebacks and her frustrations, anxiety and stress are all on point and make her so likable instead of making her sound like a whiner. And I have to say that the romance that takes place via notes on Starbucks cups is just so swoonworthy. This book is the perfect summer escape that I didn’t want to end.

I laughed so much reading this. It felt like Bridesmaids meets 27 Dresses, with extra sarcasm. Which is perfect! I look forward to reading more books by Sara.

Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book.

LOVED it!

Plenty of detail about weddings and everything that goes into them: the good, the bad and the ugly. Friendships, all their strengths and weaknesses. Family, the hilarity and heartbreak they bring. Relationships, the exciting first throes and the devastating blows.

I don't like to give spoilers away in reviews so I'll leave it at this:
A romcommy chick-litty dream, which made me laugh and gasp in equal measure.

This was a cute book with a friends-to-lovers romance that had me cackling at times. I’ve never been a bridesmaid and I was a very relaxed bride, so these women had me like WTF the whole time. It was honestly so frustrating to see Lily sit back and take a lot of the crap she did. The only bride that wasn’t completely awful was Madison.

I loved Lily. She was a great friend but I just wanted her to stand up for herself! Her blog posts had me dying laughing.

I wasn’t a huge fan of how some of the ending played out and how Lily was portrayed but after reading other reviews, I seem to be in the minority there.

This book was so much fun. Confino has a great sense of humor and it carries to the page beautifully.

Thirty-two and single, Lily suddenly finds herself as a bridesmaid in five different weddings within a two month period. In order to get through the terror of bridezilla, terrible bridesmaids, and infuriating mothers-of-the-bride, Lily starts up an anonymous blog titled Bridesmania, where she writes honestly about her experiences being in five weddings, while simultaneously tearing apart her friends and their friends and family.

Through a common lesson in today’s world, Lily learns that nothing on the internet is truly anonymous. She hurts those closest to her and ends up losing quite a few people she thought would always be by her side.

But what Lily never planned on was falling in love. In fact, she had gone out of her way to avoid it. But when does that ever work out well?

Lily’s blog is humorous, and while it’s cruel, it’s also honest. No one should have to be in five weddings in two months, no matter how much you love weddings. And also? Asking people to change their appearance for your wedding is absolutely horrific.

I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this book. You’ll be laughing throughout the entire thing. The grandmother is WONDERFUL, too.

I am now sold on anything Sara wants to write after reading For the Love of Friends. I laughed out loud several times and the story is brilliantly written in that the MC, Lily, feels relatable and quirky. I definitely wanted to tell her "noooooo" while simultaneously eating popcorn as she gets into scrape after scrape.
Lily agrees to be in not one but five weddings in a short period of time. Some are under obligations - both younger siblings and her boss - and a couple are for dear friends. A drunken mistake leads to the traditional walk of shame, compounding the stress of navigating and supporting the five brides. In order to pay for her portion of the celebrations, she decides to start an anonymous blog where she occasionally exaggerates and uses as an outlet for both the fun and traumatizing moments leading up to the weddings. In the meantime, she's avoiding her drunken mistake and leaning on her blossoming friendship with Alex.
The levity is outstanding. I can easily see a re-read of this book in the future if only to laugh at the crazy antics and unexpected troubles Lily gets into.
Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

For the Love of Friends by Sara Goodman Confino ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4 !!

i get 27 dresses vibes!!! Lily is a reliable friend who has been a bridesmaid 5 times in 6 weeks!!! she’s basically a professional bridesmaid! And she created an anonymous wedding blog?!?!? literally my favorite components in a book… a huge secret and a protagonist that loves her family! I really liked Lily! Sometimes I thought she was a little immature but then I realized she’s 32 and i think she’s allowed to be a little immature. I really liked the blogs too!!! And the writing style is probably one of the best i’ve read in a while!!!! My favorite part was the family aspect in this book. Lily loves her dad and siblings so much it is heartwarming!