The Wedding Ringer by Kerry Rea is a hilarious and heartwarming story about finding love and friendship when you least expect it. It’s Kerry Rea’s debut novel and she really knocks it out of the park with this gem of a story. It has that perfect balance of humor and weightier topics. I laughed a lot but then there were also some sadder moments that made me want to wrap up these characters in a big hug.

After finding her fiancé and her best friend in bed together, Willa Callister has decided that she is done with both love and friendship and would rather just be alone. This betrayal hasn’t just dampened Willa’s enthusiasm for companionship, however. It has also killed her writing mojo, which is problematic since she makes her living as a blogger. What Willa really wants to do is make enough money to move away and get a fresh start, but until that happens, she finds herself living with her sister, licking her wounds, and occasionally playing Princess Sparkle Fairy at children’s parties for a little cash.

I adored Willa from the moment we meet her at a disastrous children’s party where she accidentally drops the birthday cake after coming face to face with her cheating ex-bff. Humiliated, Willa storms out of the party, flings her plastic throne to the ground, and dubs her character Princess Effing Sparkle Fairy. Although it’s clearly a comical scene, I’m a sucker for an underdog and I could easily relate to and sympathize with Willa’s extreme frustration. She’s lost her best friend and the love of her life in one fell swoop, betrayed by the two people she cares about most in the world. The author does a wonderful job of creating a scenario that immediately had me rooting for Willa to get the fresh start she so desperately needs.

Willa’s chance comes in the form of another character I fell in love with, Maisie Mitchell. Maisie is getting married and unexpectedly finds herself down a bridesmaid. Rather than rearranging everything with an uneven number of people, she decides to hire a professional bridesmaid. A chance encounter with Willa at a coffeeshop convinces Maisie that Willa is the perfect person for the job. Even though Willa doesn’t really want to do it, Maisie offers her a sum of money that is too big to refuse. What neither Willa nor Maisie realizes is that this business arrangement is actually the start of a beautiful, potentially life-changing friendship. Even though Willa is determined that she doesn’t need anyone, there’s just something about Maisie that makes her heart open no matter how hard she tries to distance herself and keep it from happening. I especially adored how protective Willa becomes of Maisie when it becomes apparent that she’s marrying into a family that looks down on her.

There is also a lovely side romance for Willa, featuring a sexy pediatrician named Liam. While I loved this relationship and thought Liam was perfect for Willa in every way and that they had tremendous chemistry, it’s truly the friendship between Willa and Maisie that makes The Wedding Ringer such a special book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: cheating (past relationship), depression, anxiety, drunk driving accident involving a death (past side character), grief (past, side character), brief mentions of HP

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f frenemies to lovers
-the importance of friendship
-adorable nieces
-bridesmaid for hire

A great fiction book with a romance subplot. I really enjoyed reading this book. Willa has hit rock bottom, living with her sister and her family, a job she hates, and friendless. The importance of friendship, healing, leaning on others and family were such gorgeous themes. I love seeing the importance of being an aunt and Willa's relationship with her nieces.

This book covered quite a few heavy topics with humor and care and I really enjoyed it. The romance was soft and tender. A great read.

Steam: 1.5

I’ve always loved weddings and I’ve been even more into them with my own happening this year. I just finished the Wedding Ringer and I absolutely loved it!

This is the second book I’ve read about hiring a bridesmaid for your wedding; but the two books we’re very different. In the Wedding Ringer, Willa is approached in a coffee shop to be Maisie’s friend when Maisie’s fiancé spots them. Maisie doesn’t have many friends, but she is wealthy and she offers Willa a job posing as her bridesmaid. Willa is down on her luck after being let go from her journalism job and calling off her wedding to her cheating ex fiancé. She’s also living with her sister and her family with no future planned.

Willa decides to take up Maisie’s offer because she could truly use the money, but she ends up with a real friendship with Maisie. She also gets very close with the Best Man, Liam. I just loved their banter and their chemistry. Willa is nervous to get close to anyone after her engagement and I totally understand that.

This was such a fun book. It’s extremely well written and it’s incredible that it’s the author’s debut novel. I highly recommend for anyone who wants an enjoyable romcom!

Thank you so much to @berkleypub, @authorkerryrea, and @netgalley for my ARC copy. The Wedding Ringer is on sale now!

This book was a love story, but the love story was really about the MC loving herself again, and finding away to trust others. Being from Ohio, I also appreciated how much Columbus was it’s own character. Overall, a great read, but I would have loved the relationship with Liam to be fleshed out a bit more.

I absolutely adored this book. Willa’s struggles felt real and naturally progressed. Her relationships with Maisie and her family were a delight to read. I love romances that feature different types of love and relationships. I particularly appreciated how a massive part of the fallout from The Incident was about Sarah and the pain of losing a deep friendship. Not to say that Liam isn’t great. Lots of banter, which is always a plus for me. But I got completely sucked in to this book and loved every minute of it.

From the first page, from the first paragraph I enjoyed this amazing debut romcom, The Wedding Ringer by Kerry Rea.
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I loved the banter, the enemies to lovers trope, the premise of a hired bridesmaid, and much more. I loved the relationships in this book the most. I loved the relationship between family, Willa’s (the main character) sister and sister in law; Willa and her three nieces, Willa and her boss, Maisie, and of course the romantic relationship that sizzles off the page between Willa and Liam.
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Willa’s heart hasn’t just been broken, it has been stomped on, wrung out and left to shrivel. The people she is surrounded by now really help to resurrect that heart. Watching that happen can’t help but make a person smile. Willa’s hilarious blog posts, that she wouldn’t dare to actually post, had me smiling and laughing.
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I am already looking forward to whatever else this author writes, I am always ready for such an entertaining read like this one!
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Thank you @berkleyromance and @netgalley for a copy of this book. I was expecting a fun rom com but this book was so much more. It had so much depth in dealing with getting over a bad break up and losing your best friend and the importance of family. I felt the romance was almost secondary to the friendship between Maisie and Willa. I love seeing their friendship develop and how they were there for each other.

Willa’s family was a precious and also added such a fun component to the story.

Willa Callister is a successful writer and blogger until she walks in on her fiancé and life long best friend being intimate only weeks before their wedding. Her life implodes and she hides away at her sisters trying to figure out how she can start over. While getting coffee one day, Maisie Mitchell sits at her table, and offers her $200 to say they are friends when her fiancé arrives. Later she offers her more money to be her bridesmaid. Willa is reluctant but relents not knowing it will change her life.

This is not a true romance. It is woman's fiction/chicklit with a lovely side romance. It is a woman finding her path after heart ache and it is discovering what it means to be a friend. I love these characters with the insecurities and their strengths. A scene when Willa realizes that the betrayal was more about losing her best friend and the future they had planned together brought tears to my eyes with its honestly. Other times I grinned and laughed at Willa's inner monologues and potential future blog posts. Of course love interest Dr. Dreamboat is yummy but I didn't like him at first. The author is great at developing the characters and giving everyone their own personality and back history. I think the one I knew the least about was Maisie's guy Finn.

If you want a book about love, friendship, loss, women supporting women, and finding your inner strength this is for you. I was a little surprised with the book being a contemporary chicklit/romance that intimacy is kept off the page. I believe this is the authors debut novel and she has knocked it out of the ball park. On a personal note I have stayed in Dublin, OH multiple times while traveling with my spouse for work and love that it was used for the setting. I can easily picture shopping and dining along the historic High Street. And the Columbus Zoo is absolutely one of the best zoos in the country. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. (4.5 stars)

After a devastating betrayal from her fiancé and her best friend, Willa Calister loses her job, her place to live, and her desire to interact with people. She is forced to move in with her sister and work for her sister's party business, performing at children's parties as Princess Sparkleheart. Her dream is to save enough money and leave town.

One day, Willa runs into Maisie who is in desperate need of a bridesmaid for her upcoming wedding. Maisie makes an offer to Willa to pretend to be her bridesmaid in exchange for good money. An offer Willa can't refuse because it will help her to leave town and start over. Willa doesn't plan to become friends with Maisie because she closed her heart to friendships, and she doesn't plan to develop feelings for the annoying best man, Liam, a.k.a The Worst Man or Dr. Dreamboat.

I adored this book. It's a delightful rom-com with compelling characters, laugh-out-loud humor, and a great message about the importance of friendships and family. The romance between Willa and Liam is sweet, I would've preferred it a little spicier, but that's my personal preference. Overall, I highly recommend The Wedding Ringer, and I am looking forward to reading more books from Kerry Rea.

Equally hilarious and heartwarming, this debut has everything I love: laugh out loud moments, a swoony male lead and strong mental health rep. Willa thought she had it all: she was engaged to be married and had a strong online following with her blog, but when she catches her fiances with her best friend her seemingly perfect life implodes. Taking a hiatus from reality, Willa moves in with her sister and takes a job as a children's party entertainer. However when a nervous bride hires her to pose as her bridesmaid life gets much more complicated. Unable to resist the charms of the best man, Willa is forced to keep up the charade at the expense of her budding romance. Highly recommended if you're looking for a feel-good romance with depth. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy!

I'm a little late to the party here, but I just have to say how totally delightful THE WEDDING RINGER is! To be fair, it's not 100% a romance; it sits on that line between women's fiction/"chick lit" and contemporary romance. In some cases, that genre-blurring frustrates me, but in this case, I thought it created a rich and wonderful emotional world.

In a way, it's two love stories. One is the expected romance between Willa, an ex-blogger still reeling from a massive betrayal, and Liam, the frustrating (and, of course, super hot) guy who witnesses one of her lowest moments. The other, and perhaps the more important, is between Willa and Maisie, the sweet but insecure woman who impulsively recruits Willa to be her bridesmaid and pretend that they're childhood friends. The romantic love story is great, and it's easy to root for them, but even more important is the way this book talks about love in all its forms. It's about finding your people and embracing them, no matter how strange or unexpected your story is - and that's something we can all appreciate.

Thank you, Berkley for our gifted review copy.

I had a feeling I would like this book when I heard it had a grief element. If you don't know, love stories with grief are my catnip - I can't get enough! But when I heard this book also discusses the loss and grieving of female friendships, I am all in. I love seeing this representation in books because the loss of a long and important friendship can be one of the most challenging things one can face, especially in early adulthood.

Willa is such a strong character. I love everything about her, especially how relatable she is. She's messy, she's going through loss and has a plan to move on. When Maisie enters her life, it's like a confetti tornado - in the best way.

READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE:
Love stories with grief
Complexity and loss of strong female friendships
Messy, vulnerable female leads
Hilarious internal dialogue
Fun & engaging side characters
THE VERDICT

I am Really Into This book & I want to scream it from the rooftops. I simply devoured it & Kerry's voice is so strong and unique, I cannot wait to read more of her books! The Wedding Ringer by Kerry Rea just speaks to my heart in the best way! If you're a fan of Float Plan by Trish Doller, this book is for you. Also, can't recommend Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz enough - they're all in the same little cloud of women's fiction/romance and I love them all so much!

The Wedding Ringer by Kelly Rea is Willa’s story who is a complex character all by herself but then add in her family and new friends, and there are additional layers to the story. The characters all have a depth to them, and we learn about them a little at a time. They are stronger together than when they are alone due to the support they give each other, even if it’s unknowingly.

When Willa has been done wrong by her best friend, Sarah, and Willa’s fiancé, Max, life as she knows it is over, or is it? She’s unable to write her blogs because she feels like her muse has dried up. Since Sarah and Max ruined her life six weeks before their wedding and were a huge part of her life and her postings, what can she do but hide? We see Willa come back to herself little by little, and it was a pleasure to see.

When Willa’s approached by Maisie at her local coffee shop asking if she can hire Willa to be her bridesmaid, so Maisie can show her fiancé and his family she has at least one friend, Willa listens to Maisie’s needs and realizes she would benefit as well if she became a bridesmaid. This little twist gives the story an unusual premise. Willa felt it could also help put The Incident (as she called it), of her canceled wedding, behind her.

When Liam, Willa’s new friend Maisie’s fiancée’s best man, and Willa cross paths, there are fireworks but not the good kind. The two had sort of met once before, and he dared to laugh at her. It was something she wouldn’t forgive, or could she? There’s definitely an attraction and chemistry, but will it lead anywhere?

Many stories are told, and we’re immersed in each of them as the stories twist and turn and wind together seamlessly. There are complexities to this story of friendship and love. I loved the inclusion of Willa’s young nieces in the story. There are so many secrets, hurts, anger, tears, laughter, romance, and love. The story had a nice flow and some closure, but I would have liked the story to continue a little longer. There is a happily ever after and maybe more to come.

From now on, Kerry Rea’s books will be added to my TBR pile as soon as she writes them. The Wedding Ringer is her debut novel, and it was a marvelous read. I read the book in a few hours because I didn’t want to put it down and didn’t want it to end. I hope we’ll meet up with these characters again since there seem to be more stories to tell. (Hint, Hint)

I rated the book 4.5 stars but rounded to 5 stars here and on other sites.

This book is simply delightful. Sure, there is love here but I really enjoyed the love between friends and family.
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This book had me cracking up from page two. Willa used to have it all. She was a successful blogger, with a best friend and a fiancé and a wedding in six weeks. Now she is performing (badly) as a Princess at birthday parties, no wedding and her fiancé is with her best friend.
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Willa has disappeared from her normal life and all it takes is one random coffee shop visit and Maisie to blast in her life asking her to pretend to be her friend,
which leads to her pretending to be her bridesmaid.
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This was a fun one and I really enjoyed all of these characters. I could totally see this one as a cute movie and I would be all in!
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Thank you @berkleypub and #netgalley for an advanced copy.

Okay, but the premise of a secret bridesmaids agreement sold me for this debut It's less about romance and more about finding yourself and friendship, but add that romantic twang in and it was a great recipe for success.

|| 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖

The Wedding Ringer
Kerry Rea
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

|| 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒:
Willa had her world turned upside down. She was a writer. She was a social media influencer. She was a fiancé. Now she is Willa: the aunt, princess sparkles, and she sleeps in past noon most days. She wants out of town and to start life over. Until she meets Maisie. Because this whirlwind of a girl won’t leave her alone and is starting to open her heart to friendship, becoming closer to her family, and maybe eventually falling for that one guy.

|| 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄:
•Speciel friendships
•Secret bridesmaids
•Finding the real you
•If you don’t mind the love interest having the same name as your toddler son 👀

|| 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒:
The cover really gave me romance vibes, and while you will find some of that. This story is mostly about Willa and then about her and Maisie. This friendship is not traditional, but it is sweet and perfect. Willa had a tough break up from her fiancé and also her best friend. She wants to get away, but slowly with Maisie’s help she is really able to evaluate her current situation and realize what she actually wants. Liam is almost as unexpected as Maisie. She wasn’t expecting him to come into her life either. The story of this trio was really great. Lots of laugh out loud moments, deep conversations, realizing the importance of not only love but friendship as well. Also who doesn’t like a hired bridesmaid story?!

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for a copy of this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review

At one time socialite and social media darling Willa Callister had it all. A thriving career, blog & Instagram followers, a fiancé, a best friend who she shared everything with - a seemingly perfect life. Until one day Willa walked in on her fiancé and best friend in bed together. Now her life is nothing like it was before The Incident. Willa finds herself living with her sister and her family while she decides how to move forward with her life. When a chance encounter with a woman at a coffee shop has the potential to turn Willa's life around - will she take the opportunity to let herself feel again? Or is she bound to harden to heart so that it never gets broken again?

I cannot put into words how much I adored this wonderful book. The Wedding Ringer took me by surprise, but in the best way. Right from the beginning the writing captivated me and had me laughing out loud and at the same time feeling the hurt and anguish that Willa goes through when she sees her ex best friend at a birthday party. The way Kerry Rea brings all of these emotions out and lets us feel them alongside Willa is amazing.

Friendship is such a key component in The Wedding Ringer. Friendships can be amazing; they can lift us up when we're feeling down, help us with a should to lean on when we need it the most or just be there when we want to vent. But Willa has lost that with her best friend and the loss is profound. So I can see why Willa has such a hard time opening up to friendships especially with a whirlwind like Maise. Maise is the ray of sunshine that Willa didn't even know she was missing in her life. I loved their friendship so much and how they were truly there for each other when they didn't think they could rely on anyone else.

While the friendships were front and center in The Wedding Ringer, I loved the romance between Willa and dark and sexy Liam. The banter, the playfulness - gah! They were so damn cute together and I loved the way they slowly came around to one another.

I highly recommend The Wedding Ringer! This is Kerry Rea's debut and I can't wait to read more of her books!

The Wedding Ringer was a nice story with a slow build up on the romance. Willa and Liam eventually make it past the friend zone but not without some setbacks.

Willa was on top of the world with her blog, lifestyle, engagement and wedding planning. Until her best friend did the unthinkable and ruined it all. Willa began searching for a way to get out of town and do it without looking back. Maisie provides Willa with an opportunity to make some quick cash, Liam was not part of the plan.

Pediatrician Liam was nowhere near looking for a new relationship, saving kids is his passion. Watching and planning his best friend's wedding was enough to remind him why he never wanted to try again. Learning more and more about Maisie’s new bridesmaid, Willa has all of his attention.

Willa and Liam have a very slow start to their relationship, it definitely took a while for it to develop from hatred to maybe friends and then on to friends to lovers. It took a while for Liam to become the clear person of interest for Willa, the plot seemed to waiver back and forth between the developing friendship with Maisie and the developing relationship with Liam as to which it focused on more. There was a small crew of characters, well developed with realistic relationships. I did struggle with connecting to any of the characters and the pace was slower moving than I am drawn to. Overall, I feel like this could be a nice, enjoyable read for an afternoon or evening, but it will probably not be a reread for me.

In The Wedding Ringer, former lifestyle blogger and influencer, Willa, is picking up the pieces of her shattered life after she found her best friend (of 22 years!) in bed with her fiancé six weeks before they were supposed to be married. Down two best friends, she's crashing at her sister's and working as a children's party princess, living on wine and in sweatpants. But when a chance encounter connects her with Maisie, a bride-to-be in desperate need of friends, Willa agrees to be her hired bridesmaid. It's a weird arrangement, but Willa needs the money to help her leave town and get away from her ex and ex-BFF (who are still together) once and for all.

This book has some laugh-out-loud moments, and definitely has an opening that hooks you from the start. It's difficult not to compare it to The Secret Bridesmaid, which also features a hired bridesmaid where the romance plot is secondary. But thankfully, both books are enjoyable and different enough that both are worth a read. Maisie is a fascinating character and almost steals the show, which her unique backstory, awkward demeanor mixed with outward perfection, and a super cool job (she designs animal habitats for the zoo). I think this book would be great for those looking to be entertained and seeing people pick up the pieces after some huge struggles, but only want a romance as a subplot. With that in mind, it was a great read!

Thanks to Berkley for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 8/10

4.5 Stars ⭐️ - Top Pick

“I try to tell myself that the sudden rush of emotion is PMS-related, but I know it’s something else. It’s that thing I never talk about: the gnawing, clawing monster that eats away at me no matter how many episodes of The Office I watch or glasses of red wine I drink. That creeps up on me in the middle of the night when I’m wide awake and staring at the ceiling with a heavy dread in my stomach. That finds me when I least expect it, when I’m in line at Target or watching Stacey hug Kaya or accidently dropping Chloe Wellington’s three-hundred-dollar birthday cake. That thing I can’t sleep or outdrink or overcome: loneliness.”

Willa Callister used to have it all: A successful blog, a loving fiancé, and a best friend who was more like family. It all came crashing down when Willa found her fiancé, Max, and her best friend, Sarah, in bed together six weeks before her wedding. Willa was devastated. She cut off all their friends, moved in with her sister, and stopped writing. She closed herself off to everything, moping around drinking wine, and hiding from her life so she no longer had to deal with it. A chance encounter with Maisie, one of the sweetest people she has ever met, has Willa pretending to be her bridesmaid because she has no real friends. This is a story of growth, love, and finding true friendship in the midst of one of the worst moments in your life.

Wow! This one was really stellar. I think that Kerry Rea packed so much wit and charm into this story. I was rooting for Willa and cheering her on from behind my Kindle. She is a complex character. Hilarious, sarcastic, closed-off, untrusting, and just like all of us when we have been hurt beyond recognition. This was about her journey to heal in both love and friendship. I know this is packaged as a romance, but it truly takes a back seat to Maisie and Willa’s friendship. These two characters are flawed from being hurt by people in their past, but they truly learn to open up to each other creating a super special bond that will last forever. Add in hot pediatrician, Dr. Liam Rafferty, and Willa gets it all. Even though this isn’t a competition with Sarah and Max, Willa is the one who is winning with an amazing best friend, family who loves her no matter what, and a smoking hot boyfriend. I wish that we had gotten to see a little more romance between Willa and Liam, but honestly this book is good enough without that. I can’t recommend it enough.

If you’re looking for a story full of humor with imperfect heroines who are searching for their place in the world like those of Susan Elizabeth Phillips then give this one a try.

~ Michelle