This book is a good read for anyone who loves the musical Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, as it is a modern retelling. There are some cute differences, though, which makes the story intriguing. I liked the growth Camille made through the story, allowing all those brothers into her life, her relationship with her mom, and ultimately the love story between her and Aiden. I think my favorite parts of the story were the budding relationships between the brothers and Camille’s friends.

I received this book from Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed reading Brides & Brothers. Anneka R. Walker did a great modern version of the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It was easy to read and so much fun reading how she incorporated different aspects from the movie, like kidnapping the girls, all the brothers names going from A to F and pranks. Such a fun read.

Brides and Brothers is based on the classic film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, the leads here being Aiden Peterson and Camille Kelly, who meet each other and decide to get married soon after. Camille doesn't realise at the time that Aiden's six brothers live with him and when she finds out, she's not too pleased with the fact. She sets out on a mission to find wives for her brothers-in-law and decides that her friends are the ideal candidates.

I loved the premise of this story since the film is a firm favourite of mine, but I found this book lacking in its execution. The focus is not on any one particular relationship, although the story is through Aiden and Camille's point of view - mostly Camille's because Aiden isn't there for the bulk of the story. This made it harder to connect with any character and root for them. I also found that there were some scenes which were there for the sake of being there and didn't actually move the story along, making me lose interest. That being said, there were some very cute moments in the book and some of the dialogue was funny too. I did enjoy the dynamic between the brothers and thought that they were actually really sweet.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I though this book was going to be adorable. However, this book just didn’t do it for me. For starters, I wasn’t a fan of the writing itself, I thought it was choppy and not paced well. The whole thing just sort of confused me. We have Camille and Aiden who are both devoted Christians who meet and are engaged in a week? No no no, that just didn’t work for me, everything was so Insta-lovey I just couldn’t continue on. I wanted to love it so much but I just couldn’t, the characters were all lacking development and depth and it just wasn’t for me.

Are you a fan of musicals? I’m a HUGE fan. I knew as soon as I heard that Anneka Walker was writing a Seven Brides for Seven Brother’s retelling that I had to read it. If you’re not familiar with the storyline of the musical the insta-love may be a bit much for you, but if you can appreciate the retelling for what it is, I think you’ll be highly entertained!

I wondered how hard it would be to keep track of 14+ characters in this book when I first picked it up, but Walker made it easy to follow and understand. I liked how easily the switching between couples was. The story flowed well dealing with so many characters and appreciate the hard work that must have taken. I can’t decide which couple(s) were my favorite. I loved how different each couple was and the parts each individual played while being part of an entire story.

I also loved the little details of this book. The cover is fantastic, the art at each chapter featuring a different couple is so artistically perfect!

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

This book was an utter delight. My VERY favorite musical is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and this remake of it just nailed it. It modernized it but kept the fun parts of it. Anneka Walker is a phenomenal writer. The love story was honest and at times gritty, but what love story isn't!? This is one I will definitely be re reading!

3.5 stars. This is such a fun romcom with some Christian elements. If you like the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers you are going to love this book. I loved seeing all the modern twists to the movie and found myself humming certain songs for different scenes. It's not all fun and games. Because of the quick engagement/marriage and poor decision making there are some conflicts and issues that need to be resolved. They were handled very well. I loved meeting each of the characters and felt we got a nice snippet of them all (that's a lot of characters). I found myself smiling a lot also. It was funny and I loved all the connections to the musical.

I was really excited about the premise for this book. I love the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, it was one of my favorite musicals to watch when I was growing up. I appreciated all the little references to the movie throughout the book. I loved that the brothers still have the names started with the letters of the alphabet. It helped me keep track of all the characters immensely.

However, the story doesn't translate well to modern times. The whole story felt rushed, especially the romances. There are so many characters that nobody's story was detailed enough for the reader to be invested. It made it hard to believe that all these couples fell in love so quickly when we couldn't see them falling in love. The main characters' love story was vital to the story, but theirs was the hardest to believe of all. It really seemed like the marriage was so Camille could cook and clean and play mother to all the brothers. In this day and age, there is no reason for them to be apart so long. It would have been so easy for one of them to fly to visit the other. Because Camille was sad and lonely and whiny, I had a hard time liking her at all. And the kidnapping scene just didn't sit well with me, it felt strange and then it suddenly moved on.

I wish I could have liked this more, but it was just not what I expected.

Thanks to Netgalley and Covenant Communications for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was such an interesting concept! I’m still not sure how I feel about it… elements of the musical, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, don’t necessarily translate well into modern times… the “kidnapping” of the girls, for example. It was a bit uncomfortable. I also had issues with the way the male main character treated his new bride- it seemed she was valuable to him only because she could cook and clean. I never really believed the connection between them. It had its fun moments, but overall wasn’t my favorite.

DNF @ 25%

My fault for not fully reading the description of this book. I used to watch the movie with my grandmother 20 years ago, so I had fond memories associated with the idea of a re-telling. But let me tell you this premise does not translate into today's culture well. Purity culture is really triggering for me given my own background, and this book is rife with it.

I really wanted to like this book, but it definitely was not for me. DNF at around 10%. I believe others might like this, but I found the themes a bit too conservative for my taste.

1/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Covenant Communications for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Eh... I'm kind of on the fence about this one. I really liked that the author didn't fall into the trap of stupid conflict-for-conflict-sake scenarios, as these are all too often annoying for the reader given that we can see them coming from a mile away. instead, the little disagreements and hurdles were acknowledged and resolved without too much drama. However, because everything was dealt with so smoothly, a lot of the plot just felt a little TOO easy, Need a wife? Oh look, here's one. Need somewhere to live? Oh hey, here's a man with a big house. This brings me to my biggest issue. I really wasn't a fan of the gender stereotypes in this book. Aidan has a meltdown wondering if Camille needs to go to the hospital because she cries when she's upset? *rolls eyes* And again, Aidan talks a lot about wanting women to cook and clean for him and his (all adult) brothers. It's 2021. Watch a YouTube video and learn guys! You could also see the other pairings coming a mile away. By the end I was just a bit bored.

Overall, it's not terrible. it's just not terribly good either.

I gave 2.5 stars because while I liked the initial premise and there was a lot of promise for a really fun read, sadly it was ultimately pretty forgetful.

*Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review* (I will add my review to Amazon UK on release day)

Anyway, I wish it was a light and laugh out loud kinda read. But it wasn't. There's no world building. And characters? There's nothing significant about them. I didn't care about any of these characters. This book didn't have that smoothness which even make unrealistic things believable. The plot was meh. Like I said beyond unrealistic. Sigh! I really wish I enjoyed it.

Brides & Brothers by Anneka R. Walker, 288 pages. Covenant Communication, 2021. $17.
Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Aiden has declared that finding a suitable wife in the months before his thirtieth birthday will be easy. Camille needs to find a new place to live by the start of next semester or else move in with her aunt. While brought together in part because of ulterior motives, will Aiden and Camille be strong enough to weather through their storms?
Aiden and Camille make a lot of their own storms unintentionally, and I wonder if they will make sense to readers who are unfamiliar with the film Walker based her book on, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The dramatics and cheesy scenes were fun to read because I could see the parallels of the film, and I loved the adaptations Walker made to modernize the story. While there are a couple applicable principles for relationships, the focus of this book is on how to get everyone to a happy ending, which led to speeding through some solutions awkwardly.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

- I've never seen 7 Brides for 7 Brothers so this will be my first exposure!
- I like the alphabetical names
- I enjoy the writing style.
- I like that hes a computer guy and he's swoony. I'm married to a pretty swoony computer guy, myself.
- the bathroom cleaner 🤣 so funny! Why not just tell her you cut the grass?
- I'm pretty sure I'm going to get this one in paperback
- how did she not meet the brothers first? That's so weird
- "Do you need to go to the hospital?" when she was crying 🤣🤣
- ice cream night 👌
- the lack of Snow White jokes is really a missed opportunity
- I love her relationship with the roommates and her BIL
- such a good plan. I see no flaws. 🙄🤣
- cute, good ending
- I love HEA!

I liked this one because it wasn't all smooth sailing and huge storms. There were little realistic issues that they had to figure out. It felt real.

Modern-day version of the classic musical, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The author did a good job of reasonably equating the quickie marriage of the original Adam and Milly to her version, Aiden and Camille. Aiden, just like Adam, realizes there's more to life than microwave dinners, work and parenting his adult brothers. Camille has always wanted to be married, to raise a family, and she also needs to find a new place to live... ASAP. For two fundamentalist Christians, this doesn't seem like much of a stretch to me.

I'll also point out that I enjoyed the personalities of her characters. That's what has been so fun over the years of watching and rewatching the original movie: analyzing the characters, their differences and their quirks. She keeps up with that tradition here. You can really enjoy yourself in these pages.

I also enjoyed pretending I lived in Montana during the time I was reading this book. I definitely idealize the lifestyle portrayed here and it fed into that fantasy well.

However, if you're going to read this, you must know yourself. You want to read this if you're only interested in a Christian romance novel, so you're going to have to sacrifice some eye rolls and grunts at the cheese factor. Personally, I like the messages of Truth and Goodness to be a bit more like a scavenger hunt in a book rather than blatantly in your face, but there have been times in my life where I just needed a safe, squeaky clean book that is not going to surprise me with something to tempt me away from what I should be doing.

You won't want to miss this story filled with faith, family, and fun! Anneka nailed this story! It gives you ALL OF THE FEELS! I especially enjoyed the nod to 7 brides for 7 brothers. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

I received an ARC through Netgalley and all opinions are my own.

Brides & Brothers by Anneka R. Walker is a sweet Cristian romance. When Camille Falls for Aiden she doesn't know she'll be gaining five grown men as roommates in the process. Camille hatches a plan to get the brothers out of the house and set her friends up in the same sweep. Will this work out for Matchmaker Millie or will things go terribly awry?

Perfect for fans of Christie Miller! This one is sweet and chaste.

I have always loved musicals and 7 Brides for 7 Brothers is one of my favorites! Anneka Walker’s contemporary retelling of this classic story was such a fun read! I love how it parallels the original story and includes several obvious nods to the musical but it’s still its own unique story. It’s similar enough to be familiar but different enough to be fresh and exciting.

I love the Christian values expressed in this book. I really enjoyed discovering that Aiden played a big role in helping Camille develop her faith in God and seeing how that faith helped them overcome their challenges. I also enjoyed seeing the characters with strong faith inspire and strengthen the characters who were struggling to have faith. Overall I really appreciated the true principles of faith shared through these characters.

And of course I loved all the humor! It was so fun to see these boys interact with each other, with their “new mom” Camille, and to see them flirt with the young ladies of interest. The drama that comes with dating was just crazy enough to be entertaining but not so crazy that I couldn’t relate in some way.

Lastly I really appreciated that each of the brothers had their own love story told, even if was brief. Everyone had their own spotlight moment and no one got lost in the crowd. It can be really hard to keep track of everyone when you have 14 main characters. Anneka Walker did an amazing job of making each character unique enough to distinguish them from the crowd while being similar enough to remind the reader that they are all family.

I really enjoyed this story and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys contemporary rom coms, Christian fiction, and 7 Brides for 7 Brothers.

This book was an absolute joy to read! It was a fun read that will lift your spirits and keep you turning the pages. If you are looking for a book that will leave you with a smile, grab this book. I loved everything about it.
I received a complimentary copy from Covenant Communications via NetGalley and was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.