As a romance reader who takes the definition of romance (happily ever after or happy for now) very seriously, I feel like it’s important to start by saying that Bad Luck Bridesmaid isn’t a traditional romance. It’s a love story in every sense of the word - romantic love, friendship love, self-love - and I found the ending incredibly satisfying, but I know many people won’t. So. Do with that what you will, but consider yourself warned if you’re expecting a traditional romance with a cut-and-dried happily ever after.

Bad Luck Bridesmaid is hilarious and irreverent, heartbreaking and hopeful, beautiful and messy all at once, and I loved every second of it. It was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. The beginning felt like a friend telling you a hilarious and sometimes cringeworthy story about her misadventures and bad luck, which I found highly entertaining. It gave us a real chance to get to know Zoey, and by the time things really started to take off, I was so invested I could hardly put the book down.

One of the things I loved most about this book was the fact Zoey knew who she was and what she wanted. She stuck to her beliefs and stayed true to herself even when it meant heartache and turmoil. I think so many people will see themselves at least partly in Zoey, particularly if you’ve ever felt like or been told you’re too much or too complicated or too hard to like/love or that you should change certain aspects of your personality to fit in or make others more comfortable. It addresses the expectations often put on women to be a certain way, want certain things (like marriage and children, the be-all and end-all to so many people), and to basically ‘settle down’ in every sense. As someone who’s taken a non-traditional path in life, I appreciated all of that so much.

This book was full of great, complex characters and relationships. The friendship between Zoey and Hannah was one of my favourite aspects; their love and loyalty for each other was beautiful.

Bad Luck Bridesmaid is a wild, emotional ride. It’s heartfelt, hopeful, and romantic while also being hilarious and sometimes ridiculous (three words: Karen the falcon). I laughed and cried, sometimes even at the same time. And when I say I cried, I mean I CRIED - I basically cried my way through the last couple of chapters, a mixture of happy and sad tears. Even though I read this in the first week of 2022, I can already say with confidence this will be one of my favourite books of the year.

I wish I had this book a few months ago when I was getting married! This book is hilarious. This book is about Zoey who is "cursed". I wish all girls could read this. Especially when you are in the phase of I will always be alone or I should just settle. This book made me laugh, smile, and think of all the times I thought I would be by myself. When Zoey turns down a proposal from her "amazing" boyfriend, the story that unfolds, it shows the readers that you can make it on your own. I really loved this one!

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press /Griffin on my advanced copy of Bad Luck Bridesmaid in exchange for my honest review! This book was a fast and fun read! The concept was brilliant and the execution was well done. If you are expecting romance it is more contemporary fiction!

Thank you to NetGalle and St Martin's Press for giving me an eARC of Bad Lucky Bridesmaid in exchange for an open and honest review.

Zoey Marks doesn't believe in happily ever after, at least not one that ends in marriage, after three runaway brides with Zoey as a bridesmaid witness she is sure that marriage is just not for her, but when problems start to arise in her relationships because of this she has to start reflecting on if she's really bad luck or maybe she just wants different things than the masses.

Alison Rose Greenberg had such a unique writing voice in this novel, from the very start Bad Luck Bridesmaid, while the same sort of women's fiction, comedic feeling, romance filled book, the writing of it felt so different. The start of the novel and even deeper into it was a sort of replay into Zoey Marks life and past bridesmaid experiences. The use of the past tense and sort of having Zoey tell the story felt like such a refreshing way to write, it made the book feel so unique. Zoey was a fun main character who stuck to her guns and knew what she wanted, it was really refreshing to see and didn't feel like the type of main characters I usually see in novels like this. The romance and evident breakup in this book absolute had me pulled for a whirlwind and had me practically begging on my knees that they would stay together. Getting to watch Zoey come into her own and really start to understand what she wanted in life was amazing and honestly quite refreshing, she stuck to her guns and didn't wilt for anyone.

Overall, Bad Luck Bridesmaid was a whirlwind adventure with moments as high and happy as the tip of mountains to moments that had you on your knees begging right along with the love interest, in a short and sweet story Greenberg made you fall in love with every character that graced your page, especially strong willed and witty Zoey Marks.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and the overall plot line. However, I just did not connect with the main character, Zoey. It was hard to buy into her being so mature and advanced in her career yet being so emotionally immature in her personal life. Her inner thoughts just seemed juvenile at times. I get that she is supposed to be quirky and different, but it was fairly annoying to me that it takes her the entire book to basically not accomplish anything? I guess overall she just becomes more confident in her beliefs about marriage. I just wish there had been more character growth.

I did enjoy the writing and look forward to more from this author.

This was presented to me as a romance novel. “Romance” implies a specific type of HEA, regardless of what the MC experiences throughout the book. This is not a romance novel. It’s general fiction with sex on the page. So, I’m a little mad at what feels like bait and switch. What’s with general fiction covers mirroring rom-com covers, too? It feels deceptive.

Part of me wants to only give this 2 stars, but I know that’s not fair, as the writing was engaging and I enjoyed the book right up until the end. The ending destroyed the book for me because it didn’t live up to the implied romance contract. So, go into this not expecting the HEA, and you may love it. I, for one, am going to wallow in disappointment.

DNF at 60%

I actually enjoyed a lot of this, and was pretty entertained.

However, when it was more than halfway through and I wasn't sure who the love interest was going to be, I wanted to call it quits. I kept on because I was curious, but then when there was cheating - count me out. It's so hard for me to sympathize with characters who are unfaithful. I understand their unique situation, but still. Annoying and cringe-worthy.

I wondered if Ezra was going to be the new love interest, but he saw almost no page time! And Rylan was obviously full of red flags. This is marketed as a romance, yet it wasn't hitting those beats at all.

I also disliked how the first 20% of the book was all backstory - pretty complicated backstory too. I think it would have been much more effective if it had been woven into the story as flashbacks or something.

Overall, I think this was a case of poor structural editing and marketing.

Finally, the writing style didn't work for me. It was funny and clever at parts, it really was. I have a lot of highlights. But these Lizzie MacGuire type talking to the camera monologues slowed down the action so much. Sometimes I even forgot what scene we were in as the narrator goes off on a funny tangent.

Bad Luck Bridesmaid by Alison Rose Greenberg is a chicklit story that is heavier on the humor and lighter on the romance. This one is also more of a self discovery story with humorous situations.

Zoey Marks has always wanted to be there for her friends that have wanted to make the walk down the aisle and say I do even though Zoey wasn’t so sure of taking the plunge herself. However after three times in the last ten years Zoey had been asked to be a bridesmaid the wedding had been called off Zoey is sure she is the bad luck keeping her friends from happiness.

After all the failed attempts in Zoey’s life her boyfriend proposed and she could not bring herself to accept. This brings Zoey to attempt number four in her life to get a friend down the aisle. Hannah is Zoey’s best friend and she has decided to marry in Ireland to a man she just met and despite Zoey’s doubts she’s determined Hannah will make it down the aisle.

Bad Luck Bridesmaid by Alison Rose Greenberg wasn’t a bad story at all as it did have a lot of humorous moments along the way which I expected. The thing that brought my rating down to three stars and feeling this one was just an alright read in my mind was I expected more out of the romance side of the story. If looking for just humor and character growth it would rate a bit more. I will note too I was a bit disappointed in the location use in the story too as it really could have been taking place anywhere. Overall though this was just not everything I expected as it sort of just left me wishing for more.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Bad Luck Bridesmaid by @alison.greenberg was an entertaining heartfelt romcom debut novel !

The main character Zoey feels that she is cursed as a bridesmaid and her friends engagement does not survive. When she falls in love, it’s very hard for her to believe that her relationship will survive and it gets messy. The characters felt so real and it was such a realistic, hilarious, laugh out loud read.

Thank you St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the gifted galley! I highly recommend this debut novel that releases on Jan 11, 2022

"𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘕𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦."

The cover and title of 𝗕𝗔𝗗 𝗟𝗨𝗖𝗞 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗗 may lead you to think it's a lighthearted romcom but you'd be wrong. There are humorous moments and there is a romance but this book is about a woman accepting who she is, refusing society's expectations and figuring how how much she's willing to sacrifice for the man she loves. It's a refreshing look at modern love with wonderful characters, terrific Jewish representation and some serious steam. I'm sure some readers will be disappointed by this untraditional story but I loved every page of it. Props to Alison Greenberg for embracing that not everyone's happily ever after looks the same.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a copy to review.

I really loved the premise of this book, and I really wanted to like the book.

I quit about 12% of the way through. I tried, but why would I want to spend several hours of my life immersed in the life of someone so unlikeable?

Zoey has a real chip on her shoulder about the idea of not just marriage, but even committing to a long-term relationship. Her parents are very happily married, and she just sort of assumes that she can’t get anything close to their relationship.

She’s a self-made success in advertising because she thinks outside the box, and she’s decided marriage is a box that she will never fit into. She has to have everything her way, she’s kind of snotty about some of her clients, and she’s not willing to compromise. At all. Even when she finds a really perfect guy.

After the 12% mark, I read a few pages here and there, but there was nothing there that convinced me to dive back in.

Possible objectionable material:
Based on the 12% I read, a lot of swearing, drinking, sex, and talking about sex. One character is lesbian.

Who might like this book:
If you like rom-coms and don’t mind unlikable protagonists, sure, give it a try.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the EARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book also reviewed at https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2022/01/january-11-releases.html

In a society that constantly pushes marriage and kids, Zoey can’t help but distrust the idea of marriage. In Bad Luck Bridesmaid, we get to follow Zoey through a rollercoaster journey of self discovery. This is not a typical romance story. It gets messy and at times the characters make truly frustrating decisions. But, life is messy. It isn’t perfect and it’s filled with imperfect actions. At its core, this is a book about learning to love all parts of yourself, even the complicated ones that others may not.

Overall, I liked the premise of this book and what the author was trying to convey. Although I didn’t agree with Zoey’s decisions and found her to be selfish at times, the book challenged me to see things from her perspective. I do wish we could have had a better insight into Zoey’s past and backstory as it would have helped me better understand why she had to make the decisions that she made.

This book was so damn REFRESHING. Rarely do I get to see me in a romcom. Someone older than the age of 22, single and no desire to get married and have babies. It was about how empowering it is to have choices as a woman and to embrace our complications and flaws. Now, I’m not against marriage and babies, if that’s your path in life, you do you and I’ll be happy for you and celebrate along with you. But, so much of what I see, read, and watch is that life trajectory and that’s just not something I can relate to. To read about Zoey, someone like me, someone I related to so much written into a romantic comedy was like a warm hug from someone and them saying “it’s ok to be you.” I loved this book so much. What a debut, truly.

I laughed, I cried, I was a mess when I finished. This book was a love letter to all women, no matter what their choices are in life, whether it’s to get married, to stay single, to focus on a career, whatever it is. To embrace who they are. I was sent this digital ARC and I will go out and purchase my own copy because I loved it so much.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me this digital ARC.

This one was hard for me to get into. I was hoping for a little more depth from Zoey and a little less F-bombs. I liked Rylan, but not Zoey for him. It’s definitely a cute rom com but just not my taste in some areas. Thank you for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Romance is not my preferred genre but this is such a cute story that’s also funny, witty and truthful. The characters are very relatable. They have realistic human behavior and I love that in a romance. If you’re a romance fan, you’ll love it. This one is as enjoyable as “Beach Read.”

Five star read alert!

Referring to Ben Folds Five and Death Cab for Cutie in like the first 20 pages?! I’m so here for this. Throw in a few spicy moments 🥵 and all the girl power plus some digging into serious topics (TW: fertility issues) and I’m sold.

With lines like “It was as if he had changed the channel on his emotions and I was currently tuning in to the IDGAF network.” How could you not want to read this?!

I was laughing, I was tearing up, I was feeling emotional with every song mention (including the entire Red album) and overall, I was cheering for Zoey. Because I saw a lot of myself in her.

There are so many lines she says that I want to quote here. The most resounding to me I think was “If enough women stopped apologizing, then maybe there’d be less of an expectation for us to always burn bright and stand still.”


Thank you to Alison Rose Greenberg for writing this.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

A very different read. There is a warning not a ROMCOM, but some how while reading you hope and sorta expect it to be. It’s an emotional journey of Zoey, her relationships, her friendships and bad luck at being a bridesmaid. There is humorous parts in the story that will have you laughing out loud and truth in how the world expects you to conform. To me there was a lesson to be learned and one I always believed in. A very good read! I did listen to the audio, but also read the book. The narrator was excellent, had me walking longer to keep on listening. The novel is a page turner, wondering what next?
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an Advance Reader Copy of this story. #NetGalley #BadLuckBridesmaid

I haven't laughed this hard in a really long time. Other times my heart broke for Zoey as she struggles to figure out what exactly she wants out of her life. Very, very enjoyable. The words just fly off the page. Happy reading!

Bad Luck Bridesmaid • Alison Rose Greenberg ⭐️ - 3.5
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Looks can be deceiving with this cover as it may appear as a romance however it is not. I found it was more about battling between the “social norm”/ what is expected of you and staying true to yourself
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I thought Zoey was a great, strong female main character and loved her attitude towards life!
Some lines in the book I found very funny and others were relatable, which I found made the book that much more enjoyable! I may also have found my all time favourite quote in this book!

“When a man tells a woman to relax, it is the verbal equivalent of extinguishing a brush fire with gasoline”

Without trying to spoil it I did enjoy the ending. (Sadly I can’t say much more than that)
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The reason for the lower rating is that I found that almost half the book was playing catch up to stuff that had already happened to Zoey. Majority of it was needed but maybe it could have been condensed so we saw more of the present/future.
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Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

This was definitely more of WOMEN'S FICTION than a ROMANCE. This book did a pretty good job of exploring expectation surrounding romantic relationships and discovering what you truly want.

The paving was quite slow in the beginning, but got better as the book progressed. I liked these characters a lot, but didn't love how far-fetched the funny scenes were.