I totally commend Greenberg for taking all the tropes I don’t like in romance, but still making it a fun and enjoyable read for me. I binged it because her writing is so funny and amusing. The book reminds me a bit of a more laidback Ghosts meets The Friend Zone.

The writing style is a bit absurd and very amusing, and overall the plot moved quickly while a bridesmaid wonders if she’s bad luck as she watches engagements fall apart around her as she figures out her own love life. I loved the main character’s relationship with her best friend, and independence among society’s pressures, but I’m not a big fan of the romance itself. It’s incredibly smutty, and the love interest was just…hot but fine? And so many characters were a little over dramatic, with flawed logic and decision making that made me want to reach in and shake the characters. It felt a bit like manufactured drama…even though I felt impending doom, I couldn’t stop flipping the pages. I liked the themes of growing up and girlfriends being the most important people in your life, and not bending to society’s norms.

Overall it’s a fun and amusing read, albeit very very steamy. If you like tropes of commitment issues and poor communication among characters, this might be a five star for you! They’re not romance tropes I particularly liked, but I really enjoyed Greenberg’s writing and settings.

I really enjoyed listening to Bad Luck Bridesmaid. I thought it was an ordinary romcom but I would categorize it more as women’s fiction. I loved Greenberg’s writing. Steamy and cuss words are my jam.

Sometimes you can really be loving a book because it covers a lot issues in a short amount of time, but then the ending can' totally ruin your perspective on it. Zoey's journey in this one was truly all over the place and felt very realistic (and the ending was realistic too), but I just wanted a less ambiguous ending.

Rating: 3.5

This was a fun story! As someone who knows a thing or two about drama during friend's weddings I related to the characters a bit too well. There were many laugh out loud moments. Zoey at times really did frustrate me with her way of thinking. I wouldn't describe this as a romance book as it does discuss some heavy topics.

Bad Luck Bridesmaid by Allison Rose Greenberg

Bad Luck Bridesmaid by Allison Rose Greenberg introduces us to Zoey who, after being a bridesmaid several times in weddings that just didn't happen, believes she is the cause of these misfortunes. This isn't a book I'd normally pick up but I needed something a bit more lighthearted and cute after reading several thrillers in a row! I thought this book would have more of a romantic tone but it was more chick-lit with humor thrown in. I hate to say it but I didn't care for Zoey's character at all. I couldn't really relate to any aspect of her life. But overall, I liked the story itself.

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced readers copy in exchange for my review.

I want to start by saying that I received an ARC of this novel from NatGalley in exchange for an honest review… so let’s do that!

I let this book completely consume me. I simply could not put it down. The writing was funny, witty, beautiful, and honest in a way that gave me that special feeling.. the one where I started to think this might be one of my favorite reads of the year. By the end, that notion was completely solidified.

The characters in this novel all feel so very real. Their actions and emotions are raw and relatable and it made me feel like I cared for each and every one of them. The various heartbreaks hurt me, and the love throughout made me happy-cry.

I think this book has made my top 5 reads of 2021 — and it technically doesn’t even come out until January 2022. I would recommend this book to anyone. Honestly, it could be as big as Beach Read and the like (despite not completely being a romance novel).

Wonderful story about women being true to themselves in the end. Understanding that expectations are not always the direction that you
should be going. Told in a delightful way that has you wishing for Zoey to be honest to herself in the end.

I am not keen on the writing, personally, but I could still see it highly enjoyed by others. I wish I were attached more to the characters to be able to enjoy the story more but I sadly wasn’t. I would still recommend it to Contemporary Romance lovers.

Thank you SMP Romance for my copy!

Thank you for NetGalley for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, but you have to really understand Zoey. During her whole time thinking she was bad luck, she really was not. She helped everyone in their life, move on with their life and know the reality of one's life.

So Nope, she's not bad luck, but you'd have to read/understand of why she thought but at that end they all benefitted.

I definitely recommend this book.

I won this novel in a giveaway, and I absolutely loved it. I thought it would be your typical RomCom, but I was unexpectedly surprised with how it ended. Loved the plot premise and Zoey, the main character, was so relatable. I felt as if I was in her shoes the whole novel as she navigated through her relationship with Rylan, and loved how her relationship with her best friend, Hannah was depicted. Would recommend this novel to anyone wanting an enjoyable, not so typical romcom novel. #badluckbridesmaid #AlisonRoseGreenberg

This was an OK read for me. It was slow moving at times and felt a little choppy, but I liked it enough to keep on reading. Zoey was one of the most unlikeable characters I’ve encountered in some time. In the end I felt like this fell a little flat.

This book was so much more than a romantic comedy, which the style and cover suggest. This story is full of heart, humor and self-discovery. I did feel it was a bit mis-represented as again I thought it would be a bit more romance but it felt more women's lit.. This was a first book by Greenberg I've read and I will definitely read more of her work.

I have to praise the main character because she was able to say no!

I really enjoyed this book, I was a bit sad to see how zoey had such disdain towards marriage but along the ride she made me realize that marriage isn’t forever one. And it shouldn’t be pushed on anyone, it’s a norm in our world to find love get married and have kids to create a life. But that’s not how life should be. She should all have the choice and if we so choose, our partners should be ok with that choice.

I also loved the lesson she learns, you can’t change yourself for someone else’s happiness. It jeopardizes your own happiness and in turn you loose yourself. And I loved her character for it.

Her view on marriage is a huge challenge in the book and we see her struggles and her heartache. But the most amazing part of the book I appreciated was her loyalty to her best friend. She doubted herself as her friend and in the she pulled through.

I didn’t see that ending coming and was a bit torn about it. I sat with it for a second and in one way I understood why it was a good choice. And I’m an other I was a bit put off by how quick to move on she was. All in all 4 star read!

This book has it's moments. It was at times fairly amusing. I found Zoey's fear of Karen the falcon particularly relatable.
I think my main issue with this book may have been in the mislabeling/ marketing. This is not a romance. There is no real HEA/ HFN, so it simply does not meet the criteria to be categorized as such. So I was let down that this really was not what I was expecting.
I also have my own issues where I am not a fan of infidelity story lines. So I found that irksome. It made the MC, Zoey, seem really callous to me, and it was therefore hard to enjoy her and her story once that came into play.
Honestly, I think I would rather read her friend Hannah's story. It sounds more up my alley.
The writing wasn't bad, this story is just not for me.

3.25 ish stars

Unfortunately, this one was a bit of a disappointment for me. I was really looking forward to reading it for months, but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I wasn’t anticipating the first chunk of the story basically being a fairytale relationship montage that later fell apart, but it was okay. I also just really didn’t love many (any?) of the main characters, so that made it a tougher read. That being said, there were a couple of scenes (most notably the falconry lesson) that had me literally laughing out loud. The conclusion wasn’t bad either. I was afraid that the story would end with the protagonist suddenly deciding to get married, even though she’d been against the idea the whole time, so I was really happy when that wasn’t the case. All in all, there were good and less good moments, but this one just wasn’t my favourite.

Bad Luck Bridesmaid is an entertaining tale of a woman who both feels like marriage isn’t for her and feels as though she’s jinxing weddings and attempts to deal with the aftermath of her third time as a bridesmaid not ending in a wedding. I liked the sharp wit and fierce independence of Zoey and the lady friendships in this book. I will say that this book isn’t really about a romance. If you are walking into this book specifically for the rom-com vibes and wanting to see someone put aside her opinions about getting married to tie the knot at the end, I’ll just go ahead and say, this isn’t that. I loved that about it though. Zoey did deep soul searching and knows herself and despite pressures from others, she knows she doesn’t want marriage and she stays true to who she is. I think that’s an underrated message. That part of the book, I didn’t have a problem with. I’m all for self-realization and knowing your truth and respecting that. My main issue was in pacing. It just felt a little erratic in a time line sense. The first portion of the book is taken up by catching up the readers on the three failed weddings and then things sort of jump around a bit until we finally get to the main meat of the story. I just didn’t enjoy the jumping and time skips as much but that’s more of a personal thing. I also wish that the three earlier weddings felt like they tied in more. I wanted more inclusion or mention of the other brides in the other bits of the book. If they were so important to Zoey to choose her as bridesmaid, I wish they could have been referenced more organically so it’s like “Oh! This person we’ve definitely heard of before and will hear about a lot later is getting married in this bit” and less “hey it’s a character we haven;t heard of getting married and there is little to no mention of the previous brides.” but oh well, i guess i’m picky. I was the person watching 27 dresses wanting to see the main character interact more with all the brides, but I digress. It’s a solid book with a unique story that I enjoyed, there was just a few aspects of pacing and formatting I would have liked to have seen presented smoother.

I've only been a bridesmaid three and thankfully only worn dresses that were beautiful. If every wedding I was in meant the bride didn't make it down the aisle, I'm not sure I'd have many friends left!

Zoey has been in three weddings as well, but none of her brides have been pronounced wed! Lucky for her, she still has friends left. Being invited to be a bridesmaid in yet another wedding has her anxious and scared and asking a LOT of questions.

Can I just say that I love Zoey? She's the type of girl I'd like to have in my own wedding. The plot of this could easily transmit to a movie because I loved it! This is definitely a book I want to recommend to everyone!

✨𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄✨
📚 𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝗟𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗱
📝 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗴
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
304 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀

✨ Thank you @netgalley for my gifted ARC in exchange for my very honest review I’m about to give you! ✨

𝗠𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦:
The cover…very 𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗳𝗳𝘆 & 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱, the book is 𝗻𝗼𝘁. It’s a little deceiving as well as the blurb! (if you read those things- I don’t until I finish) I was going back and forth between 3 stars and 4 but ultimately settled in the in between. There was tons and tons rambling and run on sentences that bothered me, immensely. Say it’s the wanna-be writer in me. I probably could have cut at least 50 pages from this book. None the less the story is intriguing and honest. It gives you a deep dive into the MC and lots of character development for her. The ending also put me off a bit, I totally get the 𝘄𝗵𝘆 but the lead up to it made it seem like we would get the 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗭𝗼𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱. It breaks boundaries with the expectations of women and I absolutely loved that! Zoey will anger you a little here and there but that is all in the telling of a unique character! 3.5 stars from me and that isn’t meant to be perceived badly, this book was 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 and I highly recommend it!

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗜𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘:
✂️ unconventional romance
🏫 spice
🥸 banter
🤡 wee bit of feminism
🔪 untraditional romcoms

⚠️ trigger warning: infidelity, fertility issues,

Zoey Marks calls herself the Bad Luck Bridesmaid. She has been a bridesmaid to 3 failed weddings. Because of this and other examples in her life, she believes that she will never settle down.

Then she meets Rylan and suddenly she finds herself in a relationship. However, it's not what it seems. To her, she's not really in it for the long haul (despite their two year relationship). He is in it for real. He treats her so well and she takes it all for granted.

I really wasn't expecting what this book became. I was hoping that there would be some redemption but it came much to late. There is no happy ever after and that threw me off. Romance books really are all about the HEA and this left me sad at the end. There is a little bit of hope at the very end but you never see it.

I think there were moments in this book that I enjoyed. There was some wit and some fun but I think that the other parts of the book where the conflict and drama came in left me really wanting more.

this had it all. I love a good bridesmaid story and fun that goes along with it. I will read more of these kinds of stories. I enjoyed it from start to finish.