This book was fine - it was more women's fiction than romance, though. Freya gets dumped and rediscovers herself and finds a nice little love interest along the way. Unfortunately, I felt like there was too much to get past with her baggage and the new relationship was sweet, but not fleshed out well enough for me to fully enjoy it.

Freya and Matthew have been together for 12 years and finally, they’re getting married tomorrow. That is, until Matthew pulls Freya into a broom cupboard to dump her. Freya is devastated but convinced that Matthew will change his mind, since after all, they’ve been together for so long.

Not only does Freya have to deal with the breakup, but her would-be wedding was the first of 8 weddings that season - meaning she has to survive 7 more weddings under the scrutiny of everyone, who obviously know she got dumped before her wedding.

Her best friends, Ruby and Leo, who happen to be the last wedding of the season, dubbed this summer The Wedding Season and decided that Freya needed a task to complete at each wedding to keep her mind off Matthew. The first task: be the last one standing. The tasks progressively get more courageous and Freya isn’t exactly sure she’s up for the tasks, but she will try.

I love Freya. She is so authentic and fun and her nervous behaviors are so relatable. I cracked up over her shenanigans in the first wedding, and her constant awkwardness was such a delight. I love Ruby and Leo and their relationship together, but also their friendships with Freya. Them being together is also so relatable, as this often happens in friend groups. Jamie was such a gem too. I loved the progressive friendship he and Freya formed, and the appreciated the realistic aspects (again) of what it’s like to be introduced by friends and having some of your story told to them before you’ve had a chance to yourself.

Not only was the premise of the novel unique and fun, but the chaos and activities that ensued were interlaced with real feeling, grieving, and life problems, making this book much more rounded than many romance-oriented novels. I love that this book had some romance but was specifically focused on Freya and her journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Freya is left feeling alone and confused after her long-time love leaves her the day before their wedding. In order to survive the season of weddings her best friends come up with a list of challenges to complete at each wedding she attends. The goal is to distract her and also get her out of her comfort zone, but they ultimately help Freya move on and create new connections.

This one was a little slow and depressing in the beginning but once Freya started her challenges it was so much fun to read. The Wedding Season was about friendship, family, forgiveness, personal growth, and a little romance all in one. A very enjoyable read! Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book was joy. It laughed so much. The main character is dumped the day before her wedding and her all star friends come to the rescue. So light hearted and fun. Will read again.

This book was such a good surprise! I loved the entire cast of characters around Freya and how supportive they were, a special shout-out to her dad and brother. I appreciate how this book wasn’t so much about jumping into a new love interest but about friendship and finding yourself. I am looking forward to more from this author for sure.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this one! I became so invested in Freya’s journey and was rooting her the whole time! There were a lot of lighthearted and funny moments but there were also some great depth and exploration of the process of grieving a relationship. The author did a great job of putting me in Freya’s shoes and I felt like I was going through her emotions with her! Freya was a very likable and relatable main character and I loved getting to know her friends too, especially Ruby and Leo!

One negative is that sometimes the dialogue could get a little rambley and I found myself skimming a bit at times. Sometimes the lighthearted conversations between the characters went on just a little too long. I also thought the romance was cute, but it was a smaller focus of the book.

Overall I definitely recommend this book and I think it will be a great summer read! Especially during wedding season!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! After reading the synopsis, I knew that I would be going into a very character driven book and that it would be more focused on Freya's character and her development than a love story. The premise is very romantic comedy like—the night before her own wedding, her fiancé of over a decade calls it quits. If that wasn't terrible enough, Freya has a summer of weddings ahead of her. Thankfully Freya has amazing friends so they help her survive this wedding season through a series of challenges that all give her a bit of insight into herself—her true self.

I love a good self discovery book and I this one truly delivered. This character driven novel set in the backdrop of a rom-com was a gorgeous tale of healing through heartbreak and who you are through it and who you become in the aftermath of it. Katy Birchall has an alluring voice and I am so excited to read more of her work—especially her women's fiction.

The main character Freya has to survive a summer of eight weddings after her fiance dumps her the day before their wedding. With help from her wonderful friends, she not only survives the wedding season, but thrives. The friendships in this book were so great and it was so lovely to see Freya realize her own value and independence. It was also quite funny and I literally laughed out loud several times. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the copy via NetGalley.

Freya’s wedding is the first of many of wedding season and she is sure it will be perfect. But when her fiancé, Matthew, calls the wedding off the day before the wedding, Freya’s entire life plan falls apart. To help her get through the remaining 7 weddings she’s invited to, Freya’s friends create a list of outrageous challenges she has to complete at the upcoming weddings - everything from running naked in the hotel hallways, to kissing a stranger. And while completing the challenges, she finds herself having fun and starting to find herself.

This was such a fun one to read! I loved seeing Freya come out of her comfort zone to complete the various challenges. Despite the heavy beginning, there were so many laugh out loud moments and the overall tone of this book felt so joyful. I adored Freya’s friends Ruby and Leo and how the three interacted with each other. This was less a romance and more of a sweet journey of healing and finding yourself.

I switched between the ebook and audiobook for this one. The narrator, Kathleen McInerey was fantastic to listen to!

Thank you to SMP Romance, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the advanced copies.

The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall was one of the better rom-com's I've read this year! The main character, Freya, is dumped the day before her wedding. And despite being humiliated and heart broken, she still has several weddings to attend over the coming months. To help her move on her friends give her a series of challenges to undertake during the "Wedding Season". Not only is Freya an amazing character, but her friends also bring so much to the story. While this was my first time reading Katy Birchall, it will not be my last!

I was given this book by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This book centers around a woman who's fiance broke up with her the day before their wedding and follows her through the summer 'wedding season' (a bunch of her friends are getting married that same summer). This book lost me when she descended into assaulting her ex as a way to feel better about what he had done and the author, I suppose in some 'oh, but revenge is female empowerment' misguided moment, has the characters sort of celebrate it. They do acknowledge it was wrong, but her friends make it out to be something he deserved. Should he have left her at the altar? No, of course not. There were better ways to end the relationship before it reached that point. My problem is that if it were the other way around and he was left at the altar, then got drunk and drove to her house and kicked her in the crotch, we would be categorizing this book as having trigger warnings of domestic assault instead of a bit on the comedic side. I read a bit further than that scene, but couldn't get by it, so it was a DNF for me.

When Freya is dumped by her fiance in a broom closet the day before her wedding, she has no idea how she’s going to make it through the seven weddings of the wedding season. Her friends, Ruby and Leo, decide to give Freya a challenge for each of the weddings to help her focus on something other than being dumped.

What starts out as a sad situation ends up leading to lots of laughs and silliness as Freya attends each of the weddings and completes her task. While I loved everything about Freya’s friends, Freya herself was sometimes hRd to take. I didn’t love how she handled most of her encounters with her ex-fiance, but I also have never been dumped the day before my wedding. So maybe I would act the same way. Overall, there were a lot of fun moments and that makes this a worthwhile read!

Stumbling upon Katy Birchall’ The Wedding Season has been the highlight of my year. To say I fell in love with this book is an understatement. It has everything I could want in a book and then some!!!

The book opens with the protagonist, Freya, learning the day before her wedding, that her fiancé, Matthew wants to end their twelve year relationship. Thankfully, she has the best support group in her family and friends. They all rally around her to help her navigate life as a newly single woman during prime wedding season. The solution complete a task at each of the remaining weddings. Distracted by out of character challenges, Freya manages to not only make it through the wedding season but come to terms with her life without Matthew.

Birchall’s writes well rounded characters that come to life for her readers. I dare anyone to read this book and not fall in love with Freya or her group of loved ones. However, if I am being honest my favorite new book couple, Ruby and Leo, take the cake. They are the kind of ride or die friends that I want by my side. Cheers to them for being fiercely protective of their best friend yet not allowing her to wallow in her own self-pity.

I cannot recommend this book enough. It is so good I will be buying a physical copy for myself and gifting/ recommending to everyone I know!

I would not be surprised if Hollywood came knocking and turned this into a RomCom. I mean after Covid-19 interrupted all of our wedding seasons for the last two plus years, we are in dire need of a proper wedding experience!


Special thanks to NetGalley.com and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

Truth: I just asked for this on NetGalley because it was available for audio and has a cute cover. Sometimes that works out for me, sometimes it doesn’t.
This is a perfectly fine book it just isn’t really my kind of book. It’s tagged on NetGalley as a romance and I would call this women’s fiction. Freya does have a romance interest but that’s not really the focus of the book. This is about her getting over her ex leaving her right before her wedding and surviving all the other weddings she has to attend this year. It’s a fine story but it’s kinda pushing it to call it a romance.
I almost DNFd the book. The beginning was way too drawn out. It took too long to get to the actual thick of the plot. You don’t even meet the love interest, Jamie, until like 1/3 into the book.
I didn’t hate it but I can’t say that I would have read this if I had known more going into it. If you like a healing finding yourself journey story you would probably like this. Just not my preference for a book.
Thank you to NetGalley, St Martins Griffin, and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy of this book. Release date is 5/3!
I will post on my Instagram as well @katebrownreads and will update with a link once I have posted.

This book has a bit of a slow start, but once it gets going, it is heartwarming. I loved following along with Freya’s developing character, as she navigates through a a major break up and all of the little details that surround it. I love that it ended with a new beginning. I would love to know what comes next for Freya!

This is the perfect romantic comedy, funny and touching. I loved Freya's mix of vulnerability and determination, and Matthew comes off as flawed but not evil (sometimes the exes in romcoms are so bad that you wonder why on earth the heroine ever bothered with them). The situations arising from the wedding survival challenges bring some real laughs without being too over the top. Ruby, Leo, Niamh, Adrian, and Freya's dad are strong, believable secondary characters, and Freya's changing relationship with her mother develops well. The budding romance with Jamie is sweet; I love how he and Freya gradually (and somewhat awkwardly) find their way to each other. I look forward to reading more from this author!

LOVED!! I was a big fan of last year's The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall and was chomping at the bit to read The Wedding Season. Everything I loved about The Secret Bridesmaid was alive in this book too - gorgeous setting, beautiful writing, interesting characters, laugh out-loud moments. I enjoyed this story of Freya, who's dumped the day before her wedding and has to endure a season of summer weddings afterwards, some with her ex. Her wonderful friends, who were some of my favorite characters, come up with challenges for Freya to complete at each wedding. These challenges are hilarious, awkward and provide fantastic means for Freya to move forward from her breakup and enjoy the weddings. Highly recommend! Anxious to see what Katy writes next.

First, I'd like to thank St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for granting me permission to read this digital ARC of the Wedding Season.

Honestly it was the cover that caught my attention along with title - but I didn't know anything about the book or author going into it. But it looked like a Rom-Com and I love reading at least a few romcoms a month to have some light hearted reading. This book was fun, light hearted, not to spicy and a fun quick read. Slow burn romance, MC dealing with a crisis, helpful friends all wrapped up in a great story. If you like fun, cheesy romcom this is a great read

What a fun read! The Wedding Season is a fast paced, funny read, with a mix of a little of everything. I really enjoyed the characters and the banter they shared. I will be buying a copy when it hits the shelves! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I am glad I stuck with this book after the first 25%. I wasn't sure I was liking the story. I think it maybe shouldn't be shelved under romance. It was a great story of friendship and pushing one's self after a hard life event. I liked the main character stepping out of their comfort zone and the little bit of faking it til you make it after a tough breakup. I liked how the male friendship she found started to turn into something more and it wasn't forced into the storyline.