The Wedding Season
by Katy Birchall
Pub Date 03 May 2022
4/5 Stars

Freya is looking forward to a summer of celebration. So many weddings, beginning with her own. Everything is looking perfect until her fiancé decides he’s out and dumps her the day before their wedding. Freya is forced to face their breakup and the ensuing summer of wedding celebrations. Fortunately for Freya, she has some great friends and a wonderful family to see her through.

This was such a sweet, hilarious, and heartwarming story. I loved that Freya threw herself into the “list” of tasks to do at each wedding. Loved the interaction with her family. This is just an all-around fun read.

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for this ARC.

This was a sweet story that featured wonderful character growth, amazing friendships, and some fun banter. Freya was such an enjoyable MC. I loved her quick wit and the realistic way she felt her heartbreak. I really appreciated the realness of this as the romance genre is so saturated with insta love, sweeping feelings under the rug and so on. I felt really connected to her journey the entire time. The secondary characters were all wonderful and brought so much to her story and world as well. This is a feel good read that will leave you smiling.

Thank you to NetGalley/St. Martin’s Publishing for this ARC.

Freya is planning her dream wedding to Matthew, her partner of 12 years—that is until he cancels it the day before… in a broom cupboard…and she is now facing The Wedding Season, a season of 8 weddings of her friends and family looming ahead of her. But then her best friends Leo and Ruby come up with a list of tasks for her to complete at each wedding to help her get over Matthew, and it begins a season she’ll never forget. Oh this book, I was smiling so hard by the end of it. I truly loved it. It was funny and witty. Katy Birchall just nails friendship, Freya is in such heavy heartbreak and watching her friends rally around her is just wonderful and uplifting. And watching Freya fall in love with herself, it is just a pleasure. Break-ups are hard, and this novel captured this entirely. Freya goes through so many ups and down as she comes to terms with losing Matthew and as hard as those moments are there is a lightness in the writing, and I just adored Freya. I adored her finding herself and finding her passions. I loved her banter with hipster, brewery owner Jamie who she keeps running into at weddings, and I loved the strength in her friendships. The story is beautiful and well written. I loved these characters and this journey. I left this book with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face, and I couldn’t recommend this more!

Although it started off very slow in my opinion, (I almost put it down) it ended up being good! When I read the synopsis it reminded me of 27 dresses a bit. It wasn’t anything like that though!

What I enjoyed the most is Freya’s friends who surround her with so much love and support after she gets dumped by her fiancé a day before their wedding. They help her through the wedding season and her to realize she can find happiness again. I also liked that the love interested took a while to show up and wasn’t the main part of the story, especially after just getting dumped before walking down the altar.

It was a great, feel good fiction book!

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.
Freya is getting married and kicking off the Wedding Season which consists of eight weddings. On her special day just hours before the ceremony her long time boyfriend Matthew calls off the wedding. Devastated how will Freya make it through a season of weddings watching all of her friends embark on the happiest of days when hers just went down in flames? Heartbroken and humiliated her friends rally around her and devise a brilliant plan consisting of outrageous challenges to take her mind off missing Matthew. Freya's journey brought with it all the emotions. It is a story of amazing relationship, seriously I want to be best friends with Ruby and Leo as well. Family dynamics both challenging and amazing. There were times I had a lump in my throat and many where I was literally cracking up. This is such a fun and feel good story that you will definitely want to reread time and again, a new favorite! If your TBR is outrageous like mine please do yourself a favor and make sure this one is at the top of your list.

This was so fun and cute! I really, really enjoyed it. It's a great romp for anyone looking to really get out of their head for a few hours.

What I liked most about Freya is that she was so normal. She didn't feel like a perfect romcom heroine, she felt like that best friend we all have who's game for a laugh and deserves a little better than what it seems like the world is serving her. The pacing felt a little slow to start but once it picked up it really had me living for every new development. Surprisingly poignant!

Another thing that really delighted me was the supporting characters, who all felt really well constructed. I didn't feel like they were just there to prop up Freya.

I will definitely be re-reading this one and recommending it my friends.

Oh. All. The. Feels!!!

This book was totally chick-lit/rom-com girl bait and I was here for it. Dare I say it even went a smidge deeper than surface level? Yes! There I said it.

I totally loved this story, our cast of characters, the tasks to be completed and the overall growth we saw with our main character.

I think this book will be the ultimate summer beach read - it was light, it had enough depth to feel more than a basic B****h pool read and was overall just a book that will put a smile on your face!

The Wedding Season is being described as Four Weddings and a Funeral meets Seventeen Dresses and rightfully so,

Freya Scott is getting married. Her wedding to her long time love Matthew, is the first of eight in her calendar this wedding season.
But when Matthew calls things off hours before they walk down the aisle, Freya’s entire life plan is shattered.. Humiliated and heartbroken, the last thing she wants is to attend a summer of other peoples weddings.

Luckily, her friends have an idea: together they put together a series of challenges for Freya to complete at each event, in order to distract her from her ex Matthew and what happened. Completing these tasks start as a date but as each wedding passes she finds she is discovering a little piece of herself along the way and that maybe her love story is only beginning.

I adopted this book and it gave me all the feels. Is it your typical chick lit? Maybe a little but it goes deeper into making amends with family, friends being your anchor and finding out who you really are and not others telling you. Birchall does a great job with character development. I loved all of Freya’s friends and you really feel like you are apart of their tight knit bond.

I do wish we got to know her love interest a little more but who knows maybe that means there will be a second book?! I would definitely read it and will also be diving into Birchall’s other reads. Thank you St. martins Press and Netgalley for the arc!

Awww, this book was so cute and I enjoyed it immensely.

I was expecting this to be more of a romance novel, but it’s actually women’s fiction with a romance subplot. It also explains why the story felt slow in the beginning (I expected it to move faster since it was branded as a romance). And while I would’ve liked more romance, I think it’s better that there wasn’t given that Freya had only recently gotten out of a 12 year relationship and was jilted—not that you can’t immediately spring into a new relationship, but I thought that this was handled nicely with Freya focusing on herself first before starting something new.

Let’s talk about Freya. Our FMC was delightfully written. I loved that she didn’t have it all together. I mean, she found out the day before her wedding that the wedding wasn’t going to happen and her fiancé didn’t love her anymore. She’s all over the place, mourning the relationship, getting angry, etc. and rightfully so, especially as she never got the closure she so desperately needed. I loved how Katy Birchall portrayed this, especially where she was fine one moment and then a memory pops up and then she’s spiraling. Grief is different for everyone, but I felt like the portrayal of mourning a long, intimate relationship was done to a tee.

The supporting cast of characters were amazing. I want a Ruby and a Leo in my life. But everyone was fleshed out and it was great to see her family and friends rally around her, and, of course, Ruby and Leo created the list which is the basis of the book and Freya’s character development.

Overall, it was cute, sentimental, and poignant. I’d definitely recommend you pick it up!

Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review posted on Goodreads and to be posted to tiktok and instagram during late April, before release date of May 3, 2022.

I’d say the first 25% of this book started a little slow, but then it really picked up and ended up being such a good read. I should also say, I probably wasn’t into the beginning because it starts with a break up, and the emotions were too real for me. She captured the ebb and flow someone goes through post break up really well. And although I really just wanted this to be a happy romance, it was not. It was more about a woman’s personal growth, finding herself, and going through a break up when it feels like everyone else is getting married and moving forward.

I ended up really liking this book because I liked Freya’s journey. Although timing and pacing were a bit slow, I appreciated the way she handled everything and how open she was to trying new things. Her friend group was amazing, her family was so supportive and it all felt really heartwarming.

My only complaint is that we want more Jamie! I felt like I didn’t get enough and would love to read another book about where their story goes next.

Thank you netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

What a fun read! I absolutely loved this novel and really enjoyed the characters. They made it seem as if you were there with them! Great writing style.

First time reading this author. I really enjoyed this book and the concept of giving the main character numerous distractions to help her heal. I'd recommend it. Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy. #NetGalley #TheWeddingSeason

The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall is the perfect book for Spring! A fun woman's fiction with real life emotions that so many readers will relate to. On the day before their wedding day, Freya's fiancé, Matthew, calls it off. As heartbreaking as that is, theirs was the first of eight weddings that season, all very close friends. Freya doesn't even consider missing the special day of her closest friends, but she knows it's not going to be easy. Luckily, she has a great support system and they rally around her to not only get her through the Wedding Season, but her own heartbreak as well. This would need more romance to be an actual rom-com, but there are enough hints of romance to give you all the good feels.
Full of interesting characters, and unique settings this is was such a great book! This story has heartbreak, retrospective, laughs and more importantly hope.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my gifted arc.

This is how you write women’s fiction.

I loathe when a women’s fiction book just walks the line too close to a romance novel and then doesn’t really give you enough to be happy.

This book is about Freya. I adored her and her journey to find herself after her heartbreak. She didn’t immediately jump into anything. She learns about herself, what she likes, and what she is like by herself. Do we get some romance subplot yes. But it’s only enjoy to drive Freya’s journey, it doesn’t make the book about her and a boy. It’s about Freya and that’s what she deserves. I love all the pros and cons list, they were hysterical and her two best friends were just amazing. I love that it proves you don’t have to be the third wheel, you can be perfectly included. I loved the addition of her mom, and her deep talk with her was so moving.

The wedding season was such a fun book with sadness, joy, and just so much positivity on what you truly deserve as a person.

Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the ARC. The Wedding Season is available on May 3.

I have never been so stuck on a rating for a book. Some things were a solid 4 star. Some were a solid 3 star. So I’m going with 3.5 but also feel the need to round it up, kind of.

I expected this to be a romance novel but it’s definitely women’s fiction. I wish it was a romance. I was left wanting so much more of Freya and Jamie. At one point I stared at my Kindle, stunned, that what I know would have been an amazing chapter of Freya and Jamie’s budding love summarized in a one-page list instead. There was just not enough Jamie.

Putting the romance aside, I loved the friends (and family) group. I loved her dad and brother, even her eccentric mother eventually, but by far we all need a Ruby and Leo in our life. The list was everything. Birchall nailed – IMHO really nailed – the roller coaster of emotions one feels coming off a traumatic break-up and from a broken engagement. I was brought back so many times to my own broken engagement many moons ago. Matthew was a wanker, pure and simple, and while I loved where her journey eventually led her I am not so convinced one can get over a 12-year relationship in 3 months and I definitely didn’t get any vibes that he was worth all the pining. I enjoyed some parts a lot, some parts made me roll my eyes but in the end overall I’m glad I read it and definitely connected with it in places.

QUOTE: When someone’s meant something to you, no matter how it ends, you can’t simply erase them. They always leave something behind that becomes part of who you are.”

Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this early review copy in exchange for an honest review!

This is my first Katy Birchall book, and it falls squarely into my favorite genre: rom-com. But it goes a little deeper than your standard rom-com, in that there is a delightful sub-story about family relationships that is a nice, heartwarming accompaniment to the main story.

Freya is fresh off being dumped in a broom closet the day before her wedding to her boyfriend of 12 years, but still has to attend 8 weddings of close friends and family over the summer. Her besties help her devise a plan to survive all these nuptials - and it includes going way out of Freya’s tried-and-true comfort zone.

This was a super fun and engaging read, and I loved watching Freya branch out. I also loved her family - and the story about her relationship with her estranged mom. The antics at the weddings were expertly executed and made the reader love Freya even more.

My only complaint is that it took the first quarter of the book to get to the “action” - we had to really pore through Freya’s breakup. In the end, I see why Birchall did that and I appreciated it once I closed the final chapter.

For lovers of rom-cons, this is a must-read when it drops in May! There’s no “steam” here, so safe for the readers who try to avoid that.

I really enjoyed this book!

So I had never even heard of this author until I got an ARC via NetGalley. And let me tell you, I’ve been missing out.

This book was beautifully written. Freya is left at the alter, or rather a broom closet, the day before her wedding. But she soon realizes she has many weddings of her friends to get through in the next few months. So her best friends give her a list to make it through each wedding with a challenge.

This book was absolutely beautiful with the way she had to come to terms with being alone after being with someone for so long. I felt the heartbreak from the pages. It wasn’t an automatic rebound like some books. She worked through her emotions and eventually came to the realization that she didn’t need someone to make her happy.

The romance was subtle but felt very genuine due to the circumstances. And the conversations between the two made me giggle.

All in all, this book was a surprise and I’m very glad I was able to read it. I will definitely be going through this authors back log.

This rom-com was a sweet read that was well written with characters that were so well defined that I was totally glued to my kindle until the turn of the very last page!

⭐️ Lovable characters
⭐️ London setting
⭐️ Weddings galore
⭐️ Great ending!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

An absolute delight! The Wedding Season is a charming and a must read for fans of lighthearted and sweet romantic comedies. It features some excellent banter.

The evening before her wedding, Freya’s fiancé (and boyfriend of 12 years) breaks up with her. She is confused, heartbroken, and devastated. To make things even worse, she is slated to attend seven weddings in the next few months. Her best friends come up with a Wedding Season survival plan - Freya will have to complete one task at each wedding to help keep her thoughts occupied. Along the way, she makes new friends, has some revelations, and even starts having a little fun. Will Freya be able to rekindle her romance or does life have another plan in store for her? Freya and her friends are likeable characters (except for you, Matthew!). I was rooting for Freya to recover and successfully complete her wedding season survival list.

If you liked Katy Birchall’s The Secret Bridesmaid, or if you’re a fan of Mhairi McFarlane’s books, you will likely enjoy this. The Wedding Season will put a smile on your face, read it if you want a cute love story set in England (with trips to Ireland and France!).

Thank you very much to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.