I feel like the cover is a bit misleading because I was expecting something different from what the cover shows still I liked it tho I didn't loved it.
I liked the layout although the time line felt disjointed and a bit confusing, and the multiple pov was fun but I didn't connect with the three narrators, especially Harriet. She felt spoiled and bratty.
The ending was my least favorite part because it felt like it all wrapped up rather easily also I thought the wedding planning business was going to be the main focus of the story but it wasn't
Overall I think there were some good ideas bit the execution was a bit disappointing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 47%

Reminiscent of something like Clare Chambers's Small Pleasures, this one read like a bottom rung entry from a Women's Prize list. (I don't mean this as an insult to the Women's Prize. I just mean that other - read as: more male-dominated, more "prestigious" - awards wouldn't allow something of this subject matter told in this way near this list.)

The biggest issue here that led me to quit the book was a lack of character. Not a lack of characters, trust me that there are plenty of those here, but a lack of any real oomph or heart. Especially in terms of dialogue, characters seem to be ticking off a lot of hot topics conversation boxes.

On top of that, there are some drastic tonal shifts that happen with characters between their point of view chapters. This is especially true of Harriett, who swings with abandon between severely homophobic to ally without any rhyme or reason for attitude shifts.

I didn't have the severe distaste that some DNF reviews I've seen of this one have taken on, but it was a relatively weak offering.

I received free copy of this book through NetGalley and I feel bad about the review I'm about to write because the author is clearly trying very hard. Unfortunately this book failed to engage me, for a number of reasons.

1) All the characters are two dimensional. I never find out anything interesting about them. You never find out how Pete and Jason met, for example. yes, that bugged me.
2) There is no sense of place. some characters live in Oxford, and some in London. I couldn't tell the difference. There is also the Cotswold Wedding company, which is no-where near either.
3) There is no sense of time. Sometimes a whole page is dedicated to one toilet break, sometimes a whole long period of time passes in a sentence. it is unclear to me how the three timelines of the three main characters are interacting with each other.
4) Harriet has one friend. That's one of my least favourite romance tropes. Jason's only friend seems to be his mother-in-law to be, which is ... odd.
5) Every character drinks all the time.
6) the characters change, but in a really clunky, ham fisted way. It's not really development.
7) Despite it being central to the plot, I never got a feel for wedding planning, just that some couples can be demanding.
8) There is a lot of very repetitious telling, instead of interesting showing. People's behaviour does not match what we are told about them.

So, this one wasn't for me. I wish the author luck, with a good editor and early readers, this book had potential to more than it turned into.

This book was sadly a DNF for me. I read around 40% and I really wanted to read it and to like it but I just couldn’t really get into it.
In the beginning I thought this would be a cute romance but that’s not really what it is. In general it’s not a bad book I just couldn’t connect with the topics. I also sadly didn’t like the characters that much and thought that most of the characters were really annoying and acted very childish.
I hope that I will pick this book up at a later time in my life and that I will enjoy it more than I did now.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hera Books for the Arc!

DNF (Did not finish) when I picked this book I thought it was going to be a romance novel, but I was wrong. The idea of the book is very good, but I don't think this book is for me. I don't think the book is bad, I'm just not able to connect with the characters, as they are in points of their lives that are completely far away from my own. Divorce, grown-out kids, weddings, etc. I read half of it but I was not connecting, and I don't want to give a bad review because this book is not bad, it is just not for me, at least not at this moment. I might give the book another chance when it is officially published. Thanks netgallery and the publisher for the opportunity of reading this book in exchange of an honest review.

When Jason starts Extra Weddings – helping people marry whoever they like, in whatever way they want – he, Mel and Harriet find themselves coming together to help couples make memories to last a lifetime. But can they bridge their gaps, and be a unit when others need them most. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged.

"The Grooms Wore White" is a light-hearted novel that focuses on three very different people, who come together after being lost in their lives for a little bit too long. Jason is Mel's son in law, and has decided to create his own wedding planning company after encountering homophobic suppliers. Mel's alone after twenty years of marriage, and is trying to find herself, and a new life balance. Harriet's a spoiled, prejudiced young woman whose views are challenged by the arrival of Jason in her life.
These characters could not be more different, but again, their lives just intertwine at their right moments in their lives.
I did like this novel, however, it felt a little outdated. Lyndhurst includes a lot of homophobia into Jason's career, and Harriet's life, and despite knowing it is still present in the world, it was just not believable to find that much in a contemporary setting. Unless the book is supposed to be set in the early 00' or early 2010's and I have missed that.

I would like to first point out that I wish the cover represented the three people that we follow primarily in this book. I entered this story with the idea that this would be a wedding planner romance, close to a few books with the same topic that are coming out this year. Instead, I met two women and one man who have such powerful stories. They all deserve to be on the cover.
Now for the review, I gotta say I really liked this book. Jason's POV beautifully captures the reality of those who fight for better and meaningful inclusion in the workplace. My favourite part of his POV was how the author portrayed the moments when he fought with Peter. They were angry, but their conversation was clear and open, with no silent treatments. Pete told him he didn’t like how they never spent time together anymore and Jason agreed and worked to change it. I appreciated this detail so much. As a reader, you get tired of continuous fighting due to miscommunication or fighting being framed as a thing that's incompatible with love. Jason and Peter fight to make up after, to be better for each other after. I love healthy queer relationships.
Now, Mel's POV is gold. A stay at home mother left by her husband, who decides to take agency for her life? We all love that! The family helping her make her dream of going back to uni come true? Perfection. This is why I talked about marketing before. Mel's story belongs in the hands of more readers, especially women. Her story is about getting out of the cycle and finding happiness in life again.
And lastly, my favourite POV, Harriet’s. I took a note at the beginning where I claimed that if Harriet had a redemption arc this could a 5 stars book. Harriet is a very good character and a type of person that should exist more in books and other media. She is the one who realizes she was wrong and has been taught to be hateful and honestly tries to become better. The scenes with her parents are so good at showing us how toxic families truly work. The resolution of her alcoholism is so realistic and I love the comments that make clear that it's hard to go anywhere when you don’t drink. The only issue I had was the ending of her story, where she decides to be more mature and renovate her apartment. Because she claims that the floral and romantic stuff is not mature. AFTER her trip to see her aunt. This confused me because she respects her aunt so much and it seems weird to have her diminish her aunt’s style. A more character-connected move would be having her plan to change to a simpler style but after the visit, changing her mind. When the decorator comes she can passionately explain how she wants to make her apartment more floral, more romantic. And it is when she embraces her romantic side, that she starts to look at our decorator. Throwing away the romance doesn’t match Harriet’s ending.
A final comment about repetition and pacing in the 3/4 section of the book. While we could say our characters were stressed and stressed people repeat themselves, the repetition becomes noticeable. Also, logical jumps in questions happen sometimes, aka people answering different things from what they have been asked.
Overall, this is a great book and a hopeful one for romance lovers. Can’t wait to see what this author writes in the future!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with and eARC in exchange for a review!! 🥰
This book had a lot of potential and I'm sad to say I was only thinking "when will this end" about halfway through. The premise was absolutely lovely and I feel had it been executed with more care and more planning about what the actual plot was supposed to be, it would've been really good! Because I did enjoy bits of it a lot (most of Mel's arc, the wedding planner side of Jason and the relationship between Jason and Pete) and feel like it could've been a really cute feel good book.
I also feel like giving a homophobic character a POV wasn't the best decision there could've been. It was new certainly to show the homophobic character's POV up close and personal but unfortunately, it made me want to DNF the book a lot of times. The only reason I powered through was because I liked the other characters. I also feel this character's arc wasn't very consistent or well handled. One minute she was painfully homophobic and the next, she what, just became - not homophobic? I don't know, I can't say I bought it or ended up liking her or anything like that. And then there was that 37-point checklist, it wasn't mentioned even once and then suddenly it was one of her "big" mistakes and she was dismantling it.
It also made me feel like the author only knew about two sexual orientations - gay and lesbian. This being set in 2020, you would expect far more diverse cast of characters at some point. Bisexuality was mentioned only twice (yes, I counted) and the Transgender for which the T stands for, not even once. The acronym used was also always LGBT, it didn't feel very inclusive to me. How hard could it have been to use LGBTQIA+ and the other acronyms that fit the whole queer community much better than "LGBT"? It awfully felt like reading a queer book written prior 2019-2020 and not at all in 2020.
The plot also seemed to be all over the place, with new things introduced just like that. I would say only Mel's arc and character had any actual concise plot.

I read this whole book, and honestly, I'm still not sure what it was about or what the plot was.

Jason is a wedding planner who strikes out on his own when the company he works for is okay with their vendors being homophobic and refusing to host and work with queer weddings. His partner's mother is newly single after discovering that he husband has been cheating on her. And Harriet, Jason's former coworker, is single and on the hunt for true love, the kind in books and movies.

But how do all of these stories come together to make one plot? They don't not really. Like I kinda get what was happening, but there didn't really feel like any kind of conflict through the whole thing. This was more of an exploration of their individual journeys than what I was expecting or typically enjoy reading. I was kind of uninvested in most of the story lines because the book sent me in so many different directions at once, and the theme bringing all of these characters together was only peripheral for a majority of the book.

For me, this just kind of fell flat, but there wasn't anything wrong with it. Part of the reason I might not have enjoyed it as much was because the cover and title tricked me into thinking this was romance, but it really didn't read like that. It was a story, it was cute. It was gay.

I blitzed through this book over the weekend as I just could not get enough. Light and witty I enjoyed every second. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, Hera Books, for allowing me to read The Grooms Wore White early!

I quite enjoyed this reading experience. It was fun and engaging, especially because of the three distinct points-of-view. It was neither exceptional nor catastrophic, a perfectly fine book.

Written in the 3rd POV, The Grooms Wore White is witty, fluffy and light.
It tells the story of forgiveness, friendship, love and how starting over can be done at any age.

I adored every character, especially Jason and Pete. They had my heart from the very beginning. Lyndhurst did such a great job at capturing the gentleness of their love, I wish I'd gotten more scenes of them just being together.
Honestly, Jason is SO much better than me, because if someone pulled a Harriet on me? I would have been serving JAIL TIME! It just goes to show that his heart is pure and I'm so happy he got the happily-ever-after he and Pete had been dreaming about. They more than deserved it. My babies.
I don't even want to start with Harriet because her entire storyline has me HEATED, but I'm happy she got a little bit of a redemption arc. She didn't really deserve one, in my opinion, but good for her.
I adored Mel from the moment she was introduced! I was willing to throw some hands at Steve for what he did. But alas, she too got her happy ending and my heart was extremely full when she did because I was really rooting for her. #1 Mel Stan Account.

After everything I read in February, this was fast-paced and soft and exactly what I needed. Charlie Lyndhurst drew me in from the very beginning. I was intrigued by the characters and their stories, I really wish I'd gotten more backstories on Pete and Jason, but everything else was so well done, I truly loved it. If Charlie Lyndhurst tries his hand at writing a rom-com, I have no doubt in my mind that he'd get all of my money!
10 out of 10 would suggest.

I think the word "okay" fits this book the best. The story revolves around a gay wedding planner Jason, his boyfriend's mother Mel and Jason's colleague Harriet, their tribulations in finding a (new) ground in life. The individual stories are interesting enough and after a few pages I was invested and could not put the book down. It reads itself, the writing style is clear and easy to follow. Characters were very much relatable and pleasant, except for Harriet, whom I found inconsistent in her behavior and frankly, she came across as a horrible person. I do not mind flawed characters, quite the opposite, but the level of her entitlement and homophobia crossed the line of the unbearable for me and I just could not sympathize with her on any level whatsoever.

Homophobia is one of the main themes here, but the treatment of it felt a bit clichéd and simplistic - a hotel chain manager and a wedding photographer who are so overtly homophobic that they would dismiss a huge business opportunity? Ok, maybe, but I could do with a bit of nuance here. The same goes for Mel's story, which follows the usual pattern of a story of a discarded wife who rises from the ashes. Nothing surprising here, which was a pity.

ARC provided by Netgalley and publisher in exchange of honest review.

On the other hand, it was very pleasant to see an established gay couple with no unnecessary drama involved, which contributed greatly to the overall hear-warming feel of the novel. So if you are after a feel-good read, this could be a good choice, just be aware that some of the characters behave atrociously and would deserve a good kicking.

The Grooms Wore White follows three individuals; Jason, Harriet and Mel, as they go through difficult life changes. I loved the layout of this book, I always love books with multiple point of views and loved jumping between these three’s stories. I really fell in love with all of these characters and was glad to see how they all came together in the end. I was most shocked by Harriet’s growth and Mel’s strength. I loved watching Mel stick up for herself to Steve and found it so wonderful how she was able to find happiness and balance again. I was also shocked to watch Harriet better herself. I really wasn’t rooting for Harriet at the beginning because I thought she acted rashly and had a *cough* cold heart *cough*. But in the end, I am so thankful she had the power to better herself and grow as a person and as a friend to Jason.
Now Jason. He was by far my favorite. The way he was so selfless when it came to Mel and when he stood up for himself and all LGBT+ individuals. I know he got in trouble for “going crazy online”, but honestly, I was so proud. Like I would never want someone to drag my name, especially one online for millions to see. And the fact that Jason, granted he did it in a fit of rage, still stood up for equality made me to happy. And the power he held to then go and start his own business from SCRATCH and be so successful!?! It was like a big F you to everyone and made me so happy.

Three narrators is a lot for a single book, so I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this one. The main characters Harriet, Mel, and Jason (along with Jason’s boyfriend-fiancé-husband) lead the story of a pair of wedding planners that are polar opposite’s and a mother who is having to reveal her life. As a whole, the story was fantastic. An almost “Love, Actually” kind of vibe that sees many characters intertwine to come to a satisfying conclusion. While some of the storylines were a bit contrived and out there, I enjoyed the characters as a whole. My favorite being Mel, a mother who finds out her husband is stepping out and leaves her, battling a mortgage, children, and life as a single mom. Her chapters were dramatic with reason, unlike Harriet and Jasons that were needlessly so. The whole book could of been written from Mel’s perspective and I think that’s what would if pushed this into 5 star territory for me

I will definitely give 3.5


I appreciated that the story was more than just fluff cute romance, positive about this book is I liked Jason and pete and I adored the characters that were created for this story. But I liked Harriet's character development but her homophobia made me hard to read book most of the time, Mel is Jason boyfriend's Mom. Her husband cheated on her and she have to start working again, I did love the Mel's Character and her struggle was real. But story was lacking and when I finished book I didn't understand what is whole point of this,ending was definitely force and the last weeding was not fun at all.

But I still want to read other work of author.

ARC provided by Netgalley and publisher in exchange of honest review

Blurb bigs this tale up into a romcom, but it's a sad-in-parts family saga. Engrossed me, though.


This is very readable and actually quite addictive at times - I woke up and couldn't sleep and finished it in about 90 minutes - and it does end satisfyingly. But, it's not a romcom and despite the title, there aren't many weddings and I don't actually remember if any of the 2 sets of grooms wore white, which didn't actually matter due to the tale that the author wrote.

I liked Mel but not her lying, cheating husband who tried to come back. I admired her stance and her support to him and that she didn't hate him - I wouldn't have taken cheating as she did - and that she was a friend when he needed it. She was far more grown up and decent a person than him and Steve was lucky that she didn't turn woman scorned. I liked how practical she was, how she refused to be intimidated and how she was prepared to take on any job to be able to look after herself, her kids and to be able to keep her home. I didn't like that she felt so ready to ask her son and his boyfriend for financial assistance, and that she took it, and didn't consider for a moment the impact to them and the boyfriend's fledgling business, but I did like that she owned her future and went for what she'd wanted for so long.

I didn't like Harriet and tbh, I was shocked at the LGBT-phobia in someone who's in her late 20s in 2022 UK. A wedding planner who has an issue with anything other than Adam and Eve is definitely not in the right business, and some of the later reveals, especially with what happened with something/s put through the letterbox of the male lead of the tale, was disgusting and I'm not sure I'd have been able to forgive her. But she did change somewhat towards the end, though I couldn't believe that she didn't get her just desserts. I'm not sure that I believe the UK hospitality industry, especially where chain hotels are concerned, would be LGBT-phobic, too, because hey, this ain't the US with all its problems, but yes, the one-man-band photographer, who was of a certain age, did feel believable. And, for a firm based in Kensington to have the same attitude, didn't ring true.

Sadly, the grooms of the title didn't get much page-time and felt eclipsed by everything else that was happening. I think the tale misleads readers but at the same time, it is addictive in a guys-next-door, we're-Brits-and-we're-nosy way. It's worth a read and it ends well, but sadly, with more than a touch of Bollywood.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Hera Books, for my reading pleasure.

I really enjoyed reading this book, every rom-com lover will have great fun with this story! I was really invested in the characters and their journeys – although the book does cram a lot in! The LGBTQ+ narratives were refreshing and the book made a really good job of highlighting homophobia as well as other social issues like trolling – sadly I still couldn’t completely warm to Harriet even with her education through the novel!

The 3 main characters are Jason, Mel and Harriet – although their stories wove together well, I wanted to delve deeper into them all to the point I wondered if they should have had their own books. That said, it did create variety and kept me speeding through the chapters to keep up with everyone’s story. Jason’s story was definitely my favourite and the shining star of the book.

I did get confused a few times, as names were misprinted at least 3 times, mixing up the characters across each individual plot and it threw me until I realised! Also, some of the time jumps weren’t that clear, so I did have to re-read sections sometimes to realise that months had passed, otherwise this would definitely have been a 4 star read for me!

It was a really quick and easy read, and I’d definitely look out for more books by the author in future!

This book never quite did it for me. While it is lovely to see a fairly happily-settled couple in Pete and Jason, whose main plot point is Jason’s job as a wedding planner and the prejudice he faces himself and for his clients, the other two MC’s are heterosexual women focused on their own romantic entanglements. Mel, a middle-aged mother of 4 dealing with rediscovering herself in the aftermath of her husband’s infidelity, is initially the most sympathetic by far. Harriet, a colleague of Pete’s in her late twenties, is the most difficult to like or sympathize with. She is spoiled and antagonizes Jason at most opportunities. She is definitely well-written as unlikable and up-tight.
The action rises as all three journey towards self-discovery, but their suffering never feels authentic or fully parsed out and eventually, everyone just seems like a whiner. Mel’s monetary issues never feel like a true struggle because they are so easily fixed. Hurdles are occasionally mentioned but never explored enough. Sometimes, they only get a passing mention. Jason’s social trolling feels like a minor annoyance. The solution to both Mel and Jason’s problems seems terribly obvious. Harriet finally gains some sympathy when she finally takes a hard look at herself. The end is satisfying but would be much more so if more detail was spent on these characters’ hardships so that the resolution felt more rewarding.
There are some confusing editorial issues with blocking and incorrect character references. Some conversations lead to uncertainty about who is speaking, and in what turn.
This author has a lot of potential!