** thank you to netgalley and and Hera Books for the ARC of the Grooms Wore White **

Let me start off with the positive. I adored the characters that were created for this story. I thought that they were fun, sweet, diverse, and quite enjoyable.

Other than that. I found the story lacking and am still unsure what the overall point was. While the stories of 3 characters interwove with each other they came across as disjointed and hard to follow. I am unsure of the timeline at all. We never get a real feel for how much time is passing though it very obviously is.

Sometimes age gaps seemed to be a huge problem, while other times they were completely fine - depending on the couple. A character starts as homophobic and somehow finds her way to having a change of heart, though the process is never really shown. The wedding business was, I thought, supposed to be the main focus but often felt like an after thought or commercial break.

The ending felt very "wrap it all in a pretty bow" and forced. It felt like relationships were thrown together so everyone would be coupled up. And the final wedding felt very lack luster as the build to it wasn't there. There was just so much happening that it never felt like a cohesive, linear story. Which is extremely disappointing when there was so much potential with the characters.

This was a cute, quick, easy and fun read that had me laughing out loud at times. The writing is good, the storyline is adorable and the charcaters are well developed and loveable. A really enjoyable read.

This is the story of three separate lives (Jason, Mel, and Harriet) and the way those lives interconnect.

It's difficult to pinpoint what it is about this one that reached out and grabbed me, but grab me it did, and didn't let me go until I read the final page.

This book is a journey. While it does not always plumb the depths of human emotion, the author manages to sketch a fairly detailed portrait of our three main characters so that the reader comes to know them intimately. And while not always fully explored, the author does hit on some heavy themes, like alcohol abuse, divorce, and homophobia. How the characters interact with these difficult issues is what drives the plot forward. And as I watched these characters face the challenges these issues presented, I became fully invested in their lives.

I flew through the back half of this book because I had to know where each character's journey would take them and how their story would end.

Setting this romance up with three interwoven plot lines gave it a nice flow and kept it from ever becoming tedious or trite. The characters are all believable and sympathetic and really pulled me into the story. I was rooting for all of them by the end! The English setting, flashes of humor, and realistic character development made for a modern, enjoyable novel that I would definitely recommend!

When I think about a good rom com, I think about stories like this one. Perfect meet cutes, great characters, a few laughs, and of course that HEA that checks all the feel good boxes. Never to hokey and definitely entertaining, I think any romance junkie would love this quick read.

A romantic comedy in the world of wedding planners — that's what the Grooms Wore White is. The story alternates beween three protagonists. We have Jason, a talented wedding planner who experiences homophobia in the work place. Jason's mother-in-law Mel, who after being a stay-at-home mum for well over two decades, finds her self separeted and must make the transition to be a working single mum. Our last main character is Harriet, an up-tight wedding planner and Jason's collegue, who struggling to find love and expresses outdated and homophobic views.

I'll be honest and say that this book didn't work for me. Perhaps it's obvious to everybody else, but I didn't expect it to be so much like a rom com and I struggled to get invested. There are a lot of time skips that I found hard to notice, and uut of our three main characters, I only truly felt invested in Mel thoughout (although I'll admit my interest in Jason increased towards the end of the book as well). I found her to be a very compelling character, and I loved seeing her investment in her children and how she fought to make this new life of hers work. Unfortunately I think she had the least pages, and I'm not completely sure why she was a main character at all. It felt like she belonged in her own story, while it felt right for Harriet and Jason to share the narrative. I have seen other reviewers disagree on this point though.

I liked how the book touched on more serious issues like homophobia, infidelity, and alcoholism, but I wished we'd gone deeper. I felt like there was a missed opportunity here and the book could have been much stronger. Somehow, despite a lot being at stake, I often didn't feel like anything was at stake. Perhaps this has to do with my expectations versus the nature of the genre.

So who do I recommend this book to? Lovers of rom coms. If you're looking for something quick and mostly light-hearted that follows several characters and has several romantic plotlines, as well as focusing on family, this might be perfect for you! There's definitely no lack of romantic wedding scenes here!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hera Book for the ARC of The Grooms Wore White.

The fact that the manner in which the three storylines tie together is given away in the synopsis, really took away from the overall experience for me. I expected Extra Weddings to happen within the first 20 percent of the book and for Jason, Mel, and Harriet to be on the same page at that point. I wasn't expecting the union to happen at the near conclusion of the book. Harriet seemed like the most disjointed part of this book because for a large portion of this book she had absolutely zero contact with Mel and no contact with Jason. While I knew she'd find her way to Extra Weddings, I found myself asking "okay, but when?"

Side note: there are some continuity errors at the end. Is Gareth a widower or is he divorced? Also, Harriet and Mel's names get swapped.

3.7 stars
I appreciated that the story was more than just fluff cute romance. It went deeper to the issues surrounding non mainstream relationships. It also showed not just the cute happy marriage aspects but also the tough ones. I felt the issues in the book were important real ones. I just wish there had been a deeper story on Jason and his man as well. It seemed to focus more on others. I did enjoy this story and the way it was written.

Weaving the stories of three protagonists - wedding planner Jason, his partner's mum Mel, and his colleague Harriet - The Grooms Wore White is a heartwarming story of staying true to yourself and leaning on the support of your loved ones to find your happy ending. I really enjoyed the quintessential British feeling to the book, and definitely felt the desire to keep reading so I could find out what would happen to all the characters in the end.

I thought The Grooms Wore White did a good job of balancing the joy and sorrow of the lives of the main characters. My favourite character was Jason, and I was most invested in his storyline with Pete and standing firm in his convictions. I found Jason and Pete's relationship to be the gentle, heartwarming core around which the rest of the characters rotated, and I would be so keen to see how this author would approach a romance or romantic comedy, as I think his writing and storytelling has so much potential. TGWR leans more towards family saga, and while I very much enjoyed seeing the set-up of all the characters' situations, for my personal preferences I found myself hoping for a stronger emotional journey combining all three narrators towards the end.

Something I found interesting about The Grooms Wore White is that it shows compassion to characters who might otherwise be thrown under the bus. Harriet, in particular, I found quite unlikeable throughout the story (I didn't see the plot twist coming, and I was impressed at Jason's maturity in his response). Equally, I respected the creative decisions to humanise a character with attitudes like Harriet's, and to see her change and grow, and come to understand her pain too. Although I felt for Mel and was invested in her journey, sometimes I was not quite sure of her purpose in the story. All in all I found The Grooms Wore White charming and heartfelt, and I am very much looking forward to reading more from this author!