The story was ok. It moved like molasses and the tasks she needs to do should have had a bit more excitement but I guess because this is a more romcom feel, it couldn’t be as steamy and adventurous as it could have been.

I didn’t love this nearly as much as The Secret Bridesmaid, but once I got past some of the cringy/made me physically angry portions, I enjoyed the book. The MC was annoying but I loved her BFF.

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

A cute RomCom style story. Overall I enjoyed the story. Characters were great, writing was great. I know it was overall a story about Freya learning some life lessons, but I do wish we had gotten more of Jamie and Freya's Story.

The narrator was great, a really enjoyable voice to listen to.


Thank you to the publisher for this eARC.

I would love to give feedback on this title but i was not given ample time to provide feedback before the book was archived.

I had quite a few starts and stops to get through this audiobook, but once it got going, it was fine. The narrator, Daphne Kouma, was perfect for the story, but my biggest complaint is that the wedding tasks took so long to actually start that I was losing interest in the story.

This was more an adult “coming of age” story about Freya Scott who is dumped by her boyfriend of 12 years the day before their wedding. She spends the rest of wedding season grieving her relationship and coming to terms with what her future will look like now. To help distract her, her two best friends compile a list of tasks to do at different weddings throughout the season to distract her.

While there were some fun encounters and a bit of romance, I was hoping for a lot more fun and frivolity, so this just didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC.

I absolutely loved The Wedding Season, it was such a fast and easy read. Freya felt relatable and the entire time I was rooting for her. I felt awful for her when her fiancé dumps her the night before her wedding, but in the end it was truly for the best. This definitely checked off all the boxes for what I love in a romcom and if it were a movie as well, it would have me laughing, crying and give all the feels. That’s why I fell in love with the story and would recommend it to anyone as a fun romcom read or even a summer read.

The premise of the story is that Freya is dumped by her fiancé the night before her wedding and it also happens to be ‘the wedding season’ as they had multiple weddings taking place this summer that they were meant to attend as husband and wife. Now she is broken hearted and still has to attend all of her friends weddings while pretending to be okay. Freya and her best friends come up with a plan on how she will survive the wedding season, especially the wedding that both her and her ex will attend. Their plan consist of a list of tasks that Freya must complete at each wedding in order to keep her mind off her heartbreak. Almost like a challenge or something so embarrassing that it keeps her from thinking of Matthew.

What I enjoyed the most were the friendships and other relationships that we discover for Freya. It made the story lighthearted and fun. Plus it shows us how friends can really be there to support you in difficult times and help you come out of situations in a way you didn’t expect.

How do you survive the heartbreak when your fiancé calls off the wedding the day before you were to be married? How will you face the seemingly millions of other upcoming wedding as "the one who got dumped?" Luckily, Freya’s friends help her find a way to focus on a wedding season challenge rather than a broken heart. Each wedding comes with a wild task she must complete. Will the tasks distract her enough from the fact that she gave so many years to a man who didn't want her? Will they distract her from all of the love in the air that she is obviously without?

This was such a cute read! I loved Freya's character, and her friends were a riot. The best kind to have! While it's definitely a romance novel, the journey of Freya's healing and inner strength was really highlighted, and I appreciate that!

I listed to this book on audio, and thought the narrator did a great job, especially in bringing Freya to life.
I received an audio copy of this book via NetGalley. I read and reviewed this book voluntarily, and all opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

The Wedding Season is a novel by Katy Birchall. Freya Scott, brands manager for a multi-national drinks company, was a day away from her magical wedding, the first of eight this season, when her fiancé, Matthew, breaks it off and cancels their wedding. Distraught, Freya spends a few days undercover, but then return to her job to focus on something besides her heartbreak and facing her future alone.

If that were only the worst of it! She still has a summer and fall of friends’ weddings to attend. How will she make it through this season? Her friends Ruby and Leo devise a plan they call the wedding survival guide. At each wedding she has a task to focus on and complete, none simple, some completely outrageous! Somehow along the way, Freya not only heals her heartbreak but also finds her future.

This is a delightful, poignant, laugh out loud funny tale. I loved the author’s humor and heart. I very much enjoyed this book and I do recommend it!

“𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩, 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.”

𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖: on the day before their wedding matthew tells freya that their relationship is over. freya then has to go through an entire summer of weddings while dealing with her heartbreak.

𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒: going into this one i was expecting a romantic comedy. while there were certainly some elements of romance in the story i feel like this was about a lot more. it was more about freyas time of self reflection and healing from her breakup and it was also about the importance of friendship. i absolutely adored her best friends ruby & leo and all they they did to support her throughout the summer after the breakup. and i also enjoyed the plot line of freya and her mother trying to mend their broken relationship. overall this one surprised me in a good way. it also had me laughing out loud on several occasions. i definitely recommend.

𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: i liked it!

special thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio & Katy Birchall an ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This one surprised me. It was about Freya’s journey of overcoming a breakup and self discovery during that process. There wasn’t a lot of romance which worked perfectly with this story, but there was a splash of a love interest who I loved! It was a beautiful messy journey of the the ups and downs losing someone who was a huge part of you and having to recreate yourself putting the pieces together. This was a wonderful feel good read. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this read in exchange for a review.

I absolutely adored The Secret Bridesmaid by Kary Birchall so I was really excited when I got an ARC from NetGalley of The Wedding Season. This started off very strong with a captivating storyline and some really great characters. I really liked the development of the characters in this but didn't find the Jamie storyline as natural and organic as I think Birchall was going for. This is what keeps me from giving this otherwise adorable rom-com 5 stars. I loved the different wedding tasks and thought this was so cute and heartwarming. I look forward to Birchalls' next wedding themed rom-com!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Last year I loved reading The Secret Bridesmaid and The Wedding Season was just as great. Although one may expect these books to be rom coms, they are actually more of contemporary fiction with some romance included. In this one, Freya is dumped in a broom closet by her fiancé the day before their wedding. Since theirs was meant to be the first of 8 weddings Freya would be attending, her best friends Ruby and Leo come up with fun and silly things for her to do at each wedding in order to distract her. At one she has to be the last one on the dance floor, at one she has to kiss someone goodnight, etc. I found Freya's inner thoughts to be funny and amusing, while the audio narrator did annoy me a bit - when saying someone sighed or laughed, she would also sigh, or laugh or whatever.

I thought The Wedding Season was going to be a romance, and although there is a romantic storyline, the majority of the story is about friendship, figuring out what you want you out of life and letting go and having fun. Freya Scott is an organized, smart and ambitious woman who is dumped by her fiancé the night before their wedding. He didn't feel like she needed him and that she was too rigid and organized. To get her through the Wedding Season, her BFFs Ruby and Leo, who are engaged and getting married that summer, come up with a list of things for Freya to do, something at each wedding. Some are fun, some are serious, but all will get Freya out of her comfort zone.

I really enjoyed this book, even though it was not what I was expecting. Freya is very uptight in many ways and doesn't see herself as others do. She has to deal with a devastating experience, and find closure. She also has a very difficult relationship with her mother that she needs to work through, as both have very different ideas of what happened there. I enjoyed seeing Freya complete the various tasks/challenges on the list, some putting her in very funny situations. I loved how Freya's friends supported her and helped her deal with the situation she is in. Finally the romance, Matthew was a creep. The way he treated Freya after all the time they had been together was terrible, he was such a coward. Freya was better off without him. She met someone at a couple of the events she was at and they clicked. It wasn't a whirlwind romance, but a friendship that develops into something a little more. Daphne Kouma narrates this story and does a great job. Using expression, tone and various accents she is able to give voice to the various characters that enhanced my enjoyment of the story. I really liked this story that was more of a women's fiction story with humor, friendship, finding yourself and some romance. A great summer story, I recommend.

How fun is this concept?!

This was such a witty and charming read. It had a swoon worthy, slow burn romance but it was also so much more.

After being dumped just hours before your own wedding, as you can imagine, this one started off pretty deep and emotional but then turned into a beautiful and inspirational journey of self discovery as Freya learned how to be happy on her own after a 12 year relationship.

By the end, I was so invested and felt so connected to Freya that I was so excitedly cheering her on! I would love to see this one adapted!

I really enjoy Katy Birchall's writing style and fun wedding storylines. I was instantly sucked in by the main character and loved that you also heard what was going on in her head during the crazy situations she encountered throughout the book. If you are looking for light hearted read, I highly recommend this book!

This wasn't what I thought it would be. I thought it would be a light romcom and I would laugh and fall in love with a couple falling in love. Even though this book didn't start out this way, all those things still happened. Freya gets jilted before they make it to the wedding day and she spends the book trying to find out who is she when she's not part of a couple. Her journey is painful for her at times but sets up some amusing scenes and new potential relationships. I enjoyed getting to know her and watching her grow.

Narration was well done, no issues.

The day before her long-planned wedding, Freya’s fiancée calls it off, in a broom closet amidst the elaborate preparations. As if that isn’t bad enough, theirs was the first of eight weddings planned for the summer amongst their circle of friends. Heart-broken and embarrassed, Freya doesn’t want to be pitied or to miss her friends’ celebrations. But it’s really tough. So a couple of friends (who also plan to get married that summer) set her a list of zany tasks to complete at each affair to help her cope. With nothing to lose, Freya takes on the list and learns that her life isn’t over after all. She even manages to reconnect with her semi-estranged mother along the way, surprising them both. This humorous read offers a look at how second chances pop up when one least expects. Recommended pool or beachside reading (or to read in a hammock).

Katy Birchall’s The Wedding Season opens with Freya Scott being heartbroken and humiliated by her long-term boyfriend jilting her on the eve of their wedding, leaving her with a summer of seven weddings to get through on her own. Freya’s friends create a wedding survival guide with a series of outrageous challenges for her to complete at each wedding to distract her. These wedding season survival challenges draw Freya outside her comfort zone, and she unexpectedly finds herself having fun and learning new things about herself and what she wants from life. As the wedding season passes quickly by with the aid of the survival guide, Freya discovers that life has more in store for her than saying “I do” to the wrong person, like maybe finding love with a person who’s just right for her.

Daphne Kouma wonderfully narrates Birchall’s beautifully written rom-com in first-person POV. Kouma’s vibrant narration brings Birchall’s enchanting story and characters vividly to life, portraying the characters’—particularly Freya’s—emotions and experiences with subtle nuances, cadences, and flair, drawing me in from the first scene and deeply investing me in Freya’s journey. I love every second of Birchall’s novel and Kouma’s expressive narration, which complements Birchall’s narrative style and language usage. She perfectly narrates both the male and female characters, giving them distinct voices that capture their personalities, dialects, and accents, matching their moods for each scene. Her narration for Freya, the protagonist, and POV character, is poignantly filled with emotion, personality, sparkle, and charm. Kouma’s voice and British English London accent are delightful, as is her French accent. I couldn’t imagine anyone else narrating this lovely novel with more eloquence, exuberance, or charm. The audiobook opens with a brief whimsical score that sets the novel’s lighthearted tone.

Birchall’s writing is vibrant, expressive, inspired, richly detailed, and incredibly funny. With introspection and insight, she explores being jilted on the eve of your wedding after being with someone for over a decade, believing they’re your life partner. She brilliantly captures Freya experiencing feelings and memories sneak up on her unexpectedly. Birchall writes dynamic, natural, hilarious, emotional, and vibrantly colorful and descriptive dialogue and character interactions. Kouma’s expressive and lively narration style magnificently highlights these aspects of Birchall’s storytelling, making her a spot-on narrator. Birchall’s deftly developed characters are complex, fallible, fascinating, likable, and down to earth. Utterly entertaining, the characters’ interactions also further their development and the plot. Freya is sweet, vulnerable, funny, warm, and refreshingly honest. Her mind's inner workings and worldview are a fantastic mix of hilarity, anxiety-ridden, spirit, and courage she doesn’t even seem to be aware she possesses. Kouma’s narration for these scenes is hilarious and, at times, heart-wrenching.

Her BFFs, Ruby and Leo, who concoct the wedding survival guide, are supportive and amazing friends. The wedding survival guide challenges are inspired, fun, and ideal for getting Freya out of her head and distracting her from her ex and their break-up—with the bonus of helping with Freya’s self-discovery and growth. Freya’s relationships with her brother and father are sweet, while she reconciles her complicated past relationship with her mother. Freya’s conversations and interactions with Jamie, whom she meets during her friend’s weddings, sparkle with chemistry, humor, sweetness, intimacy, emotion, and unexpected connection. Jamie’s and Freya’s vibe is swoony. Yet, their chemistry flows naturally, even when they’re at odds. With just the right combination of sandpaper and chemistry, their friction makes things interesting. The possibility of a deeper relationship sneaks right upon them.

I love everything about the Wedding Season! But most of all, I love how Birchall writes relationships, dialogue, and Freya’s thoughts. I could keep reading about Freya, Jamie, etc. Kouma’s narration takes your reading experience to the next level by animating all the fantastic aspects of the story, characters, and Birchall’s writing that you cannot truly appreciate until you hear someone reading it aloud.

The Wedding Season is a fast-paced, hilarious, sweet, slightly angsty, disarming novel I highly recommend in audio to rom-com and wedding novel fans for maximum pleasure.

Advanced review copy provided by Macmillan Audio via Netgalley for review.

This is absolutely a great and funny story and I highly recommend the audiobook if you listen to books. Accents were the icing on the cake to great acting and storytelling throughout. First, I’m not sure I would classify this strictly as a romance. While there is a romance at the frontline its more of a ‘moving on’ story than anything and the romance felt secondary to the development of our main character.

Speaking of our main character: Freya is about to get married when her fiance Matthew, significant other of 12 years, cancels the wedding the day before their vows and promptly dumps her. Freya, reeling from the loss and the trauma of a wedding canceled, now must make it through ‘the wedding season’ - a line up of seven weddings that she is supposed to be at for the next few months. Her friends give her a list of challenges to do at each wedding to help her survive and hopefully, move on.

First, my significant other Matthew who I have been with for 12 years got a stern talking to about his life status if he ever did this to me (zero life status). But once that fear was unlocked and shoved to the side, the book opened into a pretty lovely story of moving forward, friendship, love, and family. Freya is not just propelled to happiness because she meets someone new. Freya takes a slow journey to discover her own happiness and reconnect more strongly to those around her. Its really very nice and I might have cried a few times.

There’s also some pretty satisfying ‘get him back’ moments but it's also interspersed with real conversations about life and happiness. I really think it had a perfect mixture of light and serious.

This book is also so funny. I was laughing out loud at work a few times. Love Freya’s internal monologues and there are of course, the usual whacky situations that she finds herself in. The banter is super fun even during stronger emotional moments. The romance was cute and easy to cheer for almost right away but again didn’t even feel like the whole focus, in a nice way.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and had a good time crying and laughing while listening to it.

This was narrated by Daphne Kuoma who did a five star job. Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this audiobook!

Thank you to Netgalley for the audio version of this book! I enjoyed listening to the book and finding out what was the next wedding season challenge and how she was going to handle whatever her friends threw at her to do. The friends made up a wedding season to do task list after she was left jilted the day before her own wedding. The accent of the reader was also fun to listen to!