Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the eARC of Forever Hold Your Peace!

This book follows the chaos that ensues when, after Olivia and Zach announce their whirlwind relationship and subsequent engagement, their parents — specifically their mothers — are forced to reconcile with the messy history they thought would stay 25 years in the past. Everything (and I mean everything) comes to light in a spectacularly disastrous fashion, leading our characters on a journey of healing to fix what was broken.

I see this book as a perfect vacation read. It is quick and light-hearted, with some lovely descriptions of Olivia and Zach's idyllic Italian vacation. I appreciated the exploration of both healthy and strained mother/daughter relationships and the work it takes to maintain and repair them. I also enjoyed the respect that is shown between divorced adults.

I noticed that many somewhat significant events occurred off-page. We only learn about them when another character reflects on them later. I thought this was a little strange and would make me want to check to see if I missed anything. Also, the book felt a little tedious at times, with certain parts feeling quite repetitive. The characters cycle through their emotions (as they should), but the cycle feels a bit too drawn out, with some portions giving me a bit of déjà vu.

Overall, this is a perfectly enjoyable, delightful book. I flew through it in a day and laughed out loud a few times, especially at the end.

A line that made me chortle:

"Olivia, don't take this the wrong way but I'm at work and this a distraction. I hope it all works out with the sharks though."

Three stars.

Zach and Olivia meet in Italy and sparks fly between two of them. 6 short weeks later after a whirlwind romance the two have decided to get married.

Each of their parents have their own thoughts about the wedding.

Unbeknownst to Zach and Olivia their mothers actually know each other and have been ex best friends and enemies for 15 years now.

All these secrets start coming out as these two in love young adults try to decide if they can make it work.

This was funny and definitely gave me romcom vibes like all the old wedding themed romcom movies did back in the day.

I could not finish enough of this book to be able to leave a comprehensive review, but I hope it finds its audience and I am grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Main Characters:
-- Olivia Abbott – 24 years old, recently passed her LSATs and attending UCLA School of Law in the fall, her parents gifted her a trip to Italy for the summer before starting law school
-- Zach Carter – 26 years old, works in real estate with his dad but really wants to be a photographer, happens to be in Italy at the same time as Olivia, which is how they happened to meet
-- Chloe Abbott – 22 years old, Olivia’s sister, helps their mom at a bookstore she owns
-- June and William Abbott – divorced, Olivia and Chloe’s parents, June owns All Booked Up and doesn’t have any sort of social media presence, William is an anesthesiologist
-- Amy and Troy Carter – divorced, Zach’s parents, Amy is the director of communications and marketing for the annual Pasadena Rose Parade, Troy owns a high-end real estate business with Zach
-- Eileen – June’s mother

If you are looking for a great summer read, check this one out.

Olivia and Zach meet while they’re both vacationing on the Amalfi Coast. After six glorious weeks together, they fall in love and get engaged before returning to California where they had lived only 30 minutes apart. Their parents all try to be supportive while not-so-secretly wishing they knew each other better. That is until they meet for brunch to discover that Zach’s mother is June’s former best friend, and Zach’s father is…well, you’ll find out about a quarter of the way in.

Suffice it to say, June storms out of the restaurant and the truth of her falling out with Amy comes to light for both of their children. Determined to stay together, Olivia and Zach ensure that their mothers take on wedding planning duties to see if they can get them to make amends. As they try to sabotage and one-up one another, June and Amy make things much much worse before they get better.

This story is not a romance, which is what you would expect from the title. You get the coupling and the uncoupling and the recoupling for Olivia and Zach that you would get in a romance, but it is more about family and forgiveness and friendship. I loved all of these characters, except maybe Amy who could be really obnoxiously mean.

Olivia and Zach have great chemistry, and Zach takes after his dad in the witty and charming department.

Olivia: I stared at a poster of Shawn Mendes for half the night.
Zach: He’s kind of hot. Should I be worried?
Olivia: Marni is pretty sure they are leaning toward the donut tower.
Zach: Tacky ass glazed donuts at our wedding is a small price to pay for peace.

I did find their habit of calling each other “V” and “Z” as annoying as their parents did. (If that makes me old, so be it.) All in all, though, these characters are realistic and react exactly how you would expect friends-turned-enemies to respond in such an unusual situation. And you shouldn’t be surprised that all’s well that ends well.

If you enjoyed Mamma Mia or Ticket to Paradise, this definitely reminds me of those. Pick this one up.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love the movies this book is supposedly a mashup of. I enjoyed reading it and recommend it!

Woooo engaged to your ex best friends son/daughter only deals in for disaster. A cute rom com kinda read that had you rooting for the couple as the moms take over the wedding arrangements and deal with their crazy past.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book is

When Zack and Olivia meet, fall in love, and quickly get engaged, their parents are a bit shellshocked. Nothing can compare to the “meet the families” lunch however, when the couple finds out that Zacks Mom, Amy and Olivias mom, June are ex-best friends. The two jump into “winning” wedding planning, filling the brides phone with passive aggressive group chats and planning ways to sabotage the others events.

Well this book was a damn delight! I felt so much for poor Zack and Olivia as their mothers did everything in their power to basically ruin the couples big day. At the same time I felt both June and Amy’s emotions so deeply while reading. I could feel the pain each was in, and was able to empathize with both of them as the story went on. This felt like mean girls just with adults instead of teenagers! I absolutely adored this book, and think you will too, so make sure to preorder it for delivery on July 11th! You will fall in love with these crazy characters just like I did!

3.5 ⭐️

If you were first in line at the theater on Friday nights, waiting to see the latest movie like “Father of the Bride”, stalked the Blockbuster shelf for “My Big, Fat Greek wedding”, reserved “The Wedding Planner” the first night it was available at Redbox or stream “Mamma Mia” repeatedly (I may be guilty as charged about the last one🤫) this might be the perfect Summer book for you!

It reads just like your favorite wedding movies!🍿

“When their newly engaged kids ask all four divorced parents to meet each other over brunch, everyone RSVPs yes--secretly hoping someone at the table will get to the bottom of the bottomless mimosas fast enough to say what they’re all thinking: that this engagement, coming after a whirlwind romance between two people who met on the romantic Almalfi Coast, is happening much too soon”.

But what has really come much too soon -this BRUNCH!

What are the odds that June (Mother of the bride, Olivia) and Amy, (mother of the groom, Zach) were BEST FRIENDS 25 years ago who haven’t spoken a word to each other since?

As the two women forget that this is actually Olivia’s wedding, their petty behavior, (think Momzilla) and OTHER messy family secrets threaten the “Happy Ever After” of their kids.

This is a PG rated, often corny, wedding story which is easy to read and enjoyable, for those who have been craving their next “wedding story” fix!

Available July 11, 2023

Thank You to Alcove Press for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

When your levelheaded daughter calls you from Italy and tells you she’s engaged to a man and she met six( closer to seven) weeks ago… what’s a mom to do ?
Then you find out that she is marrying the son of your ex best friend and your ex fiancé
What you have is a recipe for disaster, forgiveness, friendship, starting over, and an all around enjoyable read!!
I devoured this book. I couldn’t help but cheer for Zach and Olivia!

Forever Hold Your Peace is the first book I've read by this author duo, and I am on the fence. FHYP had such a cute premise so I was expecting a very light rom-com, but it was a bit heavier than I expected. It felt a bit cliche with all the drama and the characters are so unlikeable.

First, if you do not follow Liz and Lisa on Instagram, go hop over there and do that now!

Forever Hold Your Peace has a little something for every reader - romance, drama, sibling relationships, lost love, failed friendships, second chances, humor. You might think that all of this going on would make for a messy book, but Liz and Lisa made it work.

I loved the depth and breadth of main characters with June, Amy, and Troy being the most well-developed. I would have liked to have seen just a bit more development to the characters of Olivia and Zach, and in some ways William was just an after thought to the overall story.

The Amalfi Coast is a bucket list trip for me, and I loved the inclusion of that as a backdrop to Zach and Olivia's love story. The extra details about the Rose Parade were interesting as well.

If you are fans of Liz and Lisa then definitely pick this one up. If you have never read a book of theirs before then this is definitely a great place to start. It is a story with depth and moments of humor to balance out the drama that will keep you engaged!

Pub date: 7/11/23
Genre: family drama, contemporary fiction
Quick summary: Olivia and Jack had a whirlwind love affair in Italy, but their wedding planning hits a snag when they discover that their mothers are former best friends...and they haven't spoken in over twenty years.

Oh, wedding planning. So ironic that the "happiest day of one's life" often comes with tears and fights during the planning. Fenton and Steinke did a great job setting up plenty of drama for Olivia, Jack, and their parents, and I enjoyed seeing the sparks fly. Mothers June and Amy were entertaining and over the top but also still relatable as they tried to pretend that nothing was wrong and that they supported their children no matter what. I liked that June and Amy weren't just caricatures of overbearing mothers; instead, their characters and backstories were thoroughly fleshed out.

If you like messy family dramas, this one is a wild ride. I can see it being a good summer read by the pool. It definitely made me thankful that my wedding planning was much less dramatic (although we did have to change our plans due to COVID-19).

Thank you to Alcove Press for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Forever Hold Your Peace was the perfect blend of romance, family struggles and happily ever after outcomes. Liz and Lisa’s writing was humorous and easy to follow. As one chapter ended it left me wanting to read the next. I was invested in these characters. And though it led where I expected it to go, the journey was thoroughly enjoyable. The book has a gentle message of hope and reassurance. Follow your heart and it will lead you everywhere you need to go. It is the perfect summer read.

loved this romance and finding oneself and the how the couple worked out their problems . loved all of the side characters and the friendships. Good book.

What a great summer read! The authors, Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, have been best friends for three decades, which I suppose is how they write about complicated relationships and friendships with such believability. The writing is seamless—I have no clue who wrote what—and the voice is comfortable, humorous, and compelling.

The book begins drenched in beauty and romance; the kind of romance that seems too good to be true. I found myself remembering those giddy days of first love and the heady urgency it brings. But when the young couple returns home from their paradise, reality begins to hit. And the first place it strikes is at home—with their parents.

The four divorced parents—June, Amy, Troy, and William—are none too thrilled with the speed at which their kids’ relationship is hurtling. But who’s going to be the first one to speak up? And who’s willing to be ruthlessly honest?

What follows is a thoughtful and often funny unfolding of some surprisingly complicated relationships. I don’t want to give too much away because I enjoyed the surprises the authors dealt and wouldn’t want to undermine any of the turns.

But kudos to Fenton and Steinke for capturing the sweetness of youth and the wisdom of age. The themes of friendship, parenthood, marriage, and forgiveness thread their way through with a gentle grace. Having been both young—and in a relationship that quickly turned to love and marriage—and the parent of young adults—who don’t seem to need my opinion as often as I’d like to give it—I was charmed by this story.

This one was such a fun read! I felt like I was reading a rom-com movie come to life. Love the elements of mystery, interspersed with the sweet romance. Great read!

This dynamic duo writes a lot of books together. This was not my normal genre, but I needed a little break from thrillers, and I enjoyed it for what it was.
Olivia and Zack meet in Italy and sparks fly. They get engaged after only 6 weeks knowing each other. "You can't marry a man you just met!" (Elsa from Frozen). Pretty much sums up how their parents react to this romantic news. Nobody wants the nuptials to happen (except the happy couple, of course). June, the mother of the bride and Amy, the mother of the groom have a complicated past, as it turns out. The book has a familiar plot, I just watched a movie with Julia Roberts that reminded me of the book.
It was a light, Hallmark movie-esque read with a lot of fun! thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
3.5 stars

This is such a wonderful story about love, friendship, forgiveness, and growth.

Lisa and Liz have such a knack for writing about that close bond you feel with your best friend. I think it's amazing they are able to write books together. Talk about trust and talent!

June and Amy were best friends in their younger years, but after one horrible decision made by Amy and June's fiancé, Troy, their relationships are all destroyed.

Fast forward to their 40's, June and Amy both have kids of their own. They unknowingly meet during a trip abroad and fall in love. Chaos ensues when they return home to announce their engagement and discover the hidden past and the secrets of their now divorced parents.

This story definitely has Father Of The Bride vibes, which is one of my favorite 90's movie. I loved the way Liz and Lisa told a story about falling in love while also having the shadow of heartbreak looming the whole way through. I even imagined myself as most of the main characters and tried to figure out how I would feel if this were happening to me.

Could I forgive my parents for being dishonest?
Could I accept my future in-laws for hurting my mother?
Can I forget the past and rekindle a friendship?

I loved everything about the wedding planning and the cattiness of June and Amy trying to make their opinions heard. This read so well and I enjoyed every chapter as it alternated between every character. I loved getting the insight behind everyone, including Oliva and Zach. And for once, I didn't get ANYONE confused. My reading toxic trait is never keeping track of who is who. Not with this one, friends! Very easy to distinguish everyone and their quirky personalities.

Two quotes that stood out: [Might be edited in the final version]
“I truly believe some of our worst choices lead us to things we didn’t know we needed.”

“Being a mother is the hardest job on the planet. You try your best, but it isn’t always enough. The secret is to keep trying.” (Can I get a freaking amen?)

Cannot wait for this to release to the public. It's out July 11. Thank you to Netgalley and Alcove Press for letting me read it early in exchange for an honest review.

This book made me happy. It's a light romcom with fun characters. I was rooting for all of them. Perfect summer beach read.

I really liked this book it was so good!! I never wanted to put it down. The character development was great!! It was such a great read