Thank you NetGalley for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review!

Carter Ellis and Samantha Quinn have been best friends since high school. They are there for each other through everything, thick or thin. They would be lost without each other. The only problem is that they are both secretly in love with each other. When Carter's cousin discovers that she is pregnant, she asks him and Samantha for help planning her wedding. Carter and Samantha are willing to do anything for Maya until they discover that her fiancé is a "Chad." Carter hatches up a plan to break up the wedding while simultaneously planning the wedding. What they did not anticipate was having to confront their own feelings and where they want to be in the future. Can their friendship survive being in the friend-zone permanently?

This book is so cute and quirky! As a Missouri girl, I appreciate the references to my home state and baseball. Sam and Carter are solid best friends who would do anything for each other and I found myself rooting for them. The dual POV format of this story told through Sam and Carter's perspective really solidified them as 3-diminsional characters that are usually lacking in this genre. This book is also a no-spice romance in case you are wondering.

The audiobook narrators were fantastic and captured these character's voice perfectly.

My only complaint...all the puking, crying, and period talk. Not only does Sam talk about her period, but so does Carter! Periods are a normal, natural part of life, and nothing to be ashamed of, but do we need to keep talking about it. Samantha is also a sympathetic puker and crier. They go to Maya's house a lot. Maya is in her first trimester...so every scene that Maya is in has both Maya and Sam throwing up. It was funny the first time...by the fourth or fifth time it was an old bit.

I really enjoyed this book. Yes it has tropes: friends to lovers, fake dating, forced proximity, etc. It is also a story about forgiveness and healing. It was very well done.


Content Information:

Parental death
Parental injury from accident
References to tarot cards and metaphysics (somewhat stereotypically)
Bathroom references
No-Spice romance

Thank you to Gracie Ruth Mitchell, Dreamscape Media, and @Netgalley for gifting me an ALC.

I really liked this book. It was cute, predictable and light. A book that you need to get you out of a slump and make you smile after a long and tiring day.

I notice I’m super picky when it comes to romComs. This one didn’t do it for me. It was too repetitive sometimes and I felt pulled in a lot of directions.

3.5 Stars

Maid of Dishonor (the first in the Love Mishaps series) is a warm, fuzzy, cute best friends-to-lovers rom-com and my first by author Gracie Ruth Mitchell. This book is a spice-free zone, making for a palate cleanser between dark romances.

This dual PoV story follows Samantha and Carter (her best friend) while trying to sabotage his cousin’s wedding and navigate a growing attraction for one another. Both of them have emotional trauma when it comes to relationships and issues with commitment. The banter between the two of them was fantastic, and you could really feel the love they had for one another.

I’m an avid audiobook listener, so I greatly enjoyed the narration. They did a wonderful job of breathing life into the assortment of characters. Out of the two, Brandon had me laughing. He also kind of reminded me of Wil Wheaton.

I enjoyed the story overall, it was cute and fun, but some of the miscommunication and not just addressing the elephant in the room became a little annoying. We also didn’t really get to know the characters below the surface, which I craved.

Thank you to Gracie Ruth Mitchell, Dreamscape Media, and @Netgalley for gifting me an ALC. I am leaving this review voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Calling all friends to lovers fans! This is the book for you!

So we have Samantha and Carter pining after each other for YEARS and then one little kiss tilts them into unexpected territory. When Carter's cousin plans to marry her dead-beat boyfriend they find themselves doing everything they can to start sabotaging things behind the scenes. Throughout all the schemes they are growing closer and closer before they have to decide if they can continue down this friendship path or break things off to save their hearts. This book was sweet, lighthearted and funny. They did touch on some serious topics but nothing too intense that it made the book hard to get through.

I love a good dual POV. I will say it felt a little too formulaic at times for me but deep down I love a cheesy romance so I found myself still not able to put it down. Overall, I recommend this book to any friends to lovers fans. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this story!

A truly charming friends to dating romance. While there is 0 spice (some mild kissing) the book didn't disappoint me with that. It is one of those books where you just wish the main characters would get out of their own way and have an actual conversation, because when they do it works out! Both have relationship hang-ups due to their pasts, but they do both start working to overcome those throughout the books. I look forward to the next story in this series as Gracie Ruth Mitchell's narrative and characters were absolutely lovely. I fell in love with the main characters from the first page and never stopped.

This book was the perfect listen on a day where I needed it.

The narrators really made the experience and I loved how they brought Sam and her best friend Carter to life as they find their way from friends to lovers in this sweet and comedic romance. I can usually flip back and forth between the audio and ebook without a problem but with this, I just wanted the audio. The narrators were that good that my own brain reading the words on the page weren’t good enough.

I love friends to lovers romance and liked that we got both POV’s in this, it’s always a pleasure to be in the guy’s head while he figures his emotions out. Carter really needed to figure his emotions out about the woman he puts first above all but doesn’t “have romantic feelings about”. We also call this denial Carter and even though sometimes I wanted to shove how much you love Sam in your face so you could accept it, I understood your reservations.

The main plot of this was a bit odd. I don’t think the wedding planning was anything other than a chance to put Sam and Carter in wacky situations. To a point, I didn’t like the way they decided they knew better than Maya even though Chet is as gross as the thing Chet in Weird Science was turned into; aka a big pile of poo. But it should have been Maya’s choice and they shouldn’t have gone behind her back to give her “signs” but support her as much as possible. Yes, I know they did support her but the device of stopping the wedding felt icky. There were a few other moments that came out of nowhere that made me pause and re-listen; the “womanly woman” comment and the really odd freak out with Sam and the tampons. I get what the author intended but it just felt unnecessary.

Even with these moments, the book still made me smile and feel good on a day that started out pretty dark. I liked taking the journey with Sam as she finally tells her best friend about her supposed unrequited love and how she took the steps to make her own path in life, even if that wouldn’t include Carter. I loved being in Carter’s head as he snapped that band around his wrist trying not to notice his best friend is hot and that he’s been in love with her for years. I liked Maya and her pregnancy dilemma and am looking forward to reading her book and following her as she gets her deserved HEA. OH! And Winnifred Rocks!

At the end of it all, I enjoyed this book. I laughed, I slapped my hand on my forehead a few times and fell in love with these two.

This audiobook was just okay.

For the book itself...I wanted to love this story, but I really didn't. I mean, I guess it was fine, but it wasn't anything overly exciting. It was all very, "been there, done that' as far as the romance went. Sam was a decent character. I felt for her some throughout the book, but the more I listened, the more I hated Carter. He was kind of an awful character. First off, I don't care how much you disagree with your cousin marrying someone, lying to them to convince them to not marry the person is not okay. Way to break trust. Second, he literally broke up with a girl because he thought it was ridiculous that she wanted him to put her first. That is literally the point of being in a relationship. That person gets priority. The fact that he didn't think that was right just made him an ass.

Next for the narration...I didn't love these narrators. I felt like they put emphasis in weird places, and when they did voices for secondary characters (or for each other's characters) it felt weird and off. I honestly don't know if it was the narrators, the direction, or the story that caused me to not enjoy their narration.

Overall, this audiobook would be fine for a long drive or walk if you don't have other things to listen to, but I wouldn't prioritize it.

Maid of Dishonor is a cute romance filled with lots of witty banter and funny characters. This is a lovely book for a light romance read. If you are looking for a light and fun rom-com then this is the book for you!

There were things about this book that I found hilarious: mostly to do with Sam and her houseplants. But the MCs are a bunch of big dummies, they hold hands and touch each other constantly, yet they seem to not understand that they are not “just friends”. It is really annoying. The book also makes light of unplanned pregnancy, which I didn’t particularly like. The way that Sam and Carter try to intervene with Carter’s cousin and her relationship is insanely immature, rather than hilarious. If any of these things would bug you, then it may not be the book for you.

Overall, this was a quick and light read. I do not regret reading this, but it was not my favorite and I think that the plot could have been improved. I loved the witty banter and some of the scenarios that Sam and Carter find themselves in, but there were just too many things that rubbed me the wrong way.

I did not enjoy this audiobook. The narrators were extremely annoying to listen to and the plot was not exciting.

I liked the story line for Maid of Dishonor but I did not care for some of the tactics used. Displeased that his cousin is pregnant and planning on marrying a not-so-great guy, Carter Ellis and his best friend (Samantha Quinn) conspire to separate the couple. Meanwhile, the time they spend together, they realize maybe there is more to their platonic relationship after all.

Thank you to Gracie Ruth Mitchell, Dreanscape Media and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Sexy, cute, and fun! New author for me and was happily surprised with how much I liked this genre! Would recommend!

A very sweet, simple love story. Nothing new or spectacular, but solid tropes of friendship turning to something more and the two main characters being completely oblivious (which I always LOVE if it can be pulled off well). My biggest qualm with this book was the female main character who at times seemed to relish in loving sports and not brushing her hair, and just generally being ‘not like other girls’. The voice acting was transportive and funny, and I definitely think the audiobook is the best way to read this story.

I had so much fun listening to this audiobook! The friendship between Sam and Carter was enviable, I loved their banter and how well Carter knew and cared for Sam. Then trying to send messages from the universe to Maya was quite entertaining. The audio was also done really well! Highly recommend this book and the audiobook!

This was my first real go at entering the world of audiobooks. I can now say with confidence that I am not an audiobook girly. I found that I prefer visualising the voices in my own head and my mind moves very fast so I found myself speeding it up to 2x the speed.

Regardless of that point, I agree that this book is a romcom; however, it was difficult for me even as a rom-com lover to really get into it. I did not connect to any of the characters at all. What threw me off was the amount of over-explaining there was and internal monologue - perhaps I may have viewed it differently if I read an ebook version but I did not enjoy it here. I felt as though there wasn't really any true depth to the characters or their interactions. I wanted to believe that they had feelings for one another but I didn't sense a lot of chemistry or instances where I was like 'yes, I see it' without the characters themselves telling me. Honestly it got quite boring as the plot for the book began.

May be a bit of a *spoiler*:
What I really disliked was the hint at period shame when Sam grabbed tampons (the heavy flow) - i'm not sure if buying tampons is even taboo anymore but I found the language used to imply that she was ashamed to be buying heavy flow tampons (even though she was just trying to get out of a situation and didn't need them) when menstruating is such a natural thing.

I thought that reading the audiobook would provide a similar feel to watching a movie but I was wrong.

*appreciate the arc provided by Dreamscape Media via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Posted on Goodreads via link below (via the normal title on Goodreads) and will post to Bookstagram on public date of release.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to preview this title. I loved this cute, quirky story of Sam and Carter. They are lifelong friends who become lovers with the same goal of deterring Carter’s cousin from marrying the wrong guy. This was a very well written rom-com and a feel good read. I would definitely recommend it to friends and fellow readers.

The first half was rather funny and entertaining. However the second half really disappointed me: I was bored and the characters were getting so annoying, especially Sam. Listening to the story from her perspective was almost painful at times and I'm surprised I didn't DNF it. And I hated how oblivious they were to how the other was so attracted to the other. A very meh book. 2 stars.

I received an advanced listening copy of Maid of Dishonor by Gracie Ruth Mitchell through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review, and here it is.
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☆☆☆
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Maid of Dishonor is a super cute bestfriends to lovers romcom!
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Sam and Carter are best friends who work at three same school, play on the same baseball team, and drop everything if one of them needs the other.
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There are some really adorable and unique moments. The main relationship was really lovely and funny, and I appreciate the struggles they went through, too.
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All-in-all, this story is sweet, simple, and very enjoyable!
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Thanks to DreamscapeMedia, NetGalley, and author Gracie Ruth Mitchell for this ALC to honestly review. Maid of Dishonor comes out on March 27th, so go get it then!

This book was just darling! Was the story predictable? Of course! But it was a light fluffy read that I appreciated in the midst of a busy and stressful time in my life. I will definitely be reading the second one! Also, this book was very clean so if that is a concern for you, I think you'll still enjoy it.

A fun quirky read. I enjoyed the two main characters. A good friends to lovers romance. Can’t wait to read the next one.