When I started reading this book (full disclosure I was listening to the audiobook) , from the get go I was lulled into the story with funny and well written narration. I thought this was going to be a very funny book, but that was not the case. I had to DNF this book about 15% in. There were quite few icks that just left me feeling annoyed and frustrated. Like when the terms “looked like a womanly woman” was used. Which means what exactly? If you don’t have boobs or butt your woman body isn’t as womanly? And maybe I am taking this too far but like… are you less of a woman in this case if you’ve had a double mastectomy? or are have had implants put in? Like its saying nothing while also telling me a lot about the person writing it. There are many instance like this where I found myself wondering WHO exactly wrote this book. As I mentioned, I DNF’d this book within the very beginning of the novel, and the AMOUNT OF TIMES other characters told the two best friends that THERE MUST BE SOMETHING BETWEEN THEM made me want to throw my phone to the wall. If I were to guess who wrote this book, I would say a 14-16 year old girl whose target audience is Boomers. It was just a whole NOPE for me. I have never had nothing good to say about a book without having read more of the story. Sorry but -1 star.

Friends to lovers mutual pining
Sweet romance - only kissing, no references to anything else
3.75 stars rounded to 4

Fun romance of easy going friends who have secretly been pining for one another for their entire lives. Carter is convinced he won't ever be able to get married because he watched how broken his dad became after his mom died. But Sam has other plans. She's been in love with him since day one and she's done hiding it. Especially after her landlord tricks them into kissing. It's a cute and quirky book with the characters attempting to ruin a wedding in every way they can throughout the story.

Thank you to @netgalley for the free ALC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

First time doing an audiobook. A fun rom-com with a friends to lovers story line. It didn’t stick out to me as different from the other ones I’ve read from this genre.

I loved this one! I listened to the audio version and the narrators were perfect for the story. It was cute, funny and had a quirky plot line. I would love to read more by this author!

This review contains spoilers. While I didn’t mind the narrators, this story was painfully long, and not super interesting. It was painful waiting for these I two to admit their feelings for one another only to realize they still don’t think the logical next step is to be together. Then when they finally DO get together and you realize there is still an hour left. Never before have I ever considered dnfing at 87%.

Falling in love with your best friend is complicated. As much as you know this person, you also know that there is a chance that your friendship may not last.

Maid of Dishonor (the first in the Love Mishaps series), by Gracie Ruth Mitchell, was published in 2021. Samantha Quinn and Carter Ellis have been best friends for as long as they can remember. Neither knows that one is in love with the other. While doing everything they can to prevent Carter’s cousin from marrying for the wrong reasons, their unspoken feelings rise to the surface.

Both Samantha and Carter have emotional scars that are preventing them from revealing their feelings. They can either pretend that nothing has changed or take the plunge, not knowing what their future holds.

I loved this book. It has all of the elements of the genre. But it is neither completely predictable nor boring. The chemistry between Samantha and Carter sizzles. They have a perfect Emma Woodhouse and George Knightly-style relationship that quickly drew me in and held me until the last page.

My only issue is the low point in the story could have been extended a bit more.

Do I recommend it?

Absolutely. Maid of Dishonor is available wherever books are sold.

Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy.

This friends to lovers romance is sweet and witty. I liked the growth that both main characters went through. When it came to actually starting the relationship, rather than jumping right in, they made sure they were all in and eased in. No explosive fireworks, but more focused on making sure it was the right step. There were some heavy backstories that made for the main characters initially holding back, but them working through those issues made for a good read.

Sam has always been one of the boys. Her best friend is Carter, and she’s been in love with him since high school. But he definitely doesn’t do relationships and definitely doesn’t look at her that way. So when his cousin tells them that she is pregnant and wants to marry her boyfriend (who she has had nothing but bad things to say about prior to this), they come up with a plan. They need to stop this marriage from happening, while also helping plan the wedding because Mia is so sick she can’t leave the house. Will the wedding plan make Sam and Carter see each other in a different light?

Maid of Dishonor is a sweet and funny friends-to-lovers romcom. Overall, I really enjoyed the story and back and forth, the couple was extremely easy to root for! but the sudden ''now we're a full on couple'' at the end was a bit jarring. I feel like the epilogue is an opening for another book in the series? I'd definitely read it!

Narrators did a fantastic job!

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this ALC!

"'𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨?' 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦. '𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨?' 𝘐 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩. '𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘺.' 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘸𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨."

This book is not a new release, however, the audiobook IS!

Thank you Gracie, @dreamscape_media and @netgalley for this advanced copy in exchange for this review!

As someone who is very familiar with the #friendzone and being "one of the guys", there is a lot to connect with in this book 😂

There's also a lot to love: baseball, lifelong friends who've secretly loved each other all along, a batty, meddling neighbor, and wedding sabotage!

The only thing that keeps me from giving it a full five stars is the flow of the story. It is all "will they, won't they", and then all of a sudden, boom! - they're a happy little couple.
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#bookstagram #booksta #books #booksbooksbooks #avidreader #ilovereading #thetwistedlibrarian #professionalbookworm #maidofdishonor #gracieruthmitchell #audiobookreview #audiobook #netgalley #dreamscapemedia #friendstolovers #baseballlovers

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this friends to lovers RomCom. It was laugh out loud funny! The main characters Carter and Samantha are idiots but so adorable. Loved the supporting characters, Winifred is a hoot, no nonsense witty land lady And poor Maya (Carter's little sister) is going through it!

Very swoony, no Steam but I enjoyed it very much. The Narrators did a great job. I love cover its vibrant and fun.

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Contemporary romance 📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
A funny and sweet friends to lovers with a touch of drama and emotional topics.

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Friends to lovers
Rom coms
Adorable romances
Feel good stories
Great banter
Dual POV
Baseball

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
Winifred!
Carter and Sam’s friendship
The rubber band 😍
Sunflowers and the goldfish
Fun wedding sabotage
All the different narrators really made the narration

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
The characters got a little annoying about admitting their feelings
Overall it was enjoyed but also nothing super special

Best friends to lovers is a trope that is very hard to get right (for me), and this is another one that flopped. (I’m beginning to think that this trope only works with single POV books?) The writing was light and fun, and I genuinely did like some of the humor. But the plot is so ridiculously unbelievable and some of the story arcs so tropey (in a bad way) that I found myself not enjoying being in the story whatsoever.

The plot revolves around Carter’s 21-year-old cousin getting pregnant and wanting to a) keep the baby (for me, this is a ??? moment) and b) marry the guy who got her pregnant just so the baby will have two parents. The guy who got her pregnant is a massively caricatured douche, yet the cousin hardly sees the stupidity in marrying this guy. The two MCs are saddled with doing all of the errands for her wedding in a matter of weeks - picking a venue, doing cake tastings, etc. - because she has massive morning sickness and can’t even leave the house. (I clearly haven’t been pregnant, but.. see what I mean about unrealistic?)

Sam and Carter are fine characters - I did like how they feel a bit more rounded than other characters in similar books. Carter has a good reason why he’s averse to relationships and tries to keep himself from falling in love, and Sam has some trauma in her past that she starts to deal with through the course of the book. But then again, the characters fall into some common pitfalls that I hate: Sam gets a tad misogynistic when other girls even flirt with Carter - this is exactly how the book opens - and she’s the classic tomboy who’s actually hot under her St. Louis Cardinals t-shirt. Meh. And of course, her best friendship with Carter is very touchy and intimate, and they’re both supposedly obliviously in love with each other without actually saying anything for the vast, vast majority of the book. This just feels so unrealistic and silly that it got annoying.

Overall, I really wish I had liked this book better than I did - but for how unrealistic the plot and characters are, it just didn’t work for me. Thank you to Dreamscape for the audio ARC via Netgalley.

Over the last few years, I’ve been avoiding rom-coms more and more. Mostly because I got tired of them all using the same overused tropes; but when I saw this up for request on NetGalley it sounded cute and I was just in the mood, so I thought I would give it a try and thank god I did.

This book was absolutely adorable and funny and when it comes to rom-coms it was refreshing, since I didn’t see all those overused tropes, sure there might have been a couple here or there, but not enough to bother me.

The characters were also so likable; I really enjoyed their inner dialogue, and it was easy to root for them to get together. This has got to be one of my favorite friends-to-lovers rom-coms I’ve read and I highly recommend it.

Un friends to lovers cómico en donde planean sabotear una boda. Son amigos de hace ya 15 años, Sam y Carter se conocen un montón. Los dos se unen para convencer a la futura novia a cancelar un matrimonio que no tiene futuro, entre tanto, el romance florece y dejan fluir los sentimientos.
Con cero intenciones de una relación a largo plazo, pensando que el amor solo puede destruírte la vida, Carter solo necesita un empujoncito. Siempre fue el amigo que piensa en todo, cuando Sam lo necesitaba -me gustó ver cómo intentaba resistirse a la atracción que sentía.
No solo estuvo bueno leerlo, el diálogo interior fue lo más divertido. Llegar al punto de tener que llegar a tanto para arruinar una boda me pareció mucho, pero fue divertido leerlo. También hubieron muchas emociones de por medio, como por ejemplo Sam, que tuvo un accidente y dejó a al mamá discapacitada.
Este libro, tiene sus problemas tho. No es malo como otros libros de romcoms que leí, aun así hay cosas que no quisiera haberlas leído.
No me gusta leer que mujeres hablen sobre sus chachas para que se comporten y más estando en frente de su mejor amigo -no se si me explico. Como que siempre Sam tenía eso en la cabeza, quería dejar en claro todo el tiempo de que tenía curvas y era seductora así su bestie se enamoraba de ella.
Hay personajes que son re manipuladores al punto de llegar a usar el horóscopo como herramienta para que la otra persona le crea. La historia gira en torno a crear "señales del universo" para parar el casamiento.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC audiobook for an honest review.
Maid of Dishonor
by Gracie Ruth Mitchell
Pub Date: 28 Mar 2023

I love friends to lovers trope...when done right! Carter and Sam were just so sweet and cute together. They definitely were each other's person even when they didn't automatically claim each other in a romantic sense. Yes, there were some corny, over the top moments, but you just can't help but smile.

The premise of this book is two-fold. First you have friends who are secretly in love...will they or won't they divulge their true feelings. Both main characters are scarred from past life experiences, but the love between them just shines. Swoony, sweet sigh.
Then, you have the shipped couple, Carter and Sam, trying to sabotage (with good reason!) the nuptials of Carter's pregnant cousin to her HORRIBLE, good for nothing, deadbeat "fiancé" who wants an open relationship...grrrr! The situations that stem from this mission are hilarious.

The narrators did a good job of giving life to the characters in this audiobook. If you are looking for a clean, humorous and sweet romance while somewhat predictable, but still a lot of fun, check out this book!

The friends Samantha and Carter work together to stop his pregnant cousin from marrying the idiot of a baby daddy. I read this book a week ago and I must say the process of stopping the wedding leaves more of an impression than the love story. It was a good read but not a great one.

Friends-to-lovers, an adorable trope and a super cute, fun book. A super light-hearted slow burn romance with dual perspectives. It was enjoyable, but not amazing I think it was your typical rom-com if you just want to read a nice romance - something easy to enjoy. I did wish it was slightly more fast paced as I was getting bored in parts but overall it was fun.

Fun friends to lovers read! Some characters and their self-imposed problems got frustrating through the story, but they all come around in the end so it’s all good. Sam, though, was an honest heroine I happily rooted for as she grew in her self-awareness (though I didn’t love her voice on the audiobook recording). As always, I loved the dual-perspective, and I appreciated it switched every chapter.

The female protagonist is in love with her best guy friend. They are on the same softball (baseball?) team. The male protagonist doesn't want to "ruin" the friendship. (You can see where this is going.)

The cousin of one of them is pregnant and going to marry the baby daddy (an idiot).

So the couple try to bring the cousin to her senses.

Rounding up to 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for yet once again ... introducing me to a "new to me" author. Thank you to Gracie Ruth Mitchell the author, narrators Eva Wilhelm and Brandon Utah, and publisher Dreamscape Media. Publication date is 23 Mar 2023.

Tomboy Sam and stoic Carter have been dancing around their attraction to each other since they were kids… What happens when it is time to move out of the friend zone? The reader gets glimpses into why each person hesitates to make the first move.

It was sweet, I chuckled a few times. Not sexy, but very sweet… and the reader is left looking towards the future for Carter’s sister.

Great narration by both a male a female voice actor. Easy read!