Samantha Quinn is in love with her best friend Carter Ellis. She's been in love with him since high school. 15 years of friendship later, and all she can do is pretend she is not madly in love with Carter. Carter has sworn off love and the idea of ever settling down. But, feelings for Sam keep creeping into his thoughts and the idea of Sam not being a part of his life sends Carter into a panic. The two spend most of their time ignoring their feelings for fear a relationship will ruin their friendship. That all changes when they set out on a crazy, destined to backfire plan to convince Carter's cousin Maya that she should not marry the man that got her pregnant. While Maya is home sick from extreme nausea, Carter and Sam find a wedding venue, cake, and even try on Maid of Honor dresses and tuxes. This book truly is a romantic comedy. You will laugh out loud, cringe, and swoon. This audio was narrated by Eva Wilhelm and Brandon Utah. Both were great narrators and brought the story to life.

3/5 - 0.5/5 Spice

So I'm not the biggest fan of friends-to-lovers, and I'm not the biggest fan to a clean romance. So I can say I wasn't the biggest fan or this book, but I didn't not enjoy it either! I felt like at times the plot line was a bit too much regarding Sam and Carter manipulating his cousin, but otherwise, I'd say the book was fine.

Brief Plot: Samantha and Vcarter are asked to help plan his cousin's wedding because she is newly pregnant. The problem is her fiancé is the WORST! So they set on a mission to break up the engagement by any means possible, but as that's all happening their relationship as best friends begins expanding to romantic chemistry that starts with a kiss as a dare from Sam's 82 years old neighbor.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an eARC Audiobook copy of Maid of Dishonor, written by Gracie Ruth Mitchell, and narrated by Eva Wilhelm and Brandon Utah. This is my honest review!

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape for the audiobook of this ARC, to listen and review.

Samantha Quinn
Baseball lover. Plant mama. Eternal friend zone dweller.
I know exactly three things:
1) My heart will forever belong to my best friend, Carter.
2) Carter's heart will never belong to me.
3) I will therefore die alone, surrounded by my houseplants, probably old and grouchy like my eighty-two-year-old landlady, Winifred.
But now Carter's cousin wants my help planning her wedding, while Carter wants my help stopping it. How am I supposed to both plan and sabotage a wedding at the same time? How do I talk to Carter about weddings all day without my heart fracturing? And how, how, how do I ditch this stupid friend zone once and for all?


Carter Ellis
P.E. teacher. Baseball coach. Also, attractive. Very, very attractive.
I am not secretly in love with my best friend. I absolutely am not. That would be stupid and reckless and a terrible idea all around. I swore I would never fall in love, and that's not going to change now.
Except...one tiny little kiss has all sorts of feelings rising in my chest. Feelings I was certain I buried a long time ago. But it doesn't matter; I refuse to give in. I will laugh with her, talk with her, and dry her tears, but I will not fall in love with Samantha Quinn.

It was a cutesy, completely clean little romcom. The rhythm of the FMC’s voice was not my favorite, though I got more used to it as the book progressed. There were some brief moments of past trauma, but all in all a very quick (290 pages) and easy listen. 3 stars - 0 spice.

I received this as an audio galley to listen to for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for giving me access.

This was a fun read of friends to lovers with a side adventure of trying to stop a mutual friend from getting married. Perfect for those who love a good rom-com.

Thank you to Gracie Mitchell, Netgallery and Dreamscape Media for providing me with the Audible ARC and giving me the opportunity to share my honest review.
4⭐️
What makes a great romantic comedy? Is it a cheating fiancé, an unplanned pregnancy, or a cursed wedding? Normally I would say no, but in Maid of Dishonor, it just works. Samantha and Carter are friends-to-lovers working together to sabotage their friend’s wedding. I think I found a new book boyfriend in Carter 😍 Everyone needs a Carter in their lives. The only minor critique I have is that some of the sabotage plans could have been more exaggerated for added humor. Nonetheless, Maid of Dishonor is a fun read that will leave you with a big smile on your face!

Your typical friends to lovers romance that does not disappoint! The side story seemed like a very long set up for the next book but the main couple was great!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC of the audiobook for Maid of Dishonor in exchange for my honest review.

This was a cute friends to lovers romcom. It was pretty clean - just on page kissing. Which isn't inherently bad, but considering these two have been pining for each other going on a decade, I would have liked to see how their chemistry transferred to the bedroom.

What I liked:
-the setting - when was the last time you read a romance set in St. Louis, Missouri?!
-they were both normal people - teachers, living within their means, no random source of money making one of them wealthy beyond imagination
-even though the pacing was slow, I did like how Carter had to come to the realization that he was in love with his best friend slowly. It wasn't like a switch just flipped one day and suddenly it was happily ever after.

Having said that, here is what didn't work for me:
-how on earth did Carter not realize he was in love with Sam? Obviously they were giving off all the signals that people around them thought they were a couple (i.e. their entire baseball team). He put her ahead of the few girls he ever dated. He had to snap himself with a rubber band to stop thinking about Sam in a less than friendly way. It was all a little dense.
-the pacing was just a little slow for me, especially because it didn't lead anywhere steamy (just my preference)

These narrators were both new to me. The female narrator had a few inflections that I found odd, but she wasn't terrible to listen to. The male narrator gave me total Wil Wheaton vibes, and I very much enjoyed his performance.

All in all, a cute romcom that was just okay for me.

Gracie does it again! Another delightful and lovable cast of characters quickly charmed their way into a special spot in my heart and had me rooting for their happily ever after from the very start! I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook recording and the two narrators who portray Sam and Carter throughout this delightful story!

This is the story of two long time best friends. They each teach at the same school and play on the same baseball team during their summer break, which is when our story takes place. These two can have amazing tension, chemistry and charm that they were so fun to read about! I loved getting to see the down to earth, sunshiney Samantha and her best friend Carter support one another and learn to trust one another with their most vulnerable selves. Sam has been carrying a burden from her past for years that has her striving for perfection in everything she does and Carter has refused to ever fall in love on account of seeing what the loss of his mom years ago did to his dad. While this story handles topics that are serious at times, it is wrapped up in a charming narrative of hilarious thoughts and witty banter which had me grinning from ear to ear and swooning by the time this story concluded.

I loved this story and can’t wait to continue reading through Gracie’s backlist with Carter’s cousin’s story!

Content: mention of loss of a parent (off page in the past), mention of past car accident, unplanned pregnancy + cheating (side character)

This book was excellent! I loved Sam & Carter!! Their friendship was absolutely THE cutest!! They was he anticipated what she needed and made sure she had it! I can’t wait for the rest of the series! Love, love this book!

Title: Maid of Dishonor
Author: Gracie Ruth Mitchell
Narrated by: Eva Wilhelm; Brandon Utah

I received an ARC (advanced reader copy) of this audiobook from Netgalley. #Netgalley

This is a charming, sweet romance that is quite different from what the title suggests. This isn’t a My Best Friend’s Wedding kind of book.

It’s a book about two best friends that are in love with each other, but don’t allow themselves to feel freely or openly due to fears and insecurities.

The premise may not sound enticing… but I assure you the author and narrators made a highly enjoyable audiobook!

My favorite part is how unabashedly themselves both main characters are in every way - except feelings.

The writing is similar to the books in the Half-Moon Hollow series by Molly Harper.

I definitely recommend this book for romance lovers!

When best friends, Sam and Carter, who both unknowingly have feelings for each other, are tasked with planning Carter’s cousins wedding they team up to try to get the wedding called off. As their crazy plan plays out, Carter and Sam fight their feelings for each other until one shocking admission changes everything.

I loved this book from the very first page. I a big fan of best friends to lovers and this story was exactly that, filled with crazy shenanigans and witty banter. I loved Sam and Carter and was so happy when they finally got together. The only thing I didn’t love was the slow burn to their getting together. I wish it would have come a little sooner and we could have seen them together more, but either way this was still a great friends to lovers romance! If this is your trope, this book is worth the read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an audiobook version of this book!

Friends to lovers- such a great trope. Gotta love it when someone is finally able to get out of the friend zone! Everyone thinks it will ruin friendships but usually they make the couples that end up together. Super cute.

🌀Synopsis
Sam and Carter have been friends forever and Sam is absolutely in love with him. He’s not into her though so she’s determined to let her feelings go.
The thing is- he is into her. So into her in fact he wears a rubber band to snap him out of thoughts of her. He’d never tell her though, he doesn’t want to lose the friendship.
When Carter’s cousin announces her plan to marry her deadbeat boyfriend- the two hatch a plan. They will agree to be part of the wedding but they are going to secretly try to sabotage it.
All their scheming just brings them closer until Sam finally confesses her feelings. Sure that Carter doesn’t feel the same way, she pushes him away. He waits patiently to tell her how he truly feels.

Best friends, Samantha and Carter, long time best friends team up together to sabotage a wedding of a friend (Samantha’s) who also happens to be Carter’s cousin. This was definitely a cute and light hearted rom com with laugh out loud moments. Lots of funny scenes and flirty moments. Read if you like friends to lovers, dual POV, baseball references, witty banter and in a reading slump. Spice level is low level, pretty clean. Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for an audiobook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A fun lighthearted RomCom of two best friends trying to hide their growing feelings for each other. Samantha is walking a tightrope, trying to support her friend who is pregnant and too sick to plan her wedding. Who also happens to be the cousin of her best friend, Carter, so now they have wedding plans things to do. But Carter also is trying to break up his cousin engagement, he is so against the groom to be.
Love the banter between the MC, also the little sly Cub remarks are funny and I am a Cub fan. The narrator did an excellent job with the story. Can’t wait to read the next one in the series. Thank you NetGalley for this eARC. I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an Advance Reader Copy of this story. #NetGalley #MaidofDishonor

Sam and Carter have been best friends for so long. Both have feelings for the other but don't want to jeopardize the friendship by saying anything. 

This is the exact kind of Awwww book I need to get me out of a slump. This friends to lovers romance was so light and cute. I absolutely loved both Sam and Carter and was cheering their happy ending on throughout the whole book. How is this my first book from this author? I can not wait to read more!

This was a very cute book. I am a sucker for a good Rom-com book that can make you feel like they are sitting right next to you telling their story. I will 100% be reading more books by this author and really want to now buy this book to have it on my shelf to show people when they come over.

This was a quick read that had some laughs and hijinks. Sam is all in from the start, but Carter takes some convincing. There were some funny parts as they try to prevent his cousin (annoying character) not to get married. The male voice actor did a good job, but I found the female voice actors voice to be very grating. All in all, a cute but obvious book that could have used some spice.

I started Maid of Dishonor this morning expecting to make a bit of progress in it, but I ended up listening to the entire book with only a brief pause to run some errands. That’s always the sign of an engrossing read for me. I enjoyed these characters and their narrators and had fun getting to know Sam and Carter. I wish there had been more time to see their romance come to life, and I felt like the Maya story took up too much of this story, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless.

Gracie Ruth Mitchell’s Maid of Dishonor is a charmingly funny, friends to lovers, sweet romance. FMC Sam and MMC Carter are best friends who are charged with planning a quick wedding for Carter’s cousin to a complete deadbeat. As they go about trying to subtly convince his cousin not to go through with the wedding, they are desperately trying to hide their feelings for each other for fear of losing their friendship.

The structure of the story is really interesting. I found myself both invested in Carter’s cousin’s situation with the deadbeat as well as Carter and Sam’s situation. Mitchell does a great job balancing the two storylines and her writing is hilariously engaging. I did find there was a little disconnect between the title of the story and the plot because it’s really Carter who is hellbent on preventing the wedding, but it is catchy as titles go, and they both do team up to do so I can see why it was chosen.

Carter and Sam’s characters are so charming, and I found myself absolutely absorbed by their delightful banter back and forth. I was also completely charmed by all the little nuances of their friendship, like when Carter lists the levels of crying that Sam has, and brings her chocolate chips when she’s on her period, or when Sam tells Carter that Albert Pujols (her aloevera plant, not the famous baseball player) is dying, and Carter panics, flipping to ESPN to verify. Honestly, they are so well knit, that I found my usual frustration with friends-to-lovers absent because I would absolutely understand why neither of them wanted to mess up the good thing they had.

Also, this story would not be the same without Sam’s landlord Winnifred, who provided a lot of the giggles I had, and most especially when she spoke about Boris.

I listened to the audiobook, performed by Eva Wilhelm and Brandon Utah. The performers give the story a fun, conversational tone that lends itself well to the audiobook.

Thank you to #Netgalley, Gracie Ruth Mitchell and Dreamscape Media for this Advanced Listener Copy. My review and opinions are my own.

This is a review of the audiobook. I don’t normally give this disclaimer but there is a reason that we will get to later.

The story follows Sam and Carter, best friends who will embark on a mission to break up a wedding. Carter’s cousin is pregnant and getting married to someone who is not only a horrible match for her but a horrible person.

Sam is the maid of honor and Carter is a groomsman. All they want to do is break up the wedding. Both characters are typical romantic comedy cliches but they are well-written good versions of that.

I really enjoyed the interactions between Sam and Carter, they were both such strong characters. The whole story you will be smiling when they are together.

My only issue with this book was the narration for Sam. Eva Wilhelm emphasizes words in an unusual way. She even says her name with a strange emphasis on the “m” in Sam. At times it was enough to pull me out of the story. It was disappointing because Brandon Utah did an excellent job as Carter.

This is a book I wish I would have read instead of listened to. If that were the case I would have given it a 5/5 but for the audio, I will have to go a little lower.