Just finished reading this book, I enjoyed it and read it in a few sittings. Charlie was a likeable main character and I enjoyed his POV chapters. Sarah, I found harder to like at times- I think once we found out more like Danny it was easier to understand her. The building romance and the falling in love, again I found that hard to see, but I was I really pleased at the end of the book with the ending.
One more thing- the name of this book is totally unrelated? Sarah has been a bride before. I don’t understand how it’s always the bridesmaid.

I was drawn to this book because of the title and cover. In practice I struggled to connect with the writing style. Thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Super sweet book, loved the story and how it develops, the character where fun to read and I enjoy this one a lot , definitely recomendable

A charming romantic comedy that brings together comedian Charlie, and Sarah, a focused widow tasked with organising a friend's wedding. Despite initial differences, their humorous interactions and unexpected close quarters create a delightful story of budding romance. The author skillfully blends humour with moments of vulnerability, making this a heartwarming read for fans of unexpected connections and love in unusual circumstances.

3.5⭐ Cheeky comedian Charlie and widow Sarah end up spending more time together than they want to at their friends' wedding when too many people overbook their holiday house. At first, it seemed like a really odd pairing (even for a romance book!), but both Charlie and Sarah had issues they had to grow through. In some ways, I enjoyed this book. Both characters were likable, but I just didn't get a lot of the humor. I'm not sure if that's because I'm older (40s) or because of the cultural differences. (Also, I haven't read the other books in the series, so that might also be a factor!) Either way, it was an enjoyable read, if not one of my favorites.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

Unbeknownst to me, Always the Bridesmaid is the fourth in a series. I’ve done this several times and I never learn, but thankfully it read well as a stand-alone book. It is pretty clear, however, once you get deeper into it that there are dynamics in the friend group that may be important to understand from previous books. Either that or the main characters’ guy friends are really possessive and weird. Sarah and Charlie were both incredibly flawed and likable protagonists, and the story unfolded nicely. I wish the author had done more through dialogue than she did— especially when they were traveling through London. It ended up seeming a little laundry list-y as opposed to really painting a picture of their connection. Also- the grand gesture— too much for me. Very cringe. That being said, I enjoyed the book overall and would try others in the series.

Always the Bridesmaid is the fourth book in Laura Carter’s Brits in Manhattan series. Sarah and Charlie meet while attending the wedding of Jake and Jess. They’re forced into close proximity by having to share a car ride, then a room and finally a last minute trip for the groom. Sarah is a widow who doesn’t do relationships and is guarding her heart. Charlie also doesn’t do relationships due to abandonment issues from his childhood. They develop a friendship and romantic connection while Charlie helps her cross off her list of things to do in London. I thoroughly enjoyed the series and all the characters love stories. I first discovered the series after reading “friends with benefits” as an ARC. After reading, I was hooked and had to purchase the first two books in the series. I would love to see a fifth book wrapping up everybody’s love stories. I highly recommend the these books if you’re looking for a fun, entertaining and engaging romantic comedies. Thank you again to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

what is not to love about this book or author. This is a go to author so it was a must read for me. do it today.

Laura Carter has weaved her magic with Always the Bridesmaid.

This is very much a slow burn romance with plenty of drama along the way. Sarah is the organiser in her group and little miss fixit. When she flys to the UK for her best friends wedding she is thrust together with comedian Charlie who she has an instant dislike too.

The pair rub each other the wrong way but soon discover they have more in common than they thing. Will they overcome their demons to form a relationship or will it all prove too much.

Fantastic storyline and I loved that it all wasn’t roses and smooth sailing. I found Sarah endearing and Charlie frustrating but they just worked.

This book is a easy and relatively light read although theres a focus on bereavement.

I found the story to be quite simplistic and light hearted.

a fun light hearted romance. I hadn't read the previous books in the series initially and wen back and read them to better understand all the other characters mentioned and do recommend doing this. I enjoyed the story but found the ending rushed which I found brought it down in my head as the endings are always fun to read and impacts how I view the future of the couples lives.

I love Laura Carter and her books! I love the Brits in Manhattan Series and I am so glad Sarah got her own story. Getting to learn more about Sarah in this book and getting to know Charlie and seeing how their story developed was so great. I wish the ending wasn't so abrupt but overall I really liked this book.

I had high expectations of this because of how much I loved the book before this, “Friends with Benefits.” Well, let’s just say that “Always the Bridesmaid” didn’t meet those expectations. For one thing, it was a little bit too millennial. If you know, you know. It I cringed more than I wanted to. It was also too recent. Recent pop culture references or recent current events being referenced in a book makes me shudder. This is just a me thing/problem, ok? It’s just that when I’m reading a fictional book, I want it to remain fictional as much as possible and not remind me of real life. This did a lot. But that is not to say I didn’t entirely enjoy the book. I resonated a lot with Sarah, being a people pleaser and all. I also appreciated her journey of finding love again. Charlie isn’t the person she expected to end up with but she needed him. Even Charlie needed Sarah. The book was just okay overall. The ending felt rushed as well.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sarah and Charlie are thrown together as singletons at friends wedding. Never a comfortable place to be, but having to share a room too? Recipe for disaster. A really funny book but with serious undertones. I loved the way the characters gradually emerge before you.

I wouldn't usually pick up a book mid-way through a series but I missed that when I applied on NetGalley. However, I don't think it mattered much because the book gives you good background at the beginning so you are able to pick up where Sarah and her friends lives are.

This book is a easy and relatively light read although does heavily focus on bereavement as Sarah is a young widow. Having no experience in the subject I found it well handled by the author and believable without being insensitive or overly dramatic.

There was something that stopped me loving this book - I'm not sure what it was particularly but I'm blaming it on not having read the previous three in the series so not having to same depth of understanding for the characters as I might have.

Writing style is not for me. It was a little juvenile (lots of cringe, as well as an overly numerous amount of references to very current things like TikTok) and I get the ick a moment a character is misogynistic and it's not deconstructed in any meaningful way. Charlie was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek I think but he just came off as extremely unfunny, and I'm Aussie so it's not a case of Americans not understanding the British humour as was so belabored in the book. Because of that, I couldn't really buy into the chemistry or understand why they liked eachother in the end. Others might get more out of this but it just didn't vibe with me personally.

This is a light and easy read, while it may not be anything spectacular it's funny and just a nice time in general.
However, I did find it a bit too heavy on the movie references, and honestly I don't think there is any excuse for a book in this day and age to even be mentioning calories and sporting the "guilty foods" narrative. Unless the topic and objective is adressing fatphobia and the societal issues around "good vs bad" food (which in this particular book wasn't the case) I just find it completely unnecessary and quite ignorant, and because of it I will be rating this 2 instead of 3 stars.
Apart from this it was all in all a perfectly okay book.

I didn't love this book at first. It was hard to connect with the characters, and I was struggling to read with all the British slang. BUT once I started to pick up on some of it and got to know the characters better, I really started to enjoy the story. It was sweet to watch Sarah and Charlie spend time with each other exploring London. Lowkey that would be my dream: meeting someone while I'm traveling in a different country.

Sarah and Charlie are two people who, at first glance, seem like an unlikely match. Their story kicks off on the journey to a wedding, where Sarah is the matron of honor and Charlie is one of the ushers. Their first meeting isn't exactly a meet-cute; in fact, it sets the stage for a rocky start to their relationship.

As you dive into the book, you'll notice the ups and downs of Sarah and Charlie's connection. There are heartwarming, sweet moments that make you root for them, but there are also some clashes that add a real rollercoaster feel to their relationship. While these extremes add depth, they can occasionally make it a bit hard to fully invest in their love story.

One aspect that left me wanting more was the clarity of character relationships. The story introduces characters from previous books in the series without giving much context, and it left me feeling a tad confused. If you haven't read the earlier books, you might find it challenging to connect with these characters.

It takes you on a journey with two seemingly ordinary people. If you're into slow-burn romances with relatable lead characters and don't mind a more measured pace, this book is worth a read. It offers a unique twist on the typical love story and will appeal to those who enjoy taking their time with a romance.

I hate to say it but I really did not like this book. To be fair to the author, I had no clue that it was part of a series when I first started reading, so I won’t blame her for my confusion over the sudden introduction to lots of characters. I’d just say it definitely doesn’t work as a standalone!

I didn’t love the writing style or plot structure, it just felt a bit meandering and pointless. There were also frequent small writing errors which really began to irk me as the book went on (for example, on p.12 Sarah states that she’s often resented being nearly six foot tall because she has “a personal preference that women should always be taller than their partners” and states that this meant she was dealing with a smaller dating pool of men when she was single - surely the opposite would be true?).

However, my main issues with this book all revolved around the character of Charlie. I’ll try not to go on about it too much, but basically I was gobsmacked that I was supposed to like this man?! He refers to his sweaty “moobs” in the first sentence we read of his POV and this really sets the tone for the rest of his POV. He is a comedian and he is not funny in the slightest; within the first comedy set we see him do in the book he makes a misogynistic comment and then asks the audience in a tongue-in-cheek way “is that too much in this age of post-Me Too apocalypse?”. Yikes. He blames a lot of his unfunniness on being British, at one point lamenting that “British jokes so often don’t land with our neighbours from across the pond” and, as a Brit, I feel well within my right to say that no, he’s just unfunny.

I’ll cut myself off here before I go on a multi-page rant but basically, this book was not for me. I’ve had a look at some reviews of the previous books in the series and they seem to have similar issues with misogyny from the male characters and so I (unsurprisingly) will not be reading them.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.