Slow to start but warms up quick!
A nineties style romcom with two mismatched people finding common ground. Charlie and Sarah’s best friends are getting married and being two singles at the wedding means that they have to share a room….
I think it must be really difficult to write a story with a comedian in it because you have the pressure on to be funny. Charlie is an off beat British comedian and some of his jokes are hit and miss for me. I thought the love story was slow to start but found it sweet.
Not my favourite read but a must read if you enjoyed the series.

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank netgalley and Boldwood Books for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't find the hero funny, and can we please stop putting hp references in books.

it's not easy to always stand by while your friends go on with there lives. Always the bridemaid.
Her husband is longer dead then they where married and she is always the one who cares about all others in there friend circle.
But then there is Charlie, new in the circle and completely not her type. He's hiding behind jokes so he is always the funny guy, but Sarah can see behind the curtains.

Such a lovely slow cooking love story. Always with the thought in mind, that Sarah already found the love of here life.

Cute and with a little bit of drama

Have fun reading!

If you're into forced proximity and enemies to lovers types of books, give this one a go!
It gives them both a big tick.

Set in London a big group of friends have gone on a pre wedding holiday. When some extra friends are added to the holiday, the last 2 to arrive have to share a room. I bet you've already guessed they both weren't too happy about it! Through plans of their friends and some coincidence they end up spending more time than they would've liked together.


Unfortunately I DNF'd this book at 31% and on chapter 12.
I gave this book a good go but I felt like I was pushing myself too much to keep going with it and it struggled to keep my attention.

I was kindly gifted an ARC copy of this book for an honest review through NetGalley.

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.