A Storybook Wedding by KJ Micciche ✍️
Overall Rating: 3/5 ⭐
Publishing Date: May 14 2024

I was drawn to this book immediately because of what a gorgeous cover it has!

I did find the overall story engaging, but it sometimes lost me with all its book references and continual talk about writing/publishing. I think people who are writers or interested in becoming a writer would find this book really amazing since it definitely gives you a look into that world!

I think I would read other books by this author, and that this novel is one that will appeal to many, even if it wasn't my favourite.

In the beginning, I didn't vibe with Cecily's nervous ramblings and honestly skimmed through them when it happened. The drunk karaoke night was definitely cringe-worthy in the way she acted. But she was still a lovable character who is independent, driven, and strong, and she slowly grew on me. Although for someone who said she was over her relationship with her ex, she sure talked about it a lot. Cecily and Nate were a very cute couple who were very supportive of each other's writing endeavors. I thought the ending was a little rushed, but I appreciated the flashforward in the end.

This was a cute rom-com book with the fake relationship/marriage of convenience trope, but nothing particularly stood out to me from the plot/characters as unique, so I was between a 3 and a 4/5. At times, I thought that some of the scenes were overall a little bit too much (in terms of dialogue, emotions, etc.), particularly the dramatic ones, that made it unrealistic to me. I did learn a lot about the writing process from this book, and I now have a new appreciation for book writing/publishing.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
A Storybook Wedding releases May 14, 2024

1.5

Cecily is a children’s librarian and has just been granted a $20K scholarship to pursue an MFA in creative writing at the age of 29.
An impromptu night of karaoke after a literary event leads to Cecily drunkenly kissing a faculty member, which ends up being documented publicly. The two of them agree to enter a marriage of convenience in order to save themselves from breaking the “no faculty member/student relationship rule.”

For a book that went so deeply into the craft of writing and how to structure a narrative in a way that is compelling, it’s ironic how this wasn’t able to deliver on any of the points that were mentioned throughout.
The pacing and transitions were awful, and the characters were cringy, awkward, and often gave me second-hand embarrassment.
Too many additional subplots distracted from the main thread of the story, which I <I>assumed</I> would largely tie to a wedding of some sorts (it doesn’t really) — in hindsight, the scene where they were violently vomiting from shellfish poisoning probably wasn’t necessary, and the multiple pages of excerpts from the main character’s manuscripts could have been cut down.
Additionally, I found that the characterizations weren’t consistent. Cecily struggled in the workshop to interact with the Gen Z students, but soon after was naturally using slang like “this is life” and “I can’t even” in her everyday conversations.

For a novel in the romance genre, there was very little romance to speak of. Nothing happens until 70% (not even a convincing slow build of sexual tension), and then a third-act break up ensues 20% later!

The nail in the coffin for me was comparing blue balls to giving birth, which is fucking wild on so many levels.
<i>“Another day of workshops. Another night of painful blue balls. To be fair, I’m actually starting not to notice the blue balls so much. They’re becoming part of me. Like when a woman gives birth and her stomach changes—and it never quite goes back to what it was before because the muscles tear and stretch. Like that. Only it’s my nut sack.”</I>

Or, this: <I>“his full length springs forward like a clock on daylight savings time.”</I>

DNF. I'm sorry, no, if CJ is that thin skinned, she needs to stick to reading books instead of trying to write them.

DNF’ed this book at 14%.

I really tried to get into this book but I felt like I was the one in the MFA program not the main character. Lots of references I didn’t quite understand. This book had so much potential if it was just written a little differently.

After loving The Book Proposal, I was absolutely thrilled NetGalley granted me access to this ARC. Cecily was an immensely likable character and the sarcasm and humor were on point. I highly recommend.

Miss Independent has been playing on repeat in my head since finishing this book and now I must go resurrect my 2000s playlists.

Cecily is a quirky, funny main character and I loved reading her thoughts.

I was teetering between 3 and 4 stars for this, but I ended up going with 4 stars because of the final interactions between Cecily and Nate in Cecily's apartment. *Swoon*

Plus, marriage of convenience is always a fun trope.

My only feedback is the long chapters at the start of the book with different timeline jumps would have benefitted from their own chapter breaks, but after the first couple of chapters they ended up flowing really well even though they were on the longer side.

I enjoyed this book in general, but I do think it had a lot of filler / repetition that could have been removed. A shorter book doesn't mean it's bad, it just means you're not filling pages with unnecessary words. It was truly the only thing that annoyed me about this book.
I enjoyed the characters, I thought they were likeable and relatable. This book makes you feel your emotions. I laughed, I teared up, I loved the love.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

"Words can have intense power, and once they're out there, you can't take them back. Words change things."

A Storybook Wedding is about Cecily, a librarian who is pursuing her MFA, and Nate, a famous author & professor at Matthias College. I'm not going to lie, I almost DNF'd this book because the author threw so many reference at me in the beginning that it was honestly hard to read. I'm familiar with a lot of the reference and I understand that Cecily is a bookworm, but I didn't really think it was necessary. Also, the author used a second person POV where the character is basically speaking to you. I personally don't see this POV very often and it took me out of the story a bit.

However, I'm glad I stuck it out. Our FMC is a 30ish year old who is trying to find her way in the world and is trying to come to terms that she is not following the same path that her mother would consider as successful - married with children. Nate, on the other hand, is experiencing impostor syndrome. He was published and became famous overnight and now that he's writing his second book, he's unable to. The two meet at Matthias College where they did not hit it off initially. Through an unfortunate circumstance, the two had to fake a marriage to save both of their careers.

Cecily and Nate's relationship was great! I found it to be mature and their communication with each other was fantastic. You can also see the slow buildup of their relationship, which made it more realistic to me. I love that they got to know each other and truly cared about each other.

One thing I truly appreciated about this book is that I got an insight into what authors go through to get published. It was eye-opening.

I found this book to be a fun read and I'd recommend it for a nice, easy read.

It makes feel so frustrated when a book literally has every factor to be a 5 star read and then manages to fall short.
The book started out strong, Cecily was such a loveable character, I liked how sarcastic and goal-oriented she was. She also likes stationary and organizing, a girl after my own heart.
While the timeline jumps at the first 2 chapters were confusing, I wasn't turned off by it. Some things deserve a little bit of sacrifice.
They start catching feelings and the romance went on smoothly. I liked how open and mature both of them were, there weren't any kind of quirky or misguided decisions, which, let's be real, is a staple when it comes to rom-coms.
Halfway through the book is when things started going wrong. The writing and pacing made hard not to skim through the pages.
The amount of times I read the details of Cecily's relationship with her ex-turned-brother-in-law was maddening.
It's like reading the same thing in different formats. First, Cecily sharing it in conversation, then parts of Cecily's writing about it. Also, other characters talking about it. It was so boring, to be honest.
The book overall should've been way shorter, a good story doesn't necessarily mean a long one. Part of the beauty of a good story is knowing when to end it.
At the end, as much as I liked the book, I found myself glad when I finished it.
I still recommend it though, it's definitely a good book.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

DNFed @ 19%

Oof I wanted to like this book but it's just not for me. The writing style is a bit too cringey with the way the narrator has a couple asides to the audience (addressing them as you). It reminded me that I was reading and pulled me out of the story. I could have gotten past that if I cared about the characters but unfortunately I wasn't compelled by them (possibly because there's a great amount of info-dumping about the details of our FMC's life but we don't get to see these things play out in real time so we could learn who she really is). I'm sure others will love this book because the premise is cute but the style didn't work for me 😕

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC!

A girl from queens who loves reading and sharing that love with others.. wait is this book about me?

Cecily Jane Allerton (CJ) is a Queens Public Library children’s librarian and aspiring author. Nate Ellis is an award winning literary golden boy and the newest professor for an esteemed MFA literary program. The same program CJ enrolls in to hone her skills and push towards publication. While the pressure builds for Nate to publish his second novel, CJ struggles to find her footing among her colorful classmates. After a night of seafood poisoning induced puking, Nate and CJ form a tentative friendship. After a wine and karaoke induced kiss lands them on late night TV, CJ and Nate have to come up with a plan quickly to prevent Nate from losing his teaching position. As is expected.. it does not all go according to plan.

Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks and K.J. Micciche for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review. These types of stories always conflict me because I love a good “what if” daydream but at the same time get so frustrated with how unrealistic they are. This is a quick read with moments of genuine humor. I’m having a hard time putting into words what I didn’t like about the book but can’t quite put my finger on it. Overall the characters and the story just didn’t sing for me and I felt like the pacing was off. If you enjoy light romantic comedies this might still be a great book for some poolside reading when it releases in May.

This was cute! The situation with the MC’s sister gave a uniqueness to this story. I enjoyed the main couple-they were a good fit for each other.

This was a really cute book. I love fake marriage romance books. And this one did not disappoint. The banter was very cute and the setting was perfect.

I quite enjoyed reading this story. I love fake-marriage stories. There was maybe a bit too much info dump. But an overall enjoyable story with likable characters.

This was just so so for me.
I think the concept is alright. The marriage of convenience to save themselves from scandal was interesting but I had a tough time with the characters and their romance.
These two are not that likable when the story starts. They come off as very judgmental. This improved a bit as the story went on but not enough in my opinion. I also had a hard time understanding why/what they liked about each other. They lacked chemistry.
Overall, the concept was interesting but I found the story lacking.

This was a good read.

I liked Cecily/CJ’s somewhat innocent enthusiasm for her new school and Neil/Pen’s sobering reality, as he tries to answer his “now what?” following his initial literary success.

Some parts of the book seemed a little too drawn out or over-explained, but I have no regrets having read it.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

DNF - I don't know what this was supposed to be, but when the setting is an info-dump followed by a flashback to the FMCs past that doesn't distinguish itself, the book is not for me. Also, the use of "She was a Karen" felt a little too out of place/try hard. Not the way for a MC to endear themselves to the reader.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Immediately drawn to the gorgeous cover. I adore a good wedding story and anything set on Block Island! The overall book was a bit too slow for me in regards to exciting dialogue and character development. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.