TL;DR: I listened to this on audio, and found the sound mix to be really wonky, to the point that it really took me out of the story. I would maybe read something else from the author since I enjoyed the read, but probably dinged it because I hated the audiobook so much.

As inspiring and lovely as everyone says. It's a warming read that deals with life's hardest themes in a hopeful way.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read “The Wedding People” for free in exchange for a review. This book has been on my NetGalley TBR for a WHILE now. I DNFed Espach’s other book, “Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance”, so I was a bit apprehensive about reading this one.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The book opens with Phoebe arriving at The Cornwall Inn in Newport, RI, and she is the only person there NOT associated with a very high-dollar, over-the-top “wedding week”. Phoebe is an outsider who eventually becomes an insider.

I enjoyed this story because it made me feel many emotions, often at the same time. Some of the characters did things that were just so maddening, but Espach created characters that allowed you to see their humanity and build empathy for why they were the way they were. She created dialogue that was almost slapstick at times, which offered much-needed comic relief when things got heavy. The bachelorette party scenes were laugh-out-loud for me.

Overall, I’d say that this was a 3.75 star read for me, rounded up to 4 stars.

This is one of those books that really snuck up on me emotionally. I was not prepared for how much it would suck me in. I found myself so enthralled with both Phoebe and the wedding people who quickly became so much more. I loved the way Espach started with surface level somewhat stereotypical characters and slowly unraveled their unique motivations and quirks throughout the story. This is a great vacation read if you're looking for something with a little more depth and complex emotions.

This story started off with a great pace. It slowed down a lot but overall not bad. I didn’t hate it.

After hearing so much buzz, I was so excited to receive an ARC of THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publishers, Henry Holt & Company | Henry Holt and Co.!

THE WEDDING PEOPLE is one of my favorite reads of 2024, and of recent memory. Phoebe Stone is a professor at a crossroads, arriving at a beautiful hotel in Rhode Island with big plans and big pain. I Her story is remarkable and Espach's writing is heartfelt, raw, hilarious, joyful, and life-affirming! I loved the cast of characters Espach creates in this novel and I will return to it again and again. I cannot recommend this book enough!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. Please note - this is book #3 in the Mountain Lodge Mystery series.

Misty Murphy is enjoying running her lodge. Sure, there have been a few issues, but she is looking forward to the holiday with her boys. They are spending their break from college with her and working at the lodge.

An international resort developer has booked her entire lodge for a week in December. He is bringing in some lucky people he is hoping to turn into investors for his new resort he wants to build near the lodge. The potential investors are an eclectic group, but settle in. On the day after the initial pitch, one of Misty's sons finds an odd rock outside - doesn't it look like a nose? That is because it is a nose. The nose of the developer of the resort and the groups host. Who, what, when, and why is an interesting tale.

A woman checks into her dream hotel in order to kill herself. Unfortunately, the rest of the hotel is booked for a wedding and the bride refuses to let a suicide mar her perfect day.

This novel was the most wonderful, hopeful, melancholy read and I feel should be literary fiction required reading. On top of a gorgeous cover, this book presents a funny, honest look at the performance of weddings, marriages, friendships, & family. There were so many references to the great, dramatic literature that molds an ~English girlie's~ unrealistic expectations for life and such strong writing with people and places and things that all felt so real and so relatable.

This mid-life crisis self-reflective novel has made me think so many thoughts after months without picking up a book. Spectacular.

DNF’d at 8%. I can’t do books where the main “shock value” or plot point/twist is the main character planning to commit suicide. Gives me the ick.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach is EVERYWHERE and often being named a book of the year, and for good reason! An incredibly moving and heart warming story about life, loss, relationships, and showing up for each other. Don’t miss it - the hype is earned. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! The Wedding People out now!

I was hesitant to read this because of all the hype it received - I was so nervous it would let me down. After a somewhat slow start for me, this book picked up, earned its hype, and made me fall in love with it. I loved the quirky writing style and am excited to see what Espach does next.

*The Wedding People* is a fun, sharp, and heartwarming read. Full of humor and drama, it’s a delightful look at love, weddings, and everything in between. A perfect escape!

Everyone shut up right now, I have a 5 star read to gush about!!!

Women’s divorce lit is maybe my favorite niche sub-genre, so it shouldn’t be surprising that I loved this, but mannnnn did I love this.

Phoebe is a literature professor who has recently lost her last living parent, her husband (to divorce), her best friend (also to the divorce), and her cat (rip Henry 🫶🏽), and is now in a depression so deep she can only see one way out. Enter ‘The Wedding People’. Will her burgeoning friendship with the Bride and Groom restore her to herself?

This book starts off pretty depressing and slowly turns really sweet. By the end of the story, I felt like I was reading an Emily Henry book, which was a very fun switch up! The only thing I’ll say, is that the ending was almost toooo easy, but lovely nonetheless.

Some quotes I liked:

“You can’t explain this kind of darkness to someone who has never felt it.”

“Phoebe had been raised to feel sorry for everything - sorry for being born, sorry for almost drowning, sorry for getting an A- on my exam, sorry for not bearing children, sorry for not getting to the last three slides of the PowerPoint, everybody. … A good woman. But where was the line? When did Phoebe being good become Phoebe being nothing?”

“The knowledge that she has finally done something she never thought she could do - she has made it out of the dark bedroom of her life. She is here.”

“And maybe they are all lonely. Maybe this is just what it means to be a person. To constantly reckon with being a single being in one body.”

“There are some people in the world who remind you of exactly how you like to speak.”
& similarly,
“She has forgotten the way conversations, really good ones, can change her - shape-shift her like a tree. Sometimes leave her bare, sometimes leave her fuller.”

“She wonders if her feelings could be a new form of love, one she’s never known before: love without expectation. Love that you are just happy enough to feel. Love that you don’t try to own like a painting. But she doesn’t know if that is a real thing. She hopes it is.”

If you need a vacation, this one is for you. In the Wedding People. we join a large wedding party at a posh tropical resort. Well, plus one young woman with a different agenda. It is an entertaining reminder of how quickly our lives can change course, whether you think you have it all planned out or that life is not worth living anymore.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the complementary arc.

This book took me far longer to read for how much I enjoyed it. I think the subject matter was a bit heavy for what I was experiencing in real life. That being said, I found the story so hopeful and enchanting. The characters were so complex and interesting. Overall, I’m very glad I finished it and really took my time to read it.

I was surprised by this one. Not the kind of book I usually read, but gave it a shot after seeing a lot of positive reviews. So glad I did. Such a lovely novel of personal growth, filled with unique characters, hard decisions, subtle humor, and a bit of romance. Highly recommended.

Sometimes when a book gets a lot of attention and buzz, I avoid it until the buzz dies down. I did that with this one, even though I have had an ARC since before it was published. I just picked it up and flew through it in no time at all. Like everyone else, I loved the characters and the tone, I laughed, I got a little emotional, etc. My only beef with this book is this habit the author has of inserting information between pieces of dialogue as though the characters are saying it. Hard to explain, but it annoyed me several times. Regardless, I will be reading more of this author's work.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm now an Alison Espach fan! This novel is unique and unlike anything I've ever read before. I will definitely be recommending this book to my followers and I plan on keeping an eye out for any future works. Thanks!

I really liked Wedding People. It started out a bit darker than I expected, but it ended up being a really heartfelt and lighter book overall. I had no idea what to expect going into it, but was pleasantly surprised.

Phoebe's life is a disaster. She has struggled with infertility, her husband left her for another woman, she lived through the pandemic, and now her cat has died. She books a room at the Cornwall Hotel and plans to kill herself using her cat's pain killers. But then she meets Lila, the bride of the wedding party staying at the Cornwall. Lila I diets she cannot kill herself because it would ruin the wedding. The two women strike up a weird friendship that helps them both cope with the things happening in their lives. There were times I wasn't sure I liked this book, but the characters and their stories compelled me to keep reading. It is sad, funny, and everything in between.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.