This book should have been really depressing. Phoebe's life is literally falling apart and she is on the verge of ending it, yet this book is so full of humor, deep characters and such grace. I loved watching Phoebe and Lila figure out how to live again.

I loved this book. What started as a journey I was initially nervous about, admittedly I often shy away from super popular reads, turned into one I absolutely adored, and think I needed. With a slow start, and a depressing one at that, The Wedding People takes readers on a trip to the gorgeous Cornwall Inn in Rhode Island, where Phoebe plans to enjoy one last hurrah on her own after a tumultuous conclusion to her marriage. What she does not plan on is a wedding to be in progress, nor to be mistaken as one of the guests. She's determined that the wedding will not throw her off course, but the bride, Lila, seems to pull her into her orbit despite her frequent rejections for company, help, or friendship. What follows is a beautiful, funny, and heartwarming tale of a dynamic woman and the way her life will be changed forever by a bride seeking perfection.

I truly did not expect to love this book, but I found myself relating to every character and situation that Phoebe either was part of or witnessed. From the hopeless feeling to the innermoment of realizing there is still hope to be found, the college friends pretending to somehow be so insync and the family members watching a train wreck about to occur, The Wedding People is a fictional story that feels real. It is somehow both serious and hilarious, with profound commentary on grief, love, and self-discovery. I found myself adoring Phoebe's inner monologue and even more so, and super surprising to me, was the way the story was so built upon dialogue. This book shines.

An easy five stars! I adored this novel, it’s heavy and lighthearted at the same time - certainly a tough feat to achieve. Phoebe’s story is a complicated mess, but she doesn’t let derail her empathy, even if it derails her plans. Highly recommended to contemporary fiction readers.

Phoebe Stone arrives at the Cornwall Inn in Newport Rhode Island to find she is the only guest who isn't there for the weeklong celebration of the wedding of Lila and Gary. Phoebe has long dreamed of staying at the inn with her husband but is there alone, allowing herself one last splurge. After meeting Lila, the two women begin to confide in each other and develop an immediate friendship. As the week progresses, everyone seems to confide in Phoebe and with each confidence she discovers more about herself and what has led her life to this stage. She's open hearted and this leads everyone to look more at themselves and what it is they truly want. I found so much joy and humor in this and truly loved it from start to finish.

I really enjoyed this book! What stood out the most for me was the humor—Alison Espach has such a gift for weaving wit into situations that could otherwise feel heavy. I loved how she managed to tackle tough, sometimes uncomfortable subjects, but always with just the right touch of levity.

The characters felt real and layered, and I found myself relating to different parts of most of them (which, honestly, made the story hit even closer to home). It’s rare to read a book where you can laugh, think, and feel seen all at once, but this one managed to do exactly that.

If you like stories that balance heart and humor while still diving into deeper themes, I’d definitely recommend giving The Wedding People a read.

Fast. Fun. Fabulous! Phoebe is an adjunct English professor who has been dumped by her academic husband for another friend/ coworker afterPhoebe’s last IVF treatment ends in a failed pregnancy. Phoebe has suffered so much loss, that when her precious cat dies, Phoebe takes her cat’s pain meds, puts on her fanciest dress and heels and checks into a very ritzy hotel in Newport RI. A hotel that she has always wanted to visit with her husband. The grand Cornwall hotel been booked for an entire wedding party, but Phoebe will not be deterred by her plans to end her life. However, when meeting the Bride in the hotel elevator, Phoebe’s shared plans threaten the Bride ‘s perfect wedding week and the Bride cannot allow it. Somehow Espach takes this tragic premise, fills The Wedding People with chance encounters, genuine characters, great humor, & insight, to demonstrate how even the most carefully laid plans can be subject to radical change.

The Wedding People’s message is one of letting go of grief and opening oneself up to a fresh start. This is a really
fun read featuring lots of engaging characters and a truly epic wedding celebration which offers so many opportunities for chaos and absurdity.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A recently separate suicidal woman finds herself in the midst of a week-long wedding party.

I had a love/hate relationship with this entire book. At the end of it all, I think <u>The Wedding People</u> is another overly-hyped book. The extreme praise of endless 5 star reviews on here is a little dumbfounding to me...but I'll just break down my feelings about the book below.
I loved the general premise.
But I hated the way Espach chose to use suicidal ideation as a plot device (her research and care with handling the delicate subject matter was lacking and it showed).
I hated the writing style. It was at times stream of consciousness while also being third person omniscient? It would randomly switch from dialogue from Phoebe's perspective to an inner thought or monologue of another character. Not to mention the sentence structure (or lack thereof) gave me a headache.
I really enjoyed some characters, loathed others, and could never truly get a good grip on Phoebe...
By the last 1/4 of this novel, I was just so ready for it to be over. The pacing dragged endlessly.

I really wanted to love this but it truly was a chore to finish. Two out of five stars for a story that had promise, but just didn't deliver.

What do you do when you show up at a storybook inn ready to kill yourself and end up part of a wedding party to guests you don’t know, that is the million-dollar question for Phoebe Stone? Told in quick sometimes quirky dialogue this is that story.
Lila is a self-centered bride who does not want Phoebe to ruin her special day so she befriends Phoebe in hopes of salvaging her. In the end they both realize something special about themselves and make decisions that will alter their lives.
Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt and Company for my ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

Despite the premise of a woman planning to end her life because everything has just gone wrong, this was a surprisingly sweet and heartwarming book, with a lot of wonderful characters (the bride is just fantastic) and a perfect setting. Yes, some of the coincidences were a bit much, but if you just go with it, it’s worth suspending some disbelief and letting the story take over.

Phoebe has always wanted to stay at the Cornwall Inn, a luxurious hotel in Newport, Rhode Island. But when she finally decides to go, it’s not the vacation she dreamed of. Instead of being there with her husband, she is there alone, and the hotel has been overrun by guests for an extravagant week-long wedding celebration. When Phoebe meets Lila, the bride-to-be, she finds herself absorbed into the wedding festivities and discovers that maybe this vacation was worth taking after all.

The first 40 or so pages of this book are rough, to the point where I considered DNF’ing it. I’m not sure if it was the tone, or if I wasn’t in the right headspace at the time, but it felt really heavy. Phoebe starts off in a really low place and it’s tough to read. But I kept going, and I’m really glad I did. Phoebe is a relatable main character and I really liked her interactions with Lila and the other wedding guests. This book deals with some really difficult themes, but the author handles them delicately and with humor. Ultimately it’s a hopeful story about starting over and rediscovering who you are, even when you think your life is ending.

I loved this book. It’s weird and warm and quietly devastating in that way that sneaks up on you. A woman ends up at a mysterious seaside wedding venue surrounded by strangers (who may or may not also be running from something), and what unfolds is part existential rom-com, part grief novel and completely gut-wrenching in the best way. It’s about loneliness and connection and that strange feeling of trying to move forward when everything feels stuck. This one’s staying with me. Forever recommending it.

3.5 stars - This book pleasantly surprised me. I love how the characters are real and raw and all trying to become better. The story pulled me in and although some characters were hard to love at times, it was enjoyable.

One thing I will note is, this book does mention Covid and the pandemic a lot so, if that’s something you don’t want to read about, you may want to skip this one.

Trigger Warnings: suicidal thoughts and actions, depression, pet death, cheating spouse, divorce, drug and alcohol use

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of The Wedding People by Alison Espach in exchange for my honest review and opinion. I don't even know where to begin with how great this book is! It truly is one you never ever want to end. I was so drawn in from the beginning and was unable to put it down as I literally had to keep turning the pages to see what was going to happen next. It was one of the best reads I've read in a really long time.

Phoebe is the type of character that stays with you. I read this book almost a year ago and forgot to submit a review, but I still recommend this book to people who are looking to get out of a reading slump. I do think the title & cover make it appear to be a lighter read than it is, but its incredibly enjoyable, laugh out loud funny, yet so so deep.

What a wonderful read! This is a book that is both entertaining and allows you to learn new things about yourself.

Phoebe arrives in Cornwall with the goal of treating herself to one last indulgence before she ends her life. Instead she becomes embroiled in a wedding party that allows her to rethink her decisions.

I cannot say enough about the depth of this book. There are deeply sad moments, humorous mishaps, new and life-changing relationships, and so much drama!

Phobe Stone arrives at the Cornwall Hotel all dressed up without a piece of luggage -as she has run away from her depressing life. She finds herself as the only person at the hotel not invited to a week long celebration of a wedding, This is one of the best books I’ve read this year, I loved all the characters and felt like I knew them. It was a book of self discovery, new friendships and realizing that with everything sad in life - there is a way to make it to better days.

This was a quick read for me because I had to read "just one more chapter" to find out what was going to happen next. The writing made me laugh out loud more than once which is saying something when it's a book where the main characters suffer from depression. As someone who works in healthcare and has experience dealing with the different iterations of depression and mental health in general, I appreciated how well researched the depictions of depression were in this book. As a reader, you could see the different ways this can manifest in people and how they deal with it.

I loved Phoebe and want a sequel to this book!

This book was very inspirational in that it took characters in various degrees of learning about themselves and shows how they each cope with that. I feel the readers can see themselves in the characters and relate to how painful the growth is. What happens when everything you believed about yourself isn’t real? What if you realize everything you thought you wanted in life ended up not being so? How often do we try to force ourselves to fit into a mold rather than finding the mold we fit in easily. It was courageous how the characters all changed in the span of a week during a very pivotal time of their lives.

The Wedding People follows Phoebe Stone, a woman at rock bottom who unexpectedly gets swept into the chaos of a lavish wedding at a Newport hotel. What starts as a weekend of despair turns into an unlikely journey of hilarity and self-discovery, thanks to the bride’s relentless determination to keep Phoebe from ruining her perfect event. Espach’s writing is witty and observant, capturing the absurdity of high-society weddings while exploring themes of grief, reinvention, and human connection. The novel balances its heavier moments with giggle-inducing scenes, keeping it both poignant and entertaining.

Set in a seaside hotel, this novel captures the awkward, poignant, and sometimes magical liminal spaces where strangers collide. Espach’s characters are full of longing and sharp observation, and she builds tension with subtle emotional truths. A surprisingly profound and altogether glorious beach read.