You May Now Kill the Bride by Kate Weston was an entertaining enough novel, albeit slightly too long. If you are looking for women behaving badly with less of the drama than the Real Housewives franchise, pick up this book. The action was hidden underneath the women’s drama and the characters were pretty insufferable, yet this book was compulsively readable until the 80% mark when the drama just became tedious.

Have you ever picked up a book because you expect to at least know the basics of what will happen? That was me with this and kept being so pleasantly surprised.

My thoughts

I think you'll like this book if you're trying to find a quick story that you're not going to take super seriously. I really wouldn't say that any of the characters were particularly likeable, but I was just interested enough in the shenanigans that the women got up to that I kept reading through until the end, and overall I had a good time. If you are a fan of Young Rich Widows (review here) or other humorous women's fiction, you'll probably enjoy this read.

You May Now Kill the Bride is an engaging standalone mystery thriller by Kate Weston. Released 23rd May 2024 by Penguin Random House on their trade paperback imprint, it's 352 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a very dark and sardonic "mean girls" thriller murder mystery. It's written in alternating third person PoV with alternating voices from the main characters (a group of "friends" who are together for a wedding getaway where the bride gets killed). The narrative is choppy and unclear in places with respect to *which* of the suspects (it's a closed circle) is speaking.

-All- of them are narcissistic, jealous, neurotic, and unpleasant. On the plus side, it is snort-out-loud funny in some places, and the prose is well polished and quite finished.

Three and a half stars (mostly for the few over-the-top laughs and the well rendered prose - there are some technical issues with rapidly changing PoVs, but otherwise it's well written).

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

"You May Now Kill the Bride" by Kate Weston has an interesting concept. Childhood friends reunite for a bachelorette weekend only for the bride to end up murdered.

This story is an at times funny, murder mystery that provided plenty of background on the characters. For me, it felt almost like a detriment to do so as the characters grew increasingly unlikeable as the story continued.

It was evident that the relationships were all dysfunctional as there was constant complaining and bickering throughout. I felt as though I had a hard time caring about the characters and whether or not they died.

All in all, it was a nice concept but the execution was a little lacking for my personal taste.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this gifted ARC.

Childhood Friends, Deadly Bachelorette

You May Now Kill the Bride by Kate Weston is a wry thriller that revolves around five childhood friends—Lauren, Saskia, Dominica, Farah, and Tansy—who reunite for a bachelorette weekend. The story takes a deadly turn when the bride-to-be, Farah, drops dead, making all her bridesmaids suspects in her murder. Through flashbacks and present-day events, secrets and grudges come to the forefront, making everyone question their friendships and trust.

Overall, You May Now Kill the Bride is a thrilling and entertaining read that offers a fresh take on the murder mystery genre, enriched with humour and keen insights into female friendships.

I wanted to like this one more than I did. A bride suddenly dies at her hen party. Pretty soon it become apparent that she was murdered when something she was allergic too was only found in her glass. As the story unfolds, and more people die, suspicion begins to fall on her closest friends. All of whom may have had a reason to kill.

Unfortunately, none of the characters were very likeable, which is probably intentional. I felt that the mystery seemed to drag on and then was wrapped up too quickly.

This was entertaining enough but overall did not work for me. I found all of the characters to be obnoxious, which may be the point, but I was rolling my eyes throughout the whole story. If this was supposed to be a satire the commentary fell flat for me. 2.5 stars.

A deliciously dark and witty thriller with a cast of flawed characters. There are many twists and turns which kept me guessing throughout. An entertaining read.
Many thanks to Random House and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you NetGalley Random House and Kate Weston for my free digital copy. I was drawn to this book by its title and I was not disappointed. What could go wrong when five childhood best friends get together at a bachelorette party? Murder of course. Readers who enjoyed “Dial A for Aunties “ and “Counterfeit” will enjoy reading this book. It has the perfect mix of mystery and humour.

One of the best psychological thriller that I've read this summer! I could not stop reading this I had to know what happened next. One of the best books I've read this summer. I absolutely loved it. I want to reread it already!!
5 star read!!

A group of old friends attend a bachelorette weekend and when the bride dies, suddenly everyone is a suspect. Overall, the characters were full of secrets and bad decisions that made for a rather unlikeable cast that had you constantly questioning their choices and yet you're interested in finding out who is behind everything. Readers who like a lot of drama will like this one.

*3.75 rounded up. I was into this story from the beginning. I wanted to know who the murderer was and the girls' secret. I liked how we flashbacks to different times in their lives to understand the foundation of their friendship more. It also gave us insight on who the murderer might be. Having multiple POVs was amazing. I could somewhat guess the twists but not fully which I enjoyed. There was a lot of murders, the line in the description saying "Who will be left standing when the bouquet is thrown" is so accurate. I get why there were multiple murders but I was put off once the third one happened.


Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

thank you to netgalley, the publisher, and to kate weston for the advanced reader copy of "you may now kill the bride". are you up for a who-dunnit in which the bride-to-be is murdered during her bachelorette weekend?? if so, you should read "you may now kill the bride" by kate weston. the premise was really interesting, but it lost momentum a little before the midway point of the story. the majority of the characters got on my nerves, so it made it very difficult to connect with or relate to any of them, with the exception of maybe toby. i felt myself going into a reading slump while reading "you may now kill the bride", but by that point i was too far in to not know who the killer was.

"You May Now Kill The Bride" starts at one woman's hen do (bachelorette) weekend, where we meet a group of formerly close-knit friends thrown together again for a "healthy" weekend hen do. We quickly find out that not all is at it used to be between the old friends, and when the bride ends up dead the plot thickens.

What follows is a twisty tale of old friendships gone wrong, and how things are most definitely not what they seem.

This was an enjoyable romp through the charcters pasts as well as present. Each character was pretty well fleshed out and I came to like some of the individuals in the group as we neared the end of the book. The murder wasn't gory (just how I like my murders!) and overall the tone remained light despite the more serious subject matter.

This was a great book overall and I would read more from this author.

Slightly strange but very fun wedding read. Who is killing the brides and bridesmaids? Beware of hen parties! These old friends definitely have a lifetime ofsecrets.

I loved this book!

The mysteries were intriguing and surprising, and the background stories were brought into the plot well. While all the characters are majorly flawed, they all have redeeming characteristics and we can see ourselves a bit in each (or at least most) of them. This is an interesting genre combining "chick lit" (I'm sure there's a new and better name for it by now) and not-quite-suspense, and I am all about it. There was humor and familiarity in the plot, a light-heartedness to it despite the murder aspect.

I truly enjoyed this multiple perspectives format - while it sometimes can be a bit frustrating when it changes by chapter, this was written with perspective changing (a few times!) literally within one paragraph, and it was fantastic! And the ultimate unveiling was still a surprise!

Looking forward to more books by this author!

You May Now Kill the Bride
Written by Kate Weston
Published by Random House Publishing Group
Release Date May 14, 2024

“ Who will be left standing when the bouquet is thrown?”

This one is a real thriller that pins you down and holds you there as you read this book full of twists and turns. It is definitely one hell of a ride and you will not want off.

Five friends, all with many complex issues in their personal lives, are headed out for a bachelorette party that they hope will bring them back to the way they were in school. Work and personal life has infringed upon their friendship and now each of them want to get together and have some girl time. There is one thing though that they are all keeping quiet about. Something that happened 20 years ago. Something that is keeping these very different women together.
Tansy is determined to have a wedding that brings her and Ivan together. Ivan however isn’t all he portrays himself to be. But that is not stopping Tansy from marrying him. The bachelorette party is being held at a wellness retreat and at first everything goes perfectly. It doesn’t take long for resentment and old grudges to rear their ugly heads. Then, to everyone’s dismay, Tansy dies after drinking a drink that had been poisoned. AND, all of the bridesmaids became the suspects and they all needed to prove they were innocent……but were they? Someone knows what happened and that same someone could know what happened years ago. Could the two be connected?

This is an extremely well written book with characters that are well developed and ones that you love to hate. This book took me by surprise because I had never heard this authors name before I am very picky about mystery/thrillers as far as ratings go. This one is a 5++. I couldn’t stop reading it and neglected to feed my family, our fur baby, and was up late reading it in hopes of finishing it. (Everyone ate btw….they just had to make their own). If you love a great girlfriend murder mystery, then you ABSOLUTELY MUST READ THIS BOOK. I truly am shouting to you. This author knows how to throw in twists and turns all while not giving any bread crumbs. No predictability in here. You will have to read the whole book to figure it out. I just knew I thought I had if figured out. Turned out I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Why don’t you read it to see if you can figure it out?

None of the characters in this book are likable, which I usually like, however in this case I almost DNF. The characters are all entitled, whiny, and narcissistic in the most annoying ways possible. The group of five women have been friends since they were kids, however you wouldn’t know that from all the talking behind each other’s backs that goes on. The only reason I kept reading was because more people kept getting murdered and I just wanted to know who it was. I may have also hoped they all were just gonna off each other lol. The ending of the book was a little unexpected and somewhat entertaining.

*Provided a DRC (digital review copy) from the publisher for review. All opinions are my own.

Tansy, Farah, Lauren. Saskia, and Domenica became fast friends in grade school, and they have stuck together through good times and bad. They all have their secrets, and as they move into a season with two weddings between them all, those secrets will start leaking out and making trouble for them all.

Farah got engaged to her boyfriend after dating for many years, and she was excited to finally plan her wedding. After waiting so long, she wants to make sure that her wedding is perfect, from the bachelorette party to the ceremony. So she plans a getaway to Ibiza for her bridesmaids, and she can’t wait to have a perfect weekend with them.

But as Farah was making her perfect plans, Tansy showed up and announced that she had gotten engaged. She’d only been seeing him a few months, but she was going to get married right away, and she planned a bachelorette weekend at a wellness camp, the weekend before Farah’s bachelorette weekend in Ibiza. Farah resents her for that, but there is nothing she can do. To be the happier bride, Farah has to be gracious.

Saskia was the first in the group to get married, and now she’s a trying to start a business as a professional event planner, so Tansy asked her to help plan the wedding, and she is annoying them all with the group texts and imperious attitude. Domenica is an attorney with powerful clients going through expensive divorces. She is strong and independent and resents Saskia for giving up on her dreams and becoming a wife and mother to someone she believes is not worthy of her. Lauren works at a cosmetics company and feels like the others don’t think much of her job. She’s been in love with Farah’s brother since high school and still carries a torch for him even though he ended their relationship and is dating a younger woman named Eva.

Eva and Tansy became fast friends after Farah introduced them, so Tansy has invited Eva to be part of her wedding and, of course, to come to the bachelorette weekend. Eva is a content creator, so she was able to get Tansy some of the things for her wedding for free or at a discount, like this alcohol-free, organic wellness weekend. But when Tansy has an allergic reaction during the cacao ceremony, a search for her EpiPen yields nothing. Tansy is dead, but was it intention, or just a cruel accident?

It’s not until Farah’s modified bachelorette weekend that the women know for sure, because a friend of Saskia’s who was with them is poisoned. At that point, the police are certain that it’s murder. All of the women in the friend group have their secrets, but which one of them would kill to keep those secrets? And as the women become more anxious about their safety (and for Farah, about her wedding), will they all survive? Or will there be more killings before it’s all over?

You May Now Kill the Bride is a darkly comedic look at bridezillas and old friends, at the secrets that hold friend groups together and the ones that rip them apart. It asks the question, what if one of your ride-or-dies turns to killing to keep their secrets, and the answer is not at all what you would expect.

I enjoyed reading You May Now Kill the Bride, but there were times I struggled to keep all the characters straight in my head. And many of them, if not all of them, come across in the beginning as very unlikable. But as I got to know them more and find out about their backgrounds, it was easier to see the good in them too, so I started to root for them. It did take some time though. I think anyone who grew up in a tight group will see some of their own friends in these women, and may feel a stronger tug towards how they interact. And those of us who don’t can see the inner workings of the group and see what we missed out on.

Egalleys for You May Now Kill the Bride were provided by Random House Trade Paperbacks through NetGalley, with many thanks.