I wanted more, more thrilling times and more on the edge of my seat. It was a decent read but it didn’t hold me in. The book started off slow and i think that’s what killed it for me.

Five friends have been tight since they were girls. Now, one of them is getting married. Technically, two of them are but this book focuses on the first wedding, Tansy's. Mainly because the hen party is about to go off the rails.
It starts off bad enough that Tansy has a new influencer, ahem, "content creator" friend. Plus, she's gone all vegan in the last few years so her bachelorette is at a retreat that has no alcohol, no sugars, and nothing that makes a party fun. Plus, the five friends all have secrets including one big one. Tansy is particularly stressed because she is being blackmailed. She's not sure why. Or, to be more specific, she's not sure which one of her secrets is going to be exposed. Of course, it could be worse. She could be dead. And that's exactly what happens. But she's not the last to die...
There were so many arch comments that were dropped at the end of chapters. I felt like I was reading a serial radio show... but find out what happens in the next chapter! This was definitely fairly clued and the end was a bit over the top but a good story.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out May 14, 2024
ARC kindly provided by Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Love, marriage, friendship, blackmail, and murder are all present in this mystery. 5 childhood friends reunite for a bachelorette party, and one of them ends up murdered. This book had lots of little secrets and surprises from all of the friends, and it becomes apparent very quickly that everyone is holding something back from the others. The pacing was great, with a few flashbacks sprinkled in to reveal more background on each friend and info about a shared secret from their earlier years. The characters were all a little awful, and the author was great at developing them just enough to make them sympathetic then exposing their secret motivations and scandals. I really liked a lot of the dialog between the friends as well. 4 stars, would totally recommend to others like me who enjoyed books like The Guest List by Lucy Foley and One by One by Ruth Ware.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing this book, with my honest review below.

You May Now Kill the Bride was far more twisty than I anticipated and had me giggling at moments I didn’t anticipate (and may not have been appropriate). While we follow some truly terrible women as they get married or support each other in their journeys to wedding or through marriage, the heart of this book is really about murders of the bride(s) and what some unknown person may know about their pasts… though they can’t be sure which particular secret they’re killing for.

A lighter mystery but by no means one that won’t grab your attention, I hated the women but loved reading this.

Kate Weston has written a wickedly funny thriller full of plot twists and dark humor. When a getaway weekend bachelorette party ends with a dead bride, the remaining friends all start suspecting each other. Close friends since childhood, all the women have secrets, resentments and motives.The plot kept me guessing and the dark humor and snide conversation kept me laughing. Weston shows that sometimes your oldest friends are not necessarily your best friends.

Five women who have been friends since grade school find themselves chased by one death after another as they celebrate the days leading up to the weddings of two of their group. But their friendships aren't as close as they'd like to pretend after years of slights, growing up, and growing apart, and things get tense as the secrets start piling up and boiling over.

Some friendships should just be left to fade into good memories, but the women in this book have more than just the years of friendship bringing them together. And while it does not make for good relationships, it definitely makes for riveting reading. There were moments when I really disliked a particular character but then understood her feelings and liked her again, only for them to then do something else that was truly awful. It makes it so that you can't truly trust any of the women while also wanting all of them to make it to the end.

Kudos to Weston for keeping me guessing all the way to the end and a truly brilliant red herring that had me completely fooled. It's not often a mystery manages to keep me guessing and I honestly did not expect the ending to this one.

My one complaint is that the description and some of the reviews kept saying how funny it is and I honestly didn't think it was funny. It's interesting and emotional, but not something to pick up if you're looking for a laugh.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Random House Trade Paperbacks for the twisty read!

Lauren, Saskia, Dominica, Farah and Tansy have been best friends since they were kids, but as adults their lives have taken them in different directions and their friendship is strained. When Tansy dies on her bachelorette weekend from a poisoned drink, all the bridesmaids become suspects. They continue to find themselves at the center of suspicious death and with each of them keeping secrets, it’s hard to know who to trust.

This book was definitely a wild ride and every time I thought I knew for sure who the killer was, a new twist would come and I was very wrong. This book gave me Pretty Little Liars vibes mixed with the pettiness of Mean Girls and I loved it. These were characters I loved to hate and could see motivation for every single one of the friends, but even disliking the characters as much as I did, I was hooked. Anyone who loves a murder mystery wrapped in a bit of humor (which I am so here for that trend) will enjoy this book!

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy.

DARK comedy that reminded me of Finlay Donovan but even crazier and definitely seedier. Fun and funny, and I couldn’t stop turning the pages! There are pretty much no likeable characters here and everyone has something to hide. The mystery was fine, the reveal was good, but the dynamics between these 5 friends are what keep you reading!

3.5/ This was a fun thriller/mystery, for sure. I definitely didn't anticipate as many murders as there were in the lead up to the wedding(s) and was surprised by the ending. It's a fun, easy read, but I didn't find myself as hooked as I hoped. The main characters are quite flawed, which is necessary for the suspense until the end, but makes it harder to feel connected to their plight.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the eARC!

This is a decent, summery, darkly humorous story with lots of drama, dead bodies, and snark. I enjoyed the full history of the women's long friendships and the twists along the way to the end.

You May Now Kill the Bride was tge thrilling adrenaline run I needed between the pages of a book ! I'm so grateful to have tge opportunity to read this ..... definitely worth recommending .

This book was actually insane the whole time. The way the multiple perspectives were written was so interesting and I never saw literally any of the twists coming. It was so insanely messy and I loved it.

I wish Lauren had had a more conclusive ending, especially because compared to the other girls her story felt a little unfinished. Otherwise, though, the ending was crazy and so well built up to that I had a great time.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for the advanced copy!

If you love the zany antics of Sophie Kinsella characters, but want a murder mystery on the level of Lisa Jewell, you need to read You May Now Kill the Bride by Kate Weston! It’s full of dark humor, snark, and over-the-top dramatics in the best way possible. This is exactly the kind of book that makes you giggle when you read, because it’s so fun and ridiculous at the same time.
This is the type of book with characters you love to hate doing terrible things to each other, which makes everything feel so much less serious. Are the women technically running from a crazed serial killer who could very well be someone in the friend group? Yes! Are they also all annoying and self-obsessed so you don’t feel terrible? Yes! Do they complain about a spiritual retreat bachelorette party EXACTLY LIKE you and your friends would? Also yes!
My only knock was the final reveal (no spoilers). I was fully in until we learned who was at fault, and it didn’t feel quite right. The pacing pushing to the reveal had my emotions fully ramped up, but the reveal lessened that feeling. However, it was still a big ending that left me satisfied enough to be happy.
This is the perfect book for two types of situations: 1) Anyone stuck in a miserable, never-ending schedule of wedding events this summer. I see you and I’m sorry, this book will make you feel so much better. 2) Anyone who needs a break from reality, and doesn’t want to turn on Bravo today. This packs the same amount of punch and hilarity as any Housewives could.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Saskia is in charge of Tansy’s Hen do and enjoys planning these things probably because she owns an event planning business. This group of friends have been besties since they were little. Tansy is marrying Ivan after a short time knowing him and her friends don’t like him and think she is making a mistake. They are headed to Camp Chakra retreat in the woods where there will be no phones, no alcohol, and no sugar. Who said this was fun? But some of the gals got the Wifi code and brought flasks. Tansy is getting threatening text messages and is not sure what to do. When she ends up dead from an allergic shock, the friends don’t know what to do and who to trust.

Farah’s Hen do is the following weekend and she has been planning her wedding for a long time now. She loves flashing her big, beautiful diamond engagement ring. She has spent so much money on this event that she is seriously in debt but trying to hide the fact from her fiancé. She is becoming a true bridezilla. When Farah has her big dress sizing event, one of her bridesmaid ends up dead. But it’s when a third woman dies at her Hen do, things gets really bad. Yet another death only makes things truly scary for everyone.

This book is just a laugh a minute with lots of dark humor. A lot of Processo is drunk here and the woman all argue a lot and then forgive one another. I didn’t see the ending coming but it was quite good. Be ready for a lot of girly stuff with a chuckle or two and lots of shaking your head. Enjoy!

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

You May No Kill the Bride had the perfect blurb to draw me in, except it didn’t. I wanted to love this but it felt confusing as time’s especially with the time jumps to the past which I understand why the author added them in to set up the plot but it just didn’t draw me in. The humor/satire was corny and it felt dull. It just wasn’t for me.

I really liked this book. It was funny and chaotic and an all around good time.

I had a little trouble at the beginning with so many different characters trying to keep them straight but once I figured it out it was so good.

I loved the relationships between all the characters and the way they spoke to each other. It was a good mystery without being scary and unsettling. The whole book I was kept guessing about who the murderer was and never really suspected who it turned out to be so that was a nice surprise.

I would definitely read more by this author.

You May Now Kill the Bride by Kate Weston was a funny, suspenseful and engaging story.
This dark comedy was such a twisted, thrilling and entertaining story on female friendship.
A real page turner. The crime plot is masterfully constructed.
This is an unputdownable, unpredictable, hilarious thriller.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I really really wanted to like this book. The cover was the first thing i seen but it fell short for me.

It just was so confusing with how the book jumped around. The pacing of the book was slow and just was not for me.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

2.75 stars

This had the trappings of something that should work- at her hen do (bachelorette party), Tansy von Weller drops dead, with the only suspects being her bridesmaids who all have motives to kill her. All of them are absolute messes, as is perfect for a thriller, and have their lifelong friendship tied together by a ~mysterious event~ from their past. As more bodies start dropping, the list of suspects continues to dwindle, and secrets start to come out to play. The mystery aspect of this was great and interesting!!

What really did not work for me here was the writing. It was some kind of omniscient narrator where we got everyone's POVs all the time. In one page alone, we could be tapping into the thoughts of 3 different characters- which was way too much to try to keep together. This really distracted me and made it take longer to read the book, as I was trying to keep track of who was who and what they were thinking and why because it was all muddled together.

Thank you so much to Kate Weston and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I ended up DNF’ing at 12%. It just wasn’t grabbing my attention like I’d hoped. I wasn’t a fan of the plot line when the friends were children. I understand why the author included those chapters, to show us how the girls came into the roles they have presently, but it was just meh.