Thank you to Berkley Romance for the free book and to PRH Audio for the complimentary audiobook. These opinions are my own.

The Wedding Engagement follows The Ex-Mas Holidays from Zoe Allison last year. It can stand alone, but I appreciated knowing the characters whose wedding they were working on.

Liv and Arran are great friends. And they are both helping to plan her twin brother's wedding. They use a blind date app and are shocked to find the other their match. But of course, they are really only friends.

This included many of my favorite tropes all set together in an amazing Scottish background. Read it if you love:

- Twin brother's best friend and childhood crush
- Friends-to-lovers with lots of pining and neither wanting to risk the relationship
- Single dad and nursery school teacher

Plus the FMC reads romances and provides an excellent answer to the question of whether romance novels are realistic. Yay for romance readers being celebrated!

Mia Hutchinson-Shaw narrated all the voices so well. This book was a delight.

I really appreciate Zoe Allison's small-town contemporary Scottish romances. They're low angst, feel grounded in a (probably slightly idealized) multicultural Scotland, and include a lot of fun, accessible banter. (These are friends who talk like friends, not people who come up with amazing quips on the fly!)

This book focuses on Arran, single dad and up-and-coming artist, and Liv, black belt karate master and nursery school teacher. They've been friends for years, but nervous about taking it to the next level. This is a low-stress read that has a lot of compassion for all of the characters, even those who could be the villains in the hands of a different author. I had a fun time reading it.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

💍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 The Wedding Engagement by Zoe Allison 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💍

Liv and Arran have been friends for forever. But Liv has secretly been crushing on Arran for most of the past 15 years. Arran is her twin brother Sam’s best friend, and has newly become a single dad after his engagement ended. As Liv spends more time with Arran and his son Jayce, she finds it harder than ever to pretend she just wants friendship from him.

The Wedding Engagement is book two in an interconnected series following The Ex-Mas Holidays. I didn’t realize that until a good bit of the way into this one and I think my experience would’ve been enhanced by reading that one first. Overall I did still enjoy The Wedding Engagement though!

The friends to lovers and slow burn here worked well together. It was really clear why both Arran and Liv were reluctant to risk their friendship by pursuing a romantic relationship, even if at times I really just wanted them to actually talk to each other about their feelings. They had ample chemistry and by the time they got together it felt like a well-earned payoff!

Recommended for romance readers who enjoy:
❤️‍🔥 slow burn
🎨 friends to lovers
👨🏽 single dad
👧🧒 brother’s best friend
🏡 found family
🌲 mutual pining
💌 love letters
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 set in Scotland
🤡 parental abuse/neglect

**3.5-stars rounded up**

The Wedding Engagement is a Romance by Zoe Allison. This story follows MCs, Liv and Arran, and is set in Scotland. Liv is a preschool teacher and Arran is an up-and-coming painter, as well as a single-Dad to a sweet little boy that Liv will soon have in her classroom.. Arran is Liv's brother's best friend, so the two have known each other for a long time.

They have a very tight knit group of friends, but when Arran occasionally needs help with his son, it's Liv who really starts showing up for him. Her excuse is that she doesn't have much of a life otherwise and she doesn't mind at all. The truth is more complex. She's crushing hard on Arran, but yeah, also loves his son too. She wants to help him and definitely enjoys the extra time with her bro's handsome-BFF.

Arran notices Liv showing up for him, and in truth, he's been noticing a lot more than that. The sexual tension is boiling and their banter is just so cute. When the two end up set-up together on a blind date, they have the opportunity to finally express what they've been feeling, but they both fail. Big time.

Even though it felt frustrating in the beginning, because miscommunication, this cast of characters did really grow on me. Arran was such a sweetheart and I empathized with Liv and her very real struggles and self-doubts. I loved Arran and Liv's banter, and more importantly, just the way they were with each other; how they considered each other's feelings so much.

My favorite thing though was the friend group. I loved how supportive and open they all were with one another, both the men and the women.
A lot of the plot of this revolves around Liv's brother, Sam, and his engagement and upcoming marriage to one of her best friends. Arran and Liv are both involved in the wedding planning and the stag and hen do. I did enjoy that as well. Those types of set-ups are always fun to read about, IMO, and it helped to bring about a lot of necessary time for Arran and Liv to spend together.

Additionally, I appreciate the real-life issues that Allison explored with these MCs. For Liv, there was a lot of back story having to do with her bio-Dad and him basically being a shitbag. For Arran, there was a lot of drama involving his ex-fiance, Jess.

Granted, I don't read a ton of Romance, but the Romance I do read and enjoy tends to tackle some heavier topics for the MCs. I need more than just sex and attraction. I want them working through things together, as a team and providing both emotional support and protection for one another. I felt like Allison did a great job of channeling that into this story. This budding relationship had substance. I could walk away feeling like it wasn't going to fizzle out in 8-10 years when the sexual attraction may have started to take more of a backseat in comparison with other issues.

Overall, while I'm not sure how memorable this story will be for me in the long-run, I still really enjoyed it and the journey that I went on with these characters.

Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This is the first that I have read from this author, but I'm definitely looking forward to more.

Liv's twin brother and her best friend are getting married. As she helps them plan their wedding with her brother's best friend Aaron, who is also a very good friend of hers, feelings a surfacing that they both have been trying to push down for a long time.
This is a brother's best friend, friends to lovers romance with secret pining. It was a cute and fluffy read, about 100 pages too long for my taste and for what it was.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review: This was a great romance! I loved Liv and Arran as characters, going from friends to more. I think weddings/wedding planning make for great book plots (a!ways room for so much drama and humor), so I was definitely happy with that. Overall, this was a delightful romance novel, that I would definitely recommend trying it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

A fun, cute story, I enjoyed The Wedding Engagement. Arran and Liv were interesting and their relationship had its challenges which I always like.

People are so bad about admitting their true feelings and these two spend an entire book not admitting their mutual attraction to themselves or others. I liked their shared Doctor Who interests. While the story could be.a little flat is was thoroughly enjoyable. A fun, light read.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC.

A steamy, friends to lovers single dad, dual POV, Scottish romance that I absolutely loved!!! Set in the same world as The ex-mas holidays, two best friends band together to help their friends organize and plan their wedding. Full of emotional depth and lots of spice, I couldn't get enough of this book by a new auto-buy author. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Title: The Wedding Engagement
Author: Zoe Allison
Publisher: Berkley
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:
"The Wedding Engagement" by Zoe Allison

My Perception:
If you are into a read of friends-to-lover romances, you have come to the right place.
Indeed, Liv and Arran were a lovely, cute couple, along with Arran's son Jayce.
I enjoyed reading about how these two had some problems to overcome and how well they were resolved in the end due to crossing the line of their solid friendship.

The author did a fantastic job of bringing these two together. The secondary characters were also outstanding, and let's remember that Scotland's wedding setting gave the reader an incredible, sweet story and enjoyable ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Berkley publisher for the ARC!

The Wedding Engagement by Zoe Allison. Scotland Setting and Friends to Lovers Rom Com. Right up my alley. I loved all the characters and their sense of humor. Definitely a sweet romance. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

The Wedding Engagement by Zoe Allison explores the romantic intricacies of planning a wedding, especially when it involves collaborating with the person you have a secret crush on. This novel is the ideal winter read, offering a warm and cozy atmosphere filled with emotions and festive cheer. The charming setting of Glenavie and its delightful residents captivated me entirely. I eagerly anticipate delving into more of Zoe's work in the future.

A wedding rom com with friends to (spicy) lovers set in Scotland! This is trope-y (and more than a bit trite in spots) but you, like me. might find yourself enjoying the banter between Liv and Arran. These two both have issues but unusually for the genre they are up front with one another. It's a bit slow in spots but that's better than the insta-love we sometimes see. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A light fun read.

I feel like I wanted to know more about the main characters of this book but never really got to know them. I wish there was less time spent on describe scenes and more time spent on developing characters.

I really love a good best-friend-to-lovers trope. After all, secretly many of us may have experienced that in our own love life. This one is super entertaining but very true to form of the genre. Not a whole lot of surprises here, but wonderfully entertaining.

I am not usually fond of romances with kids involved, however, Allison did this one right. The MMC is fabulous and really made the story for me. I think I love him too! His son is a doll and while his ex is a pain at times, she is not horrible.

Both characters have been in love with each other for years, but circumstances, ya know? Fair warning in that this is a super slow burn and that got me frustrated at times. But, the balance between them is great and worth the read. I enjoyed all of the characters and their interactions together.

Allison delivers a steamy second half in The Wedding Engagement that is worth the wait and frustration. Know that much of this book also involves dealing with narcissistic attitudes which can be stressful for some. And we are delivered the third act drama too. Sigh

All in all, this book is sweet and entertaining. Definitely a good one for those who love a traditional best-friends-to-lovers read.

this was it first Berkeley review and I was a little underwhelmed. I think the book was extremely predictable which made it hard to keep my interest.

That said, I am so grateful for the opportunity for early review. I will still share like normal and not give a star review in my platform, still allowing for publicity as release day is near!

This was a little too slow paced for me and I think I might end up like it but it’s not working for me right now. And I need to move on before I decide I hate it. I love a Scottish hero so much, and brother’s best friend trip never disappoints!

The writing is good and I do think a lot of people will enjoy this!!

Thanks to Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

dnf @ 25%

This was a cute friend’s to lovers romance. The main characters Liv and Arran were cute together. I also loved the dynamic between Liv and Arran’s son Jayce. Overall a good read!



Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This was such a cute friends-to-lovers. Sometimes I can struggle with this trope but this book handled it perfectly! I really like that the characters admitted their feelings early enough that we could see the progression of their relationship and see how they dealt with the conflicts that arose. I felt like the setting of Liv's brother's wedding was the perfect backdrop for the story. I love the friendship group and this book made me super interested in reading Nico and Elise's story next!.

Perfect for fans of friends to lovers romances, I happen to be a big fan of the friends to lovers trope so this book definitely worked for me.

I really liked the relationship between the two MCs. Liv and Arran felt like real people. They both have personal demons to overcome and I appreciated that the author didn't have the romance magically fix everything. I also found their relationship realistic. They are both afraid of crossing the line of friendship even though they're longing to be together. I think when it comes to the friends to lovers trope, this isn't shown enough. The romance is a very slow burn but the journey of these two is sweet and worth the wait. I loved all the swoon worthy moments building up to them getting together. In terms of spicy scenes, we did get some scenes which were great.

I enjoyed the side characters, wedding venue and of course Scotland setting. All these additions just improved upon an already great story.

A swoon worthy friends to lovers romance!

I really wanted to like this one more, the premise sounded so good but the writing was kind of boring. I didn't connect with the characters and I wasn't invested in their romance. The Scottish backdrop and wedding planning antics added a fun twist but the story was just okay to me overall.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!