What an adorable book A Storybook Wedding is about librarian Cecily Jane Allerton and Authoor Nate Ellis who exchanged a kiss that was caught on National TV and goes Viral. Cecily is in a Masters Program and Nate it one of the Professors. They are all at a special retreat. This viral kiss is not so good for either of them because there is a rule of no funny stuff between student and professors. So, the two of them come up with the next best thing, they get MARRIED. Now all they have to do is act as a real married couple and fool all the people at the retreat. Along with this comes getting to know each other and slowly falling for each other.
Will they be successful at keeping their secret and what will happen to the marriage as they fall for each other?.

Tropes:
Marriage of convenience
Friends-to-lovers
One bed

This was an absolutely sweet story that had me laughing out loud a lot. Cecily is the most charming character and Nate was just wonderful.
The was very interesting as part of the story has Cecily writing a book which was incorporated so naturally into the story.. I did love the way Nate and Cecily’s romance unfolded in such a sweet tender way.

This was an audio ARC and the two narrators Kelli Tagar and Nick Mondelli did a fantastic job with all the characters they had to voice.

This was a wonderful romcom and i am looking forward to more from this fabulous author.

This was a cute, entertaining romance. I didn't completely love our heroine. She came off as more quirky than relatable, and that made it harder for me to connect with her. That being said, I did still think that the overall romance was sweet, if a bit cheesy and it definitely hit the spot when I was craving just a light romantic read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio arc of this book!

This was a cute story Cecily was going back to school to become a better writer and to have help publishing a book of her own.
Nate is a 1 time best selling author who needs inspiration for his next book and because a quest teacher to help with helping new authors.
When Cecily and him had a food poisoning moment together they had a understanding of wanting to see the otter succeed.

When one drunk night they ran into each other and the wrong idea come about and they had to fake it to keep her spot and him not losing his job.

Its a cute romance and the ´marriage of convenience´ escapade was done in a funny way.

Thank you NetGalley for this audio-arc in exchange for my review.

I love books about books and people writing books. This was such a cute story. Very PG-13, but still a wonderful story. I loved the narration and the writing. I look forward to reading more by this author.!

KJ Micciche's A Storybook Wedding, narrated by Kelli Tager and Nick Mondelli, is an engaging audiobook that delves into a marriage of convenience through dual points of view. The story features witty dialogue, and the characters Cecily and Nate are both endearing and relatable. Their chemistry is heartwarming, and it's delightful to see how their relationship transforms and grows throughout the book.

I really enjoyed the interesting look at what it takes to become a published author and all of the hard work that goes into it. Cecily is struggling to get her MFA when she meets Nate in one of her classes. They seem to rescue/help each other in challenging situations and the initial attraction combined with a very public moment leads to a fake marriage that eventually leads to a happily ever after. A cute story that highlights a romance in the literary world.

As far as romcom novels go, this one was not bad but not great. The premise was interesting, but I had a hard time believing their reasons for getting married. My favorite part was hearing the inner workings of the writing process, and how she wove that into her story. As a romance, I like the initial sparks and the adorable and gross hospital situation, but needed a little more scenes to show the growth. That part felt flat up until the cute end. Overall it was still an easy listen. Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the perfect summer rom-com. The audio version had me laughing out loud. Loved the narration by Kelli Tager and Nick Mondelli. I enjoyed the story line including what takes place in a writing workshop and MFA program. Cecily's journey of self-discovery after she breaks up with her long-time boyfriend and watches him marry her sister is believable. Finding friendship, support, and love through a karaoke mishap and fake marriage to a superstar writer/professor was a fun read.


***Thank you to NetGalley, K.J Micciche, and Dreamscape Media for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

Oh wow! First of all, I would give this book 5 stars. I loved listening to the audiobook. At first, I felt a bit weird when someone saw me doing the laundry and smiling out of the blue. They didn't know I was listening to this audiobook! Haha. It was so enjoyable and worth my time. The last 2-3 chapters were a real shock for me. Now I get why it's titled "A Storybook Wedding". It all makes sense, and I love it. Here are some of my favorite lines: "I think I'm falling in love with my wife," says Nate, and "Books can't hurt you, like people can," says Cecily.

Overall, even though some scenes made me mad, it was worth it because the ending was so unexpected. I absolutely love it. It was definitely worth my time and worth listening to.

I really loved the premise of the book and the forced proximity between CJ and Nate. Marriage of convenience is one of my favorite tropes and I think the author wrote it very well.

There was quite a bit of drama with their work and her family dynamics, so there's plenty to keep you entertained.

The narrator did a great job and I was laughing out loud during some scenes, especially the Questlove ones.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so adorable and I LOVED it! I really liked the characters and how their romance begins in such an unconventional way. I really enjoyed the insights the book provided into the world of book writing and publishing as well. This book had me giggling and gasping in shock at times. This was such a fun and adorable book. I look forward to more books from KJ Micchiche.

Cecily is a children's librarian with a dream of publishing a novel, so when she gets a grant for an MFA program, she jumps at the chance to better her craft. There she meets published novelist Nate Ellis as an instructor for one of her classes. Her advisor challenges her to "live a book life" (or something to that effect) during the class break, so she goes to a literary event, running into none other than Nate. After too much wine, just the right amount of karaoke, and not enough kissing, the pair are in some hot water. Cecily is a student; Nate is an instructor. There are clear no fraternizing policies in place, unless the student and instructor are married, so the solution to save Nate's job is really a no-brainer - they MUST get married. But it's all fake, of course!
* This was marketed as fake dating/fake engagement, but I'd definitely say it's more marriage of convenience. Which is more or less in the same vein, just with a fancy certificate.

I want to start this off by saying I enjoyed the overall book, but there were a lot of things I didn't necessarily enjoy.

First, I'll start with what I did like.
The humor in this book was palpable. I smiled a lot while reading.
The storyline with her sister and her wedding was a great addition. It added depth to Cecily, who could use it, and it made her family life seem real. The plotline also added drama and craziness and humor and emotion to the story that I didn't feel with the other subplots.
The epilogue was the best part of the entire book. It was the only time I felt the characters may have a connection.
The audiobook was very well done! I enjoyed Kelli Tager's narration immensely.

Now, for the things I didn't like.
I didn't really care for either main character. Cecily seemed naive and a bit awkward (not in a charming way). She was made to seem both too old (couldn't connect with younger students) and too young (acting childish and not having much life experience). Nate was a tad... boring and... I don't know what else to say, because I don't know much else about him.
So much of the book talked about how to write a book properly that I felt it could be branded as a how-to and a how-not-to at the same time.
I'm not sure why so much of each character's manuscripts had to be included. I get that some of Cecily's had to do with the plot (like a miniscule amount) but Nate's really had nothing to do with the storyline at all. Those parts could have been cut down or omitted.
The romance was minimal at best. They kissed a couple times and had sex less than that. But there was no romance involved. They were just *in love* with no build-up or any real tension.
I'm not sure how the MFA program is structured. I may have missed that part of the story, but I feel like they weren't in class on the island long at all. Is it a weekly seminar type program? Bi-weekly? Monthly? I only know it's not your typical college experience.
There's this saying "Show, not tell" that this author did not take to heart. Everything was told to us and rarely ever shown. We were told Nate felt this and Cecily felt that, but neither of them showed us anything. This also goes with setting and various other articles of the story. We're just told things, and the author leaves the rest to us, which is fine sometimes, but I need details.
The "man with blue balls" to "woman who gave birth" comparison was WILD to me. And it didn't fully make sense. I've given birth, and a wrinkly nut-sack does not compare.
And this line from Cecily: “his full length springs forward like a clock on daylight savings time.” What even does that mean? I cackled at the line, not because it was funny, and it took me out of the scene.
The villain of the story was pathetic, in a way. Like she waited all these years to get back at a guy who published before her. Because it was all his fault that he got to the publisher before her? She could've used this time to write a better story instead of being petty.

This book focused more on writing and publishing aspects than it did on romance or characterization.

3.5/5 rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an audio ARC of this book!

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

Cecily Jane lives a quiet life as a happily single passionate librarian, and it seems all her dreams are coming true when she's accepted into a grad program for Creative Writing. Suddenly, her childhood wish of becoming a published author doesn't seem so far fetched. Determined to keep her head down and put in the work, Cecily is determined to create her own happily ever after (no marriage or children required). However, in a bizarre turn of events involving karaoke, a kazoo, and a nationally broadcasted kiss, Cecily finds herself married to the famous professor at her MFA program in a bid to save his job (and reputation). As sparks fly between the married (but not together) couple, Cecily and Nate may just find what they were looking for in each other.

I guess I’m the only one who found Cecily incredibly judgy? It was almost unbearable to listen to, her “pick me” girl attitude and blatant snap judgements of people while trying to hide her horrible behavior under the classic “I’m not like other girls so everyone must hate me” excuse. She was also incredibly cringey– like a person who is not a millennial was trying to write some caricature of the generation. Are we honestly expected to believe a 29-year old woman is so out of touch with pop culture she thinks One Direction is still a thing?

Over the course of the book, Cecily did improve as a character (and person) which made the story enjoyable at times-- the handling of her sister's marriage/book plot was thoughtfully handled and I loved the overall plotline. However, especially at the end of the story, it felt like Cecily had two personalities; she started off strong with her "pick me" attitude, and then after the marriage, she suddenly became a much more family-oriented and ambitious person.

Oof, and some of the humorous 'one liners' were pretty rough-- especially during the spicy scenes. The offending statements were (surprise surprise) usually from Cecily's point of view. It gave me the impression that it was supposed to remind readers that Cecily was fun and quirky, but they usually fell flat and made me physically cringe.

<spoiler>Like the phrase, as one other reviewer mentioned, "his full length springs forward like a clock on daylight savings time"... what are we supposed to do with that?</spoiler>

The true saving grace of this story were the dual narrators, Kelli Tager and Nick Mondelli. They each did a wonderful job of breathing life into the characters and story, and their dedication to voice inflections (especially on Tager's part) was wonderful and super engaging.

Overall, not my favorite romance book I've read, but also not the worst. It'd be a good choice for fans of marriage-of-convenience, forced proximity, and friends-to-lovers or someone looking for a quick summer read.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media, Sourcbookscasa and KJ Micciche for my gifted audiobook and physical copies of this book!

This was so much fun to listen to. After her sister marries her ex-boyfriend Cecily takes to writing to deal with the pain. After securing a scholarship and joining an MFA program Cecily and her professor, the handsome Nate Ellis are caught kissing on live television while Quest Love plays the kazoo in the background.

Can you see how this is set up for some laugh out loud moments??

Anyway, this starts a downward spiral of fake engagements and weddings and just all sorts of mishaps. And you don't want to miss any of them!

With little spice but a whole lot of heart this storybook wedding brings all the "awes" and "eees" and characters you cannot help but love and root for. Cecily with her low self-esteem and good girl ways was fun to watch as she came out of her shell and experienced so many new wonders and I felt like Nate was just along for the ride, ha! Cecily kind of steals the show in this one.

Narrated by Kelli Tager and Nick Mondelli you cannot go wrong with audio version of this one and their hilarious attempt at some "karaoke" of their own!

Read if you enjoy:
*Karaoke
*Good girls behaving badly
*Fake Marriage
*Relationships of convenience
*Quest Love jam session

Talk about a roller coaster of emotions on how I felt about this book. There were times I was genuinely entertained and was smiling/laughing given the various predicaments these characters got themselves into (Let's just say Home Depot Buckets will never be the same) and there were other times I was so turned off by the embarrassing things our main female character did

It was cute how CJ and Nate's relationship developed and grew into the chemistry we hope for in our Rom-Coms That being said however, it was a slow burn, it took a while for me to "buy" into their relationship. Which I guess makes sense because they are doing the whole "fake dating troupe". I still struggled with actually liking CJ, she acted like a 20 year old college girl gone wild during certain parts of the book and behaved like a immature drunk in a very professional setting. The whole Karaoke scene made me completely deduct a whole star for that. My skin was crawling with disdain. But then the next scene she is a serious academic...it was hard to know which CJ you would get on any given page.
Nate was a pretty dull character, not much to him, I mean he was a good guy, but at no point will I look back and remember anything about him. I actually kind of thought the way he had treated his Ex girl friend was a total Jerk Wad thing to do.

One last grievance, CJ's family situation made me so angry. Can someone explain how they did not see how upsetting it would be for CJ to watch her sister marry her first love the guy she was giving her life to? And they simply didn't understand how it would be upsetting for her? Like WHAT? Umm, yeah weak writing there.

Oh and can I just deduct also how many COVID/PANDEMIC/Facemask comments there were? Why was that in there? It did not add to the plot nor was it necessary. Even if this author wrote the book in the heart of Covid, you could edit that out, I don't want to relive that time thank you very much.

Overall I did have fun with the book though, the epilougue was amazing and I loved every word in it so it earned a star back for that alone.
The way I will sum this one up is....its like a Monet Painting.......from far away it is gorgeous and good....but up close (the little details) its a hot mess.

I am going to look out for more from this author, because I think with a few edits and growing in her maturity she can write some good work
Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy of A Storybook Wedding. I was not influenced or paid in exchange for this honest review.

This book had a fun writer vibe. It was cute and sometimes funny. The pacing was a bit slow at times, but that’s my only complaint. I enjoyed the writing and the narrators did a great job. It had good description and well developed characters with solid change. This is a new author for me. Huge thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for allowing me to listen and review this book.

Narration: I'm always a fan of a duel voice tag team, the alternating male and female chapters narrated in their corresponding voices was such a treat to have here!

In #AStoryBookWedding we meet Cecily, a children's librarian, just as she's decided to pursue her dream of being a published author by enrolling in a writing seminar/retreat. She's the black sheep of her family in that she doesn't measure her success by marriage or how many children she might have but by her aspirations, and she's determined to publish her very own book this year.

Successful author Nate Ellis blew up over night, and though some are skeptical of his actual writing talents he's attending the seminar as a lecturer. On top of Cecily feeling very out of place among her peers, her first impression of Nate is that his giant ego precedes him and she runs out crying when her work was harshly critiqued by the other students during his session. The two strike up a tentative friendship after a terrible bout of food poisoning lands them and many others in the hospital.

Months after the workshop, Cecily attends a reading of Nate's book. The two reconnect and Cecily's drunken night of karaoke ends in a very public kiss. With Nate's job on the line and Cecily at risk of being expelled from the program, Cecily suggests they enter a marriage of convenience (the only stipulation in the handbook that would allow for student teacher relations). Nate's skeptical but marriage is not the end all be all to Cecily and she just wants to make this right so he agrees. Complicate things? Nah...

This was such a fun romcom! I don't usually subscribe to the fake marriage trope but it really worked here and made sense/ aligned with the characters priorities/values. It was light and fun and everything I wanted it to be 💙

This was such a delightful surprise of a book! It has the witty bibliophiles of Emily Henry with a little extra cheese factor, but it grows to a more squeal-worthy happily ever after.

I really enjoyed the "book about publishing a book" element because it really dove into the nitty gritty of becoming a debut author without getting bogged down in the weeds. (I saved some of the resources mentioned.) And the low-res MFA program with delightful small-town characters was a nice balance to the main characters' NYC everyday lives.

Neither character was perfect and I loved that. There were times when each of them handled situations less than ideally, but the way they continued on and remained themselves gave it a genuine feel in an otherwise storybook love story.

thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook galley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll give it 3.5 ⭐️ out of 5 and round up for GR. This was cute! I love a marriage of convenience and this MFA program setup was different. I do love getting some literary world background from this book and the dual POV, however I definitely preferred Nate’s chapters more than Cecily’s. I found her voice to be a little immature at times for a 30 year old. It read. A little younger like fresh out of college and I get sort of irritated by characters who are supposed to be smart acting like teenagers. Maybe it was just the chapter from her POV where she’s drunk that I found most irritating but overall this book was cute. The narrators Kelli Tager and Nick Mondelli did a great job. I like Nick Mondelli! Made his POV chapters even better imo. I think also maybe this book was a little too ‘write what you know’ especially by the end but I mean I get it. It just got a little too meta for me in the epilogue.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for access to this ALC!

A Storybook Wedding is a great romance. It is a lighthearted story about writers in the fake relationship trope. I enjoyed the realness of the characters who each struggled with their own internal battles of confidence (or lack of) and their desires for their lives. The female character was quirky and considered herself an outcast, but she could be such a firecracker, which I loved. I also loved how neither of them had to lose parts of themselves to be together, but instead they made one another better when they least expected it.

I listened to the audiobook which was well done by two narrators. I am a fan of both these narrators, and I thought they did a fantastic job bringing these characters to life. I listened at 1.75x speed (with my normal audiobook speed 1.75-2x).

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advanced audiobook copy.