Phoebe Stone arrives at the fancy Cornwell Inn in a beautiful green dress and heels. She had planned to come and celebrate with her husband, but he cheated on her and wanted a divorce so those plans were out the window. Instead she has arrived planning to have one last decadent bash because she surely cannot live without him, she wouldn’t know how to go on.

Phoebe booked the fanciest room with the best view so her last day would be memorable. What she wasn’t expecting was to be the only guest at the hotel except for attendees at a lavish wedding. When Phoebe runs into the neurotic and scattered bride she ends up blurting out what she is there to do. The bride can’t believe anyone was allowed to book a room because only guests of her wedding were supposed to be there. The bride tells Phoebe she must move her plans to another location so her wedding will not be ruined. How is it that these two actually begin to confide in each other, make a connection, and help each other see things more clearly.

I loved this book! The topic was weirdly refreshing. The author did a great job making these two protagonists connect over serious circumstances but also inserted plenty of humor and true talk moments. Both Phoebe and the bride’s characters felt real and believable to me. Getting to know the bride's quirky family and friends seamlessly fill in the spaces around the two main characters. I think Phoebe and the bride are my favorite characters of the year so far. I laughed with them and rooted for them the entire story.

Wow this was such a pleasure to read. You really connect with Phoebe from the get and feel for her position in life. There are definitely heavy themes in this one.

I absolutely loved The Wedding People by Alison Espach! This book is a powerful, moving story that strikes the perfect balance between humor and heartbreak. Phoebe arrives at a beautiful inn in Newport, Rhode Island, not for a relaxing getaway but with a much darker plan in mind—she’s at rock bottom, and this trip is meant to be her last splurge before ending it all.

What really pulled me in was the unexpected bond Phoebe forms with the bride, despite not being part of the wedding. Their connection is both surprising and beautifully written, bringing moments of hope and vulnerability in the midst of Phoebe’s pain. The way Espach weaves together absurd wedding mishaps with deep, emotional moments makes this book both incredibly funny and devastatingly tender.

The Wedding People is a heartfelt and nuanced look at how life’s chance encounters can shift our perspective, even in the darkest times. If you’re looking for a novel that will make you laugh, cry, and leave you feeling deeply moved, this is the one!

The Wedding People by Alison Espach is such a fun and relatable read! It’s all about the craziness of weddings and relationships, with hilarious characters that feel so real. The book has a perfect mix of funny moments and more serious ones, and I found myself laughing out loud at some parts. Espach really knows how to show the awkward, messy parts of love and family, and it makes the story super engaging.

What I really liked is how it shocks you at the outset and then proceeds to go so much deeper than I expected it too. It’s really about figuring out who you are and what it means to be yourself. The writing is sharp and easy to get into, and even though it’s funny, there are some deeper messages about life that stick with you.

I definitely recommend this one on audio as an engaging listen.

I absolutely loved this book. The narrator was great for the story. I kept picking up my AirPods just to even listen for a minutes to get more of the story.

It took me a bit to get into this story in the begining because, well... it was a bit depressing. I really felt for Phoebe and was angry for her. As the story went on and we started meet more of the "wedding people" they all began to grow on me. I loved how this book focused on the connections the characters, who were strangers, made with each other. The audiobook was great and entertaining, as well.

I really wanted to like this book but it took me forever for me to finish it. In the end, I thought it was ok but did not live up to the hype.

Phoebe Stone is a divorced & childless cat lady professor who arrives at the Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island planning to end it all. She is mistaken as a guest at the upcoming wedding, as all the other rooms have wedding guests. She meets Lila, the bridezilla, who sweeps her up into all the wedding plans. Along the way, she also meets the groom, Gary, and there is an instant attraction between them. As the week progresses, Phoebe decides she wants to live, becomes the maid of honor, and does a lot of problem solving. She also makes friends, re-evaluates her life and makes the reader laugh. This is a story of deciding what you really want out of life and how to move forward in that life.

I really liked Phoebe and wanted her to figure out that ending her life was not the way to go. She is at the lowest point in her life, failed IVF rounds and a miscarriage, followed by her husband leaving her for another woman. Lila is at a high point. Her father has died, but left her a lot of money, so she planned to have everything she could possibly think of for her wedding. She has been planning it for a year and it is finally time, although things keep going wrong. She shares things with Phoebe that lead you to believe that maybe this marriage is not meant to be. I really liked Gary's daughter, Juice, and felt bad for her. It didn't seem like Lila wanted anything to do with her. As Lila and Phoebe spend time together, they become friends and are great listeners for one another. Gary's and Lila's families add a lot of humor to the story, but also allow the reader to get to know them more and see what they really want. This was a fun story and I enjoyed all of it. The narration of the audiobook by Helen Laser was wonderful. I enjoyed her voices, expression, tone and pacing. I definitely recommend this book in whatever format you prefer.

I’ll just say it — this has been my favorite book of the year, and I feel like I’ve been P-I-C-K-Y in 2024.

The Wedding People has a lot of trigger warnings and touches a lot of topics including: suicide and suicidal thoughts, depression, social anxiety, divorce, and I’m sure others that I’m forgetting about. HOWEVER, Espach manages to treat them all with kindness, thoughtfulness, and yes, somehow light-hearted and dark comedic brilliance, There were so many moments in this book that made me smile, and I loved walking into my local Barnes and Noble over the summer and seeing my very favorite quote from book on the windows: “You honestly expect me to believe that people go on vacation without making a spreadsheet of fun?” Genius.

Phoebe is at the lowest point in her life — her husband cheated on, and then divorced her, her job at the university (where aforementioned husband is a tenured professor) isn;t going anywhere, and to make matters worse, her cat died. So Phoebe puts on her nicest dress and heads to the Cornwall Inn in Rhode Island to end it all. Except when she arrives, the hotel has made a mistake and allowed Phoebe’s reservation to be the only one who is not the guest for the elaborate wedding of Lila and Gary. I don’t want to give away much more other than to say that the ride that follows is so freaking enjoyable, funny, and beautiful.

I’m an Alison Espach fan for life. AND I haven’t even gotten to our narrator, Helen Laser, who was absolutely masterful in her performance.


FIVE big stars. THANK you to NetGalley and the publisher. So very much.

I absolutely loved this book! It was the best of the summer! I love how this author approaches topics with ease and humor. As someone currently struggling with some of these same topics, it make me feel so much less alone while helping me figure out my own feelings. This book deserves all of the ✨

This was such an unexpected surprise and very enjoyable book! I really loved the setting and Phoebe’s character! It was funny and captivating and this is definitely one of my favorite new releases of the year! 4.5⭐️

Alison Espach is incredible. I loved Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance more than anything I’ve ever read, and I believe The Wedding People is the best book of 2024. I need her to write more

The Wedding People by Alison Espach is a rollercoaster of a read—hilariously absurd at times and heartbreakingly tender at others. This book dives into the winding paths life can take us on, often leading to places we never expected, with chance encounters that can change everything.

The story felt incredibly real, and I was captivated by all the compelling characters. I especially appreciated how the author portrayed the main character's struggles with isolation, depression, and suicidal ideation. These are obviously heavy topics, but Espach’s brilliant use of humor brought a sense of lightness to the story without diminishing its seriousness. It was a perfect blend of serious and funny, conversational and poetic.

I went into this book without knowing much, and I was thrilled by the plot and the dark humor surrounding the main character. What starts off as a dark comedy eventually turns into a hopeful, contemplative lesson on life. It’s the best book I’ve read in a while, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Also, who’s down to fund my trip to Rhode Island so I can stay at the Cornwall and shuck oysters? Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher & author for the ARC.

I liked this more than I was expecting, and it was really heartfelt! It was everything I wanted from Hello Beautiful last year but felt was lacking, I think these characters engendered a lot of sympathy and they were complex and messy and lovable. Will definitely be recommending it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for making this audiobook available to me. As someone who has continuously recommended books to my patrons I would like to see a trigger warning on this title. The book had was a little slow to start to me but I quickly became invested in the main character's journey. The cover of the book makes you think you are in for a lighthearted time. That very much was not the case. I really enjoyed the narrator, she did a fantastic job!

4 Stars

This is my kind of book! Beautiful writing that brings you into the story and sucks you in. it was sad, funny and real. This was such an interesting story of life and how sometimes life knocks you down but you get back up. The Narrator brought the characters to life in such a great way.

Thank you to Macmillian Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audio book.

this is a lovely tale about living, self-honesty, happiness, and how life can suddenly change course and alter your life forever. One of my favorite books of 2024 is this one, and I can't wait for it to be adapted for the big screen.

I loved this audiobook. I would highly recommend the audio verses just reading the book. It was sad, funny, and overall a masterpiece. So relatable and a definite tearjerker.

I don’t know when I’ve been more pleasantly surprised by an audiobook.

“The Wedding People” is set in Newport, and from the title you might guess that it would be a silly romance. But you would be so wrong.

It’s the story of Phoebe Stone, who arrives at a 19th-century Newport hotel from St. Louis in 2022 with one thing in mind: killing herself.

Her husband has left her for her best friend, she’s just found her beloved cat dead in the basement, and her college teaching job is a dead end. So when she remembers seeing an ad in a travel magazine for the hotel, a place she had wanted to go with her ex, she decides that an $896-a-night room there would be the perfect spot to end things.

But as she stands on her balcony with a cigarette, gazing out at the ocean and noticing a group that has gathered for a wedding later in the week, her world is upended by the bride, an amazingly entitled woman who walks in to demand that she stop smoking.

From this odd encounter follows a string of unlikely but logical connections and events that involve a lot of human emotion and wisdom. And while there’s romance, too, it’s anything but silly.

For Rhode Islanders, this book by an associate professor of creative writing at Providence College is enhanced by lots of local references. Espach name-checks the Breakers, the Vanderbilts, Portsmouth Abbey, the Cliff Walk and Flo’s, among several other things. There’s also a joke about how very far Cranston is from Newport.

And during a traffic jam in downtown Newport, where several characters are stuck in a car a tenth of a mile from Bowen’s Wharf but still 20 minutes away, one says that's what you get with a destination wedding.

But the bride and groom both live in Rhode Island, another objects.

“Anywhere farther than 30 minutes in Rhode Island is a destination wedding,” the first one explains.

Laser’s reading sometimes makes it a bit difficult during dialogue to know who’s speaking, and she muffs a couple of local pronunciations: “Tems” Street instead of “Thames,” “PAW-tuck-it” instead of “p’-TUCK-it.” But there’s a warmth here, too, and enough differentiation that in key moments we can tell exactly what’s going on.

5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
This book is absolutely brilliant.
It's beautifully written, and the character work is incredible. The author covers many heavy topics with such grace and in delicate way, yet makes the overall situation so relatable and humorous.
Phoebe hits rock bottom, She always wanted to travel to Newport, Rhode Island, so she decides to go and she rents a room in an expensive hotel, but when she gets there she realizes she just crashed a wedding weekend.
I listened to the Audiobook, provided by MacMillan Audio through NetGalley, which was expertly narrated by Helen Laser who delivered a wide range of voices and accents to the diverse cast of characters.