Adorable!! This book where he’s a cinnamon roll who falls first! Hook , line, sinker in love…. The banter, the journey was so funny and entertaining! So glad to be able to read this … #netgalley

Pippin and Toby have been best friends forever, Tobby is back after 8 years away in school. Pippin has her BFF and sister back and she has the biggest plans for the summer, but her sister has news and that creates a tsunami in Pippin's life, and on top of that she doesn't know how to handles this new feelings for Tobby. She is overwhelmed.

I really enjoy this book. totally loved the sisters nicknames pizza and pepperoni. Pippin is doing her best navigating with all the changes in her life. I would have love to see more of Tobby but the daily dad jokes were good.

I've enjoyed Morrill's YA books before - they're usually nice and bantery, super easy to read, and a lot of fun. I was so excited when I saw she wrote an adult contemporary romance and requested it immediately. SISTER OF THE BRIDE is apparently a Father of the Bride retelling (?) but I haven't seen the movie. I loved the premise of a girl having to plan her sister's wedding while falling in love with her best friend. This is the kind of book that you could easily sit and read in one sitting so I’m a little annoyed it took me so long to finish it! I started it right before my birthday weekend, which always gets too busy for reading.

In any case, the Italian food and Boston vibes were immaculate in this book. I'm from Connecticut so Boston is an hour and a half from where I live. It was fun to see what they included and how they presented the story. It was a really unique situation for the MC Pippin and it was fun to see how she would move on with her life after literally everything changed. She was occasionally frustrating but I have to say, the lack of drama and miscommunication in this one (especially in a few key areas near the end) was just perfect. She would get annoyed about something and freak out, then come back to earth and apologize. It was refreshing that she didn't let things get to her for too long and came to logical conclusions quickly after her freakouts. I love a friends-to-more romance and wedding planning in books, so both were winning elements for me. The love interest, Toby, was incredibly sweet.

I enjoyed meeting Pippin's family and a lot of the side characters but there could have been just a little more about them. The book could have benefited from like 20-40 more pages of development, maybe? I also think the synopsis of the book gives away a lot of plot elements that don't happen until 30% or more of the way through the book. There were a few repetitive sentences but they’re the type of thing that I think probably got cleaned up before the finished copy.

I really hope Morrill continues writing more books for adult readers! There’s the same charm and banter as her YA books so if you’re a fan of hers in general, I would recommend checking this one out as long as you don’t mind some spice!

I got this ARC a long time ago, and went into it completely blind — no idea who the author was or what it was about. Besides, you know, that is a wedding.

What I got is a charming story about two best friends who always loved each other, but only one of them knew it from the start. Toby is a gem, he is so devoted to Pippin, he is the only one who understands her and lets her be herself with him.

Pippin, I won’t lie, frustrated me more than once. I could even call her judgemental and unfair. But, in some cases, I actually agreed with her. Seriously, 8k wedding dress is ridiculous, I don’t care how pretty it is! Tell me, someone, is that a normal price for a wedding dress in the US?

Through the course of the story Pippin grew from scared and unsure into a confident woman, who managed to avoid the third act breakup all on her own. I was sure it was coming but my girl handled it like a grown-up! And all that in the midst of her life falling apart before her eyes.

Add to that the fact that I read it in Italy, so the mentions of Italian food were ✨perfection✨, plus the abundance of Grey’s Anatomy references — and I got myself a fantastic read!

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
🌶️🌶️ (“Tell me what you need to make you come.” — how I love a guy that’s secure enough to ask that!)
❤️❤️❤️❤️

Sister of the bride was a cute friends to lovers contemporary romance! I wasn’t sure I was going to finish the book as it had a slow start! I am glad I kept reading I really enjoyed the book!
Pippin and Toby are the perfect example of the most realistic friends to lovers!! The chemistry they shared was undeniable! This book had me laughing out loud at some parts! I always love when there is humor mixed in! The book had the perfect amount of spice! I always love when there is a nice balance of spice and plot! It honestly felt like I was watching a rom com in my head as I read the book! The book is a romcom remake of father of the bride which is a great movie and I definitely got those vibes! I highly recommend this book!

Thank you Netgalley for this arc!

I grew up watching Father of the Bride so I was beyond excited when I saw this was a retelling from the sisters pov 😍

When the first chapter opened with being in an Italian restaurant making lasagna with all the chaos and family banter I was in love. Family, grief, finding yourself and big life changes were the main themes of the book and I think that’s what made me love it so much!

Pippa was hard to like at first but relatable to me. The way she overthought everything even the simple things was me coded. She’s judgemental and controlling which bothered me. I understand her life is flipped upside but telling people how to live their life and spend their money is a bit far 😅 However,by the end, I was rooting for her happiness and growth. She was a good sister hobbling down the streets in Pollys heels at midnight 🥹🥹😭

Toby was easy to love. He’s cute, sensitive and patient. SO PATIENT 😭😭 he really loved pippa and I love his willingness to be vulnerable. The slow burn tension and banter between them was sooo good!! Childhood friends to lovers will always be a favourite trope. However, I did expect more romance in this book! I just felt like the romance took a backseat to pippas life and family drama. Toby would just literally pop up at the most randomest of times.

The plot was a little slow moving but I laughed a lot throughout the book. I did get a little sick of the dad jokes on every chapter (sorry 🥲). THE SMUT WAS HOT 😍😮‍💨

Overall, a cute book that I think would be perfect for readers going through life transitions that can be scary <<33

4/5!

I can easily say that this was one of my favorite arcs that I have ever read! Usually it takes awhile for me to get into arcs, but Sister of the Bride had me hooked from the start! Maybe its my love for the Hulu show The Bear (which it does not resemble that show at ALL but I immediately loved the restaurant set up of it all) or that fact that you don't see very many Friends-to-Lovers books out there in a Enemies-to-Lovers market!

I definitely recommend Sister of the Bride for its charming portrayal of Pippin and Toby's friendship and for the smut scenes that did not immediately make me want to curl in a ball like most other popular romance books! I also saw a lot of myself in Pippin and I too LOVE checklists! If you love checklists and having mini panic attacks, this book is for you!

It does kinda unravel a bit towards the end, the plot speeds up a lot (compared to other parts that span for chapters at a time) and some of Pippin's earlier holdbacks are immediately resolved without much reasoning to why, but I did not think they took away from the overall appeal of the story!

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for providing this ARC!

★ ★.5 | 🌶.5

18+

!! POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD PROCEED WITH CAUTION !!

*A special thank you to Netgalley and Yellow House Media for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*

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This book and I just didn’t mesh.

Y’all know, slow burn is just not one of my favorite tropes and I think this is a good example why. The plot just felt super imbalanced. Almost too much time passed between main parts of the book. You get more than half way into the book waiting for something to happen between the protagonists.

In the same vein, there really wasn’t enough interaction between Toby and Pippin to create the tension of a slow burn, friends-to-lovers story. They literally don’t spend much time together at all. The smutty scenes and the scenes where the do interact were nice to read, I just wish they happened more.

Pippin as a character was also just very irritating. I know the synopsis says she doesn’t like change, but that was taken to the max and it just made her an unbearable character. As for Toby, he doesn’t really have much of a personality at all.

This book has a lot of potential. But I feel like it was going in too many directions at once. I really didn’t get much of a romance vibe from it. It was more focused on Pippin and Polly. But even that was touched on very slightly. Like the selling of the restaurant was supposed to have this large emotional impact but was glossed over for the most part.

I think this novel has several bright spots and was an overall enjoyable read. I do feel like the pacing was fairly off. The introductory period of the book felt extremely long. However, I absolutely adored the characters themselves and the yearning was to die for. The family drama and the absence of 11th hour drama was refreshing and left me with the fuzzies all the way through to the end. Also, this book is FUNNY!

Friends to lovers and slow burn are two of my favorite tropes, and I really felt the slow burn here. Pippin and Toby were sweet and funny, but I missed a little angst and tension. Toby was my kind of man – attentive, golden retriever, he falls first, and his dad jokes and dirty talk hit the spot. Pippin was sweet, and I found her relatable.
But overall, this was a great read and I enjoyed it very much. It was lighthearted, and I liked the writing style, the author’s sense of humor, and the cover is just beautiful.

3.5 stars, rounded up

“Polly was the friend I was born with, but Toby was the friend I chose.”

I really enjoyed this adult debut. Sister of the Bride plays on the movie Father of the Bride with Steve Martin. In the movie his daughter is getting married, and he is just obsessed with the cost of the entire ordeal, while wrestling with not being able to let his baby girl go and accepting her fiancé into the family. I thought that the author did a good job of making this story her own thing and crafting some interesting storylines and side characters.

I love a good comedy and I was happy that this book had a few laugh out loud moments. I appreciated the Boston setting and even though I had no idea where or what everything was, I was able to picture it in my mind. There were, however, a few things such as some continuity issues and pacing that made me lower my rating. I wasn’t head over heels in love with this book, and there wasn’t anything objectively BAD about it, so overall it was enjoyable but there wasn’t enough sticking power to make it a super impressive read.

Pippin was a cute character, but I didn’t necessarily love her. I completely understood her motivations for wanting to keep the restaurant in the family, and her worrying about finances because those things were of major importance to her (& bc they were important to her dad). She felt forced into the life she had because she wasn't willing to sever a connection with her father and feared the unknown, so she held onto what she could. I didn’t see her as immature or silly, but I felt that her character could have dug deeper in some other aspects, especially her relationship with her twin sister Polly!

Toby, for me, was the star of the show, but we barely got anything from him until the last half of the book. I think if this book was dual POV, that would have given it a bit more tension and made it a bit more angsty for a friends to lovers type story. That being said, I loved how he constantly took care of Pippin and wanted the very best for her. He was so considerate and when it was time to lay it all on the line, he was honest and gave Pippin the time to catch up. Plus, his dad jokes and dirty talk weren’t half bad!

There were a few areas where I felt like there were a few holes, but later in the story, it was magically resolved or taken care of off page. I wish we were able to see them happen as it would have made the story flow a little better. Additionally, the pacing felt a little off throughout the book. I know this is an uncorrected proof, but there were also a handful of areas that could have been improved with a bit more editing.

If you’re looking for a lighthearted and cute friends to lovers story where he falls first, you should pick this up! It’s a really sweet adult debut and I liked the author’s humor and writing style. I look forward to seeing what she does next!

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I’ve been a huge fan of Lauren Morrill since I read (and re-read) her debut YA book Meant to Be, so to say that I was super excited for her adult debut is an understatement. Luckily, Sister of the Bride totally lived up to the hype I’d created in my own head.

Pippin Marino doesn’t do well with change, and the book follows her as she deals with her twin sister’s sudden engagement, planning the wedding, her suddenly insanely hot best friend Toby moving back to town, and her mom dropping a bomb about the family business. Her semi-constant state of panic is all too relatable, considering all that change, and I loved going along with her for the ride as she tried to deal with everything.

Pippin’s family is hilarious and realistic and loving. Tbh, all the characters jump off the page here and will make you love them. Morrill’s hilarious and heartwarming approach to creating characters and crafting the central romance hasn’t changed from YA to adult romance, except that the romance itself is spicier.

My main complaint about the book isn’t even a complaint at all – there were so many moments I wanted to read into the pages of this book and shake Pippin by the shoulders because Toby is RIGHT THERE. Toby Sullivan is the best kind of friends to lovers book boyfriend – he’s so supportive of Pippin, knows her so well, and when he starts to turn the flirting up to eleven, he knows exactly how to get under her skin. They’re some kind of magic together, and the reader will discover that long before Pippin comes to terms with it.

Sister of the Bride is a touching, funny, sexy first foray into adult romance, and I cannot recommend it enough!

I liked this one! The story was sweet. I always like a friends to lovers vibe. It was a bit slow to get moving for me, but I still found myself picking it up often! The spice seemed a little bit out of place because the rest of the story was so sweet. But overall, this was a great read! Toby was my kind of MMC for sure, golden retriever, he falls first, slow burn vibes!

Thanks to net galley for the advanced copy to review.

Pippin Marino has a lot to deal with. Her twin sister is getting married and her mother is selling the 100 year old family business that Pippin has been running since her father died. Yet one positive in her life is the return of her friend, Toby Sullivan. However, as they begin to work together, their relationship changes. One kiss is all it takes.

Whilst a slow start to this book, the romance was well told and I particularly liked Toby. He is very likeable and the dialogue between Toby and Pippin was witty. I enjoyed how their relationship but felt that it could have received more ‘AirPlay’ to highlight the progression from friends to a couple.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating: 3.75/5
Spice: 2 (as in, two vanilla spicy scenes)

I went into this book blind, because I have the terrible habit of requesting books MONTHS in advance of the publication date and then promptly forgetting what the entire book is actually about.

I quite enjoyed Pippin's story as she grapples with the changes in her life. Her mother is selling the family restaurant, her sister is getting married and Pip will have to move out of her childhood home, find a job and to top it all off, wrestle with her growing feelings for her best friend. And Pip doesn't exactly handle change well...

I thought the writing style and the personalisation of the characters was really well done. The dialogue had a natural flow and the characters all felt fleshed out enough to bond with them. The issue I had with this book was the pacing. Because halfway through I went back and read the blurb and found out that Pip and Toby kiss at the 50% mark, which I found to be a little too far into the story to focus on their growing relationship. Don't get me wrong, I loved the idea of them getting together and there was some very decent spice, but the pacing of the book was just a little wonky. Same with Polly announcing her wedding. It took a little too long.

I would absolutely recommend this book if you enjoy the hustle and bustle of wedding planning, friends-to-lovers, and a family restaurant!

This book was actually so sweet. I love a friends to lovers story SO MUCH. Especially when it’s best friends to lovers. Pippin and Toby were SO FREAKING cute. There is NOTHING I love more than a guy who has is bad for his girl. And that was Toby. Even thought this was totally in Pippin’s POV and that girl was oblivious I could tell that Toby had feelings for her for a LONG time. Their tension was written so well. Their friendship was so sweet, and their bedding relationship and their chemistry was SO GOOD. I did really love them so much.

This was more of Pippin’s story than anything, the romance was more a secondary plot point in my opinion. (Which is fine, but books that are marketed as romance should have that as the main plot.) I did really like Pippin! She was funny and so confident, but also very vulnerable. She was so sure and so unsure about herself and that is VERY real, especially for someone at 26. I loved her and her family so much. They went through the hardest thing and were able to come out the other side stronger together, even when they were still very much struggling with the grief of losing her dad so suddenly.

Pippin was going through so many changes at once. She was feeling so left behind, upset that her sister is out living her life to the fullest while she’s ‘stuck’ taking care of things at home. Which is fully understandable. But she was acting like such a brat at first. It was painful to listen to her say how much she loves her sister but not be FULLY supportive just because she’s feeling left behind. Of course eventually it all worked out! Pippin was able to pull it together and see how happy her sister was and how great Mackenzie was too! It was so sweet. I’d LOVE to see Polly and Mackenzie again??? A little novella or something!?

And I loved Pippin’s story arc! It wasn’t always easy for her. She was feeling left behind and lost and unsure about what she could even do next. But I loved that she was able to really figure it out, and do something for herself for once. And that she actually realized all of these changes were good for everyone, herself included!!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Yellow House Media for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was not for me. Pippin spent too much time reluctant to her sister’s surprise engagement. Kinda felt like she wanted her sister’s relationship to fail right from the start. It was also a bit annoying she kept rejecting Toby’s corny jokes.

We were lucky enough to review an ARC from NetGalley for an unbiased review of Lauren Morrill’s, Sister of the Bride. As we covered this in our podcast episode, I’ll give you the short version of our thoughts.

Pippin Marino is having a quarter life crisis. There’s no other way to explain the anxiety riddled, panic inducing, spiral her life has become. Within one morning, she discovers she’ll be soon not only unemployed but also without a home, her sister is getting married to a virtual stranger, and her best friend has returned home to put down roots and she’s none to happy with his sudden allergy to shirts. Within 5 months, Pippin must facilitate the wedding of her sister’s dream, complete the sale of her century old family restaurant, and try to make sense of the very non-PG feelings she’s begun to have for her bff Toby. Throw in some side characters with a deep love of midwestern casseroles, 90’s r&b and Gray’s Anatomy rewatches, and you have a lovely story of one woman facing major life changes and making peace with their past.

What we liked about this book:
Toby. Man, it’s just…Toby. He’s sweet and he’s goofy, and loved her for forever. How can you not love a man who accidentally eats a display cake and follows through?
The Restaurant itself and how it acts like it’s own character.
Any miscommunication resolves itself quickly, honestly, and realistically.
The Father of the Bride retelling aspect of the novel.

Things We Didn’t Like as Much:
How Pippin takes the announcement of Polly's engagement and the fallout from this giant bomb. Pip is very selfish in response - but it’s needed for her growth as a character.

This is a high recommend from our crew. We loved the low (ish) stakes love story which plays more as a young woman finding their way and being able to choose whichever path they want. They have to make peace with the past first in order to do it.

Please check out our podcast for more of our thoughts regarding this book and our fleshed out opinions. That can be found at www.chicklitbookclubpodcast.com

Review: Sister of the Bride - Lauren Morrill

I was lucky enough to receive this book as an ARC on NetGalley.

A romcom retake on Father of the Bride about letting go, falling in love, and a whole lot of lasagna For someone who doesn’t do well with change, Pippin Marino sure is dealing with a lot of it. First her twin sister returns from Europe with a fiancé and a plea for Pippin to plan the wedding. Then her mom announces plans to sell the 100 year old family restaurant that Pippin has been running since her father died. But at least there’s one good development in Pippin’s life. After eight years on the west coast, her best friend Toby Sullivan surprises her by moving back to Boston. Having him back is the one bright spot amidst her summer of panic, especially when he offers to help her plan the wedding. But then one kiss changes everything . And Pippin Marino does not do well with change.

Friends to Lovers

I really loved this story!!! I loved Pippin and Toby’s characters!! Toby was a cinnamon roll type with a dirty mouth and as we all know it’s the best combo there is. He was adorable, mature and almost perfect (and the spice!!!) Almost perfect though, because unfortunately he had had a girlfriend during his California years, which ruined the “it’s always been you” element for me. Pippin was a little lost at times, but there was a lot going on in her life so we can forgive her.

I definitely recommend this book!!!

Rating: 4 / 5⭐️’s

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This was a really fun, quick, friends to lovers romance. I enjoyed the main characters’ relationship and appreciated how patient he was with her. At the beginning, I was a little concerned the main character was going to be too unlikeable because she kept blurting out rude things, but that seemed to stop happening fairly early on, thankfully. I enjoyed all the side characters and how things resolved at the end of the book. I was almost a bit disappointed (but not surprised) when the love interest admitted he’d been in love with her forever….it sounds romantic, but it just kind of confirms the stereotype that men won’t be friends with women unless they’re interested them. That’s not really supposed to be the case here, but it would have been more interesting if he hadn’t really felt that way at the start of the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Yellow House Media for providing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!