I absolutely adored this one! It was a truly exceptional book that is both hilarious and heartwarming. The characters are so relatable and their interactions had me laughing out loud one moment and tearing up the next.

Phoebe's journey of self-discovery amidst the chaos of a wedding weekend is both inspiring and entertaining. The author's ability to blend humor, wit, and genuine emotion is truly remarkable. The plot twists kept me guessing, and the ending was perfect.
If you're looking for a book that will make you laugh, cry, and cheer - read this book!

This started out as a darkly humorous novel that reminded me of A Man Called Ove or Britt Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman and it did not disappoint as the ensemble cast made me laugh out loud with their witty banter, relatable anxieties and overall shenanigans- I will say the car scene made me howl with laughter. I would not mind seeing any of these characters again to catch up with their lives - I could see at least two more companion novels to see if the couples last- or I’ll just make it up in my mind… I was especially anxious during Chapter 20 - the author really knows how to create a wonderfully drama to read!

𝒟𝒶𝓇𝓀, 𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓅 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝒶𝒹𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝓁𝒶𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓁𝑜𝓊𝒹…

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙚𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙋𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚
by Alison Espach
384 pages

This is the wise and darkly funny, then laugh out loud funny, novel of the summer.
posted on Instagram @nicmedia
9 years ago, I read a similar novel about a curmudgeonly old man who was steeped in grief and that was the tenderly moving story of the summer.
Though different, Phoebe Stone, like Ove, has had enough. She wants one final fling- a decadent stay and then…she arrives at her destination and meets the wedding people led by the bride, Lila, who will let nothing and no one come between her and her dream event.
Please check your content warnings, but don’t be put off if you want to read something sharply intelligent and moving to put your head and heart in the right place this summer. Oh, and you may have seen it is in a little celeb book club 😉
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Alison Espach, @henryholtbooks and @netgalley for the opportunity to review in exchange for my honest review. #newbooks #arcreading #bookreviews #theweddingpeople

To say that Alison Espach's The Wedding People is one of the hit novels of Summer 2024 is not an understatement. This book is a wonderful reflection about how people view their lives, not only from where they are standing in the present but the choices they have made to get themselves there. It is also a delightful look at friendship and supporting others, even when you barely know a person or have just met that person. Sometimes the help you are looking for comes from unexpected places.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt Publishing for the opportunity to read this novel.

What a fantastic read! I loved how character driven this story was. All of the characters were flawed in the most perfect way, you couldn't help but relate to so many of them. Phoebe is a stunning character, her character growth was my favorite part. She really discovered who she was over the span of this week and it was so fun to watch her give up the preconceived notions of her life to truly step into who she was becoming. The rest of the wedding people added just enough to keep the story moving and it was interesting to view all of them from Phoebe's POV. The ending tied things together in the perfect way in my opinion. I got just enough to be satisfied, but there was still elements that were left up to my own interpretations. This will definitely be making my favorites of the year list and I anticipate myself recommending this one to just about everyone I know!

oh this one is sooooooooo good. somewhere between "chick lit" and litfic it's just so warm and funny and insightful. the little joys of people and life

I loved this book!! This is a story about people finding and being their true selves. The journey of this group of people who are thrown together at a fancy hotel for a wedding was remarkable. The author captured so many inner thoughts that we have all had and put them on paper and in a great diaglogue. I kept wanting to know what was going to happen the next day! This over the top wedding had all the feels.

We also have a side story of higher education and the view from a professor. Phoebe is an adjunct professor of literature who feels she is going nowhere in her career. Her insights into students, the classics novels and her fellow professors was at times cynical but funny. The author certainly has a skill for getting to know characters quickly and finding something in common with them all.

I feel I must mention that the author addresses depression and some of the journey different people go through to recover/cope.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to review this book.

The description sounded lighthearted and fun; this book was anything but. I kept listening waiting for it to get funny but it went from depressing and sad to a book about nothing really. It felt like a long, drawn out episode of Seinfeld, which I am not a fan of. I felt for Phoebe and Lilah, as they were both in rough situations but I found the story to be slow and heavy.

Just being honest: the first 20 to 30% of the novel is a dark, depressing slog. Any heavy, painful topic you can think of, the author likely weaves it into the plot. I nearly gave up. But other readers kept talking about how funny it was and how much they enjoyed reading it, so I just kept going.
Then I listened to an interview with the author and she provided some context for why she addresses such sad things when she writes. So then I felt empathy for her life experience and admired how she took the pain and sorrow in her past and made art.
The Wedding People is sad. But it's also beautiful because it's a story about fictional humans coping with the stuff that often knocks real people flat. I loved the sharp, witty dialog and the way the characters asked the hard questions and said what needed to be said. And I really enjoyed laughing at the utterly ridiculous things the bride said and did, because can't we all be a bit ridiculous sometimes?
Ultimately this is a lovely, well-written story about what it means to love well and wrestle with the hard stuff of life, and then figure out how to get back up again, even when we're scared.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the complimentary copy. All opinions shared here are my own.

I loved this book so much! To me it was a pretty perfect novel -- it gracefully dealt with heavy issues in a compassionate and appropriate way, with the loveliest writing.

Phoebe has recently been through a divorce, with her ex-husband leaving her for another woman. They had tried for years to have a baby, with no success, and Phoebe decides to book a night at an expensive inn and commit suicide. As soon as she arrives at the inn. she realizes that every single other person staying there is attending a wedding, and very quickly becomes enmeshed in their lives.

I loved Phoebe so much -- she was such an endearing character and I wanted to give her a hug and have dinner with her. She's witty, funny, so intelligent and such a kind, good person. I loved Lila too, with all her character flaws, and Gary and Juice. All the side characters were so well flushed out and added so much to the entire book.

The sense of place was incredible -- I could vividly picture all the parts of the inn, all the situations the characters found themselves in.

I loved Alison Espach's previous book, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance and am impressed how different the two books are. I will be eager to read whatever she writes next, and have already checked out her debut novel as well.

I would recommend this to anyone -- it's such a good book with so much depth, engaging characters, and such sweetness and humor. So good!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

5 Stars
The Wedding People
Alison Espach

Upon finishing The Wedding People and and letting the story wash over me, these are the words floating in my mind: Perseverance, The Importance of Connections, Failing, Masks, Grief, Loneliness, Friendship, and Always Love. This talented author uses her words to comfort, confront, expand and entertain the readers of this frank, charming and stimulating novel. She lets us into the mind of Phoebe quickly, for obvious reason, but teases us slowly, into the minds of The Wedding People. It's a fun, fascinating, sad and unpredictable road we follow as we enter Wedding Week. The character development was so realistic; it made me feel like I was a guest at each event. When some of the characters revealed their true selves through actions and honesty, emotions were high and truthful. I highly recommend this novel to all, bur especially to those who are on a journey of self-discovery.
Thank you to #Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co for my advanced eCopy of The Wedding People. My comments are my own.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach is a delightful read! Phoebe Stone travels to Newport, Rhode Island after her life has hit rock bottom. Her husband had an affair and divorced her after several IVF cycles and a miscarriage. Her career is no longer fulfilling and her cat has died. She reserves a beautiful room in an expensive hotel and finds out that she is the only guest that isn't a part of a one-million dollar wedding. She meets the bride, Lila, in the elevator and tells her that she is there to kill herself. The bride doesn't want her wedding ruined by a death. Phoebe and Lila begin to interact and be more honest with each other than they are with their friends and family. Will the wedding people change Phoebe's outlook on life?

Thanks to Henry Holt and Co. and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy of the book. This is a Read with Jenna Book.

Thank you for the advanced copy of The Wedding People. While I have to admit, it did take me a bit to get into the story, but by the end I absolutely loved the book. The dark humor probably comes across better through an audio book listen, but the overall message of the book was fantastic, and it’s a great summer read.

Every once in a while, I read a book that so perfectly captures what it means to be human -- the vulnerability, the messiness, the mistakes and contradictions, the joys and heartbreaks, the moments you get it all so right and so spectacularly wrong -- that it takes my breath away. The Wedding People was one of those books for me.

Phoebe thought she'd be visiting the Cornwall Inn in Rhode Island with her husband, but, well, things didn't work out that way. Instead she arrives by herself, in a fancy green dress with no luggage. She plans to spend one night at the Cornwall -- and has no plans for her life after that. When she checks in, she realizes she's the only guest at the hotel who isn't there for a week-long wedding celebration. Phoebe is determined to stay away from the wedding people...but a chance encounter with the bride changes everything.

Alison Espach accomplishes quite the balancing act with The Wedding People. The book deals overtly with suicidal ideation and depression; many characters struggle with dark thoughts and bleak feelings, and the narrative doesn't shy away from any of that. But at the same time, it's one of the most life-affirming novels I've ever read. I don't think I would call it "heartwarming," which implies a purity that I don't think it has. It's irreverent and wry, unflinchingly honest and so incredibly genuine. The character development is phenomenal, and so is the dialogue; there are lots of conversations in this book, and they felt so authentic.

I love how Espach explores the idea that a random encounter with a stranger can prompt genuine connection, how we can sometimes be more vulnerable with strangers than with our loved ones, because who cares what a stranger thinks of us, right? Espach answers that question in The Wedding People, when the strangers Phoebe encounters become so much more than that, when the truths that are shared become the building blocks for real relationships.

The Wedding People is so smart and hopeful, and is a book I'll be recommending and gifting to all the readers I know. Thank you to Henry Holt and Co. for the complimentary reading opportunity.

Phoebe Stone enters a luxury hotel wearing an immaculate green dress and gold heels. She has no luggage or anything because she only intends to be there one night (if you catch my drift). Her arrival coincides with a six-day wedding, where she meets the (kind of annoying, very selfish) bride, Lila. The two soon form an unlikely friendship that’ll change both women’s lives forever. The main character is depressed, but the story is not depressing. It’s well-written and heartfelt, and Phoebe’s dry humor and sarcasm soothed me. It would have been a perfect five-star read for me, except I found that Phoebe’s conversations with various guests often ran a little long and featured too many unnecessary details/tangents. But still a must-read!

I have to admit that at first, I wasn't sure how I was feeling about this book BUT those feelings turned around. I totally enjoyed it. I loved watching Phoebe grow and as much as Lila was annoying, I loved her realizations too. The conversations are very witty, especially between Phoebe and anyone she talks to. She is so funny! She goes from suicidal to becoming who she always wanted and needed to be. I really want to go to Newport, Rhode Island too! The descriptiveness of the area just reeled me in. The ending left me very happy.

Thanks to Netgalley and Henry Holt for a copy for review.

I didn’t really think a book that begins with a woman contemplating suicide could be so sharp, witty, fun, and heartwarming but The Wedding People is just that. I loved it. I’ll read anything Alison writes.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this from the Netgalley shelf, but I'm so glad I did.

Phoebe's husband cheated on her with a mutual friend, then left her for said friend and divorced her, sending her into a spiralling depression which she could get out of. She decided to travel to her "dream hotel" check into the most luxurious suite, order a delicious meal and then end her own life.

Instead, she gets caught up with various members of a wedding party staying the same hotel and begins to reevaluate everything.

It's a bit sad in places but there is a lot of humour too. I loved Phoebe and the connections she developed with all of the wedding party, and how they helped shape her approach to her future. Most of the characters were really likeable, although others took a while fro me to warm to and others were just awful. Alison has perfectly captured the chaos that often comes with extended family - siblings, parents, family friends etc - there is a very realistic mix of the types of characters you always meet at weddings.

The "wedding" is actually a huge do set over the course of six days and Phoebe gets drawn into all sorts of events throughout the book. There are a few flashback scenes to set out her relationship with her ex-husband Matt but the majority of the story spans the length of the wedding.

Witty, sharp and a brilliant observation of family, relationships and love. This will make a brilliant film!

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review, The Wedding People is out now.

I totally loved this book, which I thought of as excellent literary fiction. It's the story of a woman, a nineteenth century English literature specialist who has lived a life fulfilling expectations of other people, namely of her dead mother - never making mistakes in her life, being quiet and obedient as a child so as not to inconvenience her father and as an adult. to be always calm and careful and to be perfect in her marriage.

Then one day, when all this becomes too much for her, her marriage failing after her husband Matt leaves her for Mia, another professor at their school, Phoebe walks out of her job and heads for the resort hotel in Newport she has always dreamed of visiting. Her intention of doing away with herself there is foiled by a bride Lila who had rented the entire hotel for her elaborate six day wedding, and who has to grudgingly accept that Phoebe is an unplanned visitor, an uninvited guest at her wedding.

The bride Lila begins to intrigue Phoebe, who slowly is drawn into her world and that of the wedding people at the hotel, enough to have Phoebe slowly change perspectives about people and her life. This story is told with humor, insight into personalities, and persuades Phoebe to "become part of the world again." The great thing is that the bride and her groom also change and find their true selves during this wedding week.

The writing is superb, with references to Walt Whitman, Jane Eyre, and other 19th century literature that Phoebe refers to in her musings about her aims and her life. The characters are well drawn, unusual and distinct, and realistic at the same time.

I highly recommend this novel!

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Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for this amazing ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Wedding People is the uniquely original tale of Phoebe Stone, adjunct professor of nineteenth century literature—think Jane Eyre, Pride & Prejudice—adoring wife, wannabe mother—or so she thought. She arrives to the Cornwall one day with plans that are quickly interrupted by... the wedding people.

Now that is how you write a blurb/summary/synopsis/whatever-you-want-to-call-it for a book! I was totally taken aback by this book, and so quickly I might add. Just instantly hooked. Quickest I finished one of these books in a while. May need a trigger warning for certain readers, but other than that, it was truly something to witness. All these characters are filled with such life and it's told in the third person!

I really resonated with Phoebe and her struggles and her decisions. It was like the author was reaching out a hand to me and saying, "See...it isn't just you." Even the aftermath, in the ways she was thinking was incredible to me. She has become one of my favorite book characters in a while.

I'm pleased there will be a screen adaptation of this book because I could totally picture it as I was reading the book. Can't say enough good things about this book. Truly special. Now...not everyone may have the same experience reading this book. I was thoroughly entertained and that's all that matters in the end.

THANK YOU for this ARC! I ADORED this book. Without a doubt, this is going to be one of my top 10 reads of 2024. I loved how quirky and funny it was, while also having moments of seriousness (especially and mainly towards the beginning). Plus, the setting??? I want to go to the magical, stunning Cornwall Inn in Rhode Island! Oh, to be a fly on the wall during this wedding week.

I can't wait to see this novel get all of the attention it deserves!