Yes, I liked this book. However, I never felt and real connection or sympathy with the characters. The plots were interesting and well written.

I have the feeling this is going to be one of those books that readers will either love or hate (I enjoyed it). It's a poignant, humorous, and sometimes shocking look at the lives of two women, childhood best friends, who, after a life-changing betrayal, are brought together once again when their children fall in love. The characters are not always nice and some of their antics would have even Reality TV housewives doing a double take. I don't know if I would have ever been able to forgive the betrayal that ended their friendship but, in spite of that, I couldn't help but hope that there was still goodness lurking in the depths of one and strength to be found in the other. And, as dysfunctional as their relationship was, I really hoped that they would be able to find a way to, if not repair their former friendship, at least forge a new one going forward. The resolution Talley created is one in which I was able to believe and appreciate.

Teeny and Mel are flawed, complex women who took me on quite the emotional ride. I laughed, cringed, laughed, gasped, cringed some more, and also shed a few tears before reaching the end of their story. It's a humorous, sometimes heartbreaking, frequently over the top, no holds barred look at a friendship that's gone off the rails, but just might find its way back on track, and I could not look away.

*ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley
*All opinions are unbiased and my own

The Wedding War is the first book I have read from Liz Talley. While I enjoyed it, I found it a little slow to get through. I did not really like Melanie and Tennyson for a good chunk of the book so that made it hard to be invested. Overall it was a pretty good book,

2 STARS. PERIOD.


I’m sorry, I honestly tried to finish but i just couldn’t anymore... i’m like 80% through. The fact that this whole “wedding war” started because of a friendship that ended because of a guy — i’m done. It also is probably the reason why it took me this long to try to finish this but still DNF!!!

First of all, the friendship between Melanie and Tennyson started great. It was a bff thing that most people probably had/have. But when the first chapter started, major plot twist, they aren’t bff anymore. Sorry to spoil but come on maaaaann!!! It was revealed early on that the fight was, indeed, about a guy. Leading me to my next topic — this kind of “war” between women?? NOT A GOOD REPRESENTATION!!! Making women fight, not to mention the extended family, is awful. It makes women look cheap fighting over a guy. I don’t know how to stress it even more but that pretty much is the issue. It’s annoying for me and not even a cool story to write about.. sorry, but that’s my opinion.

This book is like inspired by the Bride Wars movie (Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson) except they didn’t grow up as bffs and they didn’t fight over a guy! They fought about their dates coinciding with each other’s — which is a more reasonable fight than this. SERIOUSLY.

Sorry for the awful review but i just can’t.

** Thank you NetGalley for the ecopy.**

Ex best friends Melly and Teeny find themselves in an impossible situation, When Melly’s son and Teeny’s daughter get engaged.

Now they must work together to plan their children’s dream wedding.

I didn’t really like this book, I couldn’t sympathise with the main characters at all and it just fell a bit flat.

This promised to be fun and light hearted but instead I found myself faced with characters who I couldn’t sympathise with it even begin to like. They were petty and just plain mean at times. I read some reviews describing the positivity of this book - one even saying it was a breath of fresh air after a reading slump. I wish it had been that for me,

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher (Montlake Romance) through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

The Wedding War starts out in 1985 when pre-teen Melanie and Tennyson are meeting in their emergency rendezvous spot.  The reason for the meeting is because Melanie found a box with something in it, and the two girls don’t know what to do with the secret they uncovered. The book then jumps forward to the present day, and Melanie and Tennyson hate each other because Tennyson revealed the secret at Melanie’s wedding. Unfortunately for Melanie and Tennyson, their children have fallen in love and are getting married, and they’re going to be seeing a lot of each other from now on.

My favourite thing about this book is how fun it was to read. There was so much drama in this book, and I was tempted to make some popcorn to snack on while it all played out. Weddings, in general, tend to be a bit dramatic, especially when there are competing opinions, but the wedding in this book took drama to a whole new level. This book threw some drama into every aspect of the wedding, and I loved it.

The other thing I liked about this book was the character development. Modern-day Tennyson is incredibly wealthy and very self-centred. She wants people to pay attention to her, and she likes to be over the top. Modern-day Melanie has turned into the person that everyone relies upon, and she never does anything for herself anymore. As these two characters are forced into each other’s life again, Tennyson is brought more down the earth, and Melanie starts to break out of her shell. The two characters balance each other out, and I loved reading about it.

I want to take a minute to talk about the romantic relationships in this book. I loved Tennyson’s relationship with “Hot Cop” aka Joseph. I was thoroughly amused by their relationship at the beginning, and I thought they made a great pair. I felt bad for Melanie as she dealt with the realization that her husband, Kit, was more interested in someone younger than her. Every time Charlotte made an appearance, I wanted to scream at Kit for making a poor decision.

The other thing I liked about this book is that there was a bit of a mystery going on. In the beginning, we know that Melanie and Tennyson found a box and inside of this box was a secret that ended up destroying Melanie and Tennyson’s relationship. Throughout the book, glimpses are given as to what was inside of the box and what Tennyson did, but the full story isn’t revealed until closer to the end. These little glimpses made me want to keep reading because I desperately wanted to know what happened.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was full of drama and laughs, and it was a lot of fun to read. I liked that this book was about friendship and healing the past and that the romance was just a subplot. I do want to throw in a few content warnings though for people who are thinking of picking up this book. There is a side character who has an eating disorder, there is also mention of someone committing suicide in the past, and someone having an abortion in the past.

J'ai trouvé sympathiques les personnages secondaires mais j'ai très souvent eu du mal avec Melanie et Tennyson et leurs critiques permanentes envers l'autre. Elles ont des secrets que l'on va découvrir petit à petit mais je n'ai pas forcément apprécié la manière qu'elles ont de gérer ces "retrouvailles". Pourtant elles vont devoir faire face pour le bonheur de leurs enfants et certaines choses qui étaient en train de pourrir vont éclater. L'intrigue est somme toute sympathique et les pages se tournent très facilement mais je n'ai pas réussi à les aimer totalement, même à la fin où elles montrent des visages quelque peu différents. Sympathique mais peut mieux faire !

Melly and Teeny were BFFs- until they weren't. Multiple years pass until the unexpected happens-Teeny's son and Melly's daughter get engaged.

As Mother of the Bride and Mother of the Groom, the two must now figure out a way to get along long, wedding plan, and survive as in-laws. With completely different visions for the wedding and overall lifestyles, the story goes from hilarious to gut-wrenching, and back again.

Focused on their children's wedding, their feud, and troubles with their own men, both characters are dynamic and come with their fair share of surprises. Between the laughs and the tears this mid-life crisis of a novel is a must read.

I had a hard time starting off this book which is why it is not a 5-star review. I'd say the first 30% of the book just seem like it was going to be 300+ pages of two bitter old ladies arguing. However, it got better. I started truly caring about the characters (Melanie and Tennyson) and wanting their friendship to recover, I think the problem I had was that the author was slowly unveiling what the secret was that tore the friendship apart. It really made it hard to get emotionally invested in the characters, especially Melanie because you didn't know what Tennyson did that was so horrible. I did tear up a few times, happy tears and sad tears. I really liked the relationship between the kids and their mothers. They had no problems in telling the mothers to get it together, especially the bride. I definitely thought this would be more funny than emotional. It had its moments, but really what I liked most about this book was the emotional journey. It wasn't super hard hitting but it was just enough to make you feel it. I would recommend it but be ready for a slow start. Trigger warning for bulimia and anorexia - there is a character in the book that battles with it severely.

I received a free copy for an honest review.

As many people who read this book, I also thought it was about a reconnection between two lost friends but I've never been more wrong in my life. I almost couldn't finish this book. I disliked both women and their petty actions. So sorry writing this feedback cause it was really promising

It’s been a while since I’ve done a review, and most of that is to blame to my reading slump… As well as a couple of complete duds I had to force my way through (most disappointing books of 2020 – I’m looking at you). Luckily, after rainy days comes sunshine, and in this case, The Wedding War was that sunshine, as well as a breath of fresh air in one.

The story
Once upon a time, Melanie Layton and Tennyson O’Rourke were inseparable—but their friends-4ever promises were shattered when an explosive secret was revealed at Mel’s wedding, a secret that destroyed her family. The two haven’t spoken for the past twenty some odd years, and they’d be happy if they never crossed paths again.

But now Mel’s daughter and Teeny’s son have fallen in love—and announced their engagement.

Which means the two women must tolerate one another and play nice long enough to plan their children’s dream wedding. From the beginning, they clash. Melanie imagines a classy, elegant event, in keeping with tradition. Teeny’s vision is a bit more extravagant, and thanks to her habit of marrying well, she’s got the cash to plan the flashiest wedding of the season.

Complicating matters are the men in their lives: Tennyson is falling for the wrong guy, and Melanie is trying to hold on to a flailing marriage. Amid the flurry of cake tastings, dress fittings, seating charts, and bridal showers, Mel and Teeny confront their past mistakes—with twenty years of pent-up drama.

When the day of the wedding finally arrives, their friendship might just be something old and something new.

The opinion

Here’s the thing: I am nothing like the main characters of this book, not in age, social standing, life state, or anything. And yet… I found myself identifying with them immensely. There’s just something about how inherently flawed they are that just hit the spot.

That’s not all, though, of course. Weddings can – so I’m told – bring out some big emotions and that’s certainly the case for this particular wedding. In that sense this book kind of reminded me of Cathy Kelly’s It Started With Paris which has a similar starting point. (and if you know me at all, you’ll know that’s just about the biggest compliment I can give a book in this genre). As is the case in that one, though, the confrontation with such enthusiastic love can be quite a stark one.

The way Liz Talley manages to slowly unravel the traces of a friendship, a marriage and two lifetimes made this book into one of the most enjoyable reads I’ve had in a while. I was almost scared to read on, at times, just waiting what else could have gone wrong, or have been worse than what was revealed before. And to then be handed that final twist? Or twists, I should say? I basically wanted to start reading again as soon as I turned the last page.

The rating: 4,5/5
If you’re in need of a book that masterfully combines the rediscovery of a friendship, who they were, who they are and who they want to be… Combined with high-speed writing, extremely well-rounded characters and – as I mentioned above – a couple of twists that basically knocked me out… This one is a keeper!

-Saar

DNF at 30%.

What happens when two former best friends turned enemies discover that their children have fallen in love and are getting married. Secrets are revealed as these two mothers battle over the planning of the wedding.

I didn't find a single one of these characters sympathetic, in fact I'd go further and say I found all of them extremely irritating and obnoxious. I didn't even find this funny, just sad and full of selfish characters.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I struggled to find anything to like about any of the main characters. The book was not as light hearted as I expected from the description, and I would classify it as Women's Fiction much more than Romance. The parts I think the author intended to be funny I often didn't react as such.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The wedding war needs a truce!

Tennyson (Teeny) O’Rourke and Melanie (Melly) Layton had been the closest of friends when they were young but they hadn’t spoken in twenty years after the disaster at Melanie’s wedding. Now that their children Emma and Andrew are getting married with Tennyson and Melanie deciding that they needed to call a truce between them but that didn’t last more than a second because each of them wanted to outdo the other in the planning the wedding festivities.

The Wedding War by Liz Talley isn’t a romance except for the relationship between Emma and Andrew but the rekindling of a friendship between Tennyson and Melanie that had many misunderstandings about what actually happened during the ending of the friendship.

Liz Talley has written a story that reminds me of Steel Magnolias with the relationships between all of the characters and it would make a great movie.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Mel Layton and Teeny O’Roarke - Two friends who have had a feud going for over twenty years over something that was revealed at Mel’s wedding. They now have to put their feelings aside because their children have falling in love and are getting married.
Of course they clash because Mel wants for her daughter an elegant wedding, Teeny wants for her son a more extravagant wedding because she has the cash to do this. There is drama, comedy and typical wedding moments. If you love stories about weddings this one is for you. I enjoyed this book very much. Thank you Montlake Romance and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my own opinion.

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. Right from the start the author captivates you by throwing a mystery into the mix. From there, you are constantly trying to work out the narrators' backstories, along with the hilarious twist of their children getting married. I laughed out loud so many times during this book, and read the entire thing in just over a day. Would highly recommend to anyone who likes fun stories with a romantic touch.

This one is not romance at all. Its more women's fiction but its also well I don't know but not the best for that. I get what the author was trying to do, two mother of the couple that were best friend but became hateful and just horrible to each other. It's way more about that story, really the whole book the two mothers relationship but its mean girls on steroids.

I read it but its not the light funny rom com the cover gives and I think the marketing missed the mark also. Just wasn't for me, I get some mean things but not 80% of the book.

Overall, 2 stars.

Thank you @netgalley for a copy of this book. I expected this to be a fun rom com book. What I got instead was a story of petty woman that focused on their hatred of each other rather than on their children. They were so immature and vicious to each other that it made the book very difficult to enjoy.

I received The Wedding War by Liz Talley for free in exchange for an honest review. I liked the book-- but it's not the light romantic comedy that I was expecting from the cover/title. The main characters are not nice people. It's a heavier read than I was expecting.