#fortheloveoffriends#netgalley
Book short: Lily has five weddings to attend, as a bridesmaid. While it sounds like fun, it makes her miserable on so many levels. As she can't cope with so many...let's say enthusiasms. So, as a coping mechanism, she starts a blog and rants about her life as a bridesmaid. Wait, there is a love story involved too.

My thoughts: While I loved the storyline, I didn't like the narration. To be honest, I just wanted to know what happens to Lily, that was the reason I kept going. But the plot was good, the things the author wrote were relatable.
You have no idea how much I can relate to Lily, as I was Lily 3 years ago. A lot has changed after that, long story short that I found myself, but I get her feelings, I get her responses. You fake so many things to fit in, at some points, you forget, to be honest, altogether. It's easier, it may be crushing your soul but keeps so-called close people happy. You can't say no or the naked truth to their faces. And at that point, some just adjust. And our Lily started to rant on a blog.

The whole process of dress selecting reminded me of some of the Bengali weddings I saw, the bride matters in the end before it will be the chaos of ladies of both families.

Some facts that the book upholds:
• We let in some people in people, even though we know they are no good for us. And after sometimes we can't cut ties. We get used to being treated the way they do and after a while, it feels odd to say something. So, we just take it.
• Family can be a source of your almost every problem. You can't do shit about that. You can fight with the whole world, but it's almost impossible to fight with family(i said almost)
• it's hard to say no when you know people for years.
• weddings are exhausting. A lot of times they are not about the love of two people, it's sort of show-off. (there is always someone who acts like a fanatic while they organize a wedding. Either the bride and her team or one of the families).

But maybe others have something to say too, an explanation for their action, Lily should ask more instead of assuming things. I hated the fact that she just took things in, never complained or said anything in their faces, but started a blog. Instead of that, she should be saying those things to her friends and family, then maybe write about it. I know she took the easy way. But it wasn't right to say things behind people's backs, even if they were all truths.
I wish the author would have given more attention to writing, cause at some points the story felt unnecessarily detailed.

Lily Weiss is in trouble. She's agreed to be a bridesmaid in 5 summer weddings, all taking place within weeks of each other. Between the highlights she's forced to get to "fit in" with the other all blonde bridesmaids, and the room she's tricked into sharing with her grandma at her brother's destination wedding, Lily needs somewhere to vent all this wedding stress. So she creates the anonymous blog Bridesmania. What starts as a whim to get some extra income to pay for wedding gifts and bridesmaid dresses becomes a therapeutic outlet and more importantly. helps Lily, a journalism graduate working in an unfulfilling career, remember how much she loves writing. But as we all know, anonymity usually only lasts so long...

I was so enamored of Lily as our main character, and it was a lot of fun to be in her head - well, besides all the body-shaming, put-downs, and stress she went through! The plot moved along at a good pace, and by the 50% mark, I could not put this book down. In a book like this, you know there's a dramatic climax coming, but that didn't dampen my enjoyment when it came. There were also plenty of side characters that added to the plot. It was nice to have all these fully fleshed friends and family members - they felt real (not that I HOPE someone like Caryn or Caroline actually exists...) and I loved that they called Lily on her shit. She didn't get away with just a sorry at the end of this book and I think that made it all the more realistic.

Don't even get me started on Alex - he's a cinnamon roll I'd love to dig into. The way their friendship developed was really delightful. And the small twist at the end was something I didn't see coming.

I definitely recommend this book! It's the perfect summer read, especially if you have a wedding or two yourself this summer and you need to commiserate over the price of dresses these days. But you can always wear them again, right?

Thank you so much @AmazonPublishing, @SaraConfino & @NetGalley for giving me this physical ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 01 August 2021)

SYNOPSIS | Lily has somehow ended up being included in five weddings in six weeks & quite frankly she needs a place to vent to keep her sanity. She starts an anonymous blog called Bridesmania where she snakily writes about her experiences with Mom-Zillas, body shaming, high-strung Brides and generally the insanity of trying to afford five weddings in one year. Hopefully no one she knows actually reads this blog...

WHAT I LIKED:
- this was my first book by Sara & I absolutely loved her writing style
- it was a really nice balance of serious & humour
- even though there were a lot of characters I didn't find myself getting confused
- it has a 27 Dresses kinda vibe

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- there is a continual theme of body shaming throughout this story which I think has the potential to be triggering
- the blog itself is pretty mean spirited from the beginning which didn't really tie up with Lily as a character as she was often bending over backwards to accommodate her friends wedding wishes

I couldn't put down For the Love of Friends. From the opening pages, I was hooked on Lily and her drama and romantic exploits. Lily Weiss is an endless disappointment to her mother – 32 and still single. Then, both of Lily's younger siblings get engaged and plan their weddings within a few weeks of each other. What's worse is that Lily has already committed to being in three of her best friends' weddings. Lily suddenly finds herself in five weddings within two months. When the cost, expectations, shopping, and Pinterest boards all start to feel look much, she creates a bridezilla blog about dealing with overbearing mothers, antagonism from bridesmaids, and Stepford's wives-like friends and family.

What's the harm in a little bit of anonymous venting and snark? Will Lily make it through the passive-aggressive body shaming, age digs, spinster comments, and get all the brides to their happily ever afters?

For the Love of Friends is laugh-out-loud funny. I loved Lily's snark and sense of humor, her relationship with Meg, her grandma, and Amy. She and Alex had great chemistry right from the beginning. I enjoyed everything about this book, and can't wait to see what Goodman Confino does next.

Highly recommend for fans of Meg Cabot, Jennifer Weiner, and Sara Hogle. Thank yo so much to NetGalley for the e-arc.

This was such a fun read! I loved the humor, the blogging, the mother daughter relationship, and the romance.
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I can't believe this is a debut! I loved it so much!! It has great pacing and is super entertaining. I loved that the main characters actually became friends. The conflict felt very real, and loved how it all so went down. Overall, I'm hugely impressed by this book. It was such a fun read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advanced copy of this book in receipt of an honest review.

CONTAINS MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS

This is such a hilarious and relatable rom-com that I found it really difficult to put aside and actually do proper adult stuff rather than sit and read all day, which is how I really want to spend my days.

In the 28 years I’ve been on this Earth, I’ve been a bridesmaid three times.
The first time was when I was about 5 and my only job was to look absolutely adorable in a pink fluff ball of a dress.
The second time was for my cousin when I was about 10, and I spent the whole day crushing on the very much older best man.
The most recent was eight years ago for my brother. Whilst assisting with important bridesmaid duties, I also spent the day getting ridiculously drunk, and finally eating proper food after six weeks of trying to fit into my somewhat snug dress (I blame the dress and not my obvious university weight).

I cannot imagine being a bridesmaid or maid of honour for five weddings, all in the space of two months. As much as I adore my friends, there’s not enough gin in the world for that.

But at least Lily has the very dashing Alex to hold her hand throughout it, even if they’re (and I’ll shout it for those in the back) JUST FRIENDS. A lot of my male friends are gay, so trying to pretend they’re my date for weddings could be a bit of a stretch.

Some of the characters Sara has written are real pieces of work, but none felt like a caricature. Everyone is believable, no matter how sickly sweet or over-the-top nasty backstabbing they may be. We’ve all met each character in this book, and dare I say it, we may even identify ourselves - especially those amongst us who have been referred to as a “bridezilla”.

I’ll be honest, the general plot was a little predictable. Hold up, let me explain.

Girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, girl disses all her friends, friends find out, everyone hates her, girl apologises, everyone forgives her, and she gets the guy.

Know what I mean?

But I don’t mean this as a negative. In my opinion, romantic comedies tend to follow a very strict plot pattern, but that’s what makes it relatable and enjoyable to read. No surprises, no difficulties, just pure joy. How I wish my life was like that.

This read is a delightful mix between Say Yes to the Dress and 27 Dresses in book form!

Lily is asked to be in 5 weddings that will all go take place within two months of each other. Her drunken antics at the first of five wedding parties leads to some pretty hilarious moments. But, things start to take a toll on Lily and she decides to start an anonymous blog detailing the momzila, the body shaming while trying on dresses, and the heinous treatment by some other bridesmaids. It goes well until her blog goes viral and she’s outed to her friends, who are less than enthused by what she says.

While I was reading this, I was enraged on Lily’s behalf. I don’t think her friends had any right to bad after what she suffered for them. But, as the title states, we do go through a lot for the love of friends. This did have a happy ending and I was pleased with how everything worked out, including the comical misunderstanding that’s revealed at the end!

This is perfect summer reading! Sweet and snarky, I found myself laughing out loud. Lily takes on way too much when she agrees to be in 5 weddings and to deal with it all starts an anonymous blog detailing everything from wedding dress shopping, bridal showers, bachelorette parties and even being asked to get botox for her friend's big day. She also develops a really sweet friendship with a groomsmen from one of the weddings and it nice to watch that evolve as she grows up over the coarse of the book. While the story was a bit predictable it was entertaining and a lot of fun.

I will tell you right now that this book is going on my 'comfort read' shelf -this is the shelf of books that I constantly re-read because they just have something wonderful in them.

I loved this book! Every bitchy moment of it!

Yes, there is a lot of body shaming in it, and Lily doesn't make the best choice of how she voices her opinion, but in the end, she learns some very valuable lessons, and that counts for a lot with this novel.

This book is perfect for anyone who has ever questioned if they are 'good enough,' has been in a wedding where the bride turned into someone unrecognizable or spoke before thinking especially when they've had a couple too many!

The perfect beach read.

*ARC supplied by the publisher, author, and NetGalley.

This beautiful book was delightful from the very first paragraph when it made me laugh out loud, which isn't an easy feat. The voice is like listening to your best friend. I want to hang out with this heroine every single day or possibly have her narrate my life. The pacing was well done and the ending left me with a satisfied, calm feeling cozy in my chest.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It reminded me of a modern day 27 dresses. Because if involves social media as well as a blog. Lily is a bridesmaid in 5 upcoming weddings in six weeks. She goes through so much in this book, which ends with her having some growth. I loved how it was romance based and lily was totally okay with being single. Everyone around her were the ones worried about it.
I recommend this for anyone that loved 27 dresses.

For the Love of Friends was definitely a wild ride through a wedding-world rollercoaster. The writing was awesome and the story was very engaging but I can't get past certain aspects of the book. I wouldn't think twice about giving this a solid five stars if it didn't feature so much body shaming and the nasty way some characters talked about each other, specially the main character regarding her little sister.

Sara Goodman Confino's 'For the Love of Friends' is a simultaneous mixture of heartwarming hilarity and scathingly real reflections on what wedding mania can do to formerly rational people. Lily is 32, terminally single and nowhere near ready to take the walk down the aisle. Unless you count her turn as bridesmaid in five weddings over the course of six weeks! To vent about the the wedding madness descending upon her close friends and family, Lily starts an anonymous blog 'Bridesmania', not holding back on what she really thinks of proceedings. I am sure you can see where this is going!

I loved following Lily through all of the ups and downs of wedding prep. Sometimes, she could be harsh in her assessments of the brides and their families, as well as self-centred, but often I did not blame her for the over the top, sarcastic blog posts. To be repeatedly criticised for her weight, hair colour, height, eyelash length, forehead wrinkles, nails... It was draining to read, especially when her best friend joins in with the criticism. For women to turn into such awful friends for the sake of uniform bridesmaids and a few photographs... it is utter madness and Lily gets swept along it the wave of unrealistic expectations and the pursuit of the 'perfect day'.

Alongside the five weddings, I loved Lily's growth, anchored in her friendship with Alex. It was good to see her manage to find more genuine companionship and support when it seemed like all her friends were drifting away from her. I also appreciated how not everything was tied up in a neat bow. Lily had to suffer loss in order to learn from her experience.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend for any fans of romance or reflections on the nature of life and friendship. 4.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love some wedding drama and this definitely delivered! 27 dresses is also one of my favourite movies and this definitely had the same kind of vibe about it.

I really liked Lily as the protagonist, she was very funny and engaging and I also loved Alex aswell, however a lot of the side characters involved with the weddings were the worst so I feel Lily’s pain that she had to deal with these people and honestly some of them should be thankful they only got a few blog post written about them!

I wish we got to read more of the blog posts she wrote because she kept mentioning she wrote them but we only got to actually read a few of them, which were always really snarky and funny, especially as the blog was supposed to be a main feature of the story.

There was loads of drama, misunderstandings and a slow burn romance that I loved seeing develop over the course of the book. Overall, I really enjoyed it!

This was a great palate cleanser to recover from some previous hard-hitting works that I had been reading. It was entertaining and absorbing although predictable (which isn't a bad thing!).
The dialogue was crisp and entertaining.
I read it very quickly and the ending was satisfying.
The main selling point was the emphasis on relationships and friendships between women - the dynamics and complexities that are tested in pressured conditions such as a wedding....
Perhaps the only thing at times was the number of weddings and therefore active characters made it a little hard to follow what was going on - it was difficult to keep track of who everyone was and their connection to the main character!
Definitely a good holiday or rainy/ snowy day read!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! The main character is asked to be in 5 weddings in one summer when 5 important people in her life all get engaged. Crazy brides, mothers, and bridesmaids cause the experience to be less than fun, and she begins an anonymous blog to vent her frustrations. The writing is funny and has a few unexpected twists as the story progresses. A fun beach read!

I absolutely LOVED this novel!!

It had a 27 dresses vibe, but with only 5 weddings that just so happens are all within 6 weeks of each other! I can’t imagine the stress of that in real life! 😅 To cope, Lily starts an anonymous blog describing the ins and outs of all of the brides and their wedding planning to let off some steam, and hopefully make a few bucks to help pay for all these weddings. As the bridal party chaos ensues over the year, her blog continues to pick up traction, and she begins to feel confident in her writing again, revealing maybe a little *too* much of the behind the scenes in all aspects of her life, or at least what she thinks is going on...

If you’ve ever been in a wedding party, it’s relatable in the most hilarious ways. It was a bit predictable at times, but adorable, nonetheless! Highly recommend!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest review! The book comes out August 1st!

First off i loved this book
I laughed and cried and laughed some more plus it was a nice switch from the book i just read
I loved the characters, the friendship and the plot so well written and paced and made me stay up late finishing. That's saying a lot.
What i didn't like was that it had to end.
Anywhos it's safe to say this book has earned a spot on my Recommended list forever.

Thank you, NetGalley and to the publishers for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lily is a bridesmaid at her two siblings' weddings. She is also a bridesmaid at three of her friend's weddings. The problem, all five take place over a five-week period of time. Lily has no wedding experience, and she just can't quite seem to handle the prewedding issues, with needy brides, and backstabbing bridesmaids. What can a girl do?

God, I am not very big on stories with wedding craziness as a premise but this was amazing. Like I could totally see it playing out like a movie in my head. Plus, it's hilarious. like laugh-out-loud hilarious.