This book as a lot of appeal for the mid twenties to mid thirties crowd. I really liked Lily and her friends—I felt like they reminded me of several of my friends and their own misadventures through dating, engagements, wedding planing, etc. I also love this because Lily really is a good friend and good bridesmaid, which did hurt the believability that she would write some of the blog posts she does. They were a little too on the nose/mean, but I guess they have to be in order to forward the plot (as opposed to taking the smarter, more discrete option of changing facts enough that the posts are still entertaining while not being too obvious). I thought the opening romance might mean this mostly women’s fiction book would also fall into a romance but the love story is definitely a side story to Lily’s relationships with her friends, but the story doesn’t suffer because of this.

Overall, I liked it. If you like 27 Dresses, Say Yes to the Dress and all those TLC spin-offs, or frankly have been a bridesmaid you will probably find someone to relate to in this book.

This book really surprised me, I loved Lily as a character and the story itself was a fun and easy read. I cannot recommend it enough.

I found this book entertaining and easy to read. However, I thought the story was a little overly simplistic.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For the Love of Friends grabbed me immediately. It was fun, honest, relatable, and, at times, heartbreaking. I found Lily Weiss to be quirky, and at times a bit annoying, but overall I really loved her character. As a former journalism major, I completely understood her need to write and a place to call her own.

However, I knew from the first blog post Lily wrote that it was going to end in disaster if her friends found the blog. Even though she never named anyone by name, there were too many personal details for it to be "anonymous."

There were certainly parts that I could see coming and expected to happen (let's just say "viral status"), but I love that it all ultimately led to Lily rediscovering her true passion, writing.

The book even inspired me to think about blogging again!

All in all, a really cute read.

I really loved it!!

From the start itself, I was having 27 dresses vibes, I loved the movie, and so I was slightly surprised when this went on a slightly different tangent.

We have our protagonist, a woman who's in her thirties, isn't married, and is accidentally involved in five marriages at the same time. And she ends up starting to lose her own life whole helping others in theirs. She sees a broke woman in her future, and so she starts a blog to vent all about it, and also earn some money while doing it, and things predictably go up in flames.

I only recently started a blog, and so I found the blogging parts of this insightful as well as enjoyable! The author has a really wonderful voice, and she was very good at mixing the serious bits with the funny, so that it never seems too much. I really loved the writing style. It was also really realistic, compared to what I was expecting!

I loved the body positivity in this a lot. And I was hating the way so many others were approaching it. All the Botox, and eyelash extensions, and hair dye, and weight loss, etc moments, have just reaffirmed my decision to never ever do anything like that to my body. If I get white hair or wrinkles, or anything, I'm living with it.

I really liked the mother and daughter relationship, and how the relationship seemed so different between siblings. All the siblings have different ideas of what the relationship is like for all the other siblings, and I found it so realistic, the way one would think the other was being favoured, while the other would think the first was being favoured, all at the same time!

And not only the mother daughter relationship with our MC, but also the other characters which were getting married. Some relationships were built on fear, some on dominance, but in the ned, everyone only really wanted the best for the others.

I loved the romance in this! It was so different from what I'd expected! (view spoiler) And their relationship was so much more than romance. There was friendship and a much deeper connection than I'm used to with romances.

I will definitely be checking out other books by this author in the future!

I really loved it and I would recommend it to anyone who likes romance laugh out loud moments, enjoyed 27 dresses, loves wedding drama, accurate mother-daughter relationships, and romance that creeps up on you without warning. Even thought you knew it was happening all along.

“For the Love of Friends” is a whimsical novel by debut author, Sara Goodman Confino.

I have been reading a lot of serious fiction lately so this novel was a quirky surprise. We meet Lily, who like many writers, has an unfulfilling job that pays the bills. In her thirties, Lily has a variety of friends as well as a younger sister and brother getting married; she ends up being ask to step in as a bridesmaid in five different weddings in a two month period. All of that angst needs to be funneled somewhere and Lily decides to create a blog (and also raise a little cash for bridesmaid related expenses) where she anonymously posts about what it’s like to deal with a variety of brides and their accompanying eccentric family members.

The author has a lively writing style that pulls you write into the story. The different brides—especially Caryn and Megan—manage to avoid falling into most bridezilla clichés and instead, be entertaining. Each bride is well-developed though some of the situations they find themselves in are a bit plausible. The novel stays in Lily’s point of view—excerpts of her blog intermingled with her narration. Readers should be able to relate to Lily. How many of us felt like we were watching everyone get to do what they want to do while we stood on the sidelines? Because Lily was so likable, I was able to get past some of the forced plotting choices and occasional dialogue that did not ring true.

This is an enjoyable read and fits the bill for comfort food that tastes great doing down and doesn’t give you (too much) guilt when finished. 


Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for my advanced copy.

Quirky, contemporary and fairly relatable; "For the love of friends" is a fast-paced, engaging and heart-warming, albeit rather formulaic, read, ideal for getting one's mind off of things.

It’s currently 5am, and I just finished this book. I can’t remember the last time a book kept me up this late/early.
I absolutely loved the concept of this book, and found myself laughing out loud multiple times.
Lily was an entertaining main character, and I enjoyed her.
Anyone who has been in a wedding or multiple weddings in the same month will really get a kick out of it.
This book was great.

Thank you #netgalley and Lake Union for the E-ARC!

As someone who has worked in the industry, as well as a practiced bridesmaid, this was a delight.

Lily is a well-developed main character with relatable flaws and good intentions. Her “friends” and family add charm and depth to the story. And humor!

This was as satisfying and sweet as a piece of good wedding cake. I look forward to more from this debut author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this book. Lily, the main character, was very relatable and I felt connected to her based on the narrative and her blog posts -- so much so that I didn't realize how self-absorbed she really was until she realized it herself ! There were a lot of very funny moments in the book and the supporting characters had enough depth to make me care about some of them and be very annoyed with others. This is a light, easy read yet I got totally caught up in it due to the author's easy writing style. I can't wait to read more by this author.

I can't believe I just spent a day reading about a bridesmaid in "For the Love of Friends." It's a sweet love story that caught my attention. It made me think of opening the Modern Bride magazine and finding out about the latest in dresses, cake and music at a wedding.

This book is about 32 year old Lilly Weiss who will be in five weddings in the same year without a boyfriend. She has worked for more than ten years as the Director of Communications at a scientific company. She likes it because it's easy; not inspiring. While it pays the bills, she needs to create a budget to pay for all the requirements of being a bridesmaid. And then she had this brilliant idea: to write a blog about weddings and made money from advertisers. Pretty predictable - all of it: the brides, the good looking guy, the dominant mother and caring grandmother.

Yet, I enjoyed it. It made me think of all the young girls and how they're trying to do whatever it takes to make their wedding day perfect. But the bigger story wasn't about the bride but more about a girl finding her passion. And this is probably the story of the author. I hope she continues to write more stories.

I really enjoyed this book. It follows 32 year old Lilly Weiss as she is a bridesmaid for 5 weddings. Since she is low on money, she decides to start an anonymous blog documenting her experiences preparing for these weddings. I thought Lilly was an excellent writer. Her blog posts were witty and snarky, and had such a distinct voice. Some of the brides made crazy demands, like Caryn, her coworker who wanted Lilly to wear a minimizing bra and get eyelash extensions and keratin hair treatments. The other bridesmaids were even worse (Caroline is pure evil). I loved the friendship that formed between Lilly and Alex, one of Megan's groomsmen. It started off so cute with the notes on the Starbucks coffee sleeve and by the end I was desperately hoping they would end up together. And of course as the blog got popular I was sitting at the edge of my seat wondering if any of the brides would find out about the blog. I loved the pacing of this book and thought it was a fun read.

It starts with a work friend getting married, then friends from grade school and college, and by the time her younger siblings get engaged, Lily Weiss is faced with the prospect of being a bridesmaid in five weddings in two months. Her budget quickly blown by expensive bridesmaid dresses and fancy bachelorette weekends, she starts her Bridesmania blog to blow off some steam. As Lily's friends become brideszillas, Lily's behavior also turns snarky and sarcastic - can she survive this intense wedding season with her friendships intact? Could she even find love for herself?

I was looking for a light read to end the year, and this book was a perfect fit! Lily is a good friend, or at least, she tries to be, and I liked seeing how she interacted with the different brides and their families. Confino dreams up countless funny bridezilla/momzilla/bridesmaidzilla situations to throw Lily into, with predictably hilarious results. I'm pretty sure anyone who's been a bridesmaid or planned a wedding will relate to and laugh at this book.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

For the Love of Friends was such a whirlwind of a book. It kept me on my toes and had me wanting to know what was to come next. I felt so much empathy for Lily as she wrote on her blog about all the crazy things that were happening, while hoping for the love connection to come to fruition. The ending of this book was very deep once her blog had been found out in the reflection of oneself and being true to who you are wholeheartedly. I thoroughly enjoyed this read!

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This was the perfect feel-good novel to finish 2020 with. Although it was a little slow to get into, I was soon very much invested in Lily's adventures and the five weddings she was involved in. The premise of the story is that Lily, a budding writer working at a science foundation, is asked to be a bridesmaid in five weddings- all within weeks of each other. Lily soon realises that weddings are stressful for everyone involved and she needs an outlet to vent, thus starting an anonymous blog.

I loved Lily's characterisation- she was flawed but honest, and still felt like a character I could buy into. Her character growth was genuine and well-paced as well. I felt myself rooting for her and her love interest- although didn't see the twist at the end coming! (No spoilers!)

There were some elements that I would have liked to be resolved more effectively- such as some of the issues with Caryn (asking people to get Botox?! really?!), but overall I felt the resolution had cohesion.

Definitely check this one out if you like something heartwarming and easy to read! This won't be the next American classic, but is a lovely and fun read that I would recommend if you like a bit of romance and chicklit!

Such a great read. As a bridesmaid many times over, I loved the witty and real take about weddings and what we will do in the name of friendship! Would definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an advanced readers copy of For the Love of Friends by Sara Confino, in exchange for my honest review.

Confino’s writing was witty and fun, making me smile and laugh-out-loud as we follow Lily Weiss, 32 year old bridesmaid-but-never-the-bride. I found the plot of this novel refreshingly different from most romance/women’s fiction I’ve read recently. Lily narrates the entire book and I found her character to be extremely like-able (and realistically flawed!!) as well as hysterical. The situations she found herself in were completely believable/relatable and having grown up in the same area as the author, the brides/bridesmaids characters were spot on!!
The relationship between Lily and Alex was adorable and I would have loved to see a little more of it. I realize the plot was to be more focused on Lily and her growth, but I really enjoyed the sweet relationship she had with Alex.

This book was highly entertaining and fun. I would recommend to anyone looking for a entertaining escape from reality. I look forward to more from this author in the future!

**side note: the ePub which I downloaded on my Nook was defective. Every third page was impossible to read, with the font enlarged and only showing a portion of a few lines of text. I was able to read these defective pages on my NetGalley shelf app.

Omg, so hilarious and so cute! This was a great after the holiday read and I wish a studio or production company would option it right now cause this would make an amazing movie! I will say, without giving anything away, that the ending wasn’t quite what I was expecting and in a totally good way. It made me think and hope that I’ll be more mindful in the future.!

I picked this book because I really wanted to read something light, fast, and funny. And this book is those things, but not as funny (to me) as I expected. I quickly grew to like the narrator, but her blog was SO cringy, I couldn’t enjoy the humor because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop... I did like how the author handled things at the end.

This is a cute book, best read just for fun.

Thanks to #Netgalley for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

I wasn't able to read this due to the format it wouldn't upload properly on my e-reader. My apologies. I hear great things about this novel.