I have to praise the main character because she was able to say no!

I really enjoyed this book, I was a bit sad to see how zoey had such disdain towards marriage but along the ride she made me realize that marriage isn’t forever one. And it shouldn’t be pushed on anyone, it’s a norm in our world to find love get married and have kids to create a life. But that’s not how life should be. She should all have the choice and if we so choose, our partners should be ok with that choice.

I also loved the lesson she learns, you can’t change yourself for someone else’s happiness. It jeopardizes your own happiness and in turn you loose yourself. And I loved her character for it.

Her view on marriage is a huge challenge in the book and we see her struggles and her heartache. But the most amazing part of the book I appreciated was her loyalty to her best friend. She doubted herself as her friend and in the she pulled through.

I didn’t see that ending coming and was a bit torn about it. I sat with it for a second and in one way I understood why it was a good choice. And I’m an other I was a bit put off by how quick to move on she was. All in all 4 star read!

This book has it's moments. It was at times fairly amusing. I found Zoey's fear of Karen the falcon particularly relatable.
I think my main issue with this book may have been in the mislabeling/ marketing. This is not a romance. There is no real HEA/ HFN, so it simply does not meet the criteria to be categorized as such. So I was let down that this really was not what I was expecting.
I also have my own issues where I am not a fan of infidelity story lines. So I found that irksome. It made the MC, Zoey, seem really callous to me, and it was therefore hard to enjoy her and her story once that came into play.
Honestly, I think I would rather read her friend Hannah's story. It sounds more up my alley.
The writing wasn't bad, this story is just not for me.

3.25 ish stars

Unfortunately, this one was a bit of a disappointment for me. I was really looking forward to reading it for months, but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I wasn’t anticipating the first chunk of the story basically being a fairytale relationship montage that later fell apart, but it was okay. I also just really didn’t love many (any?) of the main characters, so that made it a tougher read. That being said, there were a couple of scenes (most notably the falconry lesson) that had me literally laughing out loud. The conclusion wasn’t bad either. I was afraid that the story would end with the protagonist suddenly deciding to get married, even though she’d been against the idea the whole time, so I was really happy when that wasn’t the case. All in all, there were good and less good moments, but this one just wasn’t my favourite.

Bad Luck Bridesmaid is an entertaining tale of a woman who both feels like marriage isn’t for her and feels as though she’s jinxing weddings and attempts to deal with the aftermath of her third time as a bridesmaid not ending in a wedding. I liked the sharp wit and fierce independence of Zoey and the lady friendships in this book. I will say that this book isn’t really about a romance. If you are walking into this book specifically for the rom-com vibes and wanting to see someone put aside her opinions about getting married to tie the knot at the end, I’ll just go ahead and say, this isn’t that. I loved that about it though. Zoey did deep soul searching and knows herself and despite pressures from others, she knows she doesn’t want marriage and she stays true to who she is. I think that’s an underrated message. That part of the book, I didn’t have a problem with. I’m all for self-realization and knowing your truth and respecting that. My main issue was in pacing. It just felt a little erratic in a time line sense. The first portion of the book is taken up by catching up the readers on the three failed weddings and then things sort of jump around a bit until we finally get to the main meat of the story. I just didn’t enjoy the jumping and time skips as much but that’s more of a personal thing. I also wish that the three earlier weddings felt like they tied in more. I wanted more inclusion or mention of the other brides in the other bits of the book. If they were so important to Zoey to choose her as bridesmaid, I wish they could have been referenced more organically so it’s like “Oh! This person we’ve definitely heard of before and will hear about a lot later is getting married in this bit” and less “hey it’s a character we haven;t heard of getting married and there is little to no mention of the previous brides.” but oh well, i guess i’m picky. I was the person watching 27 dresses wanting to see the main character interact more with all the brides, but I digress. It’s a solid book with a unique story that I enjoyed, there was just a few aspects of pacing and formatting I would have liked to have seen presented smoother.

I've only been a bridesmaid three and thankfully only worn dresses that were beautiful. If every wedding I was in meant the bride didn't make it down the aisle, I'm not sure I'd have many friends left!

Zoey has been in three weddings as well, but none of her brides have been pronounced wed! Lucky for her, she still has friends left. Being invited to be a bridesmaid in yet another wedding has her anxious and scared and asking a LOT of questions.

Can I just say that I love Zoey? She's the type of girl I'd like to have in my own wedding. The plot of this could easily transmit to a movie because I loved it! This is definitely a book I want to recommend to everyone!

✨𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄✨
📚 𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝗟𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗱
📝 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗴
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
304 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀

✨ Thank you @netgalley for my gifted ARC in exchange for my very honest review I’m about to give you! ✨

𝗠𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦:
The cover…very 𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗳𝗳𝘆 & 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱, the book is 𝗻𝗼𝘁. It’s a little deceiving as well as the blurb! (if you read those things- I don’t until I finish) I was going back and forth between 3 stars and 4 but ultimately settled in the in between. There was tons and tons rambling and run on sentences that bothered me, immensely. Say it’s the wanna-be writer in me. I probably could have cut at least 50 pages from this book. None the less the story is intriguing and honest. It gives you a deep dive into the MC and lots of character development for her. The ending also put me off a bit, I totally get the 𝘄𝗵𝘆 but the lead up to it made it seem like we would get the 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗭𝗼𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱. It breaks boundaries with the expectations of women and I absolutely loved that! Zoey will anger you a little here and there but that is all in the telling of a unique character! 3.5 stars from me and that isn’t meant to be perceived badly, this book was 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 and I highly recommend it!

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗜𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘:
✂️ unconventional romance
🏫 spice
🥸 banter
🤡 wee bit of feminism
🔪 untraditional romcoms

⚠️ trigger warning: infidelity, fertility issues,

Zoey Marks calls herself the Bad Luck Bridesmaid. She has been a bridesmaid to 3 failed weddings. Because of this and other examples in her life, she believes that she will never settle down.

Then she meets Rylan and suddenly she finds herself in a relationship. However, it's not what it seems. To her, she's not really in it for the long haul (despite their two year relationship). He is in it for real. He treats her so well and she takes it all for granted.

I really wasn't expecting what this book became. I was hoping that there would be some redemption but it came much to late. There is no happy ever after and that threw me off. Romance books really are all about the HEA and this left me sad at the end. There is a little bit of hope at the very end but you never see it.

I think there were moments in this book that I enjoyed. There was some wit and some fun but I think that the other parts of the book where the conflict and drama came in left me really wanting more.

this had it all. I love a good bridesmaid story and fun that goes along with it. I will read more of these kinds of stories. I enjoyed it from start to finish.

Zoey is bad luck. She is the bad luck bridesmaid. After ten years, three dresses and not one of the couples got married.
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When Zoey’s best friend asks her to be her bridesmaid she is nervous her bad luck will rub off. When Zoey turns down her boyfriend’s marriage proposal because she is nervous of her bad luck with weddings they are both heartbroken, but they need to put it behind them when they are both in attendance at Hannah’s wedding.
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This was a sweet book but fair warning this is not the rom com I was expecting. There is no traditional HEA, which I’m sure works for many, but I can’t help it I want the HEA in my books. I’m aware that it’s complicated but I can’t help who I am! With that being said I loved the journey of self discovery here.
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I thought the end of this was so interesting. She says, “My security blanket is the spark of the unknown. For many, it’s the comfort of forever. But I like maps without destinations.”
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Thank you @stmartinsPress for an advanced copy

This is a very cute, standard chick-lit book, and it was a nice, casual read, but I don't think it was anything remarkable. In particular, Zoey isn't the best character and I kind of want to shake her and tell her to grow up - I found her super selfish and a bit obnoxious. She also just cares about herself, so she isn't my favorite narrator/lead. Overall, this was a fine read.

Zoey Marks is convinced she’s bad luck. She’s been a bridesmaid three times and none of the brides have made it down the aisle. She’s also convinced marriage isn’t for her.

So when her best friend, Hannah, introduces her to Rylan, her cousin, everything Zoey thought goes out the window.

However, when Rylan and Zoey can’t agree on what their future looks like, Zoey is left heartbroken. As Zoey is just getting back into life, Hannah reveals she’s madly in love and getting married, and of course, Zoey is her bridesmaid.

Determined to get a bride down the aisle, Zoey throws herself into the role despite knowing Rylan will be at the wedding as well.

This book is filled with casual Jewish rep, great female friendships, and a wonderful message about love. While it might look like a rom-com, this book doesn’t really fit that mold.

I really enjoyed the plot, and while, I found Zoey to be unlikable at times, I, overall, really liked her character.

The writing is fast-paced and the characters are really enjoyable. I loved Hannah!

If you’re looking for a book that’s light, but talks about important subjects (society’s expectations of women, sexism, marriage, love) this is a book for you!

Zoey has always been a little different from the rest. She's never wanted to be in love and definitely didn't want to get married. After she is a bridesmaid in three weddings that never happen, she thinks she is bad luck for her own life and her best friend's wedding.

This was a romance and female empowerment all wrapped up into one. While the ending was realistic, I personally did not enjoy it - but that's just my opinion! (I prefer HEA.) Otherwise, I really liked the characters and the book. If you like romance, you should definitely check it out!

I wanted to like this one, but it fell flat for me. The characters seemed like descriptions and didn’t pop off the page, and I just couldn’t get sucked into the story.

When your friends ask you to be in their weddings and they "run" are you a bad luck bridesmaid? Zoey seems to think so. Zoey is a great friend questioning her own love life, but always happy doing her own thing. Society calls for a woman to get married, settle down, and have children. This is not the life that Zoey wants or plans to live. When she got proposed to her entire life gets turned upside down.

This was quick and easy read with fun characters. Not a simple romcom love story as I had initially thought but a story about loving oneself and their truths. It wasn't the ending I was expecting!

A huge thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book. I am voluntarily leaving a review, all opinions are my own.

This was a cute, quick read. I didn’t love the MC, I couldn’t really connect with her right away and even throughout the story I just didn’t get her.

I liked that this book delved into some topics other rom-coms don’t, that was a pleasant surprise. All in all, a cute, easy read, I just had to push past the MC at times.

Bad Luck Bridesmaid by Alison Rose Greenberg is a funny, sexy, fast-paced romcom. Overall I enjoyed the book, and I’ll be looking for more from Greenberg after this fun debut.

For the most part I liked the main character Zoey, although she was kind of selfish, and there were times when her actions were confusing and a bit rude. At least twice in the book, she made her best friend's problems about herself, which really aggravated me. I wanted to yell at her to just listen and stop talking! 😆

Zoey's fears were valid and I liked the live-your-truth aspect of the book, but the way her hesitancy took over the story was a little too much and I think I wanted to see more growth from her character. At times the story got a little repetitive, but just when I felt over it, an exciting scene would save the day and I’d be flying through the chapters again.

The steam in the book was fantastic which definitely kept me interested in how the rest of the book would unfold! 😆 And there were a few chapters that absolutely had me in my feels and tearing up. I’ve seen some mixed reviews on the ending - for my part, I liked it and thought it was well-done.

This book will resonate with anyone who has felt pressured to change in a relationship and who wants to find a partner who accepts them just the way they are.

I really enjoyed the emotional roller coaster of this one. The protagonist learned how to love, learned what matters about love, and fought through heartache to understand herself all the better.

If your a fan of bad communication causing all of the problems, you might enjoy this one. Unfortunately it wasn’t really my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF 1%

Unfortunately, the writing style didn't mesh well with me. I also didn't like the voice of the main character, who came across as very "I'm x, x, and x, and look at me!"

This book was such a great debut!! I loved Zoey so much!! There were times when this book made me so frustrated, and I changed my rating of this book several times in my head while reading it. But in the end, the storyline as a whole worked really well. I really appreciated this book and would definitely recommend for those who don’t like a typical romance story! This one had a bit of everything: love, steam, heartbreak, friendship, discovery, and laughter!! 4.25 stars from me!!