I went into this thinking it was a rom com. Don’t judge me. I almost always go into books blind or because I like the cover. Lol

I digress.

So how pleasantly surprised was I to find that sure there was light romance but this was mostly a journey of rediscovering oneself after a breakup and or traumatic event. Working through this stage in life w her friends and rediscovering all the things.

It ended up being so sweet. I really enjoyed it. It was funny, too!

Katy Birchall is officially an auto buy author for me! I loved The Secret Bridesmaid last year and I loved this one just as much.

Freya is broken up with the day before her wedding and her friends come up with a game plan to help her get through all of her upcoming wedding she must attend. This game plan leads to some HILARIOUS mishaps that will leave you laughing out loud. I have already recommended this book to several people and I cannot wait to see what she writes next.

I received an ARC through Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Disclaimer: I've been having difficulty reading ebooks, so I actually purchased a print copy of this title and my review is based on it.

This book begins with Freya on the day before her wedding - excited it's about to be her special day. That is until Matthew pulls her into the broom closet and tells her that he can't get married, they don't suit, and it's over.

What follows is a summer of Freya processing her breakup and the 12 year relationship with Matthew. What signs she missed and does Matthew just need time or are they truly over? Through this all she has 7 other weddings to attend this wedding season.

Thanks to wine and friends, Freya has a list of tasks - 1 for each wedding - she must accomplish. Of course this leads to some awkward and hilarious encounters (you'll be smiling, laughing and perhaps even cringing) with Freya. Cheers to Feet

This book was a quick read. I really enjoyed it, but I had a few quibbles. 1st: the cover. I hate the cartoon depiction of Freya. It was hard for me to actually pay money for a book that looks so awful. 2nd: I thought this book was a rom/com. It has comedy but this book is not a romance. It's women's fiction. This book is about Freya processing a breakup. The MMC was the ex Matthew. Sure by the end Freya is ready to enter another relationship, but she's meeting Matthew at 90% through the book.

All said, I enjoyed this book. Just know that's a story about Freya and her resilience.

I LOVED this ARC I received from Netgalley. It was exactly like reading a 90s/early 2000s rom com movie. It reminded me a lot of 27 Dresses, which I also loved. This was a great blend of a character and plot driven book. I found all of the main characters to be interesting and well thought out. Secondly, the plot was fast paced and kept me turning the pages. Though the ending was predictable, the author did a fantastic job of creating unforeseen obstacles to reach the ending. Perfect lighthearted romance read!

This was a sweet story about healing from heartbreak and moving on when your life takes a turn you didn’t expect. After her fiancé calls off their wedding the day before, Freya finds herself facing a summer of other people’s weddings. To get through it, her friends come up with a list of challenges to distract her. Along the way she finds herself moving on in unexpected ways.

I enjoyed this but also found myself forcing myself to keep picking it up, so it just didn’t hold my interest. Some of the storylines seemed overdone (like with Freya’s mum) and others underdeveloped (Jamie!) I think I wanted to see more of the blossoming friendship/relationship with Jamie beyond the last few pages.

Thanks to SMP Romance and NetGalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Katy Birchall, the author, and St Martin's Press, the publisher, for the e-ARC of The Wedding Season.

This book follows Freya, who gets broken up with in a broom cupboard the day before her wedding. In order to make Freya's summer of weddings easier to get through, Freya's friends create tasks for each wedding to help her get over her ex, Matthew.

I LOVED the MC, Freya. Such amazing character development. You see her blossom from a not-so-sure of herself, timid girl to a confident AF woman who appreciates her worth. We LOVE a strong female MC. Not only does she eventually get over Matthew, she works on her relationship with her mother who she has never really been close with. This is a rom-com with depth!

I laughed and smiled while reading this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the humour of all supporting characters inlcuding Freya's dad, brother and best friends.

Most of all, I loved how the author described Freya's feelings of heartache after being broken up with. We all know this terrible feeling and experiencing this tragedy alongside Freya allowed me to connect with the MC on a deeper level, making me want to celebrate Freya's wins and successes that much more.

I really enjoyed this book!

4/5

The Wedding Season opens on the eve of Freya's wedding to the love of her life, Matthew. It's the start of "The Wedding Season," theirs the first of 9 weddings that summer. It is supposed to be the best summer and everything is arranged perfectly, until Matthew breaks things off that night.

To help her make it through "The Wedding Season"--events in which their mutual friends will note the absence of Matthew or where he will also be attending--her friends devise a list of challenges to take her mind off things and just have fun.

The first half of this book was pretty emotionally heavy which I wasn't prepared for in a romcom. I did really love her friend group and just the general chaos of all the parties, I should also mention I'm a sucker for anything British so that plays a factor.

What really made this challenging for me was the second hand embarrassment. I ended up reading this in such short spurts that I never got to connect much with the characters. This is not to say the characters, plot, or writing was lacking in anyway. I just have a low tolerance for second hand embarrassment.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 on Goodreads.
•
Freya’s fiancé calls off their wedding one day before they are to walk down the isle. With a full wedding season ahead Freya’s friends rally around her to keep her mind busy instead of down in the dumps about her own canceled nuptials.
•
I thought the the story was fun and cute. Not the typical rom com that I have read in the past. I thought the characters were fun and I enjoyed Freya’s journey. I would have liked to seen a little more romance. I would have also appreciated Freya’s friends giving her the space to grieve her breakup. This isn’t just being dumped by a boyfriend, it’s you me fiancé. With a full wedding that has been planned and was one day away. I personally wouldn’t have been able to throw myself into one wedding after the other as an attendee. I would have been a mess. But that’s me. I suppose we all handle hardships differently.
•
Overall a lighthearted read with some fun moments and a hopeful romance near the end. Thank you St Martins Press and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A little late on my Pub day review for The Wedding Season but as they say, better late than never. I enjoyed seeing Freya’s character development after being jilted an early at the altar by her fiancé/boyfriend of 12 years. The author balanced humor without seeming silly which I appreciated a lot. I went in thinking this book was a bit of a romance, mistake on my part, so I had to manage my expectations since I’m not a huge women’s lit fan but I did enjoy this read more as it went along! 3.5 stars!

Lighthearted, fun, emotional and funny - this is a well-rounded, charming story of second chances and self-discovery.

Really enjoyed the friendship dynamic. It was well developed, sweet, and realistic. Good friends round out a rom com and in my view, separate the memorable from the forgettable.

I could easily imagine this on screen, and if you love a good audiobook, the narrator for this one was perfect and a delight to listen to.

Lines I underlined:

“There’s nothing like the friendship kind of love, is there?”

“When you get dumped, on the day before your wedding, in a broom cupboard, everything seems a bit shit.”

“It turns out, that just as people can always completely surprise you, you can also completely, unintentionally, yet rather wonderfully, surprise yourself.”

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance copy of this title.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

The Wedding Season

by Katy Birchall

Pub Date: 03 May 2022

Freya's wedding is tomorrow...and her fiancé, Matthew, breaks it off (out of the blue!) the night before. This book will make you feel such a roller coaster of emotion. I utterly despised Matthew and was so angry at his parents for just letting go of Freya without any comfort. Freya's journey throughout the book will tug at your heart. However, her support system from her friends and their crazy project to help her get through the wedding season was absolutely brilliant! There are just as many funny and sweet moments as the heartbreaking devastation in the book. I admire how Freya little by little found herself and especially how she found the courage to let someone into her heart after what she was put through. The new romance was an additional treat, but the friendship with Ruby and Leo made my heart soar just as much as the relationship with the couple.

4.5 stars

This book had me hooked from page one. I consumed it in about one day, and it was so fun to read. Have already recommended to friends!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press Group for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5 stars

The Secret Bridesmaid was one of my favorite books last year, so I could not wait for The Wedding Season. It was just as sweet and hilarious as I was hoping it would be. The Wedding Season follows Freya as she is faced with having to attend her friends’ weddings after being dumped hours before her own wedding. Her friends come up with the idea of helping Freya through wedding season by having her complete outrageous challenges at each wedding. By the final wedding, Freya may discover that her own love story isn’t quite over.

This was just adorable. I loved the concept, the characters, and the dialogue. I enjoy how Birchall creates an entire world that you just want to live in. Read this when you need a light, feel good story. All the stars.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am 2 for 2 with my adventures with Katy Birchall.

I really enjoyed this one. It was shockingly funny for picking up on the day her husband to be dumps her as they’re setting up for their wedding. Her friends and support system were so wonderful to her during and after her failed wedding. I wanted to shake her ex-fiancé by his ears for his behavior throughout the book.

I liked that the romance was almost secondary to the storyline of her figuring out who she wanted to be after spending her entire adult life with someone who didn’t work out.

I’m not sure what the opposite of a meet-cute is (a meet-ugly?) but I get a kick out of a story with mutual dislike at first sight so we can skip all of that awkward part of getting to know someone new and just get straight down to the sass.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Katy Birchall for a copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

💐 Book Review 💐

#theweddingseason
#theweddingseasonbook
#kaybirchall
#contemporaryromance
#NetGalley published 5/3/2022
#stmartinspress
#stmartinsgriffin

💐💐💐💐 (4 bouquets out of 5 rating)

Freya gets jilted the day before her wedding. She is supposed to be the first of 8 weddings to happen this wedding season. How will she survive the summer? Her best friends Ruby and Leo have made up a challenge for her to complete at each wedding.

She also tries to avoid her outlandish mom who is trying to repair the relationships she messed up years ago with Freya and her brother. Thankfully she has a great relationship with her dad.

I felt the beginning (approx 1/4) of the book was a little slow for me. But things picked up once the outrageous challenges start, it definitely picks up a lot. It's fun following her through the challenges and watching her try to avoid both her ex, Matthew, and the annoying guy, Jaime, she had to drive 4 hrs as a favor for her friends to another wedding.

One fact that bothered me quite a bit was the very short amount of time that it took to start getting over such long time of a relationship. Very unrealistic, even for a romance novel. 🤷‍♀️

When you’ve only read two books by an author, is it too soon to claim them as a favourite? Because after reading and loving The Secret Bridesmaid last year (it was one of my favourite and most-recommended books of 2021) and then loving The Wedding Season even more, I’m ready to proclaim Katy Birchall a new favourite.

This book was an absolute delight. Birchall’s writing is fun and snappy, her characters are well developed and relatable, and the story takes you through a range of emotions. Both this and The Secret Bridesmaid are more romantic women’s fiction than straight-up romance, and I love how the focus is on the journey of the heroine with a side of swoony, life-changing romance.

After being dumped in a broom closet by her fiance the day before their wedding, Freya is naturally feeling lost and out of sorts. She expected to be starting a new phase of life with the man she loved, not learning how to live on her own, navigate being single, and deal with awkwardness and pity from friends and relationships. Even worse? Her wedding was going to be the kick-off to a year of weddings - seven in total - and she knows attending all those weddings will make it even more difficult to move on. To help Freya make the Wedding Season more bearable, her two best friends concoct a plan and make a list: one out-of-her-comfort-zone activity for Freya to accomplish at each wedding.

What ensues is absolutely hilarious. I giggled and grinned through the majority of this book (I even teared up a few times too). I adored Freya, her growth throughout the book, her friendship with Ruby and Leo, and the romance. I also liked that we got to travel vicariously with her to places like France and Ireland - stuff like that is always so fun to me in books.

I loved The Wedding Season SO much. I already know it’s going to make it to my list of 2022 favourites. I can’t wait to see what Katy Birchall has in store for us next.

this was fun but maybe not for me, i went in assuming this would be a romcom and i don’t think i really got that but it was a great story and concept. not my favorite by this author

I wanted to like this one. I really did. But 60% in and she was still complaining about Matthew. I get it was a long relationship she can’t easily get over. But I didn’t want to read about it. She was all consumed with getting over Matthew and it took her a long time to get over it. I would’ve like to touch on that and then read about her forever person. That’s my opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Katy Birchall for the e-ARC of this book.
The Wedding Season is about Freya who is set to marry her longtime love, Matthew. He decides that he is not ready to get married the day before the wedding and calls it off in a broom cupboard. Her wedding was to be the first of 8 weddings of the summer. Freya must still attend all the other weddings. Luckily, she has amazing friends who come with challenges for her to complete to take her mind off of the nuptials. She takes on the wedding challenges with hesitation at first but really jumps into them.
I loved this book so much. The characters are all fleshed out and real. I love Freya. She could be whiny. She could be dark and morose, but she picks herself up after a certain period and knows she needs to move on. Her friends and family are all amazing. I love to see friends who lift each other up. I disliked her ex-fiancé but that is a good thing. The author did a great job of making him a slime for dumping her the day before the wedding but also shows how maybe they were not the best pair. Freya is able to get a few shots in on him as well which is satisfying.
This book does have romance in it, but the focus is on Freya’s growth. She takes a step back with some advice from an unexpected place and examines how she wants to live her life. Without giving too much away, I was in love with her romantic interest from the first conversation. They really click and take their time to spark their relationship.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a story of growth and friendship. I look forward to more books by Katy Birchall.

Thank-you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for the chance to review this ARC.

The Wedding Season was fun, sweet and it really hit in the feels.
Katy Birchall's writing was really great and it was relatable.
The friendships here were a highlight for me here.
Her journey was very heartwarming, and I loved how strong she was.