This book is beautiful. I love how the author truly captured what it’s like to pick yourself up from a breakup and start again in the world. I loved almost every moment from this book! The only thing was that the first 6 chapters I found a bit boring until Freya starts her Wedding challenge. The pace then definitely picks up after that!
I really liked Freya. She’s a little lost in the beginning but I loved reading how she puts herself out there again and has the strength to lift her head high after her fiancé breaking up with her right before the wedding. I cracked up reading how Freya does the Wedding challenges. Some of them were hilarious. One of my favorite parts of the book was when Freya stands up for herself to her mother and ex. I was so proud of her! She truly came far from the women in the beginning.
I right away fell in love with Jamie. His personality was bubbly and full of life. I liked how he has this chill side and opposite of Freya. Their chemistry was amazing! This is only a kissed book but those scenes were steamy!
I think my favorite thing about the book was the amazing friendships featured. Freya has this group with her friends Ruby and Leo. While Ruby and Leo are a couple you still got this amazing chemistry between the three of them. I absolutely loved how Ruby and Leo were there for Freya in every way. It makes you want to have a friendship like theirs.

Read if you like:
Heroine’s POV
MC finds her way in life
Amazing friendships
Steamy kisses only romance
Lovable hero
Wedding romance
Set in the UK

What would you do if you got dumped the day before your wedding to the guy you’ve been dating for 12 years? First wallow, then try to discover yourself, and if you are lucky have your friends give you tasks to face the upcoming wedding season.

This book had some major pacing issues for me, the first 1/3 of the book was slow and I wasn’t engaged at all. Once the main love interest is introduced it starts to pick up but it took a bit too long to get there for this being marketed as a romance book.

I loved all the side characters- Ruby, Leo, Adrian, Dad, Mum. I would totally read a book about Adrian and his Bf.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

There are seasons for finding love and seasons for leaning on friendship-I found myself thinking about this while reading "The Wedding Season". While it appears to be a romance, I think at the core this book is about loving your self and loving your community. It was lovely to read about the main character's relationships- with her sibling, parents, friends, coworkers, acquittances- they seemed so wonderful and humorous and realistic that I felt like the romance was secondary to the other forms of love in Freya's life, forms that slowly helped heal her heartbreak. I especially appreciate how wonderful and multi-dimensional Freya's friendships are in this book- she has a solidly strong support network filled with fabulous people who are also friends with each other, and spend time lifting her and each other up, filling their days with good memories, laughter, and interesting travels. This all was a good reminder that even through the worst of heartbreaks, if a person is surrounded by people who love them and they love back, they will find their way out of the devastation eventually.

(Major thanks for Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.)

Reading The Wedding Season was my first experience with author Katy Birchall. We meet Freya who is preparing the last minute details of her wedding. Her boyfriend of 12 years, Matthew, decides the day before to call off the wedding leaving Freya devastated and confused. Freya and her best friends, Ruby and Leo, devise a checklist with tasks Freya must complete to get her through the rest of the wedding season. Freya learns to love herself, have some fun, and open herself up to new experiences.

The beginning of this book had some serious pacing issues with me. The first quarter really dragged on with Freya doing a lot of wallowing (understandably so.) I like my romcom's to not be so serious. After Freya begins the wedding tasks, the book picked up quite a bit. It became much more funny and light hearted. I began to enjoy it immensely reading the last 3/4 in just two sittings. When Jamie recalled the reasoning behind his tattoo I actually laughed out loud. This book was marketed as a romance but I really see it to be more of work of Women's Fiction. It was more so a story of great friendship, finding yourself, family relationships, and the romance was really a secondary plot.

I would definitely recommend this book for women's fiction lovers. It was a charming, sweet, and relatable read. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

It's the night before Freya's (perfect) big day and she is ready. Every last detail has been reviewed and checked off the final to-do list. The one remaining issue is the groom or lack of one. Matthew decides in the broom closet nonetheless, that he is not ready to be married, sending Freya's perfect life into a tailspin.

After wallowing in her sorrows, her friends get together and compose a list of tasks Freya must complete at the 7 other weddings she is attending this year. From innocent and easy, to somewhat dirty and rambunctious, Freya has her hands full. In the middle of figuring out her love life, she also comes to learn more about herself and the woman she was before Matthew.

Laugh out loud funny and tearjerking at parts, The Wedding Season grabbed me from the beginning and took me on a wild ride. A must-read for someone in the midst of a breakup, anyone who loves a wedding story, or one who is just trying to figure out who they are. You don't want to miss this one!

A Self Discovery Novel

As a child many of us dream of our wedding day and the romanticism around it. Imagine going through all the planning and prep work and the day before your fiancé decides you aren’t right for him… well this is exactly what happened to Freya.

Freya is a head-strong, strong-willed, consistent kind of woman whose fiancé decided she was too predictable. As a result of this her two best friends decided to create a wedding guide for Freya to complete unpredictable tasks at each wedding she attended (some of them being funny). We all have that summer of what feels like a hundred weddings which after a completely humiliating life event this is that summer for Freya.

Along the way while completing these tasks she discovered an independence and realized that her whole life consisted of Matthew (her ex fiancé) and predictability of the day to day.

Along the way she meets a new love interest (Jamie) who teaches her that by being true to herself, living in the moment and being spontaneous is a life she truly enjoys. Freya struggles with her feelings for Jamie after just getting out of a very long relationship. However I feel like once Freya accepted herself for who she was she was then able to move on with Jamie. The internal struggles Freya had were very realistic and telling of her character.

This book is full of character development, passion, love, internal struggles, humor and feeling all the feels. During the journey of finding herself she also reconnects with her mom (whom she hasn’t had a relationship with in many years). Every segment of this book comes together in the end and feels complete. All of the characters (main and supporting characters) truly made this book come to life. This was a first read for me by Katy Birchall and I would definitely read another of hers.

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

The Wedding Season follows 32-years-old Freya Scott, a successful brand manager for Suttsworth, the largest alcoholic beverage company in the UK. The story opens with her doing last minutes preparations at the venue for her wedding the next day to Matthew. Unfortunately, Matthew has some unfortunate news for Freya as he cannot go through with the wedding and decides to break up with her despite their twelve years together in a relationship. Not only does he call off the wedding, but he also wants to cut off all contact with Freya. Naturally, this leads Freya to wonder how this happened to her, how she is going to move forward in her own life, and how she is going to survive being a part of seven weddings that are taking place beginning soon. As each wedding is for one of her friends or family members, she does not want to let them down.

The story begins a little slow as Freya is trying to initially get through the shock of the break-up. She is still living in the place that she and Matthew shared, which leads her to reminisce about the past. She is also attempting to come up with a game plan since Matthew will be in attendance at some of the upcoming weddings. Luckily, Freya is not alone as she has her brother and father plus her friends, especially her best friends, engaged couple, Leo and Ruby. Together, Leo and Ruby devise challenges to help Freya make it through the Wedding Season. At each wedding, Freya will be required to complete one challenge that includes being the last one standing, obtaining a pair of cufflinks, getting a goodnight kiss, running down a corridor naked, making a speech, and one to be determined later. The main story moves forward as Freya attends the seven weddings that take her all around Europe from the UK to Ireland to France.

The weddings themselves were fun as each fit the couple and I loves Freya’s journey to learning more about her. Throughout the process, she does a lot of comparisons and analyses of her past relationship with Matthew. As an outsider, there are minor moments where you want her to hurry up and move on; however, I enjoyed the slow process as it made a lot of sense for someone to try and recover after being blindsided by someone they loved and planned a future with for twelve years. There is a love interest introduced later on in the story and this relationship was sweet as it built itself up slowly. Some readers may have found their relationship lacking, but I enjoyed their “happy for now”-type process compared to something more definitive. I liked the moments where Matthew showed up again in Freya’s life as it was interesting watching her grow in how she interacted with him. Overall, this story was very heartwarming with moments of humor. Freya was a character that I wanted to root for and I greatly enjoyed reading about her journey.

**I want to give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Griffin, for a review copy of this entertaining and enjoyable novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

Loved loved loved this romcom! The story of a jilted bride embarking on a series of challenges to overcome her heartbreak completely won me over!

Love can find us when we least expect it.

The Wedding Seasons is a story of healing, inner strength, and friendships. The beginning was a bit rough to get into but soon the reading flowed, and I really enjoyed the read. Ruby and Leo are her two best friends and I loved their relationship with Freya and each other. They really got her through her summer full of weddings and the wedding plan was brilliant. I liked how Freya’s character grew and she discovered that she had guts and realized that she’s going to be okay. Her somewhat enemy to friends’ relationship with Jamie progressed wonderfully and gave some comic moments. I was rooting for them since they first met. A good read!

Reviewed by Comfy Chair Books/Lisa Reigel (March 24, 2022)
ARC provided by publisher via Netgalley

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Freya is excited about marrying Matthew. Freya is heartbroken and is unsure how to be happy. Her friends come up with different challenges for Freya that take her mind off Matthew. This was a great book.

The Wedding Season was a sweet read that turned out to be different than I expected. I was thinking that there was going to be a heavy focus on the romance but really a lot of the story was based around Freyas growth and journey. I found myself laughing with her on the different challenges she embarked on and hurting for her during her lows. I wish I could see what life was like after her final challenge a little more but it was a good close to the book. The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall publishes May 2022. Thank you Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for a review.

Brief Synopsis:
On Freya’s wedding day her fiancé decided he didn’t want to get married and breaks up with her. Freya is left shocked, embarrassed and heartbroken. She has seven weddings she needs to attend over the summer and doesn’t know how she will get through them. Her friends come up with a wedding season plan of crazy challenges Freya has to do at each wedding to keep her mind off how broken hearted she is and how she got dumped at her wedding.

My Thoughts:
- Great friendships! Ruby and Leo would do anything for Freya. The wedding season plan they came up with is so funny. I looked forward to how Freya achieved the challenges
- I loved Freya! I was rooting for her. She felt destroyed after the break up but she grew and learned from all the wedding challenges throughout the book and became stronger!
-If you enjoy rom coms with personal growth, true friendships and a sweet romance then this book is definitely for you!


Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall is fun and instant rom com classic for any reader. When our FMC has the rug pulled out from under her right before her own wedding to her fiancé and partner of 12 years, she ends up having to rediscovering herself and her own sense of love and identity. What was meant to be the start of the wedding season, Freya is determined to be present for her friends and family. With the help of her friends who create a series of challenges to help her rediscover who she in outside of that past relationship.

The Wedding Season is a romantic comedy by Katy Birchall. The story opens with 32-year-old Freya getting dumped by her 12-year boyfriend, Matthew, on the day before their wedding. Freya is devastated and her father tries to console her while her brother looks for the missing peacocks that he rented for the ceremony. Freya’s former college roommates and engaged best friends, Ruby and Leo, also encourage her to buck up and move on.

Freya is an attractive blonde and a successful Brand Manager with Suttsworth, the largest alcoholic beverage manufacturer in Great Britain. She learns that her friends weren’t crazy about Matthew and think she can do better. Freya realizes that her wedding was the first of eight weddings occurring during the year among their circle of friends and she wonders how she will manage to attend them and appear like she’s doing okay. Ruby and Leo devise a list of assignments for each wedding, so that Freya can focus on her task rather than betting nervous about the wedding.

The first hilarious scene was when Freya returned to the apartment that she shared with Matthew, which he vacated, and she observed what he took. The comedic scenes and funny observations continue throughout the book. The various weddings take place in different locales, so there are travel adventures and new side characters. Freya grows as a person and develops a new romantic interest. Freya is very likeable, and Leo and Ruby are perfect as her loyal-to-death sidekicks.

This is the best breakup romantic comedy that I have ever read! I highly recommend reading this book. Even though the characters are British, the phrasing is easily understood by Americans. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“The Wedding Season” written by Katy Birchall is a very sweet rom-com. Freya and her fiancé’s wedding is the first one of eight that they will be present at this season. However, the day before her wedding, he dumps her. In order to support her through the difficult wedding season without her fiancé, Freya’s friends come up with a list of challenges for her to complete at each wedding. The book is very cute, and I loved following Freya on her journey to becoming more sure of herself. Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC!

The Wedding Season was one of my most anticipated 2022 reads. For those that don’t know, I loved Katy Birchall’s The Secret Bridesmaid last summer (if you haven’t read it, add it to your tbr).

The Wedding Season, out May 3, is about Freya’s whirlwind summer of weddings, including her own. But when her fiancé calls things off the day before their wedding, her best friends devise a plan where Freya has to complete various tasks over the course of the summer and at the different weddings to help her get over Matthew.

What I liked: Just like The Secret Bridesmaid, romance takes a backseat to the heroine’s journey. Freya goes from heartbroken to finding herself and happiness through a series of dares.

I loved how supportive her friend group is, the novel does a good job highlighting that time when your friends are family, before people get married and have kids.

Leo and Ruby are gems. I like their relationship with each other and Freya. However, all the other friends seem to blend together and aren’t as well developed.

The end acknowledging perfect rom-com movie endings was cute.

What didn’t work for me: The beginning was a little slow but once the novel got into the weddings/dares, I got really into it.

Matthew never deserved Freya - I did not like him from the beginning so I was never rooting for them to get back together. Personally, I wanted Freya to move on a little faster than she does.

Who should read it: You love British women’s fiction and are looking for a book that’s not all romance but also finding yourself after a break-up.

Thank you St Martin for the ARC.

My favorite Katy Birchall book yet. Freya’s fiancé breaks up with her in a cupboard the day before their wedding. She’s got a summer of weddings to attend, and her best friends give her tasks to complete and take her mind off of the breakup. She makes mistakes and reassesses things and learns and grows and meets a man she’s interested in. Just as they get together, the book ends (I hate how all of Birchall’s books do that. At least give us an epilogue for a glimpse in the future!). It’s not groundbreaking stuff but Birchall does it well, and she does a good job of creating a character who’s flawed and also emotionally intelligent, who has good friends and a life that hasn’t completely fallen apart. I like a competent FMC.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book! I think it started a bit slow (minus the massive conflict that happens within the first few pages), but definitely got better as the book progressed!

I LOVED the friendship component of the story; Ruby and Leo were an amazing supporting cast, and the Wedding Season game was awesome. The challenges were creative and funny. Freya as a character grew on me over time, and I appreciated her character development. She went through a major heartbreak, and we got to watch as she climbed out of the darkness that surrounded her and into better days.

I liked the slow-burn romance, too. At first, I didn't realize the love interest was going to be THE love interest! I liked watching the progression of their friendship and interactions. It was a gradual attraction, rooted through feelings of guilt and regret, but it was written so well. There's not a lot of actual romance in the story, but that didn't deter from the plot (in my opinion). To me, this teeters more toward fiction than a romance classification. As someone who almost reads romance books exclusively, this didn't cause me to knock off any stars!

I also liked the underlying tones in the book: a difficult family, navigating life as a single person in their 30's, struggling to find a hobby to enjoy. These are all themes we as readers experience as well, and I appreciate that they were highlighted throughout.

Overall, a good book! After the slower start it became a knockout! I love the author's writing style, too!

Super, super super fun and lighthearted with a bit of romance thrown in. Made me laugh out loud several times. I loved it!

I received this book complimentary from NetGalley but all opinions are my own.
This was sweet - I liked the plot and the friendship of Ruby, Leo and Freya was delightful. You don’t get to know the male lead as well but you are charmed by him. I liked this! I’d read another by this author!