Wow! What a great Rom-Com! I adored Freya's story; while reading I found myself laughing out loud several times.

I really had no expectations going into this book. I really LOVED the cover and the book description, but really didn't put much thought into what I thought the book was about. I was BLOWN away with how beautiful Katy Birchall developed her protagonist, Freya.

I almost assumed that Freya would meet someone new and just "discover" herself while with him, BUT this was NOT the case!

Freya was set to get married and her wedding was the start of the "wedding season" as her and her best friends call it since they had several weddings to attend over the course of the year. Her two best friends develop a way for her to get through all the weddings after her breakup.

I enjoyed this so much. I love that this was a slow burn romance. I love that she didn't just gloss over the breakup. You can really feel the healing that happened with Freya. I LOVED the strong relationship she had with her best friends, her dad, her brother, but most of all, with herself. You really get to see the complexity of the character developing with each page. I love how a new love interest comes in and there's such a natural banter between the two characters.

I really enjoyed her journey.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC and introducing me to this author!

The Secret Bridesmaid was one of my fav reads of 2021 so I was so excited to read The Wedding Season. Birchall once again creates a hilarious rom com that focuses around the wedding scene. While it wasn’t as good as The Secret Bridesmaid to me this will still be on my list of recommendations.

This was such a sweet and fun read. I appreciated the way Freya’s story is told because it’s very relatable and overall she’s a pretty like-able character. It was a bit predictable for an ending but realistic and a very enjoyable book! I love the friendships throughout this story, the side characters are well developed. A couple parts had me seriously laughing. If you love sweet rom-coms this one is for you. Fair warning, there is no spice.

Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced read!

Oh, my! A runaway GROOM! This book is the absolute perfect summertime romance novel. It’s heartbreaking and hilariously funny and wistful and poignant and wonderful!

Freya was supposed to attend eight (!) weddings from spring to autumn, starting with hers in March in the English countryside, but the day before her big day (at least it wasn’t at the altar), her fiancé Matthew, with whom she’s been with for twelve years, pulls her into a broom cupboard and calls the wedding off. Ever since Harry Potter, everyone should know those cupboards are bad news. Instead of Hagrid whisking her off to a magical place, her besties, Ruby & Leo, and other close friends, sweep in to do a group hug and make sure Freya will be alright, especially since there’s a wedding or a hen party about every 3 weeks coming up during the next 6 months. And a lot of those weddings will still be inviting Matthew, since in a dozen years you develop a lot of mutual friends.

The friends’ idea is to keep Freya distracted at each wedding so she’s not thinking about that cad, Matthew. The Wedding Season plan: Freya has to complete a challenge at each wedding. All of them are planned in advance except the very last one:

One: In London with Ruby & Leo for moral support: be the last one standing on the dance floor — where she also first meets Jamie who she considers rude and irritating.
Two: In Devon with mutual school friends and the newly acquainted Jamie: flirt enough to get a guy’s cuff links without telling him why.
Three: In the South of France with Matthew attending (and Ruby & Leo): secure a goodnight kiss.
Four: In Dublin on her own: run down the hotel corridor naked (Jamie is also invited, but not Matthew).
Five: Small Freya family wedding which includes estranged Mom: deliver an unsolicited speech at the wedding.
Six: A beautiful big Anglo-Indian wedding in St. Ives (no Matthew expected): Bring someone unexpected as her plus-one.
Seven: Ruby & Leo’s own wedding: well, there’s months to come up with something spectacular, so Freya’s final task that will revealed on that day.

Freya is so delightful and you initially root for her so hard to either get over Matthew, take revenge on Matthew, or get back with Matthew, but eventually you realize you just want Freya to be happy on her own terms. I just loved this book — every wedding and hen party was an adventure filled with love, laughter, and tears. 5 stars! Katy Birchall is a romance novel superstar!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Matthew (the runaway groom) has long-lashed light green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Just a lot of wedding flowers, although I’d personally question putting peonies in tall thin vases.

I really enjoyed this rom com. It was sad at first but also funny. I liked watching her grow throughout the book until she got her HEA in the end. I look forward to reading other books by this author.

✨Book Review: The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall✨

📖 After Freya’s fiancé calls off their engagement the day before their wedding, she doesn’t know how she is going to make it through the rest of the wedding season. To help her through the seven weddings she will attend throughout the year, her two best friends help devise a series of challenges to complete at each wedding to keep her mind off her heartbreak.

🎭 I love the dialogue in this novel. It is witty and fun while also being realistic. I wanted to be friends with Freya and her friends! There was quite a bit of unsavory language, so if that is something that frustrates you in books, be warned, but I loved the banter! This was such a warm-hearted novel, and I appreciated the humor and sensitivity with which it approached the main character’s heartache.

⭐️: 4.5/5 stars

Katy Birchall strikes again! I absolutely loved The Wedding Season! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the ARC!

I loved Katy Birchall’s The Secret Bridesmaid and was so excited when I came across The Wedding Season. Once again she did a phenomenal job, I really loved this book! Freya’s character was so well done and relatable and I enjoyed her whole friend group. When Freya’s fiancé, Matthew, broke up with her the day before their wedding her best friends rallied around her and came up with a plan for her to survive the rest of the wedding season. They came up with a list of challenges for Freya to complete, one for each wedding, to keep her mind off Matthew and the break up. He never was worthy of her and it was so fun to join Freya on her journey processing the break up and finding her voice. I particularly enjoyed the restaurant scene where she confronted Matthew, it was absolutely hilarious. I really didn’t want this book to end and my only complaint is I wish we could have had a few more chapters with Jaime. I can’t wait to see what Katy Birchall writes next!

Huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC!

Out 5/3/22, this story is the perfect read for those who need a good laugh and pick-me-up and love to read about weddings! There is still some emotional depth as it deals with a called off engagement, so if that is triggering for you, know that going in!

After 12 years of dating, Freya is dumped by her fiancé Matthew the day before her wedding. Grieving, embarrassed and heartbroken, Freya does not know how she’ll move on let alone make it through the seven weddings she has before summer is over. To distract herself at each of these events, Freya agrees to complete a challenge at each party that totally pushes herself outside her comfort zone. With help from a great group of friends and a supportive family, Freya begins to heal and put the pieces of her life back together while opening her heart to the possibility of a new chapter.

What I liked: How the weddings transported us all around Europe- from Dublin to the South of France to the English countryside. The supporting cast felt like real friendships. We got to see Freya with her high school, college and work friends which felt so realistic, especially when going through the stages of grief. I liked how on the romance side nothing was rushed. The book was truly a slow burn, and Freya had to go through the stages of grief before she was ready to put Matthew behind. There was also some fun flirting and banter throughout the book that kept me on my feet!

What I didn’t like: I found the beginning a bit slow and really picking up around 23%, when Freya and her friends created the list of wedding challenges. I wish there was some more steam and an epilogue.

Read if you like:
🇬🇧British romcoms
💍Wedding season
💔Stories about healing after a break-up
👯‍♀️Real, authentic friendships
📝To-do challenge lists

Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the Secret Bridesmaid so I was looking forward to this book, and Katy Birchall did not disappoint!

This book was charming and light but still had depth.

Freya has just been dumped, the day before her wedding, and now needs to navigate through the busy“Wedding Season.” I don’t want to spoil anything, but I loved going on this journey of friendship and navigating the loss of a love. It was such a fun rom-com! It was a little predictable at times, but I really enjoyed myself. It had me laughing and warmed my heart all at the same time.

What a fun read this is! Rather than a typical (sexy) romance, I'd classify it as "romance recovery."

On the day before their wedding and after a 12-year relationship, Matthew tells Freya he can't go through with the marriage because . . . they're just too different. Thirtyish Freya didn't see it coming, and now she has to weather seven other weddings during one long summer because all of her friends are getting hitched as well. Fortunately, one of those other couples are her best friends, who support her in outrage against Matthew, try to discourage her from expecting him to change his mind, and come up with a brilliant plan to keep her distracted. At each wedding, Freya has to accomplish a specified goal--some that seem doable and others that are downright insane! And of course, she runs into a couple of attractive men along the way.

The story is peppered with genuine emotion, matchless friendship, and many hilarious details about each wedding that keep things fresh and interesting. Secondary characters such as Freya's flamboyant mother, her devoted brother, and her wonderful best friends enhance the story, and the plot resolution could not be more satisfying. I will definitely be reading Katy Birchall's first book and hoping for more in the future.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for affording me the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

I loved this story. Freya is dumped the day before her wedding day. She is, obviously, destroyed by this. Her best friends help her to work through wedding season by assigning her different tasks to put herself back out there. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the scene where she is at dinner with Ruby, Simone and Cali had me jumping up and down!! This story was a beautiful story of finding yourself after loss.

This was just SO cute. Definitely a super quick and easy read.

After being dumped the day before her wedding, Freya realizes she still has 7 more weddings to attend this season. In hopes of distracting Freya from the tragic split, her best-friends make her a list of challenges to complete at each wedding. From kissing a stranger to streaking through a hotel, each task made you laugh, cry, and be excited to see where Freya’s journey takes her.

My only wish is that we would’ve gotten more Freya/Jamie content!

Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin Press for providing this ARC in return for my honest opinion!

I loved this book! It was so heartwarming to watch Freya learn so much about herself over the summer and come into her own.

When the story begins, Freya is anxiously awaiting her dream wedding day… only to be pulled aside by her groom-to-be and unceremoniously dumped in a cupboard. At a loss, Freya tries to figure out how to move forward with her life and the upcoming wedding season that features another 7 weddings. Learning to navigate without the man she thought would be her husband at her side proves difficult at first, but best friends Ruby and Leo challenge Freya to assign a challenge to each wedding she has to attend - including obtaining a man’s cuff links, securing a goodnight kiss, and a naked sprint around her hotel hallway. In the midst of all of this and her broken heart, Freya meets a grumpy stranger who she definitely does NOT get along with and does NOT fancy. Avoiding him is a difficult task considering all of the mutual friends they’ve have that are getting married this year…

I really loved Freya and thought she was such a fun, quirky character! Her devotion to her methodical ways and her houseplant Percy made her so endearing. It was truly enjoyable to see her try to wade through the mess that her ex left, her own desires, and these fun challenges to come out the other side as a woman who has learned so much about herself. I also enjoyed the banter she has with Jamie and her relationships with Ruby, Leo, and her brother. This was a fun read that made me laugh and had me smiling by the end!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Freya’s wedding was supposed to be the first of a season of weddings, but her fiancé breaks up with her the day before. In an attempt to help Freya make it through wedding season without dwelling on everything she lost, her friends help her create a list of challenges to complete for each wedding. As Freya works on healing, moving on, and navigating wedding season, she meets a handsome stranger who may be the final piece of the puzzle of moving on.

This was a delightful little RomCom! I loved getting to be a part of Freya’s journey, and what a journey it is. From recovering from being dumped the day before her wedding, to rebuilding her relationship with her mom, to grieving her past relationship, to potentially embarking on a new relationship, she goes through A LOT during the course of the book, and you can’t help be feel for her. The characters in this book are wonderfully written, and I absolutely ADORE Freya’s friends! Overall, this was a quick, lighthearted read. I enjoyed it!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I requested to read “Wedding Season” as I loved its premise, and I wanted a non-Valentine book to read over Valentine weekend. The timing of reading the book was perfect as I am just about to head to Great Britain, where the novel takes place.

Freya was dumped by her fiancé, Matthew, the day before her wedding (in a broom closet, of all places). Unfortunately, she is dumped at the start of the wedding season, which culminates with the wedding of her dear friend, Ruby, to Leon. Fortunately, Ruby and Leon provide plenty of support to Freya. Her friends design a series of challenges to get Freya through all of those weddings.

Katy Birchall tackles this subject with plenty of humor. Many women would face this situation with plenty of self-indulgence so you have to admire Freya. Her heart is broken, yet she powers through what could be a horrific spring and summer with plenty of aplomb (okay, maybe not). Overall, I thought the author did an excellent job of bringing a fresh perspective to the jilted bride storyline.

Thank you Katy Birchall, Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to give this an early read.

I was really impressed with Katy Birchall's The Secret Bridesmaid; especially how my perspective of one of the characters changed over the course of The Secret Bridesmaid.

In the Wedding Season the main character is dumped the day before her wedding. That year is packed with a boatload of weddings and hen-do's; how will she get through it when her breakup is so fresh and raw?

I really liked Leo and Ruby's plan of "How to Survive the Wedding Season". This was really brilliant ... and fun.

There is one thought that I couldn't get out of my mind while reading The Wedding Season. Regardless of whether or not someone you were with for 12 years decides to "not marry" you the day before the wedding (or even 12 minutes before the wedding); some things are still be considered assault. Wanker or not.

Thank you to NetGalley, Katy Birchall the author and publisher St. Martin's Press / St. Martin's Griffin New York for the opportunity to review The Wedding Season in exchange for an honest review. Publication date 03 May 2022.

Honestly, I didn't like The Wedding Season quite as much as I liked The Secret Bridesmaid. But if another book by Katy Birchall becomes available, I'll look forward to reading it.

Freya is dumped by her fiance days before the wedding.
This is the story of how she survives it and thrives thanks to good friends. Entertaining and amusing.

I love this book and I wish there was a 4.5 stars option! Truthfully, I felt like we could of been looped in to some of the elements a little earlier than the middle of the story but it builds very nicely upon each other. The characters are perfect and I wish I had friends that would be there for me just the way Freya's are! A great quick read and one I would read again, 100%! Only thing I wish is at the end of the book we could follow Freya to her next chapter! :) Birchall gets a A+ on my end!

It took me a little while to get fully invested in this novel. I enjoyed Freya, but at first I felt as though I could not relate to her. Somewhere around 30% in felt my emotions shift. I began to enjoy Freya's adventures in The Wedding Season and wanted to see what would happen next.

Also, we all need friends like Freya's! She is one lucky lady! 😍