I really enjoyed The Wedding Season. I found Freya to be so relatable and her story was easy to connect with. I laughed, cried, and overall had a great time reading this book!

The day before Freya's wedding, her fiancé Matthew calls off their pending nuptials, leaving Freya in a state of total devastation and shock.

Over the next couple of weeks Freya picks herself up, but struggles to move on. She tries several new hobbies to keep her mind off Matthew, who has cut off communication. She can't seem to move on and is holding out hope that Matthew will return. As she focuses on what was, she continues to dread the upcoming "wedding season". As she has several weddings to attend and now she must attend alone.

Her best friends Ruby and Leo devise the plan to distract her with challenges for each wedding she is attending. As the summer progresses and Freya finds herself completing the challenges she has been tasked, she finds her inner strength and confidence.

Ultimately she finishes wedding season by completing all the challenges, but she finds herself again.

The first part of the book felt heavy and sad as I followed Freya through her first weeks post her breakup. As I neared the middle of the book, the mood shifted to a more upbeat, fun rom-com feel. This was a quick read that I would suggest as a summer beach or vacation read.

The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall

#Katy Birchall #NetGalley #St. Martin's Press

I laughed so hard I cried several times.

Set aside some time and have tissues handy if you cry with laughter. This book, a lovely romantic comedy is a perfect summer read.

The story starts as Freya is about to be married. Her wedding is one of 8 in the "wedding season", and she is nervous but happily anticipating it.

Until....her fiance Matthew cancels just before the ceremony.

Of course Freya is stunned and shocked and hurt, wondering why, and how.

She has absolutely no idea how she will be able to be a bridesmaid or guest at the other weddings.

Her friends Ruby and Leo come to her rescue, sort of. They come up with a series of challenges, each to be completed by Freya at each wedding.

Well hilarity ensues of course.

The first chapter had me literally crying with laughter, not at the break up but other things.

The tasks were creative and this book was a breath of fresh air, a real gem.

I liked Freya's growth and transformation, I liked Jamie also.

This story was thoroughly enjoyable and a delight!

Of course since there was a break up the book isn't all fun and laughing, there are some heavy sad scenes in it also.

The author was new to me and I will be on the lookout for her backlist.

Who would I recommend this to? People who are looking for a romantic comedy with some substance to it, a nice beach read, but one where they might not read it in public unless the reader isn't afraid of people looking at them wondering what in the world is THAT funny??

4 1/2 *****

I received a copy via NetGalley and St Martin's press.

Thanks to Netgalley!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book so much!

It made me laugh. It made me cry. I found it to be so relatable. I have experienced some of things Freya did and I just wanted to hug her.

I could not put this book down. I just loved her journey. Her wedding challenges were the absolute best. I loved how each one made her grow as a person.

This book was just everything. Everything!

BOOK REVIEW

BOOK: The Wedding Season
AUTHOR: Katy Birchall
FORMAT: eBook
GENRE: Contemporary Romance
PUB DATE: 5/3/22
RATING: 9/10
4.5 stars

the BIGGEST thank you to my friend @katybirchallauthor and her wonderful US editor @sarahcantin for sending me the most special book mail — a bound manuscript of THE WEDDING SEASON (before arcs were available) after loving THE SECRET BRIDESMAID so much, as well as a digital advanced copy from @stmartinspress and @netgalley

MY THOUGHTS

Katy, you’ve done it again! Another absolute knock out. Going a little deeper in content than TSB, THE WEDDING SEASON follows a “sturdy” and “level-headed” female MC as she navigates life, specifically wedding season, after the biggest ‘change of plans’ of her life. The struggles that Freya experiences are genuine and real & im sure a lot of readers can relate to her and her experiences to some degree.

There is something so special about the way Katy writes, how she portrays characters and the depth of her plot lines. This one was no exception! The wit, the clever banter, the humor laced through the seriousness of some of the content… it truly couldn’t have been better. It takes a lot of talent to hit both sides of that spectrum while remaining respectful and sensitive to the content. The plot itself was a blast to read. Weddings are SO FUN, and I love that both of Katy’s books have now been central to a wedding theme. It was also such an original story with likable characters and some pretty substantial character arcs.

I think I definitely picked this one up at a time when I wasn’t invested in what I was reading (a me problem) & it for sure affected my experience reading it which was a huge bummer. But as I finished, I did wish there was a little bit more about the weddings themselves. That was such a huge part of why I loved TSB so much; there was a lot of details about the weddings. I also felt like there was a loottttt packed into these pages, with several different plot lines, making the book itself a little bit long.

All in all, this was absolutely fantastic and I’m already counting down the seconds until Katy’s next TWO books that have already been contracted!!!!

I went into this book thinking it would be a typical romcom book, and while there was romance, the story is mostly about Freya finding herself and learning about love and family after being left at the altar.

3.5 cute stars. Freya is dumped the day before her wedding by her fiancée after 12 years of being together. To top it off, her wedding was the first of many during this wedding season. To help her focus on something else during those weddings, her best friends devise a plan of tasks for her to complete at each wedding.

The first half of the book dragged a little as I wanted freya to get over Matthew a bit quicker (he’s a selfish a$$) but I enjoyed her development through out the story. Her best friends are great and I was cheering during the restaurant scene.

ARC for unbiased review.

Though this book didn't start off well for our MC being broken up with the day before her wedding. With the rest of the year full of weddings, she's attending her friends have created challenges that she has to do at each.

Love good friends that try to distract and cheer you up even in the worst situations. There's also her mom that's been embarrassing her since she was young. The challenges were all designed to get her out of her head and to focus on a goal instead of her failed wedding.

The guy she met at the first wedding is in her extended friend group and he is also attending the other weddings. She keeps running into him and at first she was annoyed by him but they have more in common the more often their single selves get placed at the same table. She starts to look forward to him.

I liked the challenges and this was very funny. I love good banter then when it's an inner monologue. Her slowburn relationship with Jamie was def worth the wait. It would've been to soon to start a new relationship right after she was jilted at the altern had to take her time.

Recommend if you like:
💍 Slow burn and banter
💒 Challenges with increased difficulty
💍 Fun friend groups

Thank you stmartinspress and netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

Freya Scott is having the perfect day or at least the perfect day before her wedding. Her wedding will be the real perfect day. She is marrying her long term boyfriend Matthew and kicking off the wedding season for her, her family, and her friends. Everything is set to go off without a hitch until Matthew suddenly calls off the wedding leaving Freya stunned and heartbroken. Determined to pick herself up so that she doesn't ruin anyone else's happiness. She just wants to pretend everything is fine. Her friends see right through her though and together they come up with a list of yanks to help her survive The Wedding Season.

The list of tasks is both a challenge and a reward for Freya. It takes her out of her comfort zone. The list also keeps connected to her friends. They may tease her about it but, they are truly there to support her. I loved the friendships in this book. These individuals have their girls back no matter what. There are several scenes that had me cheering all of them even if they may waste a bit of wine in the process.

There is so much humor inside this book. Some of it self depreciating especially at first as Freya tries to figure out how everything went off the rails so quickly. The list of tasks also adds some humor especially when an awkward encounter follows the task. Freya has the best internal monologues and she really does find herself in some strange situations. One of these strange situations is how she meets the character of Jamie.

Right away it is noticeable that Freya and Jamie have good chemistry and hilarious banter. They go from complete strangers to acquaintances to friends, and then possibly more. There is no rushing this dynamic and I loved the slow burn. I kept looking for Jamie to appear as Freya went from her parties to weddings. The dynamic between the two characters takes time to develop and really is the sweetest slow burn. I wanted even more by the end.

Reading The Wedding Season also felt like a little bit of a vacation in a sense as everything is set in England. Plus, there are a couple destination weddings which means more traveling! It was so good and put such a smile on my face while I was reading it. During the more emotional parts, I felt a smile as I was reading Freya's internal monologue and watching her grow as a person. I may just have to go back and check out author Katy Birchall's backlist now!

I love when books have friends that challenge their friends, and this was no different! I absolutely adored this story and look forward to more from this author!

Loved this book so much! The characters were amazing and just the development of the main two were great. There were also some pretty funny moments with the side characters! I can't wait to read more books from this author as this was my first time reading.

The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall is a book I had trouble putting down once I started reading. The story of Freya Scott is funny, crazy, and sweet. Freya was dumped the day before her own wedding by her love of twelve years, and to make matters worse, it was to be the first wedding of the summer season, of which there are a bunch! Fortunately, Freya has a couple of amazing best friends that set up a challenge for each wedding to take her mind off her disastrous breakup. This book had me laughing out loud multiple times, it's cute, funny, and engrossing. I've been waiting for a book that would have me giggling over and over ever since reading The Unhoneymooners and I finally found one. I heartily recommend this book!

I didn’t love this nearly as much as The Secret Bridesmaid, but once I got past some of the cringy/made me physically angry portions, I enjoyed the book. The MC was annoying but I loved her BFF.

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Freya is having a bad day. Her fiancé of 12 years decided to break things off the day before the wedding. Theirs was to be the first to start off a series of eight weddings of friends, the proverbial “wedding season”. Yikes. Now, not only is she single having been unceremoniously dumped she has to attend so many other weddings while pretending to put on a happy face. She couldn't have had less desire to go to any of them.. As it turns out her friends weren’t a fan of her ex and think, rather know she deserves better. There love her and want her to be happy so they devise a series of challenges to complete at each wedding to keep her occupied and not feeling….all of the feelings anyone would. It's a great read that helps her rediscover the joy in life. t’s the funny, smart, silly, kindhearted, laugh out loud comedy we all need to right now! Perfect beach or anytime read.

A cute RomCom style story. Overall I enjoyed the story. Characters were great, writing was great. I know it was overall a story about Freya learning some life lessons, but I do wish we had gotten more of Jamie and Freya's Story.

Thank you to the publisher for this eARC.

I was really excited to read this one, but I personally cannot spent any more time in the main character’s head. I don’t know if it’s because I have a cold, dead heart or she’s just too annoying and whines too much.

Plus, her actions seem more like actions of someone right out of high school instead of someone approaching their 30s.


DNF @ 19%

Oh poor Freya - girl was done dirty. Matthew is a twit and I can't stand how he acted. I did really enjoy Freya and watching her journey as she grows and finds herself and her own strength and path. I absolutely loved the friend group (Freya, Ruby, and Leo)!!!!! Loved their bucket list and where it led Freya. Everyone needs a set of friends like Ruby and Leo!his was a series/same universe story.

This was a fun one and I enjoyed it for the most part. The Secret Bridesmaid was slightly better.

I feel that it was quite realistic about dealing with what happens after your fiancé leaves you the day before your wedding. It was good to see her support system and watch her get out of her comfort zone a bit.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun clean romance. I laughed out loud so many times! I found the way the MC handled her recent breakup very relatable and loved the support she got from her friends and family. Over all just a great book!

I received an eARC from Netgalley and the publisher for a review of this book.

I really enjoyed this book. Freya gets dumped by her fiancé the day before their wedding. She has a whole season of friend's weddings to get through this year. Her close friends set her some challenges to do at each wedding to help her focus on something other than her situation. The result is some funny and heartwarming experiences. The book is funny, sad, sweet and heartfelt. There is a cast of great supporting characters. I didn't want to put it down. Had it finished in just a couple of days. I would recommend this.