Zach and Olivia met by chance while on separate dream vacations to Greece. When they come home eagerly announcing the rushed engagement to their parents, both sets of divorced parents are taken aback, but rally around the kids to support them (and secretly hope to dissuade them from rushing into a marriage.). When the parents gather to meet each other at a celebratory brunch they are shocked to learn that they already know each other from their college days, and the divide in their friendship has been irreparable. Zach and Olivia further learn their meet-cute was not exactly by chance....

Good beach read with an emphasis on relationships between parents and children, in-laws, and how those relationships intertwine. Pick this one up as you are headed for vacation!

This was a good change for me from the heavy mystery murders that I tend to drift to.
This was all about a wedding and not a bridezilla in sight. It was a mothers zilla
episode which had festered for twenty six years and erupted with the full force of
a volcano.

Amy and June were best friends joined at the hip. When Amy discovered June in the
arms of her husband, the friendship was over with heart wrenching sadness and regrets
on both sides. Both went on to marry/divorce and their paths would not have crossed
if not for some stalking on Amy"s ex husband side who was trying to find June (whom he still loved).
He sent
his son to try to catch up with Olivia (june's daughter) in Positano because he followed
Olivia's social media hoping to find June. The deception did not augur
well for the future, especially since Zack and Olivia fell in love, came back from
the holiday determined to get married as quickly as possible.

The meet up of the parents went disastrously as could be expected, and the two mothers
did not keep anything back, never thinking of their children's happiness or peace
of mind, but only their long hidden hurt. As if this was not bad enough Zack had never
told Olivia about his father's role in finding her,and when this came out into the
open the whole thing blew up in everyone's faces. The weddingwas called off amidst
all the recriminations.

It all ended well. Everyone was forgiven and the wedding went ahead!!

Light hearted read for a lazy Sunday.

3.5/5 ⭐️
June is shocked when she hears her daughter is getting married to someone she met only two months ago. Things get even crazier when she realizes the parents of her future son-in-law are her ex-best friend, Amy, and her ex-fiance, Troy. The two ex-best friends haven't spoken in over 25 years after betrayal separated them. Now, they must try to put their differences aside to help plan the wedding.

Overall, I think this was a cute read. I do think it took too long to get to the battling between June and Amy. It wasn't until almost halfway through the book this really ramped up. I think those parts could've been more drawn out as they were the fun parts to me. The second half was definitely more fast-paced and enjoyable! I think also headers for character shifts would've helped. It wasn't too hard to shift, but in times when they shifted in the middle of a scene to another character in that scene, I think it could've helped.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Olivia and Zach get engaged after a whirlwind romance abroad, they are excited for their parents to meet and start wedding planning. However, it turns out Zach and Olivia's parents (both couples divorced) already have a past and secrets of their own. When a secret of Zach's comes to light that threatens the engagement, the older couples must put their past behind them to try and save Zach and Olivia's relationship.

This book was very reminiscent of any 90's/early 2000's movie about a wedding. Couple falls in love, there is a barrier to the happily ever after, some fun grand gestures happen, the end. The story overall was enjoyable enough and I appreciated the theme of forgiveness throughout.

While this wasn't my favourite read by these authors, I still enjoyed it and would recommend it for an easy, light-hearted vacay read.

How would you feel if you found out your daughter was marrying a stranger after only meeting six weeks ago.
Olivia and Zach are engaged after meeting in Italy. How well do they really know each other?
When they get back home to California and meet each others family and friends, they discover a history between their moms.
Story told in different viewpoints. The parents, Olivia and Zach.
Heartwarming, fun rom-com. Funny and entertaining.

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you Netgalley, Alcove Press and Lisa Fenton/ Lisa Steinke
Meet in Italy, fall in Love, want to get married and then.......met the family.
I always enjoy the novels written by these two authors and this one did not disappoint.
Quick read, love the characters.
5 stars

Olivia and Zach a.k.a. V and Z, fell in love after meeting in Italy. Sure, it has only been 6 weeks since they met, but when you know you know. They are excited and slightly apprehensive to share their news with their parents. Both sets of parents are divorced, so there will be a lot of telling involved.

They plan a brunch so everyone can meet and celebrate their engagement. They were not expecting the dropped jaws, shock, and uncomfortable silences. Their parents share a past, a very messy past. Olivia's mother June and Zach's mother Amy are former best friends. UGH! Drama enter stage left....

Now the two former friends throw themselves into planning the wedding. There is drama, tension, and catty remarks. They become over the top trying to up the other to becomes the most supportive and to get her ideas used. But, what about what Olivia and Zach want?????


Reminiscent of several zany wedding movies, this book is dramatic, full of secrets, eye rolling moments, and love. I had both the book and the audiobook which made for a very enjoyable reading/listening experience.

I enjoyed how this book was entertaining, a little over the top, heartwarming, dramatic and zany. It's the perfect book for summer reading. Another enjoyable read by Fenton and Steinke. I look forward to what this writing duo writes next!

Well written, entertaining, dramatic and heartwarming!

Olivia and Zack are engaged! Oops- turns out that their moms Amy and June were once BFFs but they haven't spoken in forever. Can they put aside their grudge to create a lovely wedding? There's Momzilla vibes in this novel of miscommunication (and yes, also between Olivia and Zack) and reconciliation.- and that keeps it light and fun. Yes it will remind you of various comic movies about weddings but I thought that was a good thing. I liked the characters and the storytelling is fine. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Made me smile.

Forever Hold Your Peace by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke is a lighthearted charming read. Think part movies with Bride Wars meets “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. While it had it moments of humor it also has all the other elements I love to see in a light hearted read - love at first sight, the complexities of family dynamics and drama, lessons on forgiveness and moving past broken hearts. I appreciated how the authors could make you feel the raw emotions of the characters and make you feel like you were dropped into these families! A quick and enjoyable read I recommend grabbing this summer!

If you were first in line at the theater on Friday nights, waiting to see the latest movie like “Father of the Bride”, stalked the Blockbuster shelf for “My Big, Fat Greek wedding”, reserved “The Wedding Planner” the first night it was available at Redbox or stream “Mamma Mia” repeatedly (I may be guilty as charged about the last one🤫) this might be the perfect Summer book for you!

It reads just like your favorite wedding movies!🍿

“When their newly engaged kids ask all four divorced parents to meet each other over brunch, everyone RSVPs yes--secretly hoping someone at the table will get to the bottom of the bottomless mimosas fast enough to say what they’re all thinking: that this engagement, coming after a whirlwind romance between two people who met on the romantic Almalfi Coast, is happening much too soon”.

But what has really come much too soon -this BRUNCH!

What are the odds that June (Mother of the bride, Olivia) and Amy, (mother of the groom, Zach) could have been BEST FRIENDS 25 years ago but for good reason, haven’t spoken a word to each other since?

As the two women forget that this is actually Olivia’s wedding, their petty behavior, (think Momzilla) and OTHER messy family secrets threaten the “Happy Ever After” of their kids.

This is a PG rated, often corny, wedding story which is easy to read and enjoyable, for those who have been craving their next “wedding story” fix!

Forever Hold Your Peace takes family drama to the next level. This was a fun read which kept me hoping for the “happily ever after” until the very end of the book. I always enjoy Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke.

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for early access in exchange for an honest review.

How did I not know about these authors until now? Forever Hold Your Peace was a fun, easy read that kept true to the description of Father of the Bride meets Bride Wars.

Olivia and Zach are both in Italy when they “happen” to meet and fall in love. They spend their vacation together and come home engaged. Neither set of parents are thrilled about the quick engagement. They agree to all go to brunch to get to know each other and discover that there is quite some history between Olivia’s mom and Zach’s parents. June (Olivia’s mom) and Amy (Zach’s mom) have to sort through their past as they try to plan a wedding. The question is, will they be able to forgive each other?

I enjoyed the story and the subplots in Forever Hold Your Peace. It’s a fun, rom-com that has some really sweet moments.

This was a fun read. I enjoyed the premise and really liked getting to know the characters.

It was wild that the two children - Zach and Olivia - met and fell in love; then came home to learn their parents were involved in their own drama many years ago.

The progress of going towards the wedding was both funny and frustrating to me. I understood the parents having reservations, but some of the actions they took were too much.

I also wanted to shake the parents and tell them to actually have a conversation and I move past the complicated history. The way they interacted for most of the book was irritating. My least favorite trope in any book is miscommunication/lack of communication.

This also went for Zach and Olivia once secrets came to light and the tensions blew. I felt frustrated that there was no opportunity for conversation. Though obviously that wouldn’t make for such an interesting book.

The only thing that had me somewhat puzzled was who this story was truly about.
It felt like it only dove into each generation in a shallow manner. I think I would have liked to get a little more from the interactions between generations. But I am also not sure what that would look like.

Overall this was a very entertaining book.
It reads quickly and will be a fun summer book. (3.75)

Forever Hold Your Peace is another winner from Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke! From heartbreak to forgiveness, tears to laughter, and everything in between, the story brings together -- or tears apart...?? -- two families in a way that no one could expect, especially June and Amy. A "messy, complicated" yet fun, delightful read, indeed!

What a fun read! Magical love, followed by intense heartbreak, followed by….. well, I don’t want to spoil it! Romance fans will love this one!

An entertaining story with lots of family drama, hilarious moments in an attempt to return two conflicted families to normality. This book will keep you entertained from start to finish. Well devolved characters and a totally enjoyable read. A great beach book for the summer. Fenton and Steiner never fail to entertain, and they dismiss a lick, with this one!

Thank you Netgalley and Alcove Press for the chance to read an advance copy Forever hold your peace by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke. I have been reading more thrillers and historical fiction and picked this because it sounded like a fun and quick read. Unfortunately, this was not what I was expecting. I found the beginning slow and kind of boring, and it didn't get any better. Only one scene (the float scene) was interesting and fun, and that was towards the end. I am sure others will love it, but it wasn't for me.

Title: Forever Hold Your Peace
Author: Liz Fenton & Lis Steinke
Publisher: Aclove Press
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:
"Forever Hold Your Peace" by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke

My Sentiments:

"Forever Hold Your Peace" was quite an exciting story love story of this could who meets and fall in love during a vacation in Positano, Italy. After six weeks, they became engaged, and everything was going fine, but the parents of both Loivia and Zack were divorced, and this is where the problems began. Some history could have been better and still presented problems. How will this love story turn out for these two? With there being so many twists, secrets, family drama, and turns in the sweet love story, you, the reader, will have to pick up this novel to see what happens when the wedding is put on the whole, the couple breaks up, and what will happen next in this multi-generational contemporary story.

Thank you, NetGalley and Alcove Press, for this free arc in exchange for my honest review.

This isn’t my usual go to genre, don’t get me wrong I do like a good romance but not of the cutesy kind…BUT I am always willing to broaden my reading horizons, especially from an author (or I should say authors in this case) that I have read and enjoyed in the past and I am really glad I branched out because this was such a fun read, if a bit predictable.

The book is described as “Father of the Bride meets Bride Wars” and it is that but it is also so much more. It’s about forgiveness and letting go, letting your child make their decisions and or mistakes but it is done with a sense of humour. (Dad joke puns anyone?). It’s also a book about second chances and is more focused on the three parents’ past relationships than it is on the bride and groom, which was unique and refreshing.

Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke always manage to weave a seamless tale together so you can’t even tell it was written by two different people. Because it is fun and an easy read this would make for great beach fair. But as much fun as it was, it tended to be a bit on the repetitive side with the back and forth of the wedding planning and I just wasn’t interested in that.

The synopsis of this one compares it to Father of the Bride and that is really apt as it definitely reminded me of many beloved wedding themed movies and had a very similar vibe to that classic. I am a sucker for a wedding in a movie or a book and bonus points if there’s family drama and there is so much entertaining mess here to love. A whirlwind engagement is difficult enough to understand for Olivia and Zach’s parents but when the details about the mothers of the engaged couples past come out I was living for the drama of it all. Chaos ensues and Amy and June engaging in passive aggressive arguments and petty behavior was so entertaining for me, think total bridezilla moments but from the moms. So deliciously fun. The authors really shine when writing about friendships and the complex dynamics between Amy and June were handled in a funny and super engaging way. This was a sweet and light read that would be a perfect vacation read.