This book was honestly not for me. I didn't want to read any more of: We have to get married at this barn because grandpa built it and all of our family members have gotten married at this barn because grandpa built it which is why everyone in our family has gotten married there because grandpa built it so we have to get married there because grandpa built it and my parents got married there because grandpa built it and it's special so we have to get married there because grandpa built it, and on and on and on throughout the entirety of the story. I wish Liv hadn't been the narrator because reading anything that wasn't dialogue was excruciating.

Also for a character who's 31? 32?, she has no self awareness, emotional maturity, or opinions about anything other than having to get married at this barn.

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books Publishing for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

With an ensemble of characters from three different families, Better Off Wed by Portia MacIntosh talks about marriage and weddings, giving an insight into the process of wedding planning and what comes after a proposal. This story shows readers that weddings require so much work and can heavily affect a person's state of mind.

I read somewhere that it is very common for the bride and groom to call off weddings. 20% of all weddings are called off after engagements. It's typically due to the wedding preparations and the amount of stress it generates. In such conditions, it can be a test to see whether the partner you've decided to get married to is actually the one for you. Different people have different perspectives on marriage, and that's fine, but that can also be a deal breaker, especially when you're already unsure of your relationship.

This book showed the pressures of wedding preparation. It also got me thinking about the pressure to give a desired answer (aka "yes") to a wedding proposal by someone you love. Sometimes, there really isn't much of a choice. How is the one who has been proposed to supposed to turn down the proposal without hurting the relationship? Ultimately, I think that if two people are meant to be, a declined proposal wouldn't have hurt their relationship at all. From the beginning, I didn't really feel Liv x Teddy (the soon-to-be-married couple). And even Heidi, her best friend, felt the same. However, I still rooted for them. I mean, they were getting married. Even though everything happened so quickly, I hoped that Liv got her happy ending because she deserved it so much.

Liv and Teddy end up having to have a joint wedding with her brother Dougie and his fianceé Eden because the siblings wanted to hold the wedding at the same venue as part of a family tradition. The only problem is the venue no longer accepts bookings and only has one slot left after a cancellation. The family (and Eden's) fly to the Cornish coast of Porthian Sands to prepare for the wedding, which had to be held just a few weeks away! (Not a spoiler, I swear. This is just the setting.)

At Cornwall, where they are to hold the wedding, Liv meets Hugo, who has been nothing but supportive of her and helped her with the wedding planning while expecting nothing from her. I felt Liv's frustration regarding the planning. I'm just glad she had at least one person who supported her. Liv and Hugo had so much chemistry, and I didn't even feel uncomfortable about it even though Liv was engaged to Teddy because Liv and Hugo were obviously just friends. And I loved their friendship even though they had just met. In fact, I think Hugo is such a respectful human being. Who doesn't like guys who respect women who have made their disinterest known?

This book had such nice characters. Of course, there were annoying ones as well, but the characters were great overall. Even characters I found annoying at first became likeable. Some people just don't realise that they're not saying appropriate things, and it's oddly adorable. You just can't hate them. A least they had redeemable points. I'm just glad the characters that can't be salvaged became irrelevant towards the end. I think the author did a great job with her characters. They made me feel things.

I recommend this book to people who want to read a book about a girl who is unsure about her upcoming wedding and struggling to plan it. I'd say that this book is realistic because weddings are so common in this world. I'm sure that Liv's struggle can be understood, especially by people who have experienced it. I think it's worth a read.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the read!

2.5 stars. A typical romcom about a bride-to-be realizing her fiance isn't the one and finding another, truer love in the midst of wedding planning madness. If this were a movie, I'd happily watch it and be content with 1.5 hours of hijinks, but despite her best (or at least visible) efforts, the heroine lacks enough charm to distract from the wtf-ery that actor chemistry and a poppy soundtrack would smooth over. While it's not the worst I've read, nothing really stands out, and I could just watch The Wedding Planer (or literally anything in the wedding romcom genre) instead and enjoy myself more and in less time, too.

My thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was super excited to read this after loving previous books by Portia MacIntosh and there were definitely things I loved throughout. I enjoy the humour, the reality of the fmc questioning her life choices and happiness but I feel there was something missing that meant I didn’t love the book overall, however this was certainly an enjoyable read.

. My favorite character in this entire book was Olivia’s mom, followed by Hugo and then probably Olivia’s dad. Everyone else was the worst for at least 80% of the time, including Olivia (sorry babe but you are 32 vertebrae short of a spine)

Olivia just lets everything HAPPEN to her, even if she literally hates it. Are you actually asking your mom if she knew she was in love before she got married? Have you ever even heard of the concept of marriage? For someone who writes romcoms Olivia sure has literally not a single fraction of a clue about how relationships work. I wanted to shake her violently and also possibly return her to her parents so that they could just keep making decisions for her forever because even the choices she does make are just like… something she stumbles upon.

The concept was so cute, and the absolute chaos was hilarious even when it was frustrating. This is definitely a book to read if you want something that feels very low-stakes and isn’t going to emotionally demolish you (we have all had a romcom come for our throats, let’s be honest). AND I did read the whole thing even though I wanted to spray almost every character with a fire extinguisher. So. That’s something 😌

Portia MacIntosh is the Queen of Comedy and I definitely laughed out loud throughout this book. From the moment Liv met Hugo (HUGOOOOO!!), I was rooting for the two of them to be together. The Cutest Couple antics were hilarious and I wish I had witnessed the competition in person.

I adored how much her family loved him (but still tried to remain loyal to Teddy). The author has a way of writing characters that you love, characters you hate and characters you think you hate but end up redeeming themselves (hint: Teddy's mom did NOT redeem herself, but someone else did!). When you fall in love with the side characters as much as the main characters, you know it's a good book!

I'll be honest this is not my favorite book Portia MacIntosh has written. . I've read a few of them, and generally loved them. However, something about the main character, Olivia, just rubbed me the wrong way. I think however, if you enjoyed the movie "Bride Wars" with Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway, you will definitely like the premise of Better Off Wed.

Olivia's boyfriend Teddy proposes to her completely out of the blue the day of her brother Dougie's engagement party. Teddy is upper crust, a business man trying to prove to his grandmother that he can take over the family business. Olivia is an out of work ghost writer/comedian. Teddy is insistent on a shotgun wedding and Dougie's equally irritating and high strung fiancé will not be outdone. When they find out the barn every member of their family members have gotten married in will no longer be hosting a wedding, they go with the only conceivable option. A double wedding. Chaos ensues as the family travels to the sea side for the last wedding date the barn will be holding. Olivia finds herself feeling woefully inadequate as she struggles through alone while Teddy is absent. She needs to figure out all of her feelings all while participating in a cutest couple competition with very handsome stranger. Olivia and Hugo compete against 3 other couples to win a wedding photographer. They've been a convincing couple, but is it just an act or are there real feelings involved?

Usually the main character is a girl with a bunch of quirks, but she knows who she is and what she wants. However, I felt that Olivia kind of just existed. The amount of red flags she ignored, or said something along the lines of "this doesn't feel right, but oh well things will get better" was beyond irritating. She doesn't assert herself with anything. Not with her relationship, her lodgings, even her own freaking wedding dress she rolls over to go with what the others in the group told her. I just couldn't jive with that and honestly couldn't have cared less about her happy ending.

I would have liked to have had more of the back story about Olivia's great grandparents. It's vaguely mentioned that her great grandfather ran away with a miner and left the wealthy estate owner. It seemed like there was so much more to the story and just how tied Olivia's family really is to the town. It would have been really interesting to see that unfold and for Olivia to have done a little more digging. I also wasn't a fan of how the barn situation was resolved. I would have liked to have more time between Olivia and Hugo in the epilogue figuring things out and how to preserve the history.

All in all, this was just okay. I will still pick up every book Portia MacIntosh writes, it wasn't that offensive to me :D

Firstly, I love Portia MacIntosh's books but unfortunately this was a miss for me. I've noticed in her previous book and this book it takes a while to get into the story. Now with her previous book I ended up loving it but with this book I really struggled to be invested. I'm not sure what it was but I didn't really care for our FMC and I didn't feel any excitement over her romance with the leads. I honestly didn't think much of the book and everything was coincidental and as if there is a strict deadline. I mean I just couldn't care any less about this book that I gave up 80% in. Like I can predict the ending and can't be bothered to continue on. So unfortunately for me I think this will be the first book of this authors I wouldn't recommend and that breaks my heart a little.

First few pages I was undecided about this book, but then it grew on me to become a great read. Good characters, which made for an excellent read.

I could not finish this book, the writing was off for me, and the characters were not likeable at all barring Heidi but since I only got to 30% of it, can't make judgements about any of the characters. The plot seemed bizarre to me and Olivia really needs therapy for how low her self-esteem is. It was triggering for me to read about her because I have had my share of issues with self-esteem and being non-confrontational but Olivia took it a little too far.

Thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My Thoughts:
We start by following Liv and Teddy a newly engaged couple who both feel they are happy but when Liv soon learns where she wants to get married is going to be teared down Soon their wedding is the main priority. That’s where Teddy comes in and her feeling start to change.
This Rom-Com is a fun easy read it’s a slow burn friends to lovers.
I would have liked Liv to speak up for herself more.

Thanks to netgalley, the publisher and the author for giving me an opportunity to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book starts off with a couple who you already in the first chapters decide are not right for one another but are they planning to marry? Bingo. There starts our story. I found the plot of this book quite predictable but overall enjoyable. Liv gave me vibes of a Bridget jones type and I found myself rooting for her at the end of the book. Teddy was very enjoyable to hate, everything he did gave me the ick or made me mad but that was great as it made you like liv even more. The only two downsides I had with this book, was I felt the wedding Scene itself quite rushed. I would have preferred to stay a little bit longer in the wedding moment as the whole book did elude to this event. The other thing was unfortunately Hugo. Hugo was a nice guy but beyond being a nice guy, that was kind of it. It would have been nicer to see more of him and maybe a bit more depth then just him helping liv. That being said this book was a quick and overall enjoyable read.

A very sweet book about Olivia who gets engaged on the way to her brother's engagement party. She intends to keep this detail quiet, so as not to horn in on her brother's day. Of course, that doesn't happen. The engagement is announced and plans are soon being made for a double wedding. Things get a bit out of hand, as this isn't Olivia's choice. Plans are being made for her. I understand this plot device to make the main character think about what she truly wants. I'm very thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book. I did enjoy this book and would even love a follow-up of her story.

Olivia is a comedian who spends most of her time ghostwriting romantic comedy novels for ex Love Island and X Factor competitors who don’t quite have the skill to make it for themselves. She’s been dating Teddy for a while and on paper they’re not exactly perfect for each other, but in reality he’s just proposed and she’s said yes.

Of course, the proposal isn’t exactly at the ideal time, right before they’re due to attend her brother’s engagement party to the demanding perfectionist Eden who has a phone permanently attached to her hand with the excuse that she’s an ‘Influencer’.

Though Eden is less than happy that her important 6-month in the planning engagement party has been somewhat eclipsed by the announcement that Teddy has proposed with a huge diamond, things go smoothly until the next day when the newly engaged couple announce that they want to get married quickly without any fuss, BUT they must follow Olivia’s family tradition of marrying in the barn on the Cornish coast that her grandfather built!

Both couples and their families head down to Cornwall to arrange the short notice ceremony - though it still has to have all the finery that Eden has been dreaming of since she was a little girl - but something about the way that Teddy popped the question and is now leaving Olivia to arrange everything is starting to grate, but she can’t quite put her finger on what’s wrong.

When help comes, it’s in the unexpected form of Hugo, who shows up like an unexpected knight in shining armour her first night in the town and offers to help her find a photographer for a wedding - which initially he isn’t aware is actually her wedding too.

I really enjoyed this book. From the very start I had the feeling that Teddy was too good to be true. Wealthy, handsome, seemed to really care for Olivia…but then he proposes and all of a sudden it’s as though he’s done all he needs to and Olivia gets a glimpse of her future, and it’s as far from what she has imagined as it’s possible to get.

Of course, there is always a twist that can turn everything on its head and Better off Wed is no different. At the nth hour something happens that seems to cause an event that changes the bubbling emotions…but this is a romantic comedy!

I absolutely loved Portia MacIntosh’s Better Off Wed. It was a fun and funny romcom. Comedian and ghostwriter Olivia (Liv) gets engaged to Teddy, a wealthy driven businessman, after dating 9 months. He wants a short engagement but does nothing to help plan the wedding (besides pay for things). Liv has her heart set on getting married in a barn in a Cornish seaside town that her grandfather built, but it has only one opening left before they cease doing weddings there… and it is in a month’s time. Her brother Dougie and his fiancée Eden also want to get married there— so they agree on a double wedding and decide to go plan on location in a
luxurious beach house 2 weeks before the wedding.

Liv is a sweetheart of a character, and Teddy is an absent fiancé. I really enjoyed this book and stayed up way too late finishing it because I had to know how it ended. It was a sweet, fun book.

Thank you to the author, Boldwood Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my opinions.

Olivia (Liv) is shocked when her boyfriend, Teddy proposes out of the blue. It was a complete shocker, they have not been together that long, but they are happy, right? So why not? The one place she has always dreamed of getting married is available next month and Teddy jumps at the date. Why so soon, Mr. Groom??

Planning a wedding, takes time but when there is a rush, Olivia must throw herself into it. Teddy, on the other hand isn't. Plus, Olivia must deal with Teddy's family which is not easy by a long shot. But she does find help in an unlikely source and along the way begins to question some things....

I must put this in the liked but didn't love category. I have seen this trope before and there is nothing too new. It was enjoyable but nothing stood out to set this book apart from other books in this genre. But I did enjoy how the author had Liv questioning things and learning to go for what she wants.

Again, enjoyable, and entertaining, I just wanted a little bit more. I'll still be open to reading more books by this author as I read another of her books, Your Place or Mine? and enjoyed it.


#BetterOffWed #NetGalley #Boldwoodbooks

I’ve been reading Portia MacIntosh’s books for a while now, I don’t know how many I’ve gone through now, but each book I’ve read I’ve really enjoyed. This book is no exception.

When Olivia’s boyfriend, Teddy proposes to her out of the blue, the only answer is yes. It is sudden, and they don’t even live together, but Olivia feels like she’d be crazy to say no.
Olivia has her heart set on getting married on the Cornish Coast in a barn her grandfather had built. But when news breaks that there is only one date available until they stop doing weddings, only a few weeks away. Olivia isn’t sure about rushing, but Teddy jumps at the chance.
Now with a shared wedding day with her brother and his fiancé, only a few weeks to plan the wedding, and an MIA fiancé, doubts start to eat away at Olivia, making her question whether she’s making the right choice.

Olivia frustrated me a bit on this one. She came across as a bit of a pushover, and felt a bit naive at times. She made silly decisions, and never really spoke her mind, even though she wasn’t being included in the decision making for her own wedding.

That being said, I still loved this book. It had the usual Portia MacIntosh humour, some very cute and sweet moments that’s were to die for, and was overall a really fun and enjoyable read!


Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this as an ARC. This is my honest review.

For something that is supposedly a romcom, this was seriously lacking both the rom and the com. The romance took wayyyyy too long to kick in, and even when it did, it was bland. The comedy on the other hand was nonexistent. Theoretically, our FMC was a comedian, but her jokes resembled those of a high school math teacher. Not funny. As for the FMC herself, she was irritatingly passive. I didn't care about any of the characters and spent the whole book counting down the pages til the end.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review

A very entertaining and compelling rom-com that I thoroughly enjoyed. Not my first Portia MacIntosh and I knew she write good stories and I rooted for the characters.
There's some slower moment but it always kept my attention.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

The premise of this book was what originally had me interested in reading it...and it was just okay. I thought the female main character was okay; her original fiancé was a complete jerk face, and the new love interest was as expected. Throughout the book, I did find myself not hating Olivia's new SIL, Eden, as much as I originally did, which was a pleasant surprise - one of the few in the book. Otherwise, the book was easy to read, even if it felt rushed to me at times.

One of the main things that really irked me was how oblivious Olivia seemed to be to the red flags that were constantly being thrown her way with Teddy - it would take literally my entire review for me to list them all. She comes to her senses, calls off the wedding, we're gucci. Until we aren't. Now she's falling for Hugo - which is nuts considering you're literally engaged and then not engaged - and she doesn't decide it's too fast until the end of the book...or does she? Spoiler - she doesn't. The book literally ends with her deciding fate wants them to be together, so oh well if it's moving too fast.

I wanted Olivia to think for herself - just once. Even with Hugo, he was suggesting things or doing things that "she would want" and she is just like...yes, that is exactly what I would want. Is it? Or are you just saying that because you like him, and it sounds good? I was looking for a female main character who could stand up for herself, make decisions, stick with them, and be better for it. I didn't get that.

One last thing: Olivia keeps touting herself as a comedian. Her jokes are punny at best, and the only thing she ever talks about is writing a RomCom. Don't get me wrong - I love me a good romcom, and there's nothing wrong with being an author, but that isn't what I think when you tell me you want to be a comedian. I kept waiting for her to want to do a show or do stand up - anything comedy related, but nope. Just her dream to stop being a ghost writer and write for herself.

Thank you, NetGalley and Boldwood Books for letting me read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.