Oh man this was such a cute friend to lover’s rom com about accepting change and finding yourself without the burden of fighting to save the family restaurant in your dad’s memory. Also finally realizing that maybe your string of bad relationships is not because you can’t commit but that you already had someone who fulfilled all your relationship needs except the sex in your best friend and there wasn’t room for anyone else in your heart when he was already in there. This was a fun and fast read.

Thanks to Yellow House Media and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Sister of the Bride is a heartwarming romance where childhood friends find their way into each other's heart. This book took a bit to get to the romance, and it was more of Pippin coming of age. The banter was hilarious, especially the "Dad Jokes." This book is a quick read.

Sister of the Bride could've also used a bit more editing prior to sending the ARC - it contained numerous grammatical errors and misspellings which was a bit off-putting to the flow of the story.

Thank Yellow House Media for the complimentary copy.

Piper has spent most of her life keeping the restaurant that she thinks is her legacy running. She’s convinced it’s what her father who had passed away would have wanted. Tony is her next friend who has recently returned to do his residency in their hometown. Piper is secure and happy in her world when her twin comes home and drops the bomb that she is getting married. Piper is forced to confront her fears of change, her growing feelings for Toby, and the realization that what she thought was her future might not actually be what she needs to do in her life. This was a quick fun read and I enjoyed it greatly.

Such a cute and perfect read! I loved it from start to finish. It’s full of chemistry, I loved the tropes. It was a great unexpected find

Sister of the Bride by Lauren Morrill is a lighthearted and sweet read about identity, family, and romance.

Mae is a teenager trying to figure out who she is among the chaos that is her family life. She has a mother who is scattered and a father who she doesn’t speak to often. The only person she finds peace and connection to is her older sister, Layla, who is getting married soon. With the new announcement, however, Mae finds her identity in danger of being overshadowed by her elder sibling.

The novel follows Mae as she tries to find her place in the world and how to be less of her sister’s shadow. Through a summer camp, an unlikely group of friends, and a few challenges, Mae embarks on a journey to discover who she is and what she holds dear. Along the way, she learns more about herself but also finds some love with a special someone.

I found Sister of the Bride to be an enjoyable read and will recommend it to teens and young adults. The characters were relatable and authentic, and you can’t help but feel for Mae and her struggles both with her family and herself. I also liked the writing; Morrill’s words made it feel like I’m right with Mae as she navigates her personal freedom and exploration.

Overall, Sister of the Bride is a great read for readers of any age. It’s a story of love, family, and finding yourself along the way. Mae’s journey to figuring out her identity is an entertaining and inspiring one, and I’m sure many readers can relate to it.

If you are looking for a book that blended the emotions of falling in love and finding yourself, Sister of the Bride is the perfect book for you.

I for the life of me can't figure out why I put off reading this book as long as I did. I've been reading my ARCs in order of publication date and lord did I make a mistake with this one!

This book is one that I will not be accepting any form of criticism on! This book was the perfect amount of wit, family drama, and friendship. Not to mention I LOVE a good falling in love with your best friend moment! Pippin was a VERY relatable character of anxiety, to do lists, and the unknown. She's in her upper 20s and doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, and if I can't relate to that, I don't know what I can relate to. She speaks her mind, she comes from a small, but mighty family, and it of course has a huge soft spot in their hearts for Grays Anatomy which is naturally one of my favorite shows.

I think this book couldn't have improved at all because it was perfect, slow burn, friends to lovers, check lists, and a woman coming to understand herself and what she wants with her life. Such a sweet ending also!

Thank you NetGalley for approving me a copy of this books in exchange for an honest review!

Sister of the Bride was cute story with lots of lighthearted and heartwarming seasoning.

I love the idea of this book but i'm gonna be honest that i had a hard time getting through it. The characters felt so flat and i didn't connect with any of them. But they are potentially one of the nicest and coolest character arcs i've read.

All in all, this was a light book to be read with a cup of coffee and a warm blanket in a summer day.

I rather enjoyed this friends to lovers story, dad jokes and all. The Marino women are delightful and Toby is such a reliable friend turned steamboat love interest. His appreciation for boundaries is about as hot as his "James Bond modeling for Gucci" suit!

While this is a pretty cozy book, I did feel that every problem resolved a bit too quickly and easily. Particularly, the arrival of an ex at the end did very little to complicate the resolution and therefore the ending felt abrupt. But things resolving too easily basically amounts to "I would have read more of this story" and that is not much of a critique.

I appreciated that the spicy bits were sexy and descriptive without being icky about it. The phrasing was well chosen, exciting without lingering much too long.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for honest review.

I thought this had a cute premise, and I usually am a fan of friends who are actually destined for something more. I enjoyed Pippin and Toby's banter and the "dad jokes" added to their interactions. However, there were things that just didn't work for me. Beyond the fact the sister's fiancée was a woman, their whole relationship just felt off. I also disliked how Pippin was informed about the restaurant in such a blase manner (I thought was quite callous!) with no thought to how it might affect her. The pacing was kind of slow and too much time spent on the wedding details and not building the main couple's romance. I would have enjoyed more background on Pippin and Toby's journey from friends to lovers.

2.5 stars

This was a super cute and light read. I really enjoyed the friends to lovers trope in it and how it developed. The characters were likeable and realistic and the added bonus of learning about another couple’s journey and wedding added much to the story.

Oohh this slow burn friends to lovers book is on fire! Seriously there is some great steamy scenes. I loved it. It was a great book and I couldn't put it down. "Chefs Kiss" perfect!
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This was a delightful slow-burn, friends to lovers, family hijinx retake on father of the bride. I had so much fun reading it. I love Pippin and found her to be a relatable character. It was easy to root her and Toby. I am a sucker for a good friends to lover's story though.

This was a first time read for me by this author. The cover is cute and when I read the summary, it sounded like a fun read. which it absolutely was. Pippin has a lot going on in her life, and she doesn't do well with change. Her mom wants to sell the family business that Pippin has been running since her father's passing. Her sister returns home and is about to get married, and she wants Pippin to plan the wedding. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, she is glad when her best friend Tobias moves back home and offers to help with the planning. As they spend more time together, the dynamic of their relationship may just be shifting into something more, but Pippin has fears that hold her back.
This was a delightfully cute and light-hearted read that kept me entertained from start to finish. It's a nice cozy read for a lazy afternoon!
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Pippin has been running her family restaurant, and not much else for the past 8 years. But her world suddenly turns upside down when everything happens all at once -- her twin sister Polly returns from Europe with news of a sudden engagement, her best friend Toby permanently returns from school on the west coast & isn't talking about why, and her mother and Nonna decides they want to sell the business and building so they can retire.

I struggled to get into this story at first as it was quite dry and dragged on a little. But after pushing through the first few chapters, the story started to turn around. The fun dynamic between Pippin and Toby was very entertaining, I loved the lame Dad jokes each day and loved how they worked so well. I struggled more with the relationship between the twin sisters, but in the end, it played out okay.

I personally don't think this book was my cup of team as it read more like a YA rather than a romcom, but it was an easy read.

I would actually give this book 3 1/2 stars. I had trouble getting in to the book because I thought it was just going to be a ripoff of the Steve Martin version of Father of the Bride, but thankfully it wasn't. I did enjoy the book in the end and liked the friends to lovers trope. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced preview.

A nicely written friends-to-lovers love story, that could only happen because the protagonist was so energetic and workaholic that she actively ignores the signs of her best friend's feelings. Toby's dad jokes are terrible, by which I mean, I chuckled and giggled at each one, but he is constant and patient and helps Pippin with everything he can, even while sleep deprived.

Also. As a fan of LOTR, I admit I wondered until the very end of this book if the name of the protagonist would ever stop making me think of second breakfasts - it didn't, but that's totally on me.

What I ADORED about this book is the approach to Polly's sexuality. Nobody even bats an eye, there is not one comment that would make you think that any of the characters have any negative or homophobic thoughts about it. THIS is exactly how it should be for everyone. No matter who you love, the people who love you - and people who don't - do not get to have any opinion about the gender you prefer.

Being in Pippin's head was exhausting though. Her thoughts are loud and constantly shifting from one topic to another, even in the moments where the pacing should give you a time to breathe. Also, there was so much name dropping in this book. I am actually curious if 5 years from now all the names of celebrities mentioned in this book will still be relevant.

Good debut novel, there's definitely potential between the lines. I can't wait to read more from Lauren Morrill.

Thanks to NetGalley and Yellow House Media for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

It’s gonna be an average three-star rating for “Sister of the Bride” and an additional .5 because it’s a childhood friends to lovers. My three-star rating by the way doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s actually a good rating. It just means that the book in my opinion, needed more. In this case, for this book, it needed more depth. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Toby and Pippin’s relationship. I just needed more, you know? Maybe for a book this “direct,” it would help to have Toby’s POV. But that’s okay. I found Pippin in the beginning of the book a little annoying. What she did at her sister’s wedding dress fitting was shitty. Although I understood where she was coming from but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t shitty of her. For some reason this book felt long but also fast. The pacing was a bit off for me. Other than that, I would still read more of Lauren Morrill’s future books!

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

Taking on too much has always been the style of our FMC, Pippin. She’s constantly trying to hold everything (and everyone) together without any regard for her own wellbeing. While trying to plan her twin’s wedding and hold it down at the family restaurant, her longtime best friend, Toby, comes back from his med school years on the West Coast and she’s seeing him as she never has before.

I loved the banter in this book and enjoyed myself but I also felt exhausted by just how much Pippin was attempting to do.

I can go either way on the friends to lovers trope, but this is one that I really liked. I’m usually a big fan of dual POV, but some stories just work best with single POV, and this is one of them. It was just right for it to be told from Pippin’s perspective. Pippin faces a slew of life-altering changes all at once, one of which is her sister’s whirlwind engagement and wedding, which Pippin ends up tasked with planning. Fortunately, her best friend, and dad joke aficionado, Toby has returned to Boston for his medical residency, and can be there to support her. Of course, the question becomes: is there more to their feelings for each other than just friendship? And can Pippin deal with it if there is? Pippin definitely fights hard to avoid the reality of her feelings. As her sister says: “‘You will crawl through a mile-long drain pipe filled with ******** in an effort to miss the point.’” Pippin’s fear and anxiety (and don’t forget grumpiness) in the face of change was very relatable. I found her a very engaging main character. Toby too. He is supportive, thoughtful, and kind. And the secondary characters added fun layers to the story. Some of them are really “characters”. The dad jokes were perfection. I loved the silly, sweet touch they added, and that they were a sort of love language between Toby and Pip. I enjoyed watching Pip finally come to terms with the scary changes in her life and figure out Toby’s place in her future. “‘But those are the times when love matters most. When the plans have evaporated and everything is ****, if you can still look at the other person and say, ‘at least I’m going through this **** with you,’ then you know.’” The epilogue is lovely and sweet. This is a detailed open door story with strong innuendo and frequent strong harsh language throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for a complimentary copy of the book. This review was written and shared voluntarily, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I thought this book was sweet and the characters were relatable! I appreciated how well the characters knew each other and how their relationship developed through the years rather than a few weeks/months.

It was a bit slow to start, but I enjoyed this feel good romance!