Sister of the Bride is a remarkably cute friends-to-lovers contemporary romance. The absolutely adorable cover is the reason I requested an ARC of this one, and to be completely honest with you, I wasn’t sure if the book itself would live up to the cover. But I am happy to report that it does! I, for some stupid reason, thought this was going to be one of those stupidly chaste closed-door contemporary romances, but nope. We get a full steamy scene, with a few not-quite-all-the-way scenes thrown in for good measure. There’s dirty jokes, and heavy references to ~adult~ things that I fully appreciated.

What I did not appreciate, though, was Pippin. I wanted to like her so much, but girl. CALM. DOWN. She was upset over literally everything — which, I mean, makes sense bc her entire life was crashing down around her — but reading about her freaking out got old really quickly. It did not ruin the book for me, but it came close. Especially when she took so damn long to realize what a catch Toby was. Which, by the way, takes over 50% of the book. They flirt pretty well together, but Pip is DETERMINED to not be attracted to Toby. Idiot.

Toby, however, is a giant precious cinnamon roll. I loved every second he was on page — especially his stupid dad jokes that began every chapter. He’s smart, hot as sin, funny, and a doctor. WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT, PIP. Seriously, woman, tell me.

ANYWAY, Sister of the Bride is absolutely worth the read, especially if you like friends-to-lovers. Four stars!

I LOVE BOOKS THAT MAKE ME FEEL LIKE I'M WATCHING A ROMCOM!! ROMCOMS ARE BACK!!!!

For someone who doesn’t do well with change, Pippin Marino sure is dealing with a lot of it. First her twin sister returns from Europe with a fiancé and a plea for Pippin to plan the wedding. Then her mom announces plans to sell the 100 year old family restaurant that Pippin has been running since her father died.

But at least there’s one good development in Pippin’s life. Her best friend has Toby Sullivan surprised her by moving back to Boston. Having him back is the one bright spot amidst her summer of panic, especially when he offers to help her plan the wedding.

But then one kiss changes everything.

And Pippin Marino does not do well with change.

I thought this was really cute! Nothing revolutionary, but a great sexy rom-com!
Pippin was a really adorable leading female, who has taken over her family's restaurant business in her father's death, and is caught off guard with emotions and steamy thoughts when her best friend Toby, moves back home. She is tasked with doing what she's best at, tasks, to help plan her twin sister's relatively quick wedding.
The emotionality in this was great, the steamy scenes were just the perfect amount of steaminess and hit a few plot lines that I think are so frequently overlooked in the traditional rom com, and I really enjoyed Pippin's interiority. This is fun and enjoyable.
I will agree with some other reviews though: I don't think the title is helping much. We don't really get to planning the sisters' wedding until later in the story, and honestly its the thing i care the LEAST about. Pippin is more than just the sister of the bride!! I wish the title was revamped: I think people might skip picking this up by mistake.

This was a perfect romance book! Complicated main character, lovely family supporting characters, delightful male MC, friends to lovers, spice that wasn’t cringey, and all over the background of wedding planning. I loved this book so much!

Sister of the Bride by Lauren Morrill is sweet book that I enjoyed.

The book starts out with Pippin rushing to get to the airport to pick up her twin sister upon her return from Europe. As she’s rushing out the door, her BFF, Toby returns home after an extended time away and it throws Pippin, as he wasn’t expected.

She’s busy running her family restaurant as the head chef after her dad’s death, dealing with Polly’s engagement and her feelings for Toby, which may or may not be turning into something more than friendship. In other words, Pippin is stretched thin.

The slow build from friends to lovers, with the wedding thrown in is a good mix and I enjoyed reading about Pippin learning that there is more to expect than life in the kitchen.
I was given this book by NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.

This is my first book by this author so I didn’t know it was going to be spicy given the cuteness of the cover, but it was a nice surprise.
The “dad jokes” at the beginning of almost every chapter was a funny touch. Also I think that the author did a good job in putting funny elements throughout the story that make you keep going.
I liked the family aspects in the book, and how we got to meet the different members of it. Each contributing to the story in different ways.
Honestly I think that we spent too much time on other stuff instead of focusing on the main couple. so much that I felt like skimming through some scenes such as the meeting of Mackenzie’s family. It took too long to get to the actual story.
I did enjoy the main couple, though I think some subjects between them were too mysterious for no reason, which made the pay off not good enough.
Additionally, at some point in the story, it seems that Toby’s family is not too thrilled to have him back for more than one reason and that might be Pippin, which made me think that they don’t like her very much. This being backed by the one interaction we see between Pippin and Toby’s mom. But this is never talked about so I don’t know where they stand and it was a bit confusing.
Many of the problems that Pippin was having, her whole life being put upside down in so many aspects, I don’t think they were well resolved. Sure, things came out great in the end, but it was such a big moment for her that I would’ve liked to see this happening in more detail.
Something I especially liked in the story is the main character learning to be very honest with her feelings even when she wasn’t sure where she wanted to go with them. That made the story stand out a bit more.

What a nice find. This was the first book I've read from this author and I really enjoyed it. The story was different from anything I've read recently and really captured my attention. It was so well written and the characters were fantastic.

This book was cute, fun and an easy read for me, everything I look for in a rom-com novel!
This books follows Pippin as she struggles through her twin sister getting married, her family business being sold (which means bye bye home and job) and maybe just maybe her feelings for her best friend being not entirely platonic anymore?
My only complaint about this book is that it’s a little slow to start, but I guess that makes the ending that much sweeter!

I decided to give my honest opinion thanks to NetGalley letting me grab an advanced copy!!

Cute, sweet, loved the Boston of it all. I liked it just fine but didn't find it outstanding or anything.

This was such a fun friends-to-lovers romance!❣️✨ The cover caught my eye on Netgalley at first(how cute!) before I realized that I'd read some of the author's YA books when I was a teen and I hit the request button. Anyway, I'm glad that I enjoyed this one too!😆

I've never watched Father Of The Bride but I'm always up for rom com retakes and in this one we have Pippin Marino who has been running her family's 100 year old restaurant after her dad passed away and she's not really fond of change. But everything in her life is turned upside down when her twin sister Polly returns from London and announces that she's engaged to Mackenzie, a woman that she's known for six months. Though Pip is sceptical about this she's roped into helping with the wedding planning. And to top that, her mom and grandmom tell her that they're planning on selling the restaurant. The only silver lining in this is the fact that her best friend Toby has come back to Boston for his residency at a hospital. But, what will happen when she realizes that she has more-than-friendly feelings for him?😂

I loved how real the characters were in this one - flaws and all. Pippin's reaction to everything was quite bad at first, but she realizes it and makes amends. Can't really blame her though as everything in her life was imploding(but I also loved how Mackenzie's mom Nora gave her a reality check too). And as someone who also hated change, I found her relatable. I loved how snarky she was(even when she's being judgemental😂). Her relationship with her family especially her sister - Polly is amazing! It takes a while for her to warm up to Polly's fiance Mackenzie, but she does begin to appreciate her slowly too!

On the other hand she's always been the closest with her best friend Toby and I loved the slow progression from friends to lovers here! It's not one of my favorite tropes but it worked out so well in this one and it felt so believable! Also, we could truly feel how close they were even if we didn't have many recollections of their past because the connection is always present. So, I was rooting for these two to end up together and waiting for Pip to get over her fears and face her feelings for him.

Toby is such a cinnamon roll because he's so cute, patient and funny! Those dad jokes at the beginning of every chapter were hilarious and he was always there for her when she needed him!🥺 Also, he's willing to wait for her because he knows her difficulties and he understands that she needs time. I'd have loved this even more if we'd gotten his pov too as I was curious about when he fell for her and what prompted him to come back! But still I was very satisfied with the romance. And extra points for no third act breakup or drama. I feel like we can't find a romcom book without that these days, so I really appreciated the fact that there wasn't anything like that here 😂 I was scared for a while wondering whether Pip would change her mind or something, but when she accepts her feelings for Toby, she's very sure and feels secure too. And that was a highlight in her character development with how she has learned to accept change and other things!

Overall this was a great read that had some amazing and real characters with a really cute romance too!❣️✨

I really enjoyed this book. It was very charming and tantalizingly spicy! The main characters, Pippin and Toby were very relatable and lovable. It’s been a while since I’ve read a romantic comedy and this was a great reintroduction to the genre. I think Lauren wrote a great book and I look forward to reading more of her books!

4.5⭐️❤️🥰

Wow, this book was incredible. It was sweet and cute like a rom com should be but then it's also dealing with grief and self discovery. It's done so well, that it enriches the story.

Then there is Toby! That guy, his character was perfection. He is funny, supportive and incredibly genuine. I adored the dad jokes at the top of each chapter. My only wish is that at some point we got hi s point of view. That would have made this book perfect for me.

It really did great job setting the mood of Toby and Pippen's friendship. Some of my issues with friends to lover tropes, is that I find that some books had the best friendship happen prior off page and I don't always feel connected to their friendship prior to love. This book however did so much with so little. After a couple chapters I was invested in their friendship and wanted it to last.

Some readers may struggle with the pacing of the romance of this book. As it is a slow burn, but for me I loved it. When the book wasn't giving hints of romance between Toby and Pippen, it was telling a beautiful story of Pippen's family as they move onto the next stages of their lives. Pippen coming to grips that her sister Polly is getting married and is moving on with his life, fairly quickly. I loved the family interactions and I am a sucker for a sassy grandma in stories.

I for sure will be checking out more from Lauren Morill and keep my eye out for future work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Yellow House Publishing for this advance reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

I will be posting my review to my Instagram page the.floofs.booknook and retail sites close or on publication.

💕 Best friends to lovers
❤️ ‘It’s always been you’
👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻 Wedding Season
🌶 Spicy
👩🏻‍⚕️ Grey’s Anatomy vibes

Pippin’s life is about to change : her twin sister is getting married, her mother wants to sell their home and the restaurant they own below. She isn’t sure about her future at all, she has to do everything all over again. New home, new job… And on top of it all, her sister Polly asked her to organize her wedding (did someone mention that Polly met her fiance 6 months ago ?)
Pippin’s freaking out and her only lifeline is Toby. Her best friend of 20 years is back in Boston. The problem is, all the stress must be going into Pippin’s head because she’s thinking more and more about Toby… Toby shirtless, Toby smiling, Toby, Toby, Toby… She can’t get him out of her head, but going after him isn’t possible. She can’t lose the only steady thing she has in her life. But she can’t stop herself from wanting more….

I have to be honest right now. I expected this book to be a 3 or 4 stars read for me. Mainly because I’ve recently read a lot of friends-to-lovers, and I felt like I couldn't enjoy anything more than my last read. I was wrong, I can admit that. The synopsis looked good and the cover was cute. I really didn’t expect to read it in two days !!! and to enjoy it that much !!

It honestly felt so easy to binge-read. The story was great, it didn’t have any hollow moments in it. All the storylines were perfectly adding up at the end (and throughout the whole book). All the characters were so loveable and relatable. I don’t think I have anything bad to say ? Ok yes I do. I really like Pippin’s characters. I think I saw a bit of myself in it, but not too much so that was nice. Although, I couldn’t help but picture Pippin from LOTR…. I don’t know if I just never realized that it was a common name ? Or if that was meant to be an easter-egg ? It’s not that big of a deal to be honest, but it’s really the only thing I can comment about !

Thank you so much Netgalley for the opportunity to discover this author and read this book.

4.25

This was a cute romcom and take on the movie, Father of the Bride.

I loved the dad jokes/puns, the Italian food, discussion of grief, queer wedding planning, sibling relationship, friendship between Toby and Pipp just it worked! This is a great childhood friends to lovers romance.

I think this would have been a 5 star if I had Toby's perspective honestly, I wanted to understand more about him and his motivations, feelings and I would have just melted completely. But if you want a quick, fun and easy romcom this is definitely going to give you all of that!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was adorable. It is the perfect example of the friends to lovers trope and I think it's done really well. I also though that the dad jokes at the beginning of each chapter were cute and it was a nice touch for it to be missing when the main characters aren't talking.

I don't really have much else to say about this book other than it was a very easy read and it was very enjoyable.

Crying, screaming, kicking my feet! That’s how this romcom made me feel and especially Toby!

When the guy is described as Shawn Mendes dirty older brother… I am sold. All the greys anatomy references AAAAH love that.

I had to get into it a bit a first. I wasn’t feeling pippin right away, but she grew on me. And to be fair, am I too overwhelmed with life

Cute and sweet, with food descriptions that made me drool! Got to love a friendship to lovers romance and this didn’t disappoint. You will swoon along with the characters. Plus, all the references to Europe made me nostalgic along the way in the best way.

This was a cute little romcom debut. I liked the two main characters quite a bit (their quirky personalities were fun, and honest, and their vulnerabilities rang true). I felt invested in their friends to lovers story.
I appreciated the sideline LGBTQ inclusion, and the writing wasn’t bad.
However, the plot just had too much going on, which made it drag for me at times, and I wanted to skim through wedding and restaurant/home sale points.
I’m excited to follow the writer and see how her work progresses.

"Polly is the friend I was born with, but Toby was the friend I chose."

I was approved for this one quite a while back and now that I finally picked it up, I couldn't stop reading until it was done. Things definitely are slow-moving in this one but that only ensures a good build-up. And Pippin, well she is quite relatable especially in wanting to hold on to the one constant in her life amidst all the sudden changes.

This friends-to-lovers tale takes its time to bloom and that is a actually a plus; after all, things have to be questioned eleventy billion times with a precious life-long friendship at stake.

"I hate that I'm leaving right now, but I love that he's letting me."

Oh and before I forget, all the dad jokes...kudos, Toby!! At least some of them were actually fun 😝

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book first jumped out at me because of the artist who designed the cover artwork, Simini Blocker, whose style I immediately recognised thanks to her amazing art for some of Rainbow Rowell's books!

I thought this book was a really enjoyable, cute read. I loved the relationship between the two main characters as well as all the supportive family relationships the book portrayed. One particular scene that stood out to me between Pippin and Toby was when she was (mostly) honest with him about wanting to stay friends. I really liked that, even though she wasn't entirely honest about her feelings, she had a discussion with him and didn't just stop communicating.

The things that brought it down in rating for me were that there were times I felt a disconnect with the characters, especially some scenes between Toby and Pippin. I loved their friendship but the scenes whrn they were together didn't quite hit the mark for me. I really liked the plot although I think at times there was just a bit too much going on which detracted from the characters.

This book wasn't perfect to me, however, I still enjoyed reading it and think there will be many people who will love it.