As someone getting married in Newport, RI this year, I knew I had to read this novel when I saw the blurb. While my wedding will be nothing like the one featured in The Wedding People, it was fun to read scenes set in Newport’s most iconic places. Espach did a fantastic job developing her characters and their relationships throughout the story. I truly was sad when this book ended - not because it necessarily had a sad ending, but because I could have easily spent many more chapters with this cast.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This was a fun one but also is on a very tough subject matter, suicide. Phoebe hits rock bottom, She always wanted to travel to Newport, Rhode Island, so she decides to go and she rents a room in an expensive hotel, but when she gets there she realizes she just crashed a wedding weekend.

Life has thrown one bad thing after the other at Phoebe which is why she checks into the Cornwall Inn to end it all. But she finds herself caught in web of wedding people including a bride who will not let Phoebe's melancholia ruin her picture-perfect wedding. After a change of heart, Phoebe fully embraces her place amongst these wedding people and goes on a journey to reclaim her identity and truly understand what makes life worth living.

This book has an air of dark humor that made it just the most enjoyable ride. While the book centers on Phoebe, all the characters go on their own journeys of self-discovery and you find yourself empathizing for each of them as their stories unfold. This had a similar feel to A Man Called Ove and if you liked that, I think you will definitely enjoy this.

Phoebe books herself a one-way ticket to the Cornwall Inn to end her life, only to find that she is the only guest at the hotel who is not there for Lila's extravagant wedding week. The bride, Lila, is immediately drawn to Phoebe and the two begin a new and complex friendship. This book tackles a lot of issues (infertility, divorce, depression, general life indecisiveness, death) with humor and grace. The characters are funny and witty, and at times unlikeable, true to real life. Overall, I truly enjoyed this book and will be reading more of Alison Espach's backlist.

I loved this book so much!! The author’s note
of this book being a love letter of sorts to the strangers we encounter resonated with me so much. I too love the unexpected delight and connection that come from sparking up a conversation with a stranger and the book captured this very human experience so well

This novel felt very different than Noted on Your Sudden Disappearance (also a 5 star for me)! I loved the quick and quippy dialogue and the narrative monologues that were a bit of a gut punch at times by how relatable they were. The sparkling wedding setting was also very fun.

TW for suicide

Phoebe leaves her home in St. Louis with a mission. Upon reaching the Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, dressed in a green party attire and without any luggage, the recently divorced and despondent Phoebe intends to check in, enjoy a nice meal, and peacefully end her life. While in the lobby, she realizes the wedding of Lila and Gary will be taking place and everyone around her is one of the wedding people. They all assume she is too. When Lila learns of Phoebe's intentions, she tells her that she cannot and will not ruin her million-dollar six-day wedding celebration. This unusual encounter leads to some honest conversations between the two women. As Phoebe gets drawn into Lila's wedding sphere, her people skills, intelligence and wisdom captivate everyone she comes in contact with. The perfect wedding Lila planned is about to have some surprises. 

The Wedding People deals with some serious subjects such as depression, suicide and infertility. Yet without diminishing them, author Alison Espach has created a tenderhearted and often hilarious story. There's lots of snarky banter, which I loved. The character development is excellent, especially the appealing Phoebe, an adjunct college professor specializing in Nineteenth Century Literature and an expert on Jane Eyre and Mrs. Dalloway. She's forty and alone. Her pain stemming from her infertility and betrayal by her ex-husband was very authentic. Lila appears to have it all except a genuine friend, while Greg, the somewhat older groom, seems to be along for the ride. One of my favorite characters was Lila's mother, who comes across as incredibly self-centered but is masking her own sadness. Ultimately, readers will root for every character to find happiness.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Alison Espach, and Henry Holt & Co for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Sadly, this is the third book of this summer that I've gone in with too high expectations for, and the second of which I think I didn't enjoy because I wasn't the target audience age. There were some charming moments, but as a whole this book really didn't work for me. I'm hesitant to rate it lower because I think a big aspect of me not enjoying it was that I couldn't relate to Phoebe as a character, mostly because I'm not a middle aged woman. With this book, I don't think it was marketed regarding Phoebe's age at all, and I wish it would have been because it definitely makes a difference in this book with how the events unfold! So I don't think this is a bad book, but I also don't think I connected to Phoebe due to my age, which is also an issue in and of itself because I don't think you should necessarily have to be a similar age to relate to or understand a character lol. And that's all I'll say on the topic! Go in if you like blunt honesty of messy characters with a side of charm and just know that some of the stuff reads age related.

Number 1 - this needs to be made into a movie starring Daisy Edger-Jones. She would be a perfect Phoebe.

After her life basically implodes, Phoebe Stone leaves it all behind and takes the trip she's always wanted. Arriving at The Cornwall Inn in Rhode Island, Phoebe is immediately mistaken as a guest to a huge wedding. She goes with it and in turn, changes so many lives.

This is a beautiful character study of a woman at the cusp of a huge life change. It's no wonder that Jenna picked this for for her book club.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book was EVERYTHING - definitely one of my top reads of the year so far. While the novel explores a variety of very sensitive topics, the author does it with a sense of humor that was absolutely perfect - it may not be for everyone, but it was absolutely for me. Phoebe was one of the most realistic and fully fleshed out characters I've read in a long time, making her so easy to root for throughout her journey. I absolutely loved this book and hope the word gets out about it so many others can enjoy it too!

What a delight this is! Phoebe, an adjunct professor, has been struggling mightily since her husband, who has tenure divorced her to be with her former BFF. And then one day-it's all too much and she takes off to spend one night, one night only, at a resort in Newport Rhode Island, a night when she plans to end her life. What she never expected was that she would have make a surprising connection to Lila who has just spent $1 million to take over the hotel and hold her wedding to Gary, a widower with a young daughter. Lila is privileged as can be and there's a touch of satire here (what a bridezilla at times) but she got unexpected sides that reveal themselves as the story unfolds. I liked that Espach doesn't give us either woman's story up front and that she keeps you guessing. There's more than one surprise. The characters are wonderful (there are dimensions to all of them) and the storytelling is terrific. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Great read.

Read if you like:
🤷🏻‍♀️ Character Driven Novels
😭 Being Down Sad
💍 Weddings
✨ Fate

When Phoebe arrives at a beautiful and overpriced hotel in Rhode Island slowly her plans for her trip go away as a wedding is being held and all staff attention has been set for the wedding guests that Phoebe is now an unintentional interloper at, as the only non-wedding guest at the hotel.

When Phoebe runs into the bride and finds out that her plan for “only guests” has been ruined, she doesn’t realize how ruined until Phoebe admits without much thought her true plans for her stay at the hotel, and somehow Phoebe and the bride find themselves confessing they secrets to each other, and one thing turns into another and Phoebe ends up staying the whole week for the wedding as a now guest of the bride while she reflects on her life and why she originally came to the hotel.

The book is dark, funny, sad, happy, and hopeful all in one with a feeling of being a stream of consciousness while also feeling like listening in to a very private conversation that you shouldn’t be hearing because it’s just too personal, raw and real to be overheard.

I truly loved this book and all of its complexities and have already started recommending it before I could even finish it.

Thank you so much to MacMillan Audio, Henry Holt & co for my ears, physical ARC and gifted audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

First, thanks to the author and publisher for this advanced copy. My opinion is my own and I was not compensated for my review.

I went into this mostly blind and I think that's truly the best way to absorb this book. It's so truly wonderful. I will try to sum up my feelings without spoilers..

Love, loss, despair, loneliness and heartbreak. Fear and hope and learning to live when you've resolved to do the complete opposite. There so so, so very many ups and downs here. When I began this book at first I found the characters a little one dimensional. What a treat it was to watch each person slowly unfold into complex and beautifully flawed, authentic human beings.

This will be perfect for book clubs with so many topics and nuances to explore about these characters and the beautiful scenery and unique plot. I will be recommending this to every avid reader I know.

I will say that there are several topics that could be triggers fo many people. Readers sensitive to suicidal ideations, infidelity, death/cancer, depression, divorce and animal death should proceed with caution.

THE WEDDING PEOPLE is one of my favorite covers of the year — and the story inside is just as good.

The setting is a glitzy Newport, RI hotel. The subject is Phoebe, a woman suffering from depression in the aftermath of a divorce who ends up as the only non-wedding guest guest at a hotel hosting an over the top (million dollar!) wedding.

I picked this novel up in the midst of an emotionally challenging week, expecting to be greeted with a salacious and saucy story of rich people behaving badly. I was instead met with something better: a humorous yet tender tale of intergenerational friendship.

THE WEDDING PEOPLE is the perfect example of a novel that embeds heavy topics seamlessly without feeling bogged down by them. Espach’s writing is masterful enough to portray a myriad of emotions with great care. Though I expected a lighter story, the weight connected me and endeared me to the characters.

All in all: come for the setting, the gossip, the wedding. Stay for the humor, the relationships, the love.

This one is out July 31 and would make a perfect end of summer read! Thank you to @henryholtco for my eARC!

BOOK: The Wedding People
AUTHOR: Alison Espach
PUB DATE: 7/30/2024 by Henry Holt
PAGES: 384
RATING: 4
GENRE: Contemporary Fiction

A BIG Thank You to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for gifting me an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review!

FAVORITE QUOTE: “She is so good at predicting what will happen in books, so bad at predicting what will happen in life. That is why she has always preferred books – because to be alive is much harder.”

QUICK & SPOILER-FREE REVIEW: This arc really surprised me in the best way. Although I was skeptical when the story started off a little slow and sad, it quickly turned into one that I couldn’t stop reading! There was a lot of character building which really helped make this book both endearing & delightful! I think each person at the wedding really added their own flare and special moments to the bride’s story and the MMC’s journey. I recommend this one, and now I want to visit the dreamy coasts of Newport, or Neuschwanstein Castle when I visit Germany!

Happy Reading!

With her life in shambles, Phoebe travels to a fancy hotel where a chance encounter changes the entire trajectory of her life. 🏨

While I’m not sure this was the “uproariously, absurdly funny” book the synopsis promised, I did enjoy it. The book had a dark plot point right out of the gate that I wasn’t expecting (check trigger warnings) and you have to suspend disbelief to buy into the quick turnaround, which bothered me. (Being vague to avoid spoilers.) It took me about 25% to become fully invested, but once I was, I was eager to pick the book up whenever I could. Other than the point I mentioned already, everything else felt very flawed and real which I appreciated. The overall tone reminded me of The Family Stone - somewhat sad and depressing, while also managing to be really enjoyable when all was said and done.

My thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for a complimentary advance copy of this eBook, out 7/30/2024.

I loved this book. It is unlike anything I have ever read and I want to read more books like this one. This book perfectly balanced fun, sorrow, silliness, and serious topics. The characters were both lovable and frustrating. The writing flowed very well throughout the whole book. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a story that feels real and at the same time, feels like a story you can escape into.

Alison Espach has become an auto-read author for me. I really enjoyed Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance, and yet somehow I loved this one even more.

The actual writing was one of my favorite parts of this book. It was poignant, thoughtful, funny, and sharp. There were so many times while reading when there would be a moving and deep passage one moment, and then a few sentences later I was laughing out loud. Since this book touches on some pretty dark subjects, I think this is both important and impressive.

I truly feel like Espach captures realistic, honest moments of the human experience with her characters. They all felt so real to me, and had many facets to who they were. Even though some characters were harder to like than others, I was rooting for almost everyone. I really appreciated how raw some of their stories got, and how certain people interacted in those moments; a big message throughout the book is human connection.

One of the things I loved most is how funny some characters and dialogue are. I don’t think I’ve read any other author that has certain dialogue that is weird/different enough to not be common, yet universal enough to be relatable, honest and laugh out loud funny (no spoilers here, but message me if you’d like to know the specific quotes I’m thinking of).

In addition to all of that, the rest of the book was great. The fancy Rhode Island hotel setting was interesting and summery, and I liked seeing all the luxurious activities. All of the observations about “the wedding people” were so spot on and funny, and true!

I’m not sure if this book would be for everyone, but it was 10000% for me.

Loved the characters and loved the protagonist and the ending she got. I do wish there was an epilogue and I feel like I've never said that before.

I went into this blind and was pleasantly surprised! I recommend going in blind as well. The mix of characters' personalities made for an entertaining story, which, one or two chapters in you'll probably think I'm crazy for saying that! This is fresh and, while heavy, has lots of moments of light and laughter.

📚: The Wedding People by Alison Espach
⭐️: 3.5/5 (rounding up on #goodreads)

The gist: A beautiful, historic hotel in Rhode Island. A couple hosting their wedding week. And Phoebe Stone, a St. Louis-based professor who arrives with a last minute booking, no wedding invitation, and no luggage. Recently divorced, she dreamt of visiting the Cornwall with her husband, but has far different plans without him. But when the wedding people sweep her up as their own, her plans (and life) change.

The good: This had my heart wrenching by the end. Incredibly human and emotional, this read pulled at all feelings by the end. The characters were so well written, and by the end I found myself rooting for all of them and their growth.

The eh: This was a bit of a slower burn than I thought, and slogged through the first couple chapters before the story really found its footing. Some of the humor missed its landing, juxtaposing awkwardly up against some of the more serious topics presented — it brought a bit of an off-tone as a whole to the narration.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Company via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Wedding People is out next week on 7/30!