I'm giving this book 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4, and I found it to be a genuinely engaging and suspenseful read, diving into a unique murder mystery centered around a high-profile wedding. The narrative introduces a forensic specialist, Holly Stone, and I followed her as she infiltrated the event as a bridesmaid to investigate the peculiar death of another bridesmaid. The plot masterfully weaves a tale of intrigue involving the wealthy elite, a famous heiress with a troubled past, and numerous unexpected turns.

What particularly drew me in were the self-absorbed yet utterly captivating characters. My suspicions and perceptions of each one shifted constantly throughout the story. While I felt the romantic elements occasionally came across as a bit forced, they didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of this darkly entertaining mystery. The book was a relatively quick read for me, propelled by its compelling premise and the allure of behind-the-scenes glimpses into a world of privilege.

I experienced this as a slow-burn mystery with multiple points of view, designed to keep me guessing until the very end. The book delivers a series of clever twists, some of which were truly surprising. Although certain aspects of the police and forensic procedures might stretch credulity, my main reservation had to do with the disturbing revelations concerning the treatment of children, which felt quite dark for the overall tone. However, I felt these elements were generally outweighed by the strong character development and the captivating plot. Ultimately, I view this novel as an enjoyable and thought-provoking read, and I'm looking forward to the author's future works.

My thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with an ARC.

This was a quirky, suspenseful read for me.

I didn’t expect to be so drawn in by the self-absorbed characters,but I found them fascinating. And, I moved from one character to the other as my suspicions and opinions of each one changed.

I enjoyed this book immensely. The “ romances” felt a bit contrived, but it didn’t alter my enjoyment of this fun , and very dark, mystery.

Holly is a forensics attorney/specialist that gets called onto a case involving a dead bridesmaid found in a hotel that is being set up for a practice run of a wedding. The bride is the famous heiress Adrianna, who not only is known for her wealth, but also for her kidnapping three years earlier.

Adrianna is worried that her kidnapper is back, and this time won't let her escape. Holly is hired by the groom to solve the murder so that the wedding can continue as planned. She decides to go undercover as a bridesmaid, and soon finds herself facing danger. Will she end up like the bridesmaid she replaced? Dead and strung up in a wedding dress?

So... this book has an EXCELLENT premise. And I quite enjoyed Quinn's book "The Clinic"- that was an easy 5 stars. This book has a lot to love- crazy rich people, twists, representation of people of all colors and shapes and sizes, different POVs, etc. My biggest gripe is that you REALLY have to ignore a lot of glaring issues with how forensics and the police actually work. I am always happy to ignore some things, but this book was full of issues that made me cringe because it would absolutely never happen in real life.

You'll either love or hate it, but I'm not upset that I read it, and look forward to future books from this author.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC!

This is a fairly fast page turner, made compelling by the promise of some of my favorite tropes, like private school secrets and the behind-the-scenes glimpses of the fictional elite. But some of the tropes were a little more tired, and most importantly for me, there are some reveals that are meant to provide context to the story that were just too horrifying for the tone of this type of story.
SPOILER:
Torturing children is just too much for me.

Overall, I generally liked The Bridesmaid by Cate Quinn. It’s a mystery about a high profile wedding that has a unique murder of a bridesmaid a few days before the big wedding. Holly Stone is brought in to solve the murder and hopefully stop anymore from happening. That’s the crux of the novel.

I went in blind, having only the brief synopsis from the back of the book to guide me. I think going in blind or not will not affect your journey through this book. It’s a bit of a slow burn mystery with a lot of POV shifts that are supposed to throw you off the trail of the murder and add suspense and context to the story… the ending kinda got blurred and if you saw the twist coming… I’m sure you didn’t see the other. It’s a focus twist the uses sleight of hand to take you for a loop.

If you compare this novel to The Unwedding… the only similarities you can truly draw are a wedding is happening and lots of characters that could be the murderer. Just enjoy the book and don’t compare it to anything but itself.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for access to the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Bridesmaid was a dark, twisty read that I didn't want to put down! It sucks you in from the start and doesn't let up. The characters in this book were very well written and all of them let their true selves slip through the facade at some point and it adds layers to the characters. There was a lot of misdirection and when you start thinking you know where it's going, it veers off in another wild direction! I do wish it would have dove into the past a bit more. I feel like we got flashbacks and a bit of what happened but I was kind of waiting for a full explanation of what all went on...that aspect was a bit anticlimactic.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this Arc. I have never read anything by this author before but I definitely will in the future. Her characters drew me in. The flipping back and forth between characters was a little distracting. The entitlement was a little off putting but in general, I enjoyed the book. I really liked the twists and turns but was a little disappointed by how quickly it wrapped up at the end.

Heiress and paparazzi favorite Adrianna Kensington is getting married in an over the top three day wedding, but shortly before the festivities one of her celebrity bridesmaids is brutally murdered and posed in a macabre plateau. Forensic attorney Holly Stone is hired by Adrianna's fiancé to solve the case, and quickly. Goth girl Holly is out of place in the wedding party but must pretend to belong as she travels to the private island where the wedding is occurring to get to the bottom of crime and catch the killer. Because the Kensingtons and the bridesmaids have secrets and a public image to protect. Can Holly make it out alive?

The Bridesmaid was a fun thriller. Great character development, especially with Holly, who is multifaceted and has spent her life being the rebel goth girl. This creates great tension with the bride and her bridesmaids who all come from an uber-rich background, attending the same posh prep school. Add the beautiful scenery of the bride's family's private island and nonstop twists and turns and it makes for a great read. Four stars.

I received this advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and feedback.

Unfortunately I was unable to get into this book. I wish the author much success.
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This book's synopsis IMMEDIATELY had me hooked and I needed to read it! Thank you so much Netgalley and Sourceboks Landmark for this ARC! I had such a fun time reading this book.

Holly Stone, a forensic expert, becomes an undercover bridesmaid after one of Adrianna Kensington's is murdered. Holly works to find out who killed the bridesmaid and while doing so she realizes that it's one of Adrianna's own bridesmaids. As the exclusive society wedding looms closer, Holly begins to understand that these ladies have dark secrets underneath all their glamour.

LOVED✦ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹
• This author's writing style is one that just continuously makes you want to keep reading the book. The short chapters and cleverly placed cliffhangers make you want to keep turning the page (or pressing the page in my case).
• The book's pacing is just *chefs kiss*. I had trouble putting this book down because once one chapter ends you just want to to go to the next. This book did not feel like almost 400 pages at all which helped me fly through it.
• The way the author does her plot twists. You'd expect for the only plot twist in this book to be about who murdered the bridesmaid, but no! Cate Quinn was giving us plot twists from the beginning of the book. The amount of times I audibly gasped during this book was way too many.
NOT QUITE LOVED✦ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹
• I don't know if it was because I just needed to go to sleep or what, but the writing was also very confusing and choppy at times. I would have to re-read sentences just because I just couldn't understand who said what.

I will definitely be reading more of Cate Quinn's books from now on! I recommend this if you enjoy short but intriguing mysteries.
Thank you so much Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for accepting my request for an ARC in exchange for a review!

➷₊✧˚★★★★꒱

The Bridesmaid by Cate Quinn

Summary:
The Kensingtons invite you to the society wedding of the decade. There's just one hitch. You might not make it out alive.
When a celebrity bridesmaid is murdered weeks before an exclusive society wedding, forensic attorney Holly Stone is drafted as an unlikely undercover replacement. As she works to unpick the lives of the notoriously private Kensington family, glamour-averse Holly discovers a new worst enemy in bridezilla Adrianna. Heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune, Adrianna is set on throwing the event of the decade, and she won't let anything get in her way.
But beneath the veneer of poise and sophistication, Adrianna and her bridesmaids have secrets worth killing for.
As the wedding day gets closer, it's clear that one of the five hand-picked bridesmaids has committed murder – and a destination wedding is a perfect place to strike again. Soon, Holly finds herself on the playground of the rich and famous, but if she wants to find answers, she'll have to make it out alive.

Review: 3-Star
I love a good murder mystery, and the overall story is wonderful, but there are so many inconsistencies within the story. Also, the use of words, even at my age of 60, I had to look up the meaning of them. It’s been years since I’ve read a book that I had to look up words.
This was one of the first murder mysteries, in which I didn’t figure the murderer out before it was revealed.

Conclusion:
Would I recommend this book to others? YES
Would I buy this book for friends YES
Would I read other books by this Author YES

Cate Quinn's The Bridesmaid is a gripping psychological thriller that delves into the complexities of family secrets, trauma, and the lengths individuals will go to protect their own. Set against the backdrop of a lavish wedding on a private island, the novel masterfully intertwines suspense and character-driven drama.

Quinn's writing is both atmospheric and suspenseful, capturing the tension of the isolated island setting and the underlying currents of fear and mistrust among the characters. The alternating perspectives between Holly, Adrianna, and one of the bridesmaids provide a multifaceted view of the events, keeping readers engaged and constantly questioning allegiances.

While the novel offers a compelling narrative and well-developed characters, some readers may find the pacing uneven at times. However, the intricate plot and unexpected twists make The Bridesmaid a standout in the genre of psychological thrillers.

In conclusion, The Bridesmaid is a captivating read that combines elements of mystery, suspense, and psychological drama. Quinn delivers a story that is both entertaining and thought-provoking, making it a must-read for fans of the genre.

a group of bridesmaids unite for a wedding. each one has a secret. when one is found dead, the secrets start to unravel.

I was excited to get a NetGalley eARC for this book because it looked like an outstanding beach read.

*sigh*

I can almost always find something to like in every book I read and this one isn't without its guilty pleasures. The premise of a billionaire heiress bride-to-be and her cohort of gorgeous, well-dressed bridesmaids traipsing around a private tropical island with a potential murderer on the loose? Sign me up! Fans of celebrity scandal, couture fashion, and the lifestyles of the rich and famous will probably find enough to overlook the absolutely absurd actions of the characters and outlandish plot.

We lead with our protagonist - Holly Stone. She's a Harvard law graduate but, wait! She doesn't practice law because she found she wasn't welcomed into that enviroment as a chubby (!), tattooed, blue-haired, nose-pierced goth girl who favors skull print dresses and ripped fishnets. So no boring courtroom for her, no no! She is living her best life as a "freelance forensic consultant." This apparently entitles her to whip out her "ID" (presumably a drivers license since she isn't law enforcement) invite herself into active crime scenes, access police evidence at will and carry out elaborate field testing with the spectrometers, fingerprint kits, coveralls, UV flashlights and host of other supplies that she conveniently carries in her backpack...along with D&D dice, pentagram charms and candles because, you know, goth.

All law enforcement, scientists, forensic specialists etc. are absolute idiots - but not Holly! She can quote obscure scientific facts, solve unsolveable crimes, disguise her identity and MacGyver her way through delicate experiments with complete ease. She also grew up fatherless in an opium den, a bizarre factoid that was delivered late in the book but never expanded upon. From opium den to Harvard - seems legit. There were so many mentions of the FMC being plus-sized, curvy, chubby, big etc. that it began to feel fat-phobic. The character of Holly Stone reads like an amalgamation of popular TV characters Abby Sciuto (NCIS) and Penelope Garcia (Criminal Minds).

If you can stomach a disproportionately large helping of suspension of disbelief, maybe this book will be more fun. I spent most of it internally screaming, "that's not how that works! That's not how ANY of this works!!"

I also found it humorous that the bride, heiress to a billionaire nightclub empire, was mentioned multiple times as having a 50k dollar wedding dress. Surely this is a typo for 500k? One of the arches of twenty thousand white roses (also mentioned many times) costs more than 50k.

On the plus side, this isn't a poorly written book. Despite the implausibleness of it all, it is very readable and fast-paced. The plot (and WAY too many subplots) and inevitable twists make about as much sense as you would expect. I think if you sort of know not to take it too seriously, it is an adequate beach read. Definitely not my cup of tea. 2.5 stars rounded down.

Many thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for allowing me to read an e- ARC of this book in exange for my honest opinion.

I feel like this story has been told so many times before… death before a big fancy wedding, who dunnit? This had some interesting nuances but overall it was just another of the same story.

Wow what a wild ride this book was!

Let’s start off with all the things I enjoyed about The Bridesmaid. The chapters were super short which made the book engaging and kept the plot moving along. I liked the different POVs of each chapter, I think it made the twists at the end even better. The main character Holly was interesting and fun to read about.

I was able to predict the ending which was sort of a bummer, when I’m reading a thriller I want to be more surprised. There were so many moments where you had to suspend disbelief about the cops and the choices they were making.

Overall it was a fun read and I’d recommend to someone who enjoys thrillers.

Yes!! This was a fabulously fun and interesting read! The storyline was incredibly well done and kept me guessing up until the big reveal. The characters were well drawn and some pretty intense. Overall a heck of a who done it with forensics thrown in for good measure. Looking forward to Cate Quinn's next one Highly recommend

The Bridesmaid by Cate Quinn is a gripping psychological thriller that effortlessly blends secrets, suspense, and razor-sharp characterization into one unforgettable read. From the very first chapter, I was hooked. Quinn’s writing is taut and atmospheric, drawing readers into the dark undercurrents beneath what appears to be a typical wedding celebration.

The story follows a group of women reuniting for a destination wedding—each bridesmaid carrying her own buried secrets. When one of them is found dead, the layers begin to peel away, revealing a tangled web of betrayal, trauma, and mistrust. The narrative shifts between timelines and perspectives, heightening the suspense and making it nearly impossible to put the book down.

Cate Quinn does an excellent job of building complex, flawed female characters who feel incredibly real. Their friendships—often fraught and fragile—add emotional depth and psychological nuance to the mystery. Every reveal is well-timed, and just when you think you've figured it all out, Quinn delivers another jaw-dropping twist.

I requested this book based on the cover!

It was a great book and very well written and was great for keeping you engaged!

The character build was great and overall great thriller!!

Would def recommend!
Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

This book was fabulous, keeping me guessing from the very first page. I tried so hard to pay attention to the evidence as it piled up, the way the women interacted with each other, and what each new POV change revealed, but it didn’t matter. I was NOT prepared for the reveal, and I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time. I loved the lush, tropical setting once they arrived on Elysium, all of Holly’s quirks, and the emphasis on forensics that really made me feel like I was working the case right alongside her and Fitzwilliam.