Romance, drama, sisters, mother-daughter relationships, weddings, divorce, and a quest for love and acceptance.

3.5

"Daughters of the bride" is the story of the three sisters Courtney, Rachel and Sienna who are planning their mothers second wedding. Courtney feels like the loser in the family because she dropped out of high school but her family doesn't know that she is studying now. Rachel is living with her son and divorced from her husband but doesn't seem able to forget her ex her Greg. Sienna has been enganged several times and also her current boyfriend wants to get married.

I found the story of the three different women quite interesting and I felt entertained following their story. With Rachel I felt the biggest connection and she was the most likeable character to me. Courtney was also nice but I couldn't really connect with her and sometimes I couldn't understand her feelings and her way of acting. Sienna was the most distant character to me and I didn't like her behaviour several times.

The ending was really nice and it was the perfect solution for all the women.

This is a bonus book. It is 4 marvelous stories within one book. The characters all have their own stories to tell yet their stories intertwine perfectly. Each character has the same history of a mother left by the death of their father to raise the sisters on her own. There is no money and very little time for extra attention. Yet, each sister reacts in their own way. Their reactions vary from fear of commitment, to the need of control, or to the need to keep everything a secret to prove to everyone they are worthy.
While the sisters keep their struggles to themselves, not being willing to share the shame of struggling with anyone else. These sisters each are close, best friends, and want to reach out to each other. I wanted them to help each other. They deserved to be happy and successful. The theme of the story is being brave. Each sister needs to be brave to find their happy ever after.
The 4th story is of the mother’s wedding. Weddings will either tear a family apart with stress or pull them together to make it amazing. I was thrilled as I could feel this family come together to give their mother the wedding she always dreamed of. The stresses, the choices, and the fun in planning the wedding were portrayed perfectly.
The setting of the hotel was amazing. I could see the ballroom, picture the small room Courtney stayed in, and feel the friendships built within its walls. I chuckled at the misadventures that happen within the hotel, smiled at the love found, and worried about the secrets that were held.

Why this took me so long to get to I'll never know, but am I ever glad that I finally made the time to catch up on this book for review. Instead of a full length review, I'm just making a list of five things I loved about the book.

1) Fantastic characters!
In the first third of the book I already knew that adored Courtney and that her storyline would be one I would be cheering for from the start. BUT, Rachel was the character that struck me the hardest. In actuality, it was the things her ex husband says to her about how she always has to be in control, be the one to do everything so she could be the martyr... that got me and I realized I AM RACHEL! GAH! (Not the single mother part, but the needing to control things so they are done right my way - EEP!) So overall, the characters are very relatable and the sisters were true sisters in the sense that they bickered, they hard each others backs and more.

2) Feel the Love
This book had so many relationship statuses in it - widowed, divorced, broken engagements, second chances, head over heels. So much love! I enjoyed the idea that all four women (mother and daughters) find love but all in different ways. I think Rachel's build up to finding love again was my favourite because she was so closed off to letting it in again after her divorce. Come find out who gets their HEA!

3) Bridezilla
Imagine being the wedding planner and dealing with a bridezilla, but then add to that the fact that the bride is your mother! This made for a fun aspect of the story. Maggie didn't get the wedding of her dreams the first time around and this time she wants it ALL - from pink everything to swans and from cake pops to pom pom confetti. Her ideas are a mixed bag of everything anyone could dream up but all mixed into one wedding. The sisters handle it with class and style, trying to give their mother the wedding she deserves.

4) The setting - hotel in a seaside community
The main setting of the story is set in Los Lobos, California and mainly at a hotel. I loved the backdrop of this cozy little town and this adorable hotel. It sounds charming and the perfect setting for a wedding and for love to blossom. Much of Courtney's storyline is set at the hotel since she lives and works there, but also many scenes leading up to her mother's wedding take place there. Everyone seems to know everyone else in the community and I always love books that have enough character overlap between books that you'll remember a character from a previous companion novel and have a little flash to their story in your mind.

5) Realizations!
This was a book filled with realizations. From figuring out that you've pushed love away from the wrong reasons to finally letting yourself see that what was always right there in front of you. Each character in the book grows in such amazing ways including the three main characters, their Mom, a few of the men in their lives, and even the hotel owner. These are fun to read about and help you cheer for your favourite characters.

I'm actually really glad that I listened to the audiobook version of this to catch up on reviewing in. The narrator was brilliant and caught the personalities of each sister perfectly.

A sweet mother and daughters story by Susan Mallory. I enjoyed reading this book. And seeing the family drama. I love these kinds of stories where we get to see how people handle what life throws at them.

Three sisters are hiding things from themselves and each other as they prepare to help thei mother get ready for her second wedding. Susan Mallery at her best. ARC from NetGalley.

I’m really glad to have chosen this particular book as my first Susan Mallery read.

In one word, this was a DELIGHT! I enjoyed it immensely, from the characters (and there are many!) through the dialogue and onward to humor, shedding a tear or two along the way.

This heartwarming story can teach all of us about family ties and what they really mean. It also perfectly takes you through some very emotional situations that require forgiveness and unconditional love, without it being too “preachy”.

If you want to be entertained and taken on a rollercoaster of emotions, this is the book for you!

Melanie for b2b

While it definitely has a fair bit of romance to it, the strength of this book is the really well developed main characters. Multi voice novels can be difficult, but in Daughters of the Bride, each of the three sisters is given a chance to really shine. Courtney is young and coming into her own, Sienna is polished, poised, and completely in control of everything but her own relationship, and Rachel, while being a typical stressed, tired mother, is finding her way back to herself. Their relationships with men and each other are very different, but all are entertaining.

DNF. Sorry! I tried, but I couldn't connect with the characters.