Author : Sara Goodman Confino
Published on : August 1, 2021
Publisher : Lake Union Publishing
Genre : Fiction, Adult Contemporary

Lily Weiss is her mother’s worst nightmare: thirty-two and single—the horror! She’s also a talented writer but hides behind a boring job at a science foundation. To her friends, she’s reliable and selfless, which is how she winds up a bridesmaid in five weddings in six weeks. Anything for her three best friends and two (younger) siblings, right? Even if her own love life is…well, she’d rather not talk about it. To keep her sanity, Lily needs a safe place to vent.

And so her anonymous blog, Bridesmania, is born. The posts start pouring out of her: all the feels about mom-zillas, her vanishing bank balance, the wicked bridesmaids of the west, high-strung brides-to-be, body-shaming dress clerks, bachelorette parties, and Spanx for days, not to mention being deemed guardian of eighty-eight-year-old Granny (who enjoys morning mimosas in the nude) for her brother’s destination wedding.

So far the blog has stayed anonymous. But as everyone knows, few things online remain secret forever…

When all is said and done, can Lily help all five couples make it to happily ever after? And will her own happy ending be close behind?

trigger warning: body shaming, single shaming

We have Lily, a single woman in her thirties, who ends up a bridesmaid in five different weddings that are all happening over a six-week period. It’s a lot for her to handle and she can’t really say no. She suddenly feels left out and all the wedding dramas are not really helping her and her bank account. So she starts an anonymous blog she called Bridesmania where she rants and vents about her bridemaid experiences.

Lily is a very complex character. I liked that she’s witty, sarcastic, and funny. But there were also a lot of things that I hated about her. Like how she treats her little sister who is also one of the brides, and her future sister-in-law. I also didn’t like the way she trashes her friends, family, and other people on her blog. Sure they are horrible and exasperating but she’s not really any better than them. I could relate to her when she can’t say no to her friends because I’m also like that. But I wouldn’t let them dye my hair blonde because my dark hair will not stand out in their wedding pictures. Also, how naive is she to believe that no one will ever find out about her blog? Online for everyone to access and read? The characters that I genuinely liked were Lily’s grandmother, her father, and the love interest. The majority of the characters are just mean.

I thought the writing is very engaging. This book is really heavy on body shaming which got quite difficult to read at times. There were also some scenes that made me furious. I really liked the chemistry between Lily and the love interest. I enjoyed their slow-burn romance and their moments together so it’s a shame that we didn’t really get a lot of it. I was okay with the predictability of the story and the redemption arc, but there were some issues that felt unresolved for me.

This wasn’t a light read in my opinion but it’s a quick and entertaining read nonetheless.

My Rating : ★★★☆☆
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