Decent writing and surprisingly engaging. ( )

Bingeable fun Romcom about an owner of a discreet paid bridesmaid business where she finds herself as the maid of honor to what might make or break her reputation forever.

She has a NDA that she insists upon to keep the brides secret safe that they aren’t actually friends, and she has a rule for her employees to never date wedding guests. When the bride plays matchmaker to her and the best man, sexual tension radiates.

If you enjoy forbidden love tropes that are fun. You will enjoy this also.

3.5 stars only due to the story was very similar to something I previously read.

Thank you NetGalley for the gifted copy for my honest review. ( )

Kindle

My first thought when I checked this out was that the author had read Jen Glantz's memoir "Always A Bridesmaid (For Hire)", and made a fictionalized version. She did not; or if she did, she did a terrible job. Skip this and go read Jen Glantz's memoir instead. It's better-written, far more engaging, more realistic, and actually funny.
This was BORING. It's Insta-love: a novel. She falls in love within a -week-? Eugh. None of these characters act like adults. They are middle schoolers in adults' bodies, complete with hosting a smores campfire with everyone's own tent on the beach. That can be done by adults, which is fine. But here, it came off as painfully middle school. I'm glad the book was so boring; otherwise the smores campout would have been creepy. And the truth or dare game? Adults do that, too, sure, but again, here it's middle school all the way. Complete with being dared to kiss in a closet. Seven minutes in heaven, this is not. I cringed. Rachel claims to be Sadie's friend by the end of the book, but the friendship nor Sadie as a character develops. I liked Krista and wished she'd be more than just a side character cheering for Rachel to nail Camden. It was her sole focus in the book and creeped me out.

Ninety percent of this book is Rachel going, "I wanna nail Camden!" To borrow a phrase from Jenny Trout's "50 Shades of Grey" recaps, "This comes off as a middle schooler with an embarrassing crush. I like you, but I don't -like- you, so I'm going to draw your name in my notebook while thinking mean things about you." This is in the recaps of the first novel and is somewhere before the recap of chapter nine iirc. No plagiarism is intended. Back to this slog of boring-ness. Anyway, Rachel quickly stops drawing Camden's name in her notebook while thinking mean thoughts (hahaha), and skips right to "I wanna nail him." Her mother is equally obsessed because she thinks it'll result in grandchildren. She's overbearing, and....becomes a special ed teacher at the end of the book, which cures her baby rabies. You know, author, you could have had the mom -start out- in the book as a retired special ed teacher, or one who was contemplating retirement and realizes she wants to go back to work, or volunteers with little kids, but NO WE CAN'T HAVE THAT SHE MUST BE OVERBEARING AND FLAT. Give the side characters LIVES, author! Don't have them just surround the MC!

Rachel and Camden don't kiss until seventy pages from the end in the edition I was reading. The book then proceeds with breakneck speed. If the author was trying to drag out the attempted UST, she did one of the worst jobs I've ever seen. Camden's just a little too perfect. I grew annoyed by this, and annoyed at myself about it. So, I get the "no hookups or drinking on business." Totally fine. I am fine with the -concepts- of some of the stuff in this book, it was just poorly executed. But others can make their own decisions! And why no groomsmen hooking up with bridesmaids? As long as it doesn't interfere with stuff, let people live a little.

Lilith IRL is from Jewish mythology and one of the most misunderstood women to ever exist. She was Adam's first wife. She didn't like the missionary position. Adam was enraged. To save her own life, Lilith fled to the woods and the wilderness, where she gives birth to hundreds of demons a day. They often wear humans' clothes out. If humans could see them, humans would go insane because there's so many and their images are beyond comprehension. Lilith kidnaps and strangles babies, and causes miscarriages and deaths of infants. If you hear your baby giggling in an empty room, please panic. She's there and likely tickling your baby's feet. I am a firm supporter of Lilith and distraught that she was erased from religions were Adam and Eve exist. She's alive in Judaism, but you have to ask. Eve is Adam's second wife, made from Adam's ribcage. She is touted as Adam's first and only wife and I hate the trope of "the wife with which I have a happy marriage completely erases the existence of my original wife."
There's a character named Lilith in this book, I grimly report. The author has Rachel ask, "isn't she a character from mythology?" SAY JEWISH MYTHOLOGY, YOU TERRIBLE PERSON. YOU CLEARLY KNOW WHO SHE IS. SAAAAY JEWISH. Lilith shows up at the wedding to scream at the groom, Dan (because Adam would be a little too close), that she still wants children with him and bellows and makes a fool of herself. She's described as tiny with dark hair. AUTHOR, YOU SUCK. YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO SHAME. THIS IS INACCURATE AND I HATE IT. It did nothing for the plot, nothing for anyone's barely-there characterization, and was just an excuse to make fun of someone in the author's life probably.

Speaking of making fun, the bride's (?) stepfather remarried to a woman who's waaaaay younger than him. Multiple pages are spent ripping on the young stepmother, who's hinted to be younger than the bride. Over and over again, it's about -her- being so young and so negative, rather than the -stepfather- being creepy for marrying someone younger than his own daughter. "She drives a Honda." "Are you sure it's not a high-top shoe?" "Can she drive?" "Isn't she out past her bedtime?" To quote Smosh's older videos, back when I still watched them: "SHUT. UP!" WHYYYY is she in here? The author dumps negative caricatures of women in here without explaining why they're in the novel. I wasn't attached to anyone. I wanted the author and the main character to fucking shut up and move on with their lives.

The epilogue is rushed. There's no sense that anything was earned in terms of characters' successes, especially professional ones. Seriously, their careers skyrocket and they're both home every night at seven pm? The author thinks I am stupid. Baby Makes Three as a trope is often poorly done. It is here, too. Again, skip it and go read Jen Glantz's memoir. ( )

Light, delicious, sweet, and goes down easy - a description of this book as well as of a piece of wedding cake. But like wedding cake, it can become too much of a good thing. I thought it would be fun to read a light rom-com, and it was...to a point. I liked the characters and the set-up - Rachel has a successful business where she is paid to be the maid of honor and also provides bridesmaids for hire. Her duties include taking care of all those wedding details that a wedding planner could handle and more: an alcoholic mother, a jealous lover from the groom's past, hostile divorced parents, rain at an outdoor wedding, an allergic reaction, lots of drinking plus drama, drama, drama.

Because Rachel has a self-imposed rule that she doesn't date anyone she meets at these weddings, she has to ignore her attraction to best man Camden. She can't tell anyone (including Camden) that she's being paid to be bride-to-be Sadie's BFF. And Camden is also exceedingly attracted to Rachel. I have never read more descriptions of someone being so passionate, lovesick, and ardently amorous yet unable to act on her feelings. Pages and pages of wanting to kiss but being unable to because of her rule.

So to sum it up, if you're in the mood for a a week-long tropical wedding get-away rom-com with typical wedding drama and a happily-ever-after, this is the book for you. ( )