Publisher: St Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Heat rating: 🔥
# of pages: 400
My rating: 4.5 stars
Acquired this book: From the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for honest consideration
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Sophie Breeze is a brilliant bridesmaid. So brilliant, in fact, that she’s made it her full-time job.
As a professional bridesmaid, Sophie is hired by London brides to be their right-hand woman, posing as a friend but working behind the scenes to help plan the perfect wedding and ensure their big day goes off without a hitch. When she’s hired by Lady Victoria Swann–a former model and “It Girl" of 1970’s London; now the Marchioness of Meade–for the society wedding of the year, it should be a chance for Sophie to prove just how talented she is.
Of course, it’s not ideal that the bride, Lady Victoria’s daughter, Cordelia, is an absolute diva and determined to make Sophie’s life a nightmare. It’s also a bit inconvenient that Sophie finds herself drawn to Cordelia’s posh older brother, who is absolutely off limits. But when a rival society wedding is announced for the very same day, things start to get…well, complicated.
Can Sophie pull off the biggest challenge of her career–execute a high-profile gala for four hundred and fifty guests in record time, win over a reluctant bride, and catch the eye of handsome Lord Swann–all while keeping her true identity a secret, and her dignity intact?
Sophie Breeze is a professional bridesmaid. She’s there for a bride leading up to and during her big day for whatever she needs, big or small. And when she’s tasked with being a bridesmaid to Lady Cordelia Swann, a seemingly spoiled, ill-tempered, snobby aristocrat--who Sophie admired in her teen years, no less--she’s determined not to let Cordelia get the best of her. Not only is she faced with outrageous demands from Cordelia, but she also has other brides to attend to (many with their own strange requests), deal with other people’s expectations and assumptions about her (in particular her jerk of an ex), and manage her growing feelings for Cordelia’s sweet and charming brother, Tom.
The Secret Bridesmaid was hilarious. I smiled and giggled my way through this book, sometimes even laughing until I had tears in my eyes. I shed some actual, emotional tears too because there were some genuinely heartwarming and beautiful moments. The concept of this book was so much fun and it was executed so well. I loved watching the progression of Sophie and Cordelia’s relationship, and I enjoyed Sophie’s relationship with her cousin/best friend, Cara. It was also fun getting to see some of the things Sophie did for other bridesmaids, and the correspondences between chapters had me laughing myself silly. I do wish there’d been a bit more focus on the romance - it is a romantic comedy, after all - but the book was just so good, I can’t even really complain that it took a bit of a backseat.
The Secret Bridesmaid is highly entertaining, laugh-out-loud funny, and touching. It was an absolute delight to read from beginning to end, and is without question one of my favourite books of 2021 so far. I’d love to see it turned into a movie or even a mini-series.
