I’m delighted to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for hilarious and uplifting novel The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall. Thank you to Jenny Platt and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me the opportunity to read and review this lovely book.
About the book:
You are cordially invited to the wedding of the year . . .
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 brides to be their right-hand woman, posing as a friend but working behind the scenes to ensure their big day goes off without a hitch. From wrangling rowdy hen dos to navigating last minute portaloo cancellations and family dramas, there’s no problem she can’t solve.
So when she’s hired by an actual Marchioness to help plan 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, Cordelia Swann, 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. And when a rival society wedding is announced, things start to get rather complicated…
Can Sophie pull off the biggest challenge of her career, 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?
Heart-warming and hilarious, The Secret Bridesmaid celebrates the joys (and foibles) of weddings, the nuances of female friendship, and the redeeming power of love in its many, unexpected forms.
About the author:
Katy Birchall is the author of several young adult novels including The It Girl series, the Hotel Royale series and Morgan Charmley: Teen Witch. She is the co-author of the middle grade Lightning Girl series and Star Switch with Alesha Dixon, and the Find the Girl teen series with YouTube stars Lucy and Lydia Connell. Katy was proud to be the author of a retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma for the Awesomely Austen series, a collection of Austen’s novels retold for younger readers. She has also written a non-fiction book, How to be a Princess: Real-Life Fairy Tales for Modern Heroines. The Secret Bridesmaid is her first adult novel.
My Review:
Oh my goodness, what a lovely, heartwarming and uplifting read The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall is. Laugh out loud funny it is pure escapism at its very best and I loved it! Although very much a romantic comedy at its heart, this is a book with a depth of emotion that moved me almost to tears on occasion. With larger than life characters that touched my heart, once started I did not want to put this lovely book down.
Beautifully written by Katy Birchall, it tells the story of Sophie Breeze who is the secret bridesmaid of the title. Hired to be the right hand woman of the bride, it is Sophie’s job to ensure the big day goes off without a hitch, something she is brilliant at. But when she’s hired by an actual Marchioness to help plan the society wedding of the year, things don’t go exactly as planned. Will Sophie be able to pull off the biggest challenge of her career? Or will her growing attraction to a strictly off limit guest prove to be a step too far?
With spot on characterisation and a storyline that keeps you engaged throughout, The Secret Bridesmaid is a lovely feel good read that not only focuses on the story of the main wedding, but also the stories of the other brides who Sophie helps. I loved Sophie and the hard work she put in to making each bride’s dreams come true, inhaling each tale without even drawing breath as I found myself completely invested in their lives.
The Secret Bridesmaid had me crying with laughter one moment and then almost in tears the next, taking me on a glorious rollercoaster of a journey that I did not want to end. A fantastic book that I loved, this is an hilariously uplifting read that would make for the perfect summer read.
Highly recommended.
The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall is available to purchase now.
Check out what these other fabulous bloggers have to say about this book:
Cal Turner Reviews 