Sharon’s review ~ For the Love of Friends by Sara Goodman Confino

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

For the Love of Friends by Sara Goodman Confino
Published by Amazon Publishing on June 8, 2021
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Fiction / Women
Pages: 364
Format: eBook, Kindle Unlimited, Paperback
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A sharp and hilariously relatable novel about the business of weddings, the toll they can take, and the lengths one exasperated bridesmaid will go to for the love of friends.

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?

Sometimes you pick up a book not knowing what to expect and you find one of the funniest, most engaging books you’ve read in a long time and that’s exactly what I got with For The Love of Friends by Sara Goodman Confino. ~ Sharon – Simply Love Books

 

Sometimes you pick up a book not knowing what to expect and you find one of the funniest, most engaging books you’ve read in a long time and that’s exactly what I got with For The Love of Friends by Sara Goodman Confino. While the heroine does fall in love during this book, this isn’t a typical romance not by a long shot, yet it was a brilliant one.  This was one woman’s journey, a 32 year old single woman stuck in a somewhat dead in job (by choice), living with a roommate (because the DC area is expensive), and mostly not dating (a lot of soul searching led to that decision), all while trying to navigate being in 5 weddings (3 friends, 2 siblings) in a six week time. I’ll put it out there right now, Lily was not perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination, but I do believe for the most part she was a good person. She made a lot of mistakes in this book for which she pays dearly, but her journey, her self-reflection, and the lessons she learned along the way were priceless.

I absolutely LOVED this author’s voice, her humor, and her ability to weave a story that I not only laughed out loud at often, but felt so many emotions as well. It has been a very long time since an author impressed me on so many levels and finding there is another book after this one was the highlight of my week.

Lily’s life changes rapidly as she gets asked to be maid of honor or a bridesmaid 5 times over a short period of time including for her younger by 5 years brother and her younger by 8 years sister. The fact she wakes up in a hotel bed after getting a call from her younger sister about her engagement while at the engagement party of her childhood best friend just adds more fuel to the dumpster fire of her life at the moment and alcohol was apparently not her friend. Not even wanting to know who she was in bed with, she sneaks out and asks the bride to not even tell her because it will just make things more awkward. As she attends dress shopping, shower and party planning, and more she begins to think that weddings make everyone lose their minds and begins blogging about her experiences hoping to make a bit of money to help offset the expenses of being in 5 weddings including one destination wedding. Her blog is where Lily really shines and yes she is snarky as hell, but it is just her expressing her frustrations and the audacity of some of the “requests” of the bride, or the bridal party, or the mother of the bride. Through it all she runs in to one of the groomsman of her childhood best friend’s fiancé and they form a friendship that helps her get through the craziness that her life has become.

I loved the friendship between Lily and Alex, at first it was kind of awkward (there was a reason) and snarky (they both are great at the snark), but it slowly developed into mutual admiration, a comfortable be as you are friendship they both so desperately needed.  There wasn’t any s*x scenes but this book didn’t need them, I loved the way they slowly got to know each other, the way you could feel the longing on both sides but for reasons they didn’t cross that line, the fallout when Lily’s blog is discovered, and the way they find their way back to each other. Every moment was carefully crafted and I was happy to be along for the ride as they fell in love.

For The Love of Friends was a well crafted love story of a woman not only finding the person she’s meant to be with, but finding the person she is meant to be along the way. I LOVED this story and I cannot wait to read the next book.