Bad Luck Bridesmaid

Rampant Misandry Mars Otherwise Interesting And Compelling Debut. Up front: If you're looking at this as a potential romance book... it isn't that. It is more of a women's fiction book, with an interesting take on the genre and in particular the well-travelled bridesmaid trope. My biggest problem here is the truly rampant misandry - the main character here is constantly being so utterly bigoted towards men, to the level that if even a female author had flipped this and done the same thing with a male character towards females, every single review would lead off with how misogynistic the character was. Which is my own standard for bigotry: ok for me, but not for thee. If you can flip the demographics from the targeted to the targetter without issue, awesome. But if you would have a problem if that happened... then there is a problem, period. But again, fun and unconventional story outside of the blatant and rampant misandry, and thus one that truly is worthy of consideration. Just, again, do NOT go into this expecting a romance. More of a train wreck, really. Just a particularly entertaining one. Recommended.

In Bad Luck Bridesmaid Zoey has been a bridesmaid three times, but they all ended with no wedding happening. That combined with her general hesitance about forever love, she can't get herself to say yes when the boyfriend she loves asks her to marry him. When her best friend chooses her to be her maid of honor for her wedding, Zoey decides that making sure that wedding happens will prove to Rylan and herself that she's ready for getting married.

I found this to be a very funny book that I had a hard time putting down. You should make sure to approach this as a women's fiction rather than a romance, though it definitely has romance in it. With lots of wit, sass and shenanigans, this was a delightful read.

When I say I related to the main character, I mean I RELATED to the main character. I also had a lot of fears around getting married, and it took me A LOT of looking internally to be able to even talk about the possibility of getting married. But I possibly related too much. Because I wanted her to resolve issues the same way as I did. It grated me that she wouldn't just talk openly with her boyfriend about her worries, or try to find any compromises. I also didn't like that the boyfriend was not willing to bend at all. For people who loved each other so much, it was frustrating to see that they weren't willing to work together. I was worried in the middle, but I think the story by the end wraps up very well, it feels authentic and strong. Until we get there, she does stumble a lot and makes a lot of bad decisions.

I loved the tone and language of the book. The storytelling, the humor, it was great. I got immediately sucked into the story. Even just the way the story was told felt unique and engaging. The main character, Zoey, is one of the main reasons for such great delivery. She's strong, smart, successful, sassy. She's also flawed. She feels a unique and real character, a Jewish woman, who doesn't want to get married, but loves romcoms, a fierce friend and a badass at business too.

I really liked the emphasis on friendships. Zoey has a lot of strong women in her life who are there for her, and I love her relationships with them.

Onto parts I didn't like,
I didn't like the way the main character kept referring to herself as a “complicated woman”, just like “not like other women” sets this idea that there are these generic, basic women, instead of celebrating everyone's complexity. Like “generic women” is something positive/negative that you gotta separate from.

I alluded to this, but in the middle Zoey gets a little selfish, unreasonable, and obsessed. I do wish the book had avoided that. This is the point where I really slowed down reading because I was so worried about which direction it was gonna go in. I can easily say it does go in the right direction and I found the ending very satisfying, but I had a lot of doubts.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book for its voice, storytelling and its main character. I loved that the main character was someone that I could so easily relate to with her fears around getting married. I found the book to be very funny, and I highlighted SO MUCH! Would recommend to any fans of the women's fiction.

Thank you to St Martins Griffin and Netgalley for the opportunity to give my honest review for this eARC.