Book Review: The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall - The Bashful Bookworm (2024)

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

Four Weddings and a Funeral meets The Wedding Party in Katy Birchall's The Wedding Season: when a recently jilted bride is forced to attend seven weddings in one summer, her friends devise a series of challenges as distraction.

Freya Scott is getting married. Her wedding to Matthew, her long-term boyfriend, is the first of eight in her calendar this year, and as someone who prides herself on being meticulously organized, Freya is intent on making it the perfect day to remember.

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Wedding Season (The Carolina Girls #3)

But when Matthew calls things off hours before they walk down the aisle, Freya’s entire life plan goes up in smoke. Humiliated and heartbroken, the last thing she wants is to attend a summer of other peoples’ nuptials on her own.

Fortunately, her friends have an idea: together they devise a series of outrageous challenges for Freya to complete at each event, designed to distract her from Matthew and what might have been. From getting stuck in an old church bathroom and needing to be rescued by the vicar to making out with a barman at a French chateau, Freya realizes that despite herself, she might just be having fun.

By the time the final wedding arrives, she will discover that the road to a happy ending sometimes has unexpected detours, that “I do” is only the beginning––and that perhaps her own love story isn’t over just yet.

The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall is a delightful story about forgiveness, personal growth, friendships, and love. I’ll be honest, I enjoyed this much more than I expected. From the blurb, I expected a light and a bit of a silly story, but instead, it was thoughtful, emotional, and charming.

Freya Scott is about to get married, she has planned her wedding to perfection and can’t wait to start the Wedding Season with a bang. She calls it the wedding season because she had 9 weddings to attend between March and September of this year, including her own wedding which will start the season off.

When Freya’s fiance calls off the wedding just hours before she’s supposed to go down the aisle, Freya is stunned, humiliated, and hurt. The last thing she wants to do is go to 8 other weddings this summer, without her partner. Her best friends decide to give her some outrageous tasks for each wedding in order to distract her from her worries. Never one to say no to a challenge, Freya accepts the challenges of the weddings and finds herself in some interesting predicaments.

I adored the friendships the most. Freya has Leo and Ruby as her closest friends, and they have known each other for several years. Leo and Ruby are adorable, and they know Freya inside and out. They are the ones who suggest the crazy tasks as they know she must come out of her shell a bit and enjoy life. Freya also has other friends, who she meets up with and they are just as wonderful as her closest friends.

The humor in this book was excellent. I thought after reading the blurb it might be over the top and silly, but it wasn’t. It’s just the right amount, and realistic too. The banter between Freya and her friends and Freya and Jamie was wonderful. I feel like it would be easy to be part of this friend group.

I highly recommend The Wedding Season to anyone who loves books about friends. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

UK Cover:

Which Cover do you prefer? I prefer the US cover for this book.