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A review by lololovesthings
Sister of the Bride by Lauren Morrill
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
3 stars.
"Sister of the Bride" by Lauren Morrill is a mixed bag for me. Despite this being billed as a romance, I'd say that what works best for this story is the exploration of the changing relationship between the main character, Pippin, and her twin sister Polly (vomitously nicknamed Pepperoni and Pizza... seriously, this made me roll my eyes soooo much whenever it was used in earnest). Polly is about to get married to the love of her life, Mackenzie, after returning home from London, and Pippin cannot deal. She's shocked that Polly is ready to tie the knot after only six months of dating Mackenzie. Pippin's life is also in a freefall for a myriad of other reasons. She recently found out that her mom and grandma are set to sell the building that houses both their home and their family's Italian restaurant, which she takes as a personal affront to the memory of her father, who died at the age of 51. Pippin is a total control freak, and I found it difficult to connect with her because she gets upset about every little thing! Sweat the big stuff, sure, but there's so much that she freaks out about for no reason without thinking rationally! She really needed to slow her roll! At least Mackenzie's mom attempted to put her in check about her privilege. As far as the romance goes, I just didn't feel any sort of connection between Pippin and Toby until the 70-ish% range of the book. I usually adore the friends-to-lovers trope, but this story didn't do it for me in that aspect. Honestly? I thought Toby and Pippin worked better as friends. They needed to have A LOT more open communication, in my opinion. Still, their banter is good regardless of their relationship status. The pacing is so, so off that I found it challenging to keep reading this story. Some might consider this a slow burn, but I just consider this slow. I think with some editing and tweaks, this could be an amazing book. (PS: I know we're not supposed to judge too harshly since this ARC is an uncorrected proof, but I've never read a story with quite so many spelling and grammatical errors before, and it took me out of the story trying to get what words were actually supposed to be on the page)
Thank you to NetGalley, Lauren Morrill, and Yellow House Media for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.
"Sister of the Bride" by Lauren Morrill is a mixed bag for me. Despite this being billed as a romance, I'd say that what works best for this story is the exploration of the changing relationship between the main character, Pippin, and her twin sister Polly (vomitously nicknamed Pepperoni and Pizza... seriously, this made me roll my eyes soooo much whenever it was used in earnest). Polly is about to get married to the love of her life, Mackenzie, after returning home from London, and Pippin cannot deal. She's shocked that Polly is ready to tie the knot after only six months of dating Mackenzie. Pippin's life is also in a freefall for a myriad of other reasons. She recently found out that her mom and grandma are set to sell the building that houses both their home and their family's Italian restaurant, which she takes as a personal affront to the memory of her father, who died at the age of 51. Pippin is a total control freak, and I found it difficult to connect with her because she gets upset about every little thing! Sweat the big stuff, sure, but there's so much that she freaks out about for no reason without thinking rationally! She really needed to slow her roll! At least Mackenzie's mom attempted to put her in check about her privilege. As far as the romance goes, I just didn't feel any sort of connection between Pippin and Toby until the 70-ish% range of the book. I usually adore the friends-to-lovers trope, but this story didn't do it for me in that aspect. Honestly? I thought Toby and Pippin worked better as friends. They needed to have A LOT more open communication, in my opinion. Still, their banter is good regardless of their relationship status. The pacing is so, so off that I found it challenging to keep reading this story. Some might consider this a slow burn, but I just consider this slow. I think with some editing and tweaks, this could be an amazing book. (PS: I know we're not supposed to judge too harshly since this ARC is an uncorrected proof, but I've never read a story with quite so many spelling and grammatical errors before, and it took me out of the story trying to get what words were actually supposed to be on the page)
Thank you to NetGalley, Lauren Morrill, and Yellow House Media for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.