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A review by beautifullybookishbethany
Always a Bridesmaid by Cindi Madsen
2.0
This is a case of several things not really working for me, that might work fine for other people. Always a Bridesmaid is a contemporary romance set in a small town in the American South. Violet has always loved weddings, but after she discovered her long time boyfriend cheating on her she has sworn off men and is staying with her sister who runs a bakery. On the day of her ex's wedding to the other woman, she accidentally starts a fire in the bakery and meets Ford when he comes to rescue. Ford is scared of love and commitment because of his family background, but sparks fly between him and Violet.
A lot of things in this book are very subjective in terms of enjoyment. For one, the humor. There's a lot of banter between the main couple, and within the friend group. Some of it was funny to me, a lot of it edged too close to cruder humor that I don't enjoy. The friend group is also very comfortable with PDA among couples and talk of their sex lives in group settings. I'm not so comfortable with that. The heroine is constantly worried about her weight and what she's eating, thinking she needs to lose weight to be attractive. It gets linked to issues with her ex eventually, but it felt like too much for me. There's a scene where the couple goes four-wheeling and things get sexy after they fall off into a muddy bog. I couldn't stop thinking about kissing and getting mud in your mouth or other places, and it just...didn't work for me. The hero also says some pretty horrible things to the heroine near the end after promising the consistency she never had growing up. He does apologize and does a grand gesture, but for me it wouldn't have been enough to gain back trust.
Like I said, your response to all of these things is going to be really subjective. I wasn't a fan, but I could see others really enjoying the book. There are cute rescue puppies in training and a wonderfully quirky grandmother! I also liked that the heroine has ADHD and that is substantively addressed. I received a copy for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
A lot of things in this book are very subjective in terms of enjoyment. For one, the humor. There's a lot of banter between the main couple, and within the friend group. Some of it was funny to me, a lot of it edged too close to cruder humor that I don't enjoy. The friend group is also very comfortable with PDA among couples and talk of their sex lives in group settings. I'm not so comfortable with that. The heroine is constantly worried about her weight and what she's eating, thinking she needs to lose weight to be attractive. It gets linked to issues with her ex eventually, but it felt like too much for me. There's a scene where the couple goes four-wheeling and things get sexy after they fall off into a muddy bog. I couldn't stop thinking about kissing and getting mud in your mouth or other places, and it just...didn't work for me. The hero also says some pretty horrible things to the heroine near the end after promising the consistency she never had growing up. He does apologize and does a grand gesture, but for me it wouldn't have been enough to gain back trust.
Like I said, your response to all of these things is going to be really subjective. I wasn't a fan, but I could see others really enjoying the book. There are cute rescue puppies in training and a wonderfully quirky grandmother! I also liked that the heroine has ADHD and that is substantively addressed. I received a copy for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.