Tiny McAllister is getting married. When she came out to her conservative Connecticut family, she never thought there would be a place for her to be able to get married. But Tiny and her fiancé, Caroline, are on their way to Bermuda to meet their families for a destination wedding. It’s not exactly everything Tiny wanted, as her mother, Bitty, is controlling and has everything planned to the minute over the next few days. Tiny is also apprehensive. Even though Caroline was the one that proposed and for as much as Tiny loves Caroline, she has to reassure herself often that Caroline is as committed to this wedding as Tiny is.

Tiny also doesn’t have the support she would like from her family. Although they are at the wedding and publicly attempt to present a united front, there is definitely an undercurrent that they would rather be somewhere else, anywhere else, and they would all definitely prefer if Tiny wasn’t marrying a woman. As the weekend unfolds, emotions get stirred up and secrets begin to unravel the carefully constructed façade that everyone around Tiny has in place. Tiny thought she was coming to Bermuda for her happily ever after, but with hidden agendas and schemes breaking open around every corner, Tiny will have to stand up for herself like never before to make her own happy ending.

As this story opens, we meet Tiny and Caroline on the way to their destination wedding. There is already an incident on the plane where Tiny and Caroline have to stand up for themselves and so begins this debut book from Liz Parker. All Are Welcome is an interesting title choice because, from the beginning, it is clear that no one is truly welcome between these two families and there was never that pivotal point for me where the title came together with the story.

The story is told through multiple POVs with an ensemble style cast. We get insight through Tiny; Caroline; Tiny’s mother, Bitty; Tiny’s father, Dick; and Tiny’s brother, Trip. The stereotypes of a conservative, upper class family are alive and well and are vacationing reluctantly in Bermuda. From the start, I could feel the unease. Tiny and Caroline are not quite acting like a couple on their way to be married and it sets the tone for the larger story to come. Tiny’s family is physically present, but they are not much of a support and Tiny is mostly lost in a family that overwhelms every aspect of her life. Caroline has a story of her own to tell, but she came off as bland and for a central figure in the story, her character was underdeveloped and not overly interesting.

The tagline for this book calls it “a darkly funny novel,” but I did not find anything funny about this book in any kind of way. All of the characters are awful to varying degrees, as Tiny’s family is mostly concerned with themselves and appearances, and it wasn’t the kind of awful that added any type of humor for me. The foundation is laid out well and there is a good sense of all the characters, but by the end, I felt no draw to care about any of them, which unfortunately included Tiny as well.

The story and the weekend begin to unravel piece by piece as a storm comes through to physically and emotionally shake up all the characters. There is no one left untouched at the end by scheme or secrets and, while this added movement to a story that needed it, every aspect still stayed too flat and even for me. This story should be classified under LGBT fiction and while Tiny and Caroline are engaged to be married, this book is not a romance. I like ensemble style books with multiple POVs, and while this book did have that, the characters didn’t carry this story for me.

So unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me and is (so far) the lowest rated for the month. I hated all the characters except Daisy and Tiny. They all whined about the same issues without developing much throughout the book. All the problems would be solved if everyone, all of whom complain about the lack of honesty from others, would COMMUNICATE (miscommunication is a big pet peeve of mine in books).

There’s 5 different character POVs which I found confusing and a bit too much. I had a hard time keeping track until about the halfway point. The different perspectives didn’t give me enough to get to know any of the characters or see them develop through the story. The only characters that grew were Tiny, Trip, and Bitty but all three of them did a complete 180 in the last 20% of the book, instead of a slow development throughout which I personally prefer with my character development arcs.

It was a slow start with not much happening plot wise but also we didn’t get to know much about the characters except the same problems just rewritten in a new way. So it felt neither plot driven nor character driven. The middle picked up a little but all the drama, developments, and resolutions(the few that did happen) occur in the last 30% of the book and it just felt so rushed.

I was really excited about this one especially since I was looking for more sapphic reads but it was extremely disappointing. It’s described as “darkly funny” but it’s not at all funny which does a disservice to the author and the readers. The positive things for this book: Tiny has some developments and becomes better, Trip becomes less of an asshole, and it was a quick read.

Rating: 2.5 stars


Triggers: homophobia, alcoholism, fatphobia, toxic relationship, drug abuse, addiction, religious bigotry, infidelity, panic/anxiety attack (brief)

I really wanted to like this one. It was supposed to be an exciting and goofy indictment of Wasp culture, but unfortunately a lot of the time it felt a little bit whiny to me. Just not my favorite.

While I enjoyed the fact that the story revolved around a lesbian couple, I just found that overall it felt a little bit too tropey. If ever there was a book where the characters felt like stereotypes, this was it. I wish they'd felt a bit more like real people so that we could connect with them a little bit more. It's hard as a reader. When you feel absolutely no sympathy for anyone involved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC.

Tiny and Caroline are finally getting married- in Bermuda! It should be a joyous time but their WASP-y families are dysfunctional and there's a hurricane out there. This is funny in spots and romantic in others- and it's quite trope-y. That said, it's a romp. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

Tiny McAllister never thought she’d get married. Not because she didn’t want to, but because she didn’t think girls from Connecticut married other girls. Yet here she is with Caroline, the love of her life, at their destination wedding on the Bermuda coast. In attendance—their respective families and a few choice friends. The conflict-phobic Tiny hopes for a beautiful weekend with her bride-to-be. But as the weekend unfolds, it starts to feel like there’s a skeleton in every closet of the resort.

From Tiny’s family members, who find the world is changing at an uncomfortable speed, to Caroline’s parents, who are engaged in conspiratorial whispers, to their friends, who packed secrets of their own—nobody seems entirely forthcoming. Not to mention the conspicuous no-show and a tempting visit from the past. What the celebration really needs now is a monsoon to help stir up all the long-held secrets, simmering discontent, and hidden agendas.

All Tiny wanted was to get married, but if she can make it through this squall of a wedding, she might just leave with more than a wife.
It didn’t take me long to get to race through the book. I found this to be a superb read.

*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review *

I understand that All Are Welcome was intended to be a satirical/sarcastic examination of WASP culture, but somehow the way it was written it just came across as incredibly whiny and terribly dull at the same time.

The characters just seemed like utter caricatures and stereotypes, and felt like plot devices moreso than anything, and got incredibly grating as the book went on.

I really struggled to get into this book - it really just wasn't my cup of tea at all.

I want to fist say thank you to the author and NetGalley for giving me the eARC. I have mixed feelings about this book, this book made me sad and this was supposed to be a cute funny rom-com or that is what I expected. But this book made me also mad, and the book felt very predictable as well. I was mad and annoyed with most of the characters and the one thing I like was the end.

This book takes readers through Tiny (the protagonist) and Caroline’s disastrous wedding weekend. As the days go by, readers learn more about the family and guests’ secrets, how imperfect their lives are, how unstable their relationships are. I enjoyed that this book emphasized the characters’ flaws and didn’t create some kind of ideal character with a perfect life. However, I found that most of the problems were rich white people problems. (For instance, keeping up appearances to maintain their membership and position in the country club or among their friends). Because of this, most if not all of the characters are unlikeable. I also found that there were some continuity errors. This book is told through different characters’ perspectives but, in a chapter told by Caroline, for example, we might get some explanation about how Tiny feels even though Tiny herself never explained this to Caroline. Overall, the book was a quick and enjoyable enough read.

This book is a hyperbole of all that are welcome as it is the epitome of WASP culture set at a wedding in Bermuda that began in Greenwich, CT. The men dress in a uniform of Nantucket Reds, the women seemingly fold onto themselves to appear smaller as evidenced by names such as Bitty and Tiny, no serious topic is spoken about besides the weather and they line up for drinks and love routine and schedules. Relationships such as Caroline and Tiny's are calculated in terms of financial rather than emotional gains. As stated, deception leads to freedom. This is evidenced by the facade of Trip and Daphne, Daisy and Hank and Mabel and Peter. A truly fascinating persona of when all lie behind a persona of perfection but like a duck peddling furiously under the water, addiction ANF unhappiness prevail. Good for Georgia.

Unfortunately, this was a novel I did not finish. This could have played it by going full in campy and possibly worked. But as it is, too serious, and the characters unlikeable but not comic.

All Are Welcome is a quick read, filled with characters you might, on a good day, feel some sympathy for (Tiny aside, because she has all my sympathy). It’s a bit like Schitt’s Creek, but less overtly humourous. All in all, a read I liked, for definite.

The story follows Tiny and Caroline who are heading to their wedding. Unbeknownst to either of them, instead of the nice wedding they were anticipating, the weekend proves to be, to put it bluntly, a shitshow. A confluence of characters leading to all issues out in the open. It’s the kind of drama you might find yourself glued to in a soap. And, for a reader who isn’t me, perhaps it would work better here.

But the problem I found is that, firstly, I’m not the biggest fan of adult contemporary books. Yeah, I’ve enjoyed a handful—I’ve even enjoyed some recently—but I didn’t quite click with this one in the same way. Honestly, and perhaps oddly, it made me think of Dial A for Aunties, mostly in the drama-filled wedding kind of trope. Only, Dial A for Aunties was ridiculous and fully recognised that. This. Was not. And I think it could have stood to have been a bit more.

You see, I’m never really going to click with a rich family, unless they’re having the absolute shit ripped out of them. And these characters were not. Alright, so at times I felt sorry for them, but I think, unlike something like Schitt’s Creek, where the rich characters have their wealth taken away, it’s surrounded by humour, and it’s couched in trying to humanise them, here, I was never that interested in them. Really, what drove me reading this book was waiting to see whether Tiny would ever be able to tell everyone to go do one. Frankly, Tiny was the only character I remotely cared about.

Books about thoroughly dislikeable characters are, on the whole, not something I enjoy, and, while these characters were at least a little more likeable than that, I think that held firm here. It felt a little too much like the story going “rich people have problems too!”. And okay, sure, but I don’t have to care about them. Also you’re just never going to get me caring about homophobic parents, even if they do come to the conclusion that they’re in the wrong.

Perhaps the saving grace of the book was that Tiny got what she deserved in the end, got to tear a piece off Caroline (who, no offence Caroline except yes offence, spent the entire novel feeling sorry for herself when all she needed to do was show some backbone), and was freed of them all. That, really, is what drove me to round my 2.5 rating up to 3.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by Lake Union Publishing and #NetGalley for my honest opinion.


Thank you, Liz Parker for a wonderful new read.

An amazing mashup of a wedding that shouldn't be happening, two WASPy families that care more about appearances than anything else and will do anything to keep up appearances, and a woman who finally finds her place in the world. Tiny is tiny in both size and demeanor. She's marrying Caroline, who's the exact opposite in every way. Both growing up in high society in Greenwich, CT, it's a perfect marriage match for two families who are both already nervous that both of their daughters are gay.

Set in Bermuda, a hurricane comes both literally and figuratively. Every relationship is tested, and people have to actually face whats more important, appearances or family? I adored every page of this book and couldn't put it down. The LGBTQ representation is perfection and delves into the hard stuff. What do you do when your child stand out when all you want to do is perfectly blend in? I can't speak highly enough about this book. Five out of five stars!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and Liz Parker for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I don’t think a romcom is supposed to make me sad and angry. I get that All Are Welcome is supposed to be a critique of society, or of the WASP part of society, but it’s much too heavy-handed to be sarcastic. I don’t need all that homophobia and overall unpleasantness in my life. I almost never DNF, but I seriously considered it. I eventually kept reading and at least I got Tiny’s outburst out of it. Honestly, all these people deserve each other and it’s really sad.

I won’t rate this book (except on Netgalley since a rating is mandatory), I’m sure others will like it.

Caroline wants a laidback wedding, and her fiancé Tiny isn’t really sure what kind of wedding she wants. But their parents have lots of big plans for the destination wedding in Bermuda. As guests arrive with their own drama in tow, the wedding event spirals out of Tiny and Caroline’s control.

Full of twists, laughs, and character you love to hate, I really enjoyed this gossipy read! I frequently thought I knew what would happen nest, and Liz Parker always proved me wrong. Is it 100% rich white people problems? Yes. Did I get satisfaction from watching all of them fumble their way into the worst weekend of their lives? Absolutely. This is a perfect book for beach reading!

All Are Welcome is the story of Tiny, who lives up to her name in both her size and her demeanor. Tiny is getting married in Bermuda to Caroline, who is the opposite of Tiny in both her stature and her presence. Coming from an 'old money' family in Greenwich Conneticut, their marriage isn't exactly the kind of thing celebrated in the society pages.

Each guest to the wedding has their own issues and their own tale to tell with plenty of skeletons in their respective closets. Trip, her big brother, has come to the wedding alone despite the fact that his own children are slated to be the ring bearer and flower girl. Tiny's best friend, Daisy totes her author husband around who has yet to publish a novel and is always 'tired'. And Tiny has invited a surprise guest to the wedding in the form of Connie, good friend of her fiance, but who still has feelings for Caroline.

This book is awash with flawed characters who you will genuinely despise for good reasons. None of them are appropriately redeemed in the end (but you do come to understand their motivations). This book was almost like a mystery, where I needed to keep reading to find out what each character was hiding.

It wasn't an especially humorous book (although it had its moments), but I found myself learning so much from the character of Tiny as she went along her journey of finding her own identity as a person and as a gay woman.

I'm so glad I read this book, as it gave me so much to think about, I'm not usually much of a highlighter of passages in my reading, but I found so many that spoke to me throughout this book. Thank you so much to Jennifer Richards, Liz Parker, and Netgalley for the ARC copy given to me in excahnge for my honest review.