I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

Wasn;t my favourite by the author. I found this to be quite long and at time dour and a bit depressing a lot of the characters were unsympathetic and not very nice. They were redeemed at the end but it was a long journey.
Written during Covid lockdown seemed a lot darker than other books by author.

I thought this was enjoyable read, but it had some issues for me, especially with iffy stance on infidelity which I’m not keen on at all, but anyone who enjoys second chance romances might enjoy this if they aren’t as picky as me

Just couldn’t get into this one or connect with the characters. Reading this just didn’t make me personally happy and usually romcoms do that. But the writing was good. Overall 2.5/5

It was okay. Nothing new or unique. Pleasant read, bit bland. I felt like maybe I wasn't in the mood to read a romcom and so not necessarily the books fault.

This book was just ok from me. I love Sophie Ranald’s writing, and there were definitely funny parts that had me laughing. However, I just didn’t love the characters, which affected the entire book. They were selfish and manipulative at times and it wasn’t for me. 3 stars.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was a very chaotic ride, filled with ‘family drama” and dilemmas. It was a light (and sometimes cute and funny) read.
One thing that I really liked and enjoyed are the magazine quiz questions at the beginning of each chapter and seeing how it going to relate to the events in the chapter.
Overall a great book. 4 stars because some characters were so annoying that I could not understand their way of thinking, and it affected my mood while reading.

Laugh out loud funny!! Great one to read when you need a pick me up book. Easy to read and fully enjoyable. Great weekend read.

Nat is pretty happy with where she is in life. Great life in boyfriend Archie, good job, good friends. When Archie proposes, she looks forward to a low key wedding with their closest friends - but her in-laws to be have different ideas. Before she knows, her wedding has been hijacked and is going to be a huge affair. What’s worse, is Archie isn’t supporting Nat through the whole ordeal. Is this what Nat really wants?

Another easy, feel good book by Ranald! I loved that characters and places from previous books had guest appearances in this one. A must read for rom com lovers.

Really great book. Some very unusual characters who bring a lot of colour to the book. Great storyline between Natalie and Archie. Great holiday read.

Cute, fast read that I enjoyed. This was not the kind of story that gripped me, but I liked it enough to follow through and wanted to know the ending. I will read this author again.

This book was a page turner from beginning to end. Your dream boyfriend finally proposes to you. His family is perfect. Maybe - too perfect? And now his crazy sister starts to take over your wedding and make it all of what hers should have been. What happened to your small and quaint wishes? And hold on - do you even want to keep going through with this? This book was awesome and so well written. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really liked this book. This kept me engaged and wanting to know what happened next. I enjoyed the main character and loved how this ended.

*** 1/2

When Natalie and Archie get engaged, his family take over planning the wedding!
A fun, easy read which will keep you guessing as to where it is headed!
I enjoyed this book but really wanted Natalie to stand up for herself, maybe even just once!! As the story progressed I got more hooked and really did like how it concluded. I think it was only by the end that I really understood some of the characters and my feelings for them changed.

A nice relaxing read which will have you laughing in places and cringing in others.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and most importantly the author, for the chance to read this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I could not get through this one. I just could not find the characters very redeeming or interesting- not sure I can stand to read anymore about Archie and his family.

Loved the authors other book and will check out future books as well.

This is a romcom with a difference – this time it isn’t the bride to be that’s being a bridezilla but her husband-to-be’s parents and younger sister, Daisy! Forget Natalie and Archie’s plans for a quiet family wedding, with the reception at the local pub, The Ginger Cat, and instead get ready for his family planning them a nightmarish extravaganza, ignoring their wishes, making Natalie rethink the whole idea of getting married and Archie switching off from all the palaver!

When dreams turn into nightmares, a quiet, intimate wedding become anything but low key, can Natalie and Archie find a way to curb his family’s plans and stop them scuppering their own? This is every bride-to-be’s worse nightmare but is also funny! It is also one of the few books I’ve read where the COVID pandemic is part of the story. Actually, that aspect had me worried for Natalie’s beloved Grandpa who, with his chicken loving cat, has to be one of my favourite characters in the story. There’s lots of character growth in the story, especially for Daisy, who I initially disliked. I really wanted Natalie to stand up for herself and for Archie to stand up for them both, too, but he’s so laid back he’s almost horizontal at times . . . . There are characters to love and others who you grow to like more as the story progresses and the quiz questions at the start of each chapter add to the story. If you’re looking for a fun, very contemporary romcom this could be the book you’ve been dreaming of!

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for my copy of this book which I have voluntarily read and honestly reviewed.

This is my second Sophie Ranald book. The first one I read was a few months back now and it was 'Sorry Not Sorry' and it was just EVERYTHING I needed in that moment in time.

Nat is your everyday, girl next door type of woman. She has a job in the NHS, has a few close friends and lives with her boyfriend. Her character is well developed and I related to her on a few levels. This book visits the stress of wedding planning, especially when your partner doesn't seem to have time to have an input in anything!

However, I do feel as though at some point I felt as though the story was getting pretty samey and I just wanted it to cut to the point. I felt as though there was just something missing from this book. I didn't get the exact same lighthearted feeling I had with the authors previous book. But, that is not going to put me off picking up more of Sophie Ranald's work in the future!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Bookoture and Sophie Ranald for an arc of this in exchange for an honest review!

Natalie and Archie have been going out for a year now and then Archie proposes, launching the wedding preparation process. While Natalie is from a single-parent family with limited funds, Archie's family is reasonably well-to-do and has offered to pay for the whole shebang. Archie's sister gets involved along with his mum and the planning takes off in ways neither Natalie nor Archie could imagine. They really just wanted a simple and small wedding with a "do" at the local pub afterwards.

At the heart of the story is a couple with family taking over plans and leaving them with little control. I found it frustrating to see Natalie unable to stand up to the in-laws but I can understand how she might have reached that point. As for Archie's behavior, I am far less forgiving and feel like he put so much more importance on his time when Natalie was just as busy as he was. Also, he just wouldn't step in and speak to his family and just buried his head when things were getting progressively worse. Not exactly an equal partnership in the relationship.

That aside, my main issues with the book were that it wasn't all that funny in the end and it did drag on quite a bit at times so that it seemed to take ages to finish this. I don't think the plot device of the quiz questions worked all that well and there were really far too many of them. Then when the crisis point comes along, things start speeding along and lots of issues are tidied up a bit too neatly with characters suddenly behaving rather uncharacteristically.

I will say the introduction of the covid-19 situation towards the end of the book was certainly realistic and I think it was great the way we had a character working as a physiotherapist. And Nat's mum seemed pretty realistic for someone in her situation.

Overall, this wasn't quite as good as I'd have like so I will rate this 2.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for proving a free advanced reader copy. I am providing this review voluntarily.

I loved this book! This kept me hooked and guessing throughout! I completely felt for the main character and loved how this ended! I loved reading her grow as a person and getting the ending she needed!

I received a free e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I enjoyed the journey of this, mostly, but the ending was really not to my liking.

God, where do I even start. I put off reading this book for so long, and ended up starting it only when my copy was archiving within 48 hours. Just to tell you how unenthusiastic I was when after getting approved, I read the first chapter or two, and found it seriously wanting because I was in the mood for a romance, but these kind of second chance romances where we start out with an established relationship, either married or engaged, somehow end up disappointing me.

Case in point, A Second Hand Husband, which also had this setup, and also failed on a good ending. I think the main problem with both of these was that in showing how bad the love interests were in both of these books, and the MCs allowing it all and breaking up only when the story called for it, instead of the first 5 minutes where I would have wanted to break up, I ended up not wanting these love interests at all. Which is a shame, really, because both of these had great potential. Especially this one.

I really couldn't get onboard with Archie, especially with that 'event' that happened towards the end of the book to cause their breakup. If there's one thing that instantly puts me off a book, it's a lack of respect for any character, especially the love interests among themselves, and I don't know how much of a spoiler this is, but [infidelity (hide spoiler)] will never have a place in my favourite rom-coms.

I could have put up with anything, but that was just too much. Especially when they go on to not even have a discussion about it. And they don't even make it clear what exactly happened. I mean, I don't know about you, but jumping past a discussion, is there even was one, does not work for me. I don't even know what Natalie thought about Archie at that point, the same way I don't know whether that really happened or not, or whether there were even any redeeming qualities in him or not.

What made it even worse was the fact that Natalie tried to have a discussion about it, and about Billy, but Archie shut her down every single time. And then after whatever time that passed in the last few chapters, probably a few weeks, she just magically forgives him, which is not what I wanted. I wanted a full blown discussion about it if I had to forgive Archie, but since that didn't happen, here I am hating him.

Now, while that ending left me with a very bad taste in my mouth, there were a few redeeming qualities about this book. I love Sophie Ranald's writing (this is my first book by her), and I loved the whole wedding planning. I really felt Natalie's struggles, even though I felt she should have stood up to her in-laws earlier, I couldn't completely fault her for not doing it.

I loved how our MC was a physiotherapist, that's an occupation I haven't read that much about, so insights into it had me intrigued. We got to see how they live their lives, how they help their patients, and I really enjoyed those portions.

The side characters were alright, but I didn't like how awful her to-be sister-in-law and mother-in-law were, and then they suddenly had this turnabout and they're nice, and like, that really didn't make any sense to me. There was no consistency that way.

The inclusion of the COVID pandemic was a bit of a mistake, I feel, or maybe just the execution of it. It was never explicitly mentioned that this was set in the beginning of 2020, so I just thought it was the late 2010s era that most rom-coms have going these days, in a pre-pandemic world, but at the end one of the characters was having a meltdown about masks and something, and again, I don't think COVID was mentioned explicitly, so I was really, really confused.

I felt like we should either have not included the pandemic, or mentioned it beforehand and in more detail so we were prepared for it, because by the end of this it just turned out to be a big slap in the face and really changed a lot of my mental world building for this.

Other than that, I just don't have anything to say. The journey was alright, and I mostly had a good time reading, but I did dislike quite a few bits too.

On the whole, an enjoyable read, but not without its faults (in my opinion). I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys second chance romances, doesn't have any issues with dubious stances on infidelity, enjoys wedding preparation antics, doesn't mind something set right before the pandemic (does this count as a trigger warning? I think it should), and enjoys a mostly light-hearted rom-com.