I put this down after one character referred to bagel chasers and another called someone a Hitler based on her unsavory behavior. This commentary coupled with the fact this is a novel written by a man about roles traditionally held by women (bridesmaid/maid of honor) made me drop it like a hot potato.

While the premise is fascinating: a 27-dresses type with a maxed out credit card from too many bridesmaids duties has to compete to be the maid of honor in her own sister's wedding, and hops on social media to start a venting and support group for all the poor unappreciated bridesmaids, the bridezilla bashing gets old fast. Part of the narrative is direct messages exchanged with an influencer and the only? gay dude in the cozy private group, and the recreation of posts complete with images of terrible bridesmaid dresses. It just didn't translate well to ebook format, but given the content, I gave up on it 35% in.

I received an advance reader’s review copy of #TheBridesmaidsUnion from #NetGalley.

Thank you, @netgalley, and @stmartinspress, for the eARC and in return, an honest review.

“As much as she loved weddings - the comforting formality, the beauty, the joy of the betrothed - being a bridesmaid was sucking her dry.”

My Thoughts:
Have you ever been a bridesmaid? Was it a positive experience? So far, it was for me. This was in the 90’s and Bridezilla was not a thing yet. And we didn’t have social media either.

Iris Hagarty started a members only Facebook group where they share horror stories of being a bridesmaid. But as the story goes on, I found Iris, irritating and bitter. It’s like she adds fuel to the fire and critical of people’s choices instead of being helpful. She’s hypocritical and in constant need for validation. She also has her own internal monologue.

Eventually she became bearable in the later chapters. Even the story got better. The whole family dynamics was toxic especially the parents.
I did love the other bridesmaid, Electra, and Iris’s older sister, Rose.

I don’t know how to rate this. I don’t like the MC but the premise is unique. Trigger warnings: misogyny, sexual harassment. The genre says romance but it had barely. And no spice either. Politics and religion conversion comes up periodically.

This was a slog but since I physically checked this book out of the library I felt like I needed to finish it. What could have been a more fun premise just felt bad all around - no truly good characters, lacked dimension, and just…not good to me. I finished it but almost gave up multiple times. It was a book about women and felt like it was written by a man who had never fully spoken to one.

I received an ARC copy through goodreads giveaways.

I really enjoyed this book, of which I read while being a bridesmaid through a wedding (thankfully I've never experienced any of Iris hardships). I thought this book was a solid read; complex characters that stay true throughout the story line, just enough current affairs to make it relevant yet not too tiresome, and a plot that is such a tumultuous rollercoaster you have to keep reading. The only reason i didn't give it 5 full stars is the end portion of the plot kind of gives me the ick (read for yourself if you want to find out why lol)

*this e-arc was sent to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*

This was a good book about a woman who becomes a moderator of a Facebook bridesmaid venting group and loses control with taking care of both the group and being her sister’s maid of honor. I liked the plot of the story as I thought it was unique and different. I also wanted to see how a male author can pull off writing a female’s pov. The pacing was great in this book and I enjoyed the many conflicts thrown in. There was a good bit of humor but I have to say that the politics and religion topics kind of threw off this book. Without it, it would have been so much better.

So this book is written in Iris’ pov and I enjoyed her character. She is a single mother who needs a place to rant but also wants to make her family happy. She was such a pure, relatable character and her development throughout the book was great. There were also many side characters in this book whom some you will hate and some you will love. They were very involved with the story and helped the MC on her journey. I enjoyed the family theme in this book but was disappointed with the lack of romance. This book is tagged as romance so I was expecting something as a huge romance lover.

The ending was great and I enjoyed the overall story. What just kind of threw it off for me was all the politic and religion talk which was not necessary to the story. Overall this was a great read and I think many readers who have been bridesmaid will relate to this story.

The Bridesmaids Union by Jonathan Vatner had promise when I read the synopsis. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect but I was extremely intrigued by the idea of Iris Hagarty and the group she creates called The Bridesmaid Union on Facebook. It is a place created for bridesmaids to vent about issues they’ve seen with weddings they are involved in. The story devolves from there unfortunately. The premise was great and overall I was intrigued enough to finish reading the book, but I was hoping for a little more drama and a few more likeable characters. I thought I had a few of the plot lines figured out to where the twist would happen, but there was no twist. I do wish there was a bit more to the story and felt as though there were a few things that I was left questioning.
Overall, I would say two and a half stars rounded up to three.
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.