I actually really liked this novel, I found it had such an original and unique premise, and was executed well which made for an amusing and entertaining read.

I also really appreciated how Birchall tackled this story, in that Freya didn't have to suffer from a heartache and get thrown into a romance straight away. The story was instead about her emotional journey and healing with the support of her family and friends without her immediately going on the search for a rebound. Although there is an element of romance at the end, it's a very small portion of the entire book.

Overall, it's a lovely read that ends on a very sweet and cheerful note.

Freya has a busy wedding season ahead of her. Not including her wedding to Matthew, she has 7 others to attend. But when Matthew cancels their wedding on the day, Freya leans on her two best friends who make it
their mission to help Freya get through the remaining weddings of the seasons without crumbling.

I loved The Secret Bridesmaid and I'm pleased to say The Wedding Season was just as fun. Ruby and Leo, Freya's two best friends, were the life of the book, with all their challenges and I loved reading how Freya grew as a person throughout the book. Just like book one, this too had its funny laugh out loud moments and I finished it with a huge smile on my face.

Really funny. Hits all the right spots! Entertaining throughout with such likeable characters. The bond of friendship runs throughout this book giving some touching thought provoking moments as well as hilarity. A feel good romantic tale. Perfect summer read.

Thank you Netgalley

I adored this book. It's immediately going on my "to buy* list and I'm going to be gifting it to others as soon as I can. What an incredible journey! This book is filled with so much love and explores many different types of relationships. It works it's way through heartbreak and has some really touching moments within, alongside some difficult ones. Truly uplifting and actually quite relatable.

After reading the Secret Bridesmaid book I had high expectations for Wedding Season. The book begins on the day before Freya’s wedding to Matthew. All those months of preparation complete only to be dumped in a broom cupboard. I really felt for Freya. I loved how her friends pulled around her. The story was both funny and sad. I found it really easy to get into and relatable.

A perfect summer read. So kick back and enjoy

An absolute joy to read! If you are looking for a fun romantic comedy THIS IS IT!

This is my second Birchall book and she is now officially an auto-buy author for me.

SYNOPSIS:
Freya is abruptly dumped by her fiance on the day of their wedding, suffice to say she is utterly heartbroken and humiliated so the thought of having a 'season' of friends' weddings ahead of her is gut-wrenching. But her loyal friends have a plan, to distract her they concoct a series of challenges for her to do at each wedding which leads to a whole series of fun shenanigans and perhaps a little detour in her own love life.

WHAT I LOVED:

✔️ Freya is a vulnerable, hilarious and wonderful character that I loved spending time with a rooted for all the way.

✔️ I loved Freya's friends/side kicks, Leo and Ruby, they just made me laugh so much and their loyalty and love of Freya is just adorable.

✔️ Freya and Jamie, made me laugh (out loud a few times) Halibut/Potato (IYKYK) and I was championing their budding romance all the way.

✔️ It's a closed-door romance which is right up my street.

✔️ Birchall writes a wonderful balance of comedy, romance, loss, and heartbreak - bittersweet at times which made it so much more poignant whilst still giving me all the warm feels.

✔️ Birchall's ability to make me love yet another book with a wedding plot, despite the fact I am NOT a fan of weddings absolutely astounds me. So if you love weddings, it might be just slightly possible to enjoy this more than I did - which was A LOT!


The absolutely perfect combination of comedy, romance, sweetness, sorrow and feel good feels.

Highly recommend!

Being dumped is a horrible thing - we've all been there. But being dumped the day before your wedding? That's got to hurt & it did exactly that with Freya in 'The Wedding Season'. But in an effort to help Freya through her season of many weddings & take her mind off the ex, her best friends come up with tasks for her to complete at each event - some thoughtful & easy & some down-right outrageous & daring. All of which take Freya down a path of healing & moving forward.

This book was witty, relatable & lovely. The easy writing style made me feel like I was reading about my best friend & I totally connected with Freya. Not only that, the side characters (besides Freya's ex) were all very likeable too!

It was also great to have a story that's unique (with the idea of the fun tasks), as well as being faithfully familiar (being a classic chick-lit). To put it simply, it was thoroughly enjoyable & sweet.

'The Wedding Season' is sure to leave you with a glow in your heart & a smile on your face.

Thank you to Net Galley, Katy Birchall & Hodder & Stoughton for allowing me to read & review the ARC of 'The Wedding Season'; all views are honest & my own.

Freya and Matthew are the first of a group of friends to kick off the wedding season. With the marquee ready, matthew drops a bombshell the day before the wedding.... he can no longer marry Freya.
Luckily Freya has amazing friends, especially Ruby and Leo....there wedding is to be the last of the season but to get Freya through they set challenges for Freya to complete at each of the upcoming weddings.
Totally outside her comfort zone, but also not wanting to let her friends down Freya tackles what appears to be impossible tasks helping her towards get herself back out into the world.

Briliiant, easy read, humour mixed with totally relatable characters....Absolutly loved this week and highly recommen

Freya has planned her perfect wedding day, only to be dumped by her fiance the day before.
Freya has an amazing, close circle of friends, with the result that she has a whole season of weddings to get through.
Her best friends, Ruby and Leo, come up with increasingly brave and outrageous tasks for her to complete, with the plan that this will get her through the wedding season without missing her ex too much.
Along the way, Freya meets a new man, Jamie. They become friends, and attempts to move the friendship on to being a couple fail.
An easy read with some laugh out loud moments. Maybe a touch predictable but isn't that the beauty of this style of fiction.

This was exactly the book I needed to read to get me out of my reading slump.

I absolutely loved this book. I don't know what could have made this book better.

I love Freya and her journey to discovering herself and making her life better. I was imagining this might be quite depressing as I couldn't imagine how the author could make a book where the bride gets dumped the day before her wedding in a broom closet enjoyable. But she did! Freya is funny and I think so relatable/realistic. I love the wedding season tasks which was a unique idea. She is brave for completing them but also for moving on. It was heartbreaking to read the past and present scenes and realised Freya was not in a good relationship with her ex and he honestly is trash. I am so glad she has her final closure at the end of the book which everyone dreams of having in a break-up.

Also the side characters are likeable too! My favourites are Leo and Ruby. I appreciate that the author made the relationship Leo and Freya have as normal and platonic because it is very easy to go down another road. I love that Ruby is such a ride or die for Freya and has no worries over Leo and Freya's friendship (which some authors would use as a plot point).

If you buy one book this month I would 100% recommend this book. I honestly couldn't put it down cause it was so enjoyable to read and when you have a good plot, main character and side character it really makes for an excellent book.

I cried at first but then I was laughing. I felt every heart ache and emotion in this book. Dumped the day before the wedding if that wasn't painful enough you had got together at university and 12 years later there was 8 weddings to attend that summer. How do you cope? With the love and support of your two best friends, they put a plan into action.
I really enjoyed this book it makes you feel.

Really enjoyed reading this lovely book, it was a light easy read and perfect for a summers day. The emotions that are contained in this book are so mixed from sad to happy with fun and laughter, this really needs to be read to find out what happens along the way. 5 stars wish it could be plenty more. Highly recommend this

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC

Having just finished reading The Wedding Season I now find myself sitting here with a silly smile on my face and warmth in my heart. This wasn't quite the rom-com I was expecting, because whilst there is very little true romance in it this was still a very engaging and wonderful read. I adored every moment with Freya, who I found to be a very sympathetic and likeable character. It didn't take long before I was completely absorbed by the story, reading it virtually without a break.


There were some very touching moments, some emotional moments and some triumphant moments all nicely rounded off with the possibility of a romance. Surprisingly it turned out to be just enough, though it would have been even better had there been more. It also needed more scenes of Freya and Jamie together, I was rather disappointed to be continually told about their time together in Leeds but not to have seen any of it.


Whilst I really loved the scenes with Freya, Ruby and Leo, or Freya and her other friends, they did dominate the book, so despite how much I enjoyed what I read, I can't give it 5 stars. Whilst the storyline was busy, the forward movement of the plot was quite slow, due to the brevity of scenes between Jamie and Freya. Excellent prose and good humour carried me along, so it never felt as though the book dragged. Reflecting on the story to write my review though has allowed me the space and time to see the flaws and realise that whilst this was good, it could have been so much better.

3.5/5 A comfortingly predictable and light hearted rom-com read that will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy! I really liked the concept of this and found the characters endearing and enjoyable throughout. This would be an excellent holiday read; full of realistic heartbreaking moments, supportive friends and family, amusing moments of self discovery and, the cherry on top, a happy ending /new beginning for our heroine!
Thanks to Netgalley.co.uk and Hodder & Stoughton for the free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really thoroughly enjoyed this story of weddings, heartbreak, picking yourself up after what feels like your entire life falling apart, and the healing power of friendship.
When Freya's fiancé and partner of twelve years dumps her in a broom closet the day before their wedding, the looming seven more weddings she has lined up that summer start to feel oppressive. To get her through the heartbreak, her friends Ruby and Leo (whose wedding is the eighth of the season) come up with a list of challenges to focus on and keep her mind off her heartbreak. This is a really fun, generally light romp with a romance, but also some deeper themes of reconnecting with an estranged parent, moving on after the end of a long-term relationship, and the restorative power of friendship. I loved this, it was fun, funny, and moving, and thoroughly enjoyable. Katy Birchall is going on my list of authors to look out for!

Freya was jilted just before her wedding and now she has a summer of her friends weddings to get through alone. Two of her best friends step in to help and write her a series of challenges to accomplish at the weddings, to distract her as she attends them. Will she be ready to move on by the end of the wedding season?

I absolutely loved The Wedding season – it’s more of a moving on from heartbreak with laughs along the way than a traditional rom-com.

We meet Freya (our protagonist) on the night before her wedding, while her brother is hunting down the lost peacocks and the final preparations are being done, all is not quite going to plan for the big day!

Freya’s fiancé Matthew pulls the rug well and truly from under her feet when in a broom cupboard he tells her he can’t go through with the wedding.

And she is naturally devastated but as always puts on a brave front.

However, how can she deal with what’s happened with Matthew when she has seven weddings to attend as well as hen parties!

Her fabulous friends Ruby and Leo come up with a wedding season survival guide – a list of comfort-breaking, boundary-pushing tasks to keep Freya distracted and busy and get her through the wedding season.

Will Freya be the last one standing, get someone’s cufflinks, run naked down the hotel corridor, get a goodnight kiss and complete her tasks before the end of the wedding season?

What ensues is Freya slowly rising like a phoenix from the flames of her 12-year-relationship with lots of funny, tender, heart-warming and heart-breaking moments along the way.

The relationship between Freya and her mother is so heart wrenching, and one I can relate to. Matthew walking away is sadly not the first time she's been abandoned.

Freya's journey through her two abandonments, both past and present, is compelling.

The reader is taken on this journey with Freya as she looks to find and define herself beyond her relationship with Matthew.

And the confrontation scenes are definitely movie worthy in my opinion - I would have loved to have been in that restaurant in Soho!

Her supporting cast of friends are exactly the type of people I'd like to have in my corner when the going gets rough.

It's a rollicking recovery journey that you will not want to miss.

The Wedding Season may be a contender for my favourite book of 2022.

This was quite an enjoyable read. It started off with heartbreak but Frey’s journey to healing from that was really great. The wedding season and all the challenges Freya had to do to get through it were fun. I loved her friend group especially Leo and Ruby. They were so supportive and I felt that friendship love story was really the best part of the book. Jamie was cute and I liked the slow burn of how things developed with him. Whilst the new romance was not the focus of the book I did like that the story took us through how Freya dealt emotionally with the end of the old one. It felt very realistic that she had to take the time to mourn and move on from Matthew before she was ready for anything new. All in all an entertaining read. (3.75 ⭐️ )

I really enjoyed this book. The secret bridesmaid was one of my favourite reads of 2021 and this book is just as good! I love the way Freya navigated heartbreak and it all felt was true to life. Katy is definitely a firm favourite!

I’ve only been introduced to Katy Birchall’s chick-lit this year through her first book, The Secret Bridesmaid. I picked it up in the Works one day and enjoyed it so much. As soon as I saw she had a new book on NetGalley, I immediately hit request. Having finished the book, I’m so glad I did. This book was definitely emotional in places but was so much fun, and I’d recommend it to all. Especially when I’m talking about what I think chick-lit is now.

Freya is getting married, and her wedding should be the first of eight she needs to attend that year. Until her fiance, Matthew dumps her the day before the wedding. In a broom cupboard. Freya’s heart is broken, and she doesn’t know how she’s going to handle attending all her friends’ weddings. Until her best friends, Ruby and Leo, suggest she completes a Wedding Survival Guide. At each wedding she attends, she’ll have to complete a task that will put her out of her comfort zone but be fun. The challenges may wind up getting her in more trouble than she expects, but they also allow her to learn a lot about herself and find new love.

This book is being advertised as a rom-com, but many of the reviews say that the romance was too much of a side plot to feel like one. And honestly, I’d agree. I’d say this is chick-lit, contemporary or whatever else you want to call it. Those sorts of novels just offer normal lives along with an entertaining love story, and this is what this book does. Freya deals with family problems, the grief of losing her relationship, and with starting to love herself a bit more. It has some great friendships and is incredibly funny. But, yes, the romance is only a side=plot that starts about halfway through. There’s a problem with automatically sticking books that would have been labelled chick-lit in the past as romance, as even if they do have romance, it’s not going to be the focus in the same way. And this novel is a perfect example of that. It has a romance in it that I did adore, but I didn’t finish the novel with the main takeaway being I loved that relationship. I love both chick-lit and romance novels. I just think we need to move away from considering them the same thing now.

I loved the protagonist, Freya. She’s someone who is organised and who usually has her life together. And that’s great. But she also has this dorky side underneath it which is exactly what the challenges help unleash. Her conversations with friends are so much fun, and you can’t see what Matthew was talking about when he was saying why they didn’t work. He comes across as a complete asshole, but you’re also witnessing Freya wanting him back and her memories both good and bad. I liked that this novel showed that some relationships just end. It’s not that one person has done anything wrong, they just don’t love each other anymore, and that doesn’t make it any less difficult. It takes Freya a long time to move on, and I appreciated seeing that journey.

Diving into the romance, I will say it was cute. Freya and Jamie had some great banter, even if I was unimpressed with him comparing Busted and Take That early on and acting as if they’re the same. Nah. Not at all. But he quickly grew on me, and I loved the bickering and all the jokes. Jamie seemed like a sweet guy, and I wouldn’t mind finding someone like that myself. Just maybe not so much of a hipster haha.

This book definitely has emotional moments. I’ve talked about how this book focuses on Freya getting over her ex and dealing with the grief of losing someone she’d been with for 12 years. But they aren’t the only emotional scenes. Freya has a difficult relationship with her Mum, who left them when she was 15. She met a new man and moved to the Lake District with him. Since then, she’s barely been in her life until all this happens. Freya has to come to terms with her past and the fact that her Mum does love her and is trying now. It made me tear up a couple of times, but the emotional payoff was definitely worth it. It was lovely seeing them get close again and that these sorts of relationships can be mended.

I enjoyed this book so much. I laughed, I cried, and I did not want to put it down. This was the perfect book to begin after an anxious day, and it cheered me up massively. There were so many laugh-out-loud moments and scenes between friends that made me want to giggle and talk to mine. It was all so wonderful.

Katy Birchall is definitely an author we should all be keeping an eye on as these books are amazing.