The Anti-Wedding Party by Lucy Knott is a forced proximity rom-com set mostly in Italy.

Andi hates weddings after she found her fiance cheating on her moments before her wedding. Now, her best friend is getting married and Italy and she needs to be there.

When she arrives in Italy she is paired with Best Man, Owen, who also hates weddings. Can these wedding haters come together and survive the wedding week?

I love Owen's character and everything tondonwith Italy. Andi's character however was not my favorite, but I get why she is how she is as she has alot going on.

I got 33% through this book, and that was the longest 33% of my life. I feel like the book should be halfway over by now, but we are technically just getting started. This fmc is one of the worst people i've ever read, she is too self absorbed to realize the world in fact does not revolve around her. She is so focused on herself and her woes, that she never entirely processed why her best friend would be hesitant to tell her she was engaged, because she didn't expect her best friend to be happy for her. And not for typical "she stole my boyfriend' reasons, its because she had a ruined wedding and makes it her whole personality.

I have to abandon this one unfortunately. It's been a few weeks of trying to pick it up at night and it's been rough. There are entirely too many descriptions. I do not need to know the full detail of everything in every setting, or see similes in every other sentence. It's exhausting. I was never able to immerse myself in the story because of this.

Also, I don't like the main character...so that's been a struggle as well. You have to like the MC in a romance or it will never be enjoyable.

This book made me unbelievably hungry. Food was such a vital part of the story, and the way it was described really brought out the character's love of food. I even stopped reading at one point to take a cheese and crackers break. I also loved the setting. Not only could I picture the Almalfi Coast, but I could practically feel the same awe and relaxation that the characters were feeling.

That being said, there were a few aspects of the story that I didn't love. The biggest one is (oddly) how much the author talked about sweat. As a sweaty person, I understand how it can take over in situations, but I thought the sweat descriptions were overdone and they definitely did not leave me feeling romantic. Otherwise, I just was not that invested in the story. I think that is partly because this read a bit more like women's fiction than romance, and I usually prefer the latter, which isn't the book's fault.

Overall, this wasn't my favorite, but it did have some great aspects that kept me entertained (i.e. food and Italy). I think this book would be good for someone who prefers women's fiction. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a really lovely romance between two people who had been hurt in the past and had allowed that to seep in to their previous beliefs. I know the feeling. Whilst Andi had a rocky start in being a likeable character, her development really blossomed as the story went on and I really enjoyed her story by the end. Owen was a charming man all round and although he was also lacking a passion for romance, he encouraged Andi to have some fun and not be a total pessimist throughout their best friends wedding. Lucy has a beautiful way with words and that showed clearly on the page when she was describing Italy and the delicious foods featured. I wish I could now whisk myself away to Italy and put myself in an Italian food coma! It felt good to be reading a book of Lucy's again and I can't wait to see what else is in store.

Do I think that some reviewers were being a little overdramatic over how bad this book apparently was? Yes. Do I think certain parts of it dragged/were hard to get through? Also yes.

Straight off the bat, I really enjoyed the banter between Andi and Owen. I thought they had really good chemistry that bounced, I thought Andi was a very relatable fmc in the sense of her family struggles of always wanting to please her mother and keep her grandparents legacy alive, and therefore ignored a lot of what she wanted and enjoyed herself. I also felt really touched by what she had been through, with her ex fiancee cheating on her with her maid of honour on their wedding day .. Like I cannot begin to imagine that kind of hurt and betrayal. Overcoming being cheated on and opening yourself back up to being vulnerable is hard.

I didn't dislike this book at all. I thought that the characters were enjoyable and that the premise was really good from the starting point. I just felt like some of it dragged on just a bit. It was a very average romance novel to me, but that is not to say that someone else may not love it!

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for giving me the ARC in exchange for honest feedback.

This was a sweet story with lovely setting and characters. I found it to be a just a little slow to start. The male main character isn't even introduced until nearly 20% into the story. However, the book was very cute and definitely a good one if you like travel romance, Italy, and/or low-spice, closed-door romance. I will definitely recommend.

This book is lighthearted and fun, focused on a “bantership” where the characters have lots of fun and jokes between them, it’s not deep or complicated. The perfect read for the summer where you could pick it up in between dips in the pool and not worry about trying to remember a complex plot.

A cute story with great banter between the main characters, and the descriptions of the area, food and atmosphere that is shared leaves the reader wanting to visit the Italian Amalfi coast.

This was an okay book. I didn’t love the FMC. Requested solely because the cover I thought this was gonna be a light, cute and fluffy read, however, cheating was involved and that’s one of my least favorite tropes. The book was definitely missing something and I can’t put my finger on it.

A contemporary rom-com nestled in the beautiful Italian coast
The (Anti) Wedding Party by Lucy Knott is a romantic comedy nod to those people in our lives who just don’t “do” weddings. A person like Andi, a 34-year-old fish and chip shop co-owner who caught her fiancée making out with her maid of honor in the bathroom on her wedding day. Fast forward three years later and Andi’s best friend, Alex, announces that she is getting married to her long-term girlfriend, Charlie. Yet this isn’t just a quick “I do.” Alex and Charlie are inviting their friends and family to a week-long wedding extravaganza on an Italian coastal villa. Seeing no way to get out of it, Andi bites her tongue and boards the plane to Naples.

“If there’s one thing I strongly dislike more than an overcooked cod, it’s weddings.”

Photo of the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Credit Georgi Kalaydzhiev on Unsplash.
When Andi arrives in Italy with the rest of the wedding party, she meets the best man, Owen. Owen is also someone who dislikes weddings, and he and Andi quickly hit it off with their shared distaste for romance. Owen, as an MMC, is adorable. He’s a burly woodworker who carefully crafts bespoke coffee tables or eclectic furniture out of recycled wood. The way to his heart is through his stomach; Andi and Owen seemingly eat their way through the week without regret. Throughout the story, you see Owen as someone who is not romantic but who is sweet and thoughtful in his own way. He takes an instant liking to Andi and falls pretty fast for the romance-adverse MFC.

Andi, on the other hand, I just couldn’t get behind until maybe the last chapter or two of the book. Knott wrote Andi as a pragmatic and controlling person who is also anxious and easy to upset. I think Knott really wanted to highlight how uncomfortable Andi was with the whole wedding weekend. The story is told from Andi’s POV and a lot of time was taken to describe her as perpetually hot and sweating, with a stomach that was always spinning or flopping or grumbling, and a heart that races, pounds, or plummets in her chest. I felt uncomfortable for Andi as I was reading from her perspective, and it ended up being more distracting than helping me to make a connection with the character.

What Knott really does well in this book, though, is capturing the landscape and food of the Amalfi Coast. If you’re a foodie — especially one that enjoys fresh Italian cuisine and cooking — your mouth will water at the many meals that are shared among the characters. Fresh Italian cheeses and meats. Pastas in savory sauces. Rustic desserts and limoncello. I seriously wanted to be one of the characters, with an Italian nonna slapping me on the back, yelling “Mangia, mangia!“

Overall, The (Anti) Wedding Party is a typical rom-com with a lot of foodie flare. The premise is a good one but, unfortunately, the main character development was not as strong as I would have liked it to be.

This book had everything to be perfect for me, but unfortunately I found the author's writing not very good, I found her very stuck and the book ended up being very monotonous because of this. The characters and plot were interesting, but I didn't like the romance either. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was a simple, fun, easy and quick read. The perfect type of book for your holiday, beach, pool kind of read. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

And I and Owen both hate weddings but are there for their best friends who are getting married. Will the time they spend together change their mind? Great setting for a book.

This book was just soooo boring. I feel like nothing happened and the characters didn't have any chemistry.

I received an arc through netgalley.

I really enjoyed reading this adult contemporary romance, and I would definitely recommend trying it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

This was an extremely enjoyable read!

What happens when two extremely anti-marriage people are forced into being the maid of honour and best man at their best friends' wedding in beautiful Italy...

I especially liked the realistic way in which Andrea's feelings were described - she didn't just magically get over her issues, even when it was beginning to affect other people. The setting was magically built, and all the mentions of delicious Italian food had me salivating and wishing I was on a plane heading towards them!

My only wish was for there to be more story after the wedding, and relationship development. I also think that Owen's "softness" was perhaps mentioned one too many times for me, but it didnt' detract from his overall appeal.

This one was just kind of fine, I ended up not really enjoying the plot or characters of this one unfortunately. It was just a bit cheesy

What truly sets "The (Anti) Wedding Party" apart is its ability to explore themes of self-discovery and the importance of embracing life's unexpected turns. Through the ups and downs of wedding planning, the characters learn valuable lessons about love, friendship, and the true meaning of celebration.

I made it about 60% of the way through this book and I have yet to finish. I have decided to shelve it for now. I can’t quite put my finger on it but something about the pacing of the story is off. I do like the chemistry between the anti-wedding people however, the pacing makes it weird.