Review: The Wedding People by Alison Espach

Title: The Wedding People

Author: Alison Espach

Year published: 2024

Category: Adult fiction

Pages: 384 pages

Rating: 4 out of 5

Location: (my 2024 Google Reading map): USA (RI)

Summary: It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years―she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan―which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

Review: This one is getting good reviews and it's a BOTM selection so I wanted to make sure I read it before the end of the year.

I like that the main character in this book is introspective. She is at the hotel for a specific reason (no spoilers here) and spends the week thinking about life, her purpose, what makes her happy, what she wants to do moving forward, etc. Maybe I am in the right space for those thoughts, but they worked for me. Phoebe speaks her mind to all the wedding guests, gives her opinions without worrying about if they are appropriate or not, and by the end of the novel she knows she is on the path to living her best life. Finally.

I liked that there were a bunch of characters that we got to know and know quickly. A wedding week is a way to meet guest intently and to see their best and worst. How do people behave under pressure? Who is generous with their time and energy? Who makes it all about themselves? There is so much to be learned about each relevant guest.

The story kept me going, thinking, and hoping throughout the whole thing.

Challenges for which this counts: none