Bridesmaid For Hire

This was my first book by Meghan Quinn - an author whose books I've seen around the library where I work but had never picked one up - until now.

This tropical RomCom started off with a strong The Unhoneymooners and The Paradise Problem vibes and totally delivered in the first quarter of the book. Quinn had me laughing out loud a few times and I loved the Bora Bora setting. But then the story and character development fizzled into silly situations and miscommunication, and we headed for choppy waters.

It's at this point that the hunky main character Brody McFadden turns into a hapless idiot who couldn't make a good decision if he tried. I think Quinn was going for a sweet, cinnamon roll kind of a male character in Brody, but he came off as annoying, whiny and easily manipulated in the many ridiculous situations he was put in. All I can say about Maggie is she's strong and determined but she can also hold a grudge like a champ.

The story has some solid romance tropes -- one bed, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, fake dating, but the very long chapters, repetitive dialogue (do we have to go over what they just said with each of their BFFs?) and third act break-up didn't endear the story to me, and I found myself skimming the last third of the book. 

This book had a great premise, but this 450-page romance needed to be whittled down extensively. This book was shenanigans with spice but no substance. I gave this book an extra 1/2 star because it made me laugh in the first quarter of the book.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Meghan Quinn

Genre: Romance

Series: 1st book in Bridesmaid for Hire series

Type and Source: Trade paperback from public library

Publisher: Bloom Books

First Published: April 2, 2024

Read: Nov 16-24, 2024

Book Description from GoodReads: Sometimes the wedding of the century calls for desperate measures.

And sometimes those desperate measures are to pretend the person you hate most is actually your boyfriend.

After years of working her tail off at her event-planning business, Maggie Mitchell is ready for a vacation. With nothing on her mind but R & R, she’s enjoying the warm weather of Bora Bora when in saunters Brody McFadden, her brother’s best friend and also her sworn enemy. Thanks to years of tension between the two—kicked off by a make-out session at her brother’s wedding that ended horribly—Maggie has sworn to stay away from the man. That is, until she finds out he’s in Bora Bora for his boss’s daughter’s wedding, hoping to use the trip to win a real future at the company.

Maggie promised herself she wouldn’t even think of work on the island, but as word spreads about the “wedding of the century” taking place in the midst of her vacation, she realizes offering her services as a bridesmaid and planner could bring her business to the next level. The only catch? She needs to pose as Brody’s girlfriend to get the job…while letting him stay in her peaceful bungalow.

Tensions rise, irritation flairs, and despite years’ worth of bickering behind closed doors, Maggie can’t quite squash the sparks building between her and her new fake boyfriend, especially when she learns the real reason their first kiss was cut short. But as the wedding day draws closer and everything starts to go wrong, it just might be Brody who sends Maggie’s business crashing down—and her heart along with it.