The Wedding People
by Alison Espach
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.
GoodReads Winner for Favorite Fiction 2024
My Review
Stopped the audiobook around the 10% mark.
1 star based on the portion I read.
I went into this book expecting something funny, light-hearted, and thought-provoking, but it turned out to be very different from what was promised. The tone was much darker than I anticipated, and there were no trigger warnings for heavy topics such as depression, suicide, infertility, and infidelity.
On top of that, the excessive cursing and vulgar language felt unnecessary and distracting. I was also put off by the frequent references to the pandemic and COVID, which are not things I want to revisit in my reading.
My biggest struggle, however, was with the main character. I found her so unlikable that I could not root for her or feel invested in her journey. If I cannot care about a protagonist, it makes it nearly impossible to enjoy the story.
Overall, this book was not for me. It felt misleading in its presentation, overly hyped, and ultimately disappointing.