Article contributed by Tessa Qi
The Secret Bridesmaid was such a fun and entertaining read, I loved every single moment of this book! Not only does it have so many comical moments, but it’s also a brilliant and different approach towards the difficulties in planning weddings.
Sophie Breeze is a hired bridesmaid, technically speaking, a professional who is hired to be a bridesmaid for the bride and her job is to help with errands regarding the wedding planning. She is to manage all sorts of wedding crises and at the same time, pretending to be best friends with the bride and be their bridesmaid. And most importantly, Sophie is the best ‘bridesmaid’ that you can find and hire. She’s professional, knows her job well; a perfectionist, dedicated to making each wedding perfect and she’s not one to back down from challenges. When Lady Victorian Swann or more commonly known as The Marchioness of Meade hires her to help with the wedding of the year, it’s her time to shine. Yet the bride-to-be, Lady Cordelia, the Marchioness’ daughter proves to be as difficult as everyone says her to be and sets to make Sophie’s life a living nightmare, Sophie might need a bit more than her professionalism to help her with this one. The timing also doesn’t seem to be perfect when she finds herself constantly drawn to a Lord Meade, Cordelia’s charming and gentle older brother. Things got even more complicated when a rivalry announced their wedding on the same date…everything couldn’t have gotten any worse for Sophie.
First of all, this idea of a professional bridesmaid is so intriguing, and Birchall has also included some crazy email exchanges at the end of chapters that Sophie has with clients, some will fill your eyes with tears of laughter (trust me on that). The majority of the book is basically about true friendship, and also with a little bit of romance and flirtation on the sidelines. The main focus of the story would definitely be the dynamic between Lady Cordelia and Sophie. Lady Cordelia is not an easy person to get along with, simply speaking. She doesn’t have any friends to be exact, and you can imagine the people’s shock when they learnt about her ‘best friend’ Sophie’s existence. As if it couldn’t get any complicated, Lady Cordelia thinks the idea of Sophie pretending to be her bridesmaid is absurd and does everything in her power to humiliate Sophie in order to get her to quit the job. To her dismay, Sophie is not a quitter and she never runs away from a challenge, no matter how the irritating bride-to-be tries to make her life miserable.
On the bright side though, Lady Cordelia does have a very charismatic older brother who is single and occasionally flirts with Sophie. Undoubtedly, she likes the attention but she is also aware that this flirtation could potentially jeopardise her job and reveal her true identity.
As Sophie and Cordelia spend more and more time together and gradually open up to each other (not without any disasters and conflicts of course), a spark of friendship starts to form between the two women but yet true friendship does not come easy. I won’t say more so as not to spoil anything but a secret from the past emerges and determines to haunt the present and things get more and more complicated which will test the loyalty of their true friendship. In the course of time, it is evident that Cordelia is not entirely what she looks like on the outside—a woman who has been spoiled all her life, but rather, she has been betrayed by some of her closest people which causes her to close up and never trust anyone easily. She acts like the Ice Queen (bringing Elsa in here literally) without a care in the world. Watching Sophie gradually penetrate that thick barrier of ice surrounding Cordelia and them slowly becoming friends is so warming and touching, and I can say that it is better than any romance plots. This book does not emphasise heavily on romance, but more importantly, the friendship between two equally strong and independent women.
On a side note, the relationship between Cordelia and her fiancé and the romance between Sophie and Tom (Cordelia’s brother) are both so sweet and endearing. After hearing the news that her ex-boyfriend is getting married only a while after their breakup, Sophie was suffering deeply but thankfully, her job with being Cordelia’s bridesmaid helped her get through it and find new love as well.
Overall, you would definitely want to have this adorable and lighthearted read on your shelf just so you could have a laugh over the crazy wedding requests any time.
The Secret Bridesmaid is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Matrimony meets mayhem in a modern British romcom about a young woman charged with pulling off the biggest aristocratic wedding of the year––and the misadventures that ensue.
Sophie Breeze is a brilliant bridesmaid. So brilliant, in fact, that she’s made it her full-time job.
As a professional bridesmaid, Sophie is hired by London brides to be their right-hand woman, posing as a friend but working behind the scenes to help plan the perfect wedding and ensure their big day goes off without a hitch. When she’s hired by Lady Victoria Swann––a former model and “It Girl” of 1970’s London; now the Marchioness of Meade––for the society wedding of the year, it should be a chance for Sophie to prove just how talented she is.
Of course, it’s not ideal that the bride, Lady Victoria’s daughter, Cordelia, is an absolute diva and determined to make Sophie’s life a nightmare. It’s also a bit inconvenient that Sophie finds herself drawn to Cordelia’s posh older brother, who is absolutely off limits. But when a rival society wedding is announced for the very same day, things start to get…well, complicated.
Can Sophie pull off the biggest challenge of her career––execute a high-profile gala for four hundred and fifty guests in record time, win over a reluctant bride, and catch the eye of handsome Lord Swann––all while keeping her true identity a secret, and her dignity intact?
Heartwarming and hilarious, The Secret Bridesmaid celebrates the joys (and foibles) of weddings, the nuances of female friendship, and the redeeming power of love in its many unexpected forms.
