The Wedding People by Alison Espach

Another book that wasn’t a classic romance, and to be fair, I don’t think it’s actually marketed as a romance, but I needed something to fit this Romanceopoly 2025 prompt: ‘Wedding Season — read a book that features a wedding, engagement, or marriage of convenience’, and this has been on my TBR for a while so I decided to make it work. And look, it may not be a classic romance BUT I personally found Phoebe’s journey to finding herself a beautiful story of self love, and it might be a stretch, but I think that still fits the prompt. Self love is the most important romance of all! 🙂

So first of all, I personally found this to be incredibly well written. It just worked for me, it was written in a way that was impossible to put down, and in a way that made reading it feel like watching a movie. I always see books as movies when reading them but this was just so vivid. To such a degree that I had to look it up while reading it to see if it had been optioned, because this feels written for tv/movies. I wasn’t surprised to find out that it has indeed been optioned by TriStar Pictures, what was surprising was finding out it was optioned before it was actually published. I think this book was very purposefully written for a possible adaptation, and I’m not mad at it. It made for a truly great read.

Our introduction to Phoebe was understandably kind of grim. Phoebe has arrived in Newport to end her life in a place she has used as a sanctuary in her mind for years. What she didn’t plan on was the venue being booked for the very expensive wedding of a little bit of a bridezilla, whom upon learning of Phoebe’s plans, tries to change her mind. Not for any altruistic reasons of course, but because she can’t have some sad dead woman in a body bag ruin her wedding week. The Bride would prefer Phoebe wait until after the big day.

Some big themes in this book are loneliness, depression, and grief. You would think that these themes would make this a bit of a drag to read, but there was actually a lot of macabre humour that helped move the story along. Lila (The Bride) and her constant stream of consciousness way of speaking to Phoebe forced Phoebe to be very direct and this made for some great interactions. It also forced a very depressed Phoebe to interact with the world in a completely different way. A way that seemed to suit her personality and help her begin to heal in a very real way.

There was so much about Phoebe that was relatable, even though we both have very different lives, and I am very staunchly childfree by choice, some of those dark thoughts she had felt very relatable. I think a large amount of people who read this book will find some of her feelings relatable to be honest.

I really enjoyed the fact that Phoebe spent a certain amount of one on one time with each of the ‘key’ guests at the wedding, and that each interaction was an insight not only to the guests she met but also into Phoebe. I feel like these interactions, even the passive interactions like Phoebe listening to Patricia’s speech, seem to help Phoebe navigate her way out of that very dark place she was in.

It totally made sense that she fell in love with these people, even Lila. I actually ended up kind of loving Lila, she is very obviously deep in her grief for her father, and rather than deal with that grief she has decided to marry someone who she met at the worst time in her life, who was also happens to be deep in grief, and not really dealing with it. She needed an outsider to help her see through her pain, and who better than a strange woman in a crisis? I know I mentioned Lila not helping Phoebe for any altruistic reasons reasons, but I was being a little glib, I think that Lila made light of Phoebe’s plan as a coping mechanism in the moment, I mean she plagued her into deciding not to end her life. That’s impressive! 😀

I’m really glad I read this, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for more books from Alison Espach. I’m also looking forward to seeing the adaptation, provided it all pans out. I think it could be just visually stunning and darkly funny!

Synopsis:

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people – but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall Inn who isn’t here for the big event.

Phoebe has dreamed of coming here for years. She hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband but now she is divorced and depressed, and not sure how to go on. She’s not been sure how to do anything, lately, except climb into bed and drink gin and tonics and listen to the sound of the refrigerator making ice.

When the bride discovers her elaborate destination wedding could be ruined by this sad stranger, she is furious. She has spent months accounting for every detail and every possible disaster – except for, well, Phoebe . . . Soon, both women find their best-laid plans derailed and an unlikely confidante in one another.

Uproariously funny and devastatingly tender, The Wedding People is an irresistible novel about love, friendship, dysfunctional families, and the unexpected paths that lead to happiness.