Book review: Always the Bridesmaid by Lindsey Kelk

"Everyone loves a bridesmaid - except Maddie, who’s perpetually asked to be one.

Everyone loves a wedding - except Maddie’s best friend, who’s getting divorced.

And everyone loves the way Maddie’s so happy behind the scenes - except Maddie herself.

One best friend is in wedding countdown while the other heads for marriage meltdown. And as Maddie juggles her best chance at promotion in years with bridezilla texts and late-night counselling sessions, she starts to wonder – is it time to stop being the bridesmaid?"

This weekend I have demolished the fantastic, hilarious, witty 'Always the Bridesmaid' by Lindsey Kelk. Were there enough positive adjectives in that sentence to persuade you that this is a brilliant, not to be missed read? yes? brilliant. 

The story centres around Maddie, an events assistant who is juggling a very busy life due to her inability to say 'no'. Not only is she working on a project that could secure a very long overdue promotion at work, allowing her to actually have some control and be out of the way from her dragon of a boss, but she is also planning her best friend Lauren's wedding with no pay and with only three months notice, getting to grips with dating again after a long stint away from romance, AND supporting her other best friend, Sarah, as she goes through a divorce. 

Phew. 

I LOVE Maddie. She is a brilliant, bubbly character that I was rooting for from the very beginning. She is all heart, doing all she can to support her friends and family which, often, goes unnoticed. I really felt for her when her dragon-lady boss Shona was being a grade A cow and taking advantage of her under-utilised talent. When she meets Will it's clear from the off-set it's not all rainbows and butterflies (just chucking in a Maroon 5 quote there to highlight my point) but you are still really hoping that it'll all work out for the two if them, so that she has some happiness in her life. I'm not going to say anything else about the romance element of the story as I don't want to ruin anything, but I was really pleased with how it turned out for Maddie. 

The friendship element of the story is brilliant - raw and realistic. It shows the strains and stresses between the three best friends and highlights their flaws, all while showing their loyal and caring sides that show how close they really are. At times, I was ready to screech about Lauren as she is the ultimate bridezilla. Maddie explains early on in the story that really she is kind and caring person but as a reader you don't really see that side at all, as the story begins with her telling the girls she is getting married and so from the off-set we are thrust into Lauren's demanding, picky nature that made me bristle. Towards the end though you do start to see her actual personality, which makes you realise why the three have remained friends. Their friendship is the driving force of the story and a journey that I really enjoyed following them on. 

Now, whenever I pick up a book by Lindsey I know I'm going to be in for a treat and Always the Bridesmaid more than lives up to expectation. Her writing style is, as usual, AMAZING and I just genuinely can't get my head around the way she manages to turn sentences from a quick explanation to a humorous addition that makes you laugh out loud. It's so hard to explain in a review, but once you read this you'll know what I mean, her writing style is fluid, funny and bloomin' fantastic. The format of the story is great, laid out in the style of a 'bridesmaid diary' which gives a great sense of time. Also a highlight for me was the ending of the book - a summary of how things turn out is presented in the unique form of text messages, emails and Facebook which I really enjoyed.

If you haven't picked up a copy of Always the Bridesmaid yet then make sure you do. Lindsey, as usual excels with this brilliant, hilarious read that I enjoyed from cover to cover.