ARC Review | For The Love of Friends by Sara Goodman Confino |

Lily is a good puppet in the hands of five brides until she huffs and does the worst bridesmaid thing.

A few days ago, at noon time, I had'nt thought I would look at this novel on the screen displaying a rich cherry colour cover and a devious woman in short brunette hair, smirking and definitely relishing something in background. I thought, "That's a nice design," I did, seriously. I don't judge a book by it's cover but this novel looks so pretty that I controlled myself from downloading it. I had to check what was behind the beautiful cover and the teasing title. When I read the blurb, I said to myself, "I hope I get this book or else I will, hugely, be a mess." When the availability status stared green at me, immediately, I hit the 'download' button. As soon as I opened the file and started reading, I forgot I was supposed to clean my room that day. 

Title: For The Love of Friends 

Genre: Rom-com, General fiction (adult), Women's fiction

Author: Sara Goodman Confino 

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing 

Publication date: August 1, 2021 

Where you can buy? Click here

Sara Goodman Confino's For The Love of Friends is a hilarious rom-com novel in which thirty-two year old, Lily Weiss is proudly single but inconsolably, a sort of black sheep for her concerned mother. As the wedding bells chime above her, she is instantly overwhelmed what she is going to get pulled into. Of course, she is going to be bridesmaid at all five weddings — in a row! She never thought her three best friends — Megan, Caryn, Sharon and two younger siblings — Amy and Jake, will be getting hitched in that same year. Thank God, she has her another bestie roommate, Becca, who is very much in the same boat as her. Or is she anymore? Lily contemplates whether she should envy or literally, throw herself in the ostentatious demands her soon-to-be wed friends and siblings have from their reliable and selfless favourite person. Lily thinks starting her anonymous blog, Bridesmania, will help her scream out loud (quietly) through her snarky revelations as she writes complaining about each of the high-end jittery brides, mom-zillas, wicked bridesmaids of the west, pouring out her financial woes even though working for a science foundation, her drunk one-night stupid mistake, being body shamed and being a miserable guardian to her eighty-eight-year-old grandmother who drinks mimosas in the morning, naked, during her brother's destination wedding. Lily assumes she can manage her sanity safely as long as she has her blog. But, one day, her notifications wouldn't stop dinging. Proving, a nightmare has mischievously entered uninvited into her life before she could further plan attending all the weddings. Will she lose those they thought they could trust her? And will she ever have a chance with Alex after the mishap? 

The beginning will hook you immediately. I love how Lily is introduced which may make you chortle a bit. The narration is engaging. The flow is amazingly smooth and engrossing. As you read the chapters, you wouldn't think of putting it down. Each page hold its own, which may make you question, "Okay, what it's going to be?" Then, certainly, I didn't expect the plot to steer in a different direction. You may think it will get predictable and like typical romedy shows, nothing bad is going to happen. Don't get there too fast. It gets interesting and very intense. This is unlike any hopeless romantic stuff. You will read some scenes that will keep you in your seat. But, I was way too much into the dialogues. They read incredibly funny and makes the story relatably likable. 

The characters are captivating on their own like normally, you meet strangers in your way and get to know them once you find a common ground. You may like them but at the same time hate them too. Suffice to say, I think I like the main protagonist, Lily. She is sassy, fun, kind and someone you can laugh with. Yes, she has flaws too. She doesn't turn blind eye to her crabby nature. Lily rather embraces herself the way she wants others to look at her but doesn't find a way to really make herself conspicuous despite having 'no poker face'. Her certain decisions are understandable. She shows when her situations become difficult, she has to remind herself that it's not about her but the sake of her friends and family she has to sacrifice her personal choices. More than Lily, I think you may like her rebellious grandmom. She is like Lily but badass, carefree and full of sarcasm. She made me laugh more than her and to suggest this, I found these lines from the book hilarious when Lily was trying to have conversation with her grandmother on their way to airport,

"Well, you've got one. And I'm your greatest grandchild, so how about we just enjoy the time together."

"Don't patronize me, Joan."

"Lily."

"I know your name, Joan."

Funny, poignant and pertinacious, Sara has nailed in writing a laugh-out-loud romedy keeping normal struggles in loop and spoon scoops of drama with interesting twists. This is so much more than a fiction that will stay with you forever. While reading, you may sometimes feel like living in Lily's shoes when the scenes become deep and naturally ponder on her thoughts. Not everything is rosy in this fiction which is why it makes this novel a must read.  

P.S. I voluntarily read and reviewed a digital copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Note, quote or related content used by me from the book may vary in the published version.

Priyanka Patra is a self-published writer of Upon Me. She lives in Odisha, India with her family in a small town. She has done her MBA in Marketing & HR from Birla Global University in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. She is aiming to write more books especially in fiction genre.