Customer Reviews

Always the Bridesmaid

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

In just a few months, San Diego kindergarten teacher Cate Padgett has earned a Purple Heart as she has served in combat, being a bridesmaid at four weddings. Besides purchasing gifts that the members of the Cheney energy task force could not afford and buying and wearing one time use ugly dresses, Cate also attends boring bachelorette galas.

Cate is sick of helping others on their trip down the aisle. She feels ready to plan her own wedding. However, she wonders whom she should encourage as her mate. Should she select the centerfold hunk "No Call Paul" or her faithful companion dependable nice guy Ethan? That is assuming either would even walk down the aisle with the perpetual ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID.

Fans of contemporary tales will find the amusing ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID quite entertaining especially the scenes leading up to and occurring at a wedding. Readers will recognize the diva from hell, the drunk who was stoned before arriving, and other disasters that typically make up a decent sized wedding ceremony. Though who should prove the victor between the rivals is too obvious to everyone as Paul's ego is bigger than the Pacific Ocean, making him the top discerning fan a loser. Still this is Cate's choice so that the audience will have to read this amusing charmer to decide whether either one is the groom or if there even is one in this unhappily unmarried chick lit tale.

Harriet Klausner

Always the Bridesmaid is a hilarious story about what to expect as a bridesmaid...comedy! I found the book hysterical and romantic all wrapped into one. The characters in the book are so real and you can put yourself in their shoes. Great and quick read with lots of comedy, romance, and never boring. Right from page one I knew I would love it!

Cate Padgett is surrounded by friends who are getting married. Meanwhile Cate has an almost non-existent boyfriend she refers to as No Call Paul and a growing collection of hideous bridesmaid dresses taking over her apartment.

Cate begins to reassess her life and relationship with Paul and it doesn't take long to figure out that Paul just isn't cutting it. Before she gets the chance to break up with Paul, he beats her to the punch. Shocked by the dumping, Cate surrounds herself with good friends to help her feel better.

She surprises herself when she begins to realize she's developing feelings for her long-time friend Ethan. Cate is worried that acting on these feelings will ruin their friendship.

With a growing mountain of hideous dresses and dyed shoes, Cate must decide if her friendship with Ethan is worth the risk. If she doesn't take the risk could she be passing up on the possibility of ever finding happiness and marriage for herself?

Anyone who has ever had to deal with the hassle of being a bridesmaid will appreciate and relate to Cate Padgett. Always a Bridesmaid is full of comedy, style, wit and romance.

Cate is stuck standing in for four friends in a single wedding season. This includes attending numerous showers and bachelorette parties, overpriced gifts she cannot afford on her kindergarten salary, and having to don several atrocious single use gowns.

While standing in for her fourth wedding, she decides that she is ready to take the marital plunge and re-evaluates her relationship with boyfriend Paul (who takes her for granted) and the emerging renewal of friendship with Ethan, her best bud from high school who has suddenly returned to the area.

Anyone who has had to stand in for a friend who has temporarily turned into "Bridezilla" will find humor in the story. The author manages to capture the frenetic energy involved in the planning and execution of the weddings (especially that third wedding).

This book is hilarious! And true! Not only will this become a classic for bridesmaids all over the world, but anyone who has ever been involved in a wedding will appreciate these tales of matrimonial mayhem. Lyles is so observant, pinpointing the freaky relative and wedding drunk that are always found on the dance floor at weddings. It's so refreshing to have a good hearted, patient heroine who is a trooper til the end. Cate Padgett is the ultimate wedding warrior! Though all her freinds are getting married, rarely does she feel sorry for herself or indulge in pity parties. Rather, she makes the best of each wedding crisis that she encounters and continuously saves the day. All the bad hairdos, ugly bridesmaids dresses and wild bachelorette paries she encounters will be appreicated by all wedding "veterans". I'm in a wedding next summer and I want to give this to all my fellow bridesmaids at the shower!

"Always the Bridesmaid" by Whitney Lyles deals with Cate, a kindergarten school teacher, who seemed to be involved in all her close friends' wedding. As their bridesmaid, Cate was expected to handle all sorts of emergencies on their wedding days such as the wedding drunk, the disgruntled mother of bride, the ex-boyfriend who wished to crash the wedding, etc. After being the bridesmaid for the third or fourth time, Cate was in fact sick of it. At the same time, Cate was feeling left out that her friends seemed to be getting hitched while her own relationship with her boyfriend, Paul seemed to be going nowhere.

I think it's quite interesting to read about Cate's account as bridesmaid and the things she had to go through, from the bridal shower to the actual wedding day. However, I wouldn't say that this is the best chick-lit I have ever read because I think it's only slightly better than the average. The pace is a bit too slow, and there isn't a lot of plot in it. That being said, it's still a rather fun and easy read.

As engrossing, amusing, and surprisingly heartfelt as Trista and Ryan's Wedding and with not nearly as much pink, Always the Bridesmaid makes the satirical point that in our Pottery Barn society, where Britney Spears' fifty-five hour marriage is gleefully dissected in detail, we're more concerned with the veil and the boutonnieres than with our actual vows, as the near-50 percent divorce rate proves.

Cate Padgett, resourceful teacher and professional bridesmaid, can handle wedding disasters from collapsed cakes, ex-boyfriends and bad toasts, but she can't get her own love life together with her never-the-boyfriend Paul.

Do we really need to be reminded that we're commitment-phobic and that there are plenty of sweet, romantic guys out there like Cate's endlessly patient more-than-friend Ethan Blakely?

Yes, considering that most of us convince ourselves after the Pottery Barn casserole dish has acquired a tad too much stuck-on food that we're bored with the nice guy/girl we married, who picks up the kids and still remembers the name of our favorite teacher back in grade school. Yes, considering that we tuned in to see Trista and Ryan happily wed. Just say "I do" to Cate's finally getting a clue.

This book was a very "fast read". Situational parts of the book were very funny. I read them aloud to my retired father who was visiting and he asked to take the book home with him. He read it on the plane and said he really enjoyed it. This really surprised me as I can't recall that he has ever read a romance novel. I liked the fact that it doesn't contain graphic sex. Also, it was descriptive enough that I could picture "the movie" as I was reading it.

I laughed from the beginning of this book to the end. I am a huge fan of funny books, but am a bit of a tomboy so I've steered clear of anything with cute pink stuff on the cover. I just went camping and one of the girls in our group passed this along to me because I had forgotten the book I meant to bring. Not only was it nearly impossible to put this book down, but I laughed from cover to cover. I found myself sneaking peeks with a flashlight at night and ignoring my boyfriend and friends for most of the trip. Everyone would ask me what was so funny and I would have to read lines out loud. I am a new fan of this author and the genre. I'm pre-ordering Roommates and I'm ordering copies of this book for my best friend who has been a bridesmaid eight times and my sister. If you want a feel good read do not pass this one up.

romantic comedy. I read this book in two days despite the fact that I was in the process of moving and starting a new job. I could not put it down. The characters are so real, and seem like people I've known, like Cate could be one of my really good friends. Teh humor is hilarious, and to echo all the good reviews it's received - anyone with wedding experience will not only appreciate but LOVE this book. Of course there will always be the occasional freakish relative or wedding drunk who might see themeselves in some of the more undesirable characters, and totally miss the humor. But, hey, maybe those are the people who need to read this book. Highly recommend!