Other People's Weddings

by Maisey Yates

If Poppy Love could just avoid Ryan Clark, her life would be fine.

The brooding photographer hated her on sight when they met at thirteen years old, and the feeling is mutual. And yet somehow he's always . . . Poppy's first wedding as a cake designer, the second wedding when a bear ate her cake, and then there was the fifth wedding when. . . well, it's probably best not to mention it, actually.

Now her best friend is getting married and moving to the other side of the world. And as if that impossible heartbreak wasn't awful enough, Poppy, as Maid of Honour, is about to be stuck with Ryan for the whole wedding trip to New Zealand, because of course he's the Best Man.

Perhaps it's time to finally call a truce. Or perhaps it's time Poppy admitted the heat between them isn't truly hate, at all. . .

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Travel

316 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 10, 2024

About the author

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Maisey Yates lives in rural Oregon with her three children and her husband, whose chiseled jaw and arresting features continue to make her swoon. She feels the epic trek she takes several times a day from her office to her coffee maker is a true example of her pioneer spirit. In 2009, at the age of twenty-three Maisey sold her first book.

Since then it’s been a whirlwind of sexy alpha males and happily ever afters, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Maisey divides her writing time between dark, passionate category romances set just about everywhere on earth and light sexy contemporary romances set practically in her back yard.

She believes that she clearly has the best job in the world.

Reviews

[Danielle Weiss · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

This book has potential but the reviews are true and the writing style is really tough to read for a full book.

[Dayna Bartram · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than I thought it was going to be. Sort of Beth O’Leary vibes which I liked but it was very choppy. Easy read. Would have been a very quick read but holiday got in the way. 3.5/5.

[Meghan Sperdute · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up

Predictable but cute story. I agree with other reviewers about the writing style.

[Rymer Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story, I just found the writing style a bit difficult to read.

Like every sentence was a standalone thought.

That needed its own special paragraph.

Which totally disrupted the flow.

[Tamara]

*I received a free copy of this ARC from the publisher.*

I’m not actually reviewing this book because I didn’t finish it. I just wanted to note why I didn’t make it to the end. I tried—I really did. I made it all the way to about 47% before I gave up the effort. But I knew that if I forced myself to keep reading to the end, I would end up leaving an unfavorable review and resenting the time I had spent on it.

There are two main reasons I didn’t finish this book:

1) The writing is very choppy. I understand that we regularly think (and even speak) in sentence fragments, but most of this book was sentence fragments. Sentences that should have been grouped together as one paragraph were each given their own. As a result, it just didn’t flow well. Sometimes fragments are very useful and provide emphasis, but when every “sentence” is a fragment, it becomes exhausting to read.

2) It contains some content I’m trying to avoid. I can tolerate some well-placed language and some sexual content (though I prefer books without either of those things). But the f words started becoming more frequent, characters started talking about orgasms and casual sex, and I could tell that things were heading toward at least one sex scene (likely another in flashback). Based on my experience with the book up until I stopped reading, I assume it would have all been open door.

I’m sure some readers will enjoy this book, but I can tell that further reading would not have improved my opinion of it.

[Larry H · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Poppy has carved out a successful career as a designer of wedding cakes. She loves helping couples come up with the perfect cake to complement their special day, even if her own romantic life has been less successful.

If there’s a downside to her success, it’s that he is always there. “He” meaning Ryan, the photographer who seems to be at every wedding she is. Ryan has hated her since they were 12, and the animosity between them has intensified into adulthood. He always seems to be present in her moments of weakness, and she always seems to make things worse between them.

When Poppy’s best friend Quinn gets engaged, Poppy is excited. She’s also a bit envious and a bit sad, because Quinn will be moving across the world to New Zealand with her soon-to-be new husband. For someone who has dealt with abandonment issues most of her life, losing her best friend may be more than Poppy can bear.

But before she can completely fall apart, she has a cake to make. And then she learns that the wedding will be in New Zealand, and Quinn and her fiancé want everyone in the wedding party to spend two weeks there. Poppy is excited to be the maid of honor…and guess who is the best man? (If you guessed Ryan, you’re right!)

Poppy can’t seem to shake Ryan. He’s even on her flight to New Zealand. But the more she deals with the jumble of emotions she’s feeling about Quinn’s wedding and impending move, the more she realizes that maybe she doesn’t quite hate Ryan after all. Maybe the tension they feel doesn’t stem from mutual dislike?

This was a cute story—a predictable enemies to lovers rom-com but fun all the same. I actually felt like the enemy thing was fairly one-sided for a while, with Poppy being the instigator of their arguments, and that annoyed me a little. But overall, this book explored a lot of issues and it really was sweet.

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.

Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/getbookedwithlarry/.

Check out my best reads of 2024 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2024.html.

[Amanda Felizardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, we follow Poppy, a talented wedding cake baker, as she navigates the complexities of life, love, and friendship. The story spans years, capturing her relationships and the bond she shares with her best friend, especially as she’s about to be her maid of honor.

The characters are richly developed, each with their own traumas—issues of abandonment and adoption, adding layers of depth to their experiences. The author tells their journeys of healing and self-discovery, revealing how their pasts, once perceived through a lens of pain, are often more nuanced than they initially appear, and ultimately showing the power of acceptance and the potential for growth.

However, the misunderstandings and miscommunications always leave me a bit frustrated. While these types of conflicts can reflect reality, and I get they had their own problems and misconceptions, the prolonged silence between the characters going for YEARS could have been resolved if they actually talked. Despite this, the story remains engaging, and Poppy's journey can be relatable.

Overall, I found the book to be a 3.5 out of 5 stars. For me, it captures the complexities of relationships and at the end left me reflecting on my own perceptions of the past.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Barbara Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poppy is a talented wedding cake baker and the story follows her through the years as she navigates her complicated relationship with Ryan, the local wedding photographer, who also happens to be her fist love, but things ended badly and they have to keep seeing each other at all the weddings they work. It centrally focuses on Poppy's life as she prepares for her best friend. Quinn's wedding, and the feelings that that stirs up for her.
However, the miscommunication! Ugh the miscommunication! Yes they can reflect reality, the situation here was so frustrating at times because so much could have been avoided if they had Simple's just talked to each other! I mean. that would have taken away the need for a story but dang at points it felt almost repetitive because it was just as simple as 'hey yall just need to have a conversation and this could all be resolved " but that didn't happen. Oh well I am a fan of Maisey's writing and will continue to read everything she writes but this wasn't my favorite of hers. While she definitely explores the love/hate line of a relationship and how one small change in the past could affect the future, I think I would have liked a little more acceptance on Ryan's part and a little less demanding from Poppy.
Overall though, a solid read
Thanks to Headline Eternal and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

[Kim Loves Reading! · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book you want to pick up for that long flight! I love weddings and wedding cake, so this book had me at the title. We have all read this love story before enemies to lovers, but this one has so many heart strings, you can't help but relate. Sometimes in life our heart is so broken, and the walls come up you don't even realize they are up till someone starts to tear them down. This is that story, two broken hearted people, that need to see what love can really look like.

Poppy is a talented wedding cake baker, a bakery she took over from her grandmother. in a small town. She loves her life that she has crafted it out so carefully she will never get hurt. Well, that is until her boyfriend Josh of seven years breaks up with her, however it is a surprise, but she is not that broken up by it. What really has her not sleeping at night is why Josh' and her friend Ryan hates her so much. This story will take you through five weddings that Poppy and Ryan are together, her with the cake and Ryan the photographer. Taking you back, there are clues to when they knew there was attraction but every time they don't connect. Is there one soulmate for everyone and can fate put these two together long enough see it?

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline Eternal for copy of this story for my honest review.

[C Lou Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to preface this review by saying this was NOT a bad book! At 3 stars it was a comfortable read that I would pick up again in the future, it just didn’t wow me.

This book was fantastic in terms of character development. The dynamic between Poppy, Ryan and Josh was brilliant and flowed really well.

It was such a sweet story but the timeline of the plot really threw me off. I normally enjoy dual timeline stories, but this one was challenging to read. Some of the ‘past’ scenes were explored multiple times spread out throughout the book, which would’ve been fine but I found it tricky trying to keep up when it would jump back to present then to another past scene before re-addressing unfinished scenes. I found myself having to go back through chapters to find out where scenes had left off several chapters before, which made me put the book down a few times.

I’d still recommend it to anyone who enjoys ‘enemies to lovers’ (if you can call it that) and wedding plots.

[Emma Kingdon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Things I Loved:

~ The central concept had potential - I was hoping for Wedding Crashers level of humour and awkward moments
~ A couple of emotional moments did land albeit in a small way

👎🏼 Things I Didn’t Like:

~ Flat and unlikable characters, particularly the MFC.
~ Long deep meaningful conversations between said boring characters then were even MORE boring.
~ It jumps back and forth in time between 5 different weddings. Sounds exciting, but that would be if I was done well. Alas, it was not.

Overall Thoughts:

This book hinges on the cutesy appeal to someone who’s obsessed with weddings. SPOILER - a ‘what about me?’ Girl with abandonment issues thinks the hot guy she’s known since school hates her because she destroyed his science project when they were twelve when actually he’s loved her all the time, though god knows why because there’s nothing to her except she can bake. That’s literally it 😤

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

The character work in this story is fantastic.

Everything else kinda paled in comparison for me, but the characterization was so well done because the two main characters made me feel so seen in such a revealing way to myself that I genuinely burst into tears at one point because I felt called out in an aggressive but necessary manner.

The relationship was fraught with trauma and depth and feelings and it was messy but beautiful and even though the ending was not my ideal ending (I wanted a little more than Poppy having to make a grand gesture because I think Ryan had it in him to at least become a bit more understanding of Poppy’s need for some time to become accustomed to them as a couple; and I also I am not a big fan of ultimatums in general) - I feel fulfilled.

Which is all I really want from a novel.

So I couldn’t be happier.

[Zee Monodee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly, this one failed to catch me. I love enemies-to-lovers, but one of the biggest pitfalls of this trope is making the hate believable. And this one lacked this. It's hate for hate's sake, it seems, for Poppy, and her constant ruminating about her past and childhood and her mother's abandonment, projecting this same abandonment on her best friend who's getting married and moving away (like how will I survive without her here?) just reeked of victimhood and woe-is-me (the whole I don't love my ex-boyfriend anymore but I want to fall in his arms because it's familiar and all I want is familiar because it's, well, familiar... also felt icky) Then there's the flashback to all the previous weddings - I wasn't hooked by this couple before the first flashback, and they just kept losing me along the way.

[Eline Vree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, it is a great storyline. Mother abandoned daughter Poppy for a career in movie and tv. She leaves her daughter with a childhood trauma; ‘everybody is leaving. What is wrong with me?’. Poppy lives with her grandmother and becomes a people’s pleaser. Then Poppy meets Ryan who is adopted. Obviously, they connect.

Though i like the story and the depth in characters, i rate 3 stars. I think the book could at least be 20% shorter if Poppy wouldn’t be repeating every thought and feeling about 100 times. It was distracting and a little annoying to the point where I thought ‘I get it. You’re abandoned. You’re afraid of connecting’.

I did finish the book. But it wasn’t that moving as I hoped.

[Anne-Marie Howick · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think this is the first book i’ve read where the mmc communicates better than the fmc which i think made me real like ryan and not like poppy bc i find im usually more annoyed at the men in these books but he was putting in so much work and effort just for her to not communicate? like i guess it’s bc of their ✨trauma✨ that he persevered bc he understood what was going on with her and its was annoying bc i could see her line of thinking but GAHHH it was just frustrating at times BUT their relationship makes sense and i think they’ll stick it out

in terms of the actual book, i really enjoyed the pacing & the way it kept looking back to each wedding but i found the sentence structures to be a bit simple/choppy but overall fine to read and was easy to get through/follow

[K Snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other People’s Weddings is an enjoyable book, light and engaging in all the ways you’d want from a contemporary novel about tangled relationships, wedding chaos, and the awkward beauty of human connection. The characters are believable, the writing is accessible, and the pace keeps you turning pages—though not in a heart-pounding way, more like a gentle nudge to see what happens next.

That said, I personally couldn’t get past the name Ryan Clark without mentally reading Rylan Clark every single time—haha! Once that mental switch flipped, I half-expected him to burst into sequins and start commentating on Strictly or hosting a reality show. It definitely added an unintended layer of entertainment for me.

[Zoe Radley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found myself enjoying this book more at the end than I did at the beginning. Not that it was ending but that the characters were working out their feelings for each other and also how their own hurts and fear of falling in love may have affected them. Though I still found the almost constant splurge of words from (only one POV) the MFC a little bit tiring. Don’t get me wrong she does explain the whole backstory but it does get repeated too many times. I think it would have helped if there had been more of Ryan’s side of things as that would have made it more intriguing. I liked it but you do have to push through to get to the end.

[Cay Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Likes the jumping back & forth between timelines, really built up the suspense and made me read quicker.

The main character really did link every single thing to her mum stuff and blamed/excused her current behaviour bc of that instead of trying to address the issues which was frustrating to see her ruin & misinterpret things bc of this. She also made everything about her even at her best friend’s wedding and the speech which is just not great.

Sometimes thought the writing was a bit difficult to understand. Would’ve loved a short chapter from his perspective maybe at the end.

Overall though I really liked the concept and the story, very easy to keep reading and reading.

[Moira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maisey Yates explores the intricacy of a relationship. The love/hate aspect when you know something bothers you when you're around another person and there's animosity in the past. You assume because there's been disappointment and discomfort in the past that its due to animosity, but when truth is revealed it's the complete opposite. The author does an in-depth analysis of the love/ hate relationship and acceptance of what it means for the future.

Although I received a free ARC from Net Galley and the publisher , this honest review is all my own.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Headline and Netgalley for this advanced copy!

I ate this book up on a work trip and really enjoyed it. It was fun and dang Ryan is intense! I think my only critique is the reliance on the fact that both of them felt abandoned as kids (valid), but they brought it up so much that I just kept thinking "stop telling me and start showing me". I didn't need all of the internal monologue about it or the discussion, it started to get to be repetitive. But I loved Poppy and Ryan and was invested in them. I'll definitely read more Maisey Yates!

[Megan Sampson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was conflicted about this one because I liked that it dealt with some complex character issues, but I also can’t stand miscommunication! A lot of romance novels have obvious miscommunication/oblivious characters, but this one had me shaking my head about some of the lack of understanding Poppy was showing about her own life and interactions with Ryan. I did like the flashbacks to the different weddings, but I also think they sometimes felt sudden and disconnected. Overall, I’d say 3 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Headline Eternal for this ARC!

[Mps · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up.
A classic enemies to lovers style romance, and an easy and enjoyable read. There are some time jumps where Poppy recalls events in the past, which helps build the character development (particularly for her and Ryan) and relationships, but they are broken out into separate chapters and it's easy to follow where we are in time. There were a couple decidedly spicy chapters starting at chapter 14, some tension, and some of the normal romance book formulas to follow, but the ending wrapped everything up nicely which is appreciated.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It feels like this book was written using a speech-to-text app. at one point there is even a slip where ‘Ryan’ is written as ‘Orion.’ There is a LOT of repetitive rumination on the main character’s part and it becomes so off-putting that there is very little left in me to root for her to figure things out.
I pictured the love interest as sort of a hotter version of Nick Miller/New Girl. she likes to go on and on about how strikingly strong and attractive he is.
Oh, and the sex scenes were ehhhhh….unoriginal or forced. i don’t know. they just seemed awkward.

[Reading in Brussels · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had my eyes on this book for a long while - my first time reading a Maisey Yates.
While I love the premise, the writing style is a bit choppy for my taste. Many short sentences. Quite repetitive, too. On the other hand, I really liked Poppy and Ryan. I skimmed the parts that weren't working for me to get to their interactions.
I'd still recommend it!

Thank you to Headline for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this was a marvelous book because it asks you to look at how events in your life shape you into the person you become. Poppy does a lot of “soul searching”, trying to understand her childhood trauma and how it has shaped her into who she is today. Ryan is her nemesis…but is he? I enjoyed the book and pretty much read it in just a little over a day…mostly because I had to know how it ended. I always enjoy Maisey Yates stories…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Leana Hodge · Rating 2 out of 5]

The storyline had promise but the writing was just horrible and got worse as the book went on. Sentence fragments some which didn’t even make sense. Also, all the issues Poppy had with her past were dragged on and repeated far too much. I’m fine with the use of the F-word in a book but it seemed it was used without need on occasion and didn’t add to the story.

Sadly I’m now not eager to read more from this author.

[Teresa Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a wedding and the week-long slate of celebrations leading up to it, so there are plenty of adult situations, but no explicit stuff other than some hilarious discussions.. There’s also plenty of ‘adult language’ as well. Happily the humor throughout makes up for it.

I really enjoyed the inner dialogue and the conclusion is radiantly triumphant. That fist pump with a raucous ‘YAS!’ was me.

[Tilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book did its job which was to get me out of my too busy to read reading slump. A really easy one to dip in and out of. However logistically it did not make a huge amount of sense- why would you have a wedding photographer and cake baker travel out of state and stay overnight for your wedding? Surely it would be cheaper to hire workers who lived closer to the venue??? I get when it was their friends but I swear this happened multiple times

[Jennifer Allred · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute book. I loved the flow of the story. Poppy’s character was the only one that was really well developed, which was kind of weird. Ryan went from unapproachable jerk to lovestruck so fast it gives whiplash, but his character didn’t really develop a whole lot. This is more a 3.5 star book for me. There was maybe a little too much delving into childhood trauma which ended up being very repetitive.

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

too many hads, haves, and thats

My gracious so much of this book could be chopped if you removed the hads, haves, and thats. I almost DNF’d it because it was so annoying, but i wanted to find out what happened at the fifth wedding so it kept me going. Poppy also was a little too obtuse and extra for me. Her self-revelations were getting old. The storyline, however, was adorable.