The Bridesmaid

by Hailey Abbott

After years of watching couples come to blows over ice sculptures, Abby wants no part of the family business. She’d rather spend weekends kicking a soccer ball or antagonizing Noah, the cute son of a famous pastry chef–not doing the Electric Slide.

Then Abby’s barely legal sister, Carol, does the unthinkable–she announces she’s getting married and wants Abby to be her maid of honor. Clearly, Carol has lost her mind! Will Abby soon lose hers?

So what if Carol turns into Bridezilla? So what if the dresses are hideous? So what if the invitations get messed up? So what if Noah looks extra hot with frosting in his hair? Abby can handle it. After all, it’s just one day. Right?

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Teen

272 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2005

About the author

Hailey Abbott grew up in Southern California, where she split her time between creative writing and creative beaching. She is the author of Summer Boys, Next Summer: A Summer Boys Novel, The Bridesmaid, Getting Lost with Boys, and The Secrets of Boys. Hailey now lives in New York City.

Her first book was Summer Boys, published in 2004, the first of a series. It was described as "escapist beach reading" by the School Library Journal.

Reviews

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was like breathing fresh air! It is very refreshing to read a Y.A. book that doesn’t make me feel “dirty” because of sex scenes and filthy language. This was really a fun and hilarious read, that I highly recommend! The intended audience is Y.A., but adult readers would enjoy it, also.

Memorable Quotes:
(Pg.121)-“Carol had clearly lost her mind. Had she really just threatened never to speak to Abby again, gotten half-over it a second later, and then a second after that uttered the words “mine, mine, mine”? It was official. The girl was a Bridezilla.”
(Pg.4)-“ Since it was unlikely that all brides were naturally terrible people, Abby knew that meant only one thing- weddings turned ordinary women into Bridezillas.”

[Sasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a story about a girl named Abby who's parents run a catering hall that hosts weddings. She hates weddings, calling most brides "Bridezillas" and she and hersister Carolo make a pact to never get married. After Carol comes home from college with a ring on her finger, things start to go a little crazy. An Italian exchange program, a (maybe) cheating groom, and a possible relationship with a life-long friend.

This book, in my opinion, was not very good. Sure, it had a few jokes, it was easy reading, and it had a light tone, which would appeal to pre-teen girls. But other than to that demographic, it is not something I would recommend. The portrayals of teenagers is all wrong, with one teen character continually saying "yo" after every sentence. No one does that. The main character is also not very likeable. She reacts strangely to everything (Starting a food fight when she's upset with her sister. What the heck?) and is extremely abrasive and untrusting and negative. The book was not interesting in itself, and by the end, I just wanted it to be over. I really just didn't like the book at all.

[Katie (hiding in the pages) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abby's family has always been in the wedding business and she and her older sister, Carol, hate it! They vow to never become brides. When Carol finally graduates from Harvard, Abby is so excited to have her sister back home for the summer, so it can be "us" vs. "them." But Carol has a surprise for the family--she's engaged! Such a cute, funny story about how wedding planning can turn a family inside out. Just a side note---there was swearing in it---a LOT of "goshes" and a few of the other typical ones. If half stars were available, I would have given it 2 1/2 stars, but I rounded up, swearing aside, because I really did enjoy the storyline. I guess I just expect more "standards" out of a young adult novel and swearing drives me crazy.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abby's sister Carol told her she was getting married to some dude named Tucker who hasn't even met Carol's family yet. Her parents are excited though because they are in the wedding buisness and are exstatic to plan their own daughters wedding. Abby though is not excited about the wedding because she hates weddings because people always go over blows about stupid stuff and brides always become bridezilla's. Will Tucker and Carol actually get married? Read this book to find out.

I loved this book it is absolutely my favorite book of all time now. It has romance, sadness, and everything in between.

I would definetly recommend this book it was fabulous but I think it is way more of a girls book.

[Reading Vacation · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED this book! It had so many of my favorite elements – a girlie plot, fun characters, a unique situation, and some romance too. What more could a book-lover ask for?
I liked reading about the process of planning a wedding. I know that I don’t want to turn into a Bridezilla when my wedding comes around. I want to keep a cool head!

[Alexa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had so many issues with this book that it's a wonder I finished it at all.

I understand that the book is intending to make fun of weddings, and of how any bride can end up being a bridezilla. But it just felt a bit forced to me.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

With all of the books I have been reading I am so happy to have read a piece of fluffy, grin ear to ear feel good book. Loved the characters. I connected to all of them. Loved it.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fluffy book aimed at young people in grades 7-10. It is about a girl (16 or 17) named Abby who grows up in the wedding industry – both her parents are wedding planners. As such, she and her older sister Carol (who just graduated from Harvard) make a childhood promise NEVER to get married. This summer, Carol comes home with a fiance and all hell breaks loose. Abby is a good protagonist. She is a tomboy who loves soccer and has a crush on the boy who works in the bakery. She hates weddings with a fiery passion but is a strong believer in love and commitment, holding up her happy, long-married parents as idols. Unfortunately, her parents' marriage starts to crumble rapidly under the pressure of putting together Carol's wedding. Even though a lot of things in this book were unrealistic (everything works out just great for every single character in the end), I found many crumbs of truth in Abby's pessimistic narration. For example: women swearing they will never become a 'Bridezilla' and then ending up freaking out over what color a ribbon is, feeling like love is true and marriage is fake, suddenly understanding how people could act like idiots when you find yourself acting like an idiot when you have your first boyfriend, being surprised that your best friend is marrying a man she only met two months ago, and not picking up on the fact that two of your friends are secretly crushing on each other. Abby, in the end, manages to support her sister without losing her edge (which I appreciated). Overall, this book is very fluffy and fun and predictable.

[Ms. Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read THE BRIDESMAID about five years ago and remembered it as a sweet romance with some funny moments. The library's copy was lost, so when I replaced it, I decided to do a reread.

Abby and her sister, Carol, promised each other as children to never get married. Falling in love was okay, but no wedding. You see, they grew up watching many a bride turn into a Bridezilla through their parents' wedding planning and reception hall business. When Carol comes home from college and announces she's engaged to get married, Abby feels betrayed and wants nothing to do with the wedding planning. Abby watches with disgust as her sister turns into one of those screaming, crazy Bridezillas and her parents argue over planning every aspect of the wedding. No one seems to understand Abby's feelings, including her two best friends and Noah, the son of the cake decorator and her crush.

THE BRIDESMAID was every bit as good as I remembered. Funny scenes give way to moments of angst as the reader gets caught up in Abby's emotions. The romance that develops between Abby and Noah is sweet and I like how they don't let their tiff blow up to a huge misunderstanding. Less drama is better. (Especially since it's not needed with all the wedding drama in the background.) The story is capped off with an expected, but still humorous, ending to the farce.

Romance fans will be delighted with THE BRIDESMAID, an entertaining romp.

[Emily Eastman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really cute just... not realalistic AT ALL!!! I mean really... I don't want to give anything away but it really was so unrealistic it was almost silly.
Alright first off in this book I find the main character Abby totally unrelatable. She seems to me ditsy. Yes it is great that she decides to really pitch in and help her sister Carol who turns out to be a complete bridezilla but everything that comes out of her mouth seems to be over the top. Like, for example, who yells at there parents to stop fighting ever... no one.
Secondly I feel like I don't really like any of the characters. Ok Carol goes from this totally sweet girl to bridezilla right but it's very unbelievable that a person who's so kind can go to the extreme highs and lows that Carol goes to. One minute she's yellimng at Abby saying she's the worst bridesmaid ever the next she's saying she completely understands Abby's feelings. I mean what's up with that? Then Christopher is WAY over the top! Teenager do NOT end every sentence with yo. Even gangster teenagers don't do that. I mean where did that come from. Yo means hello so if you're ending every sentence in yo you're ending every sentence in hello.
I did find this book sweet with it's adorable happy ending but it still in my opnion needs some work but overall a good job!

[Marj · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book should be called Maid of Honor because Abby was not the bridesmaid. she is 16 years old so understandably she was sometimes immature, a bit selfish and naive. i was doubtful if the wedding would really push through because i thought her sister was awfully young to get married and was Abby the only sane person to think that they might be making a mistake? i would assume that any person would go ballistic if they find out their daughter/son is getting married to someone they have only met for a few months, especially when they just graduated from college so i thought abby's parents agreeing immediately to the nuptials was not logical. i liked the ending though, i thought it was a fitting resolution to the story.

i like noah but i never really understand why he liked Abby - yes they were good friends for so long but he never made any moves on her at all during the story so noah and abby suddenly getting together in the middle was a bit rushed.

i liked how the author slowly developed abby's character from being a i-hate-brides-and-weddings to liking weddings. but i just have to say - just because a bride and groom wants their wedding to be perfect does not mean they are shallow (like what abby initially thought) though i agree that bridezillas and monster mother of the brides are kinda scary.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good chick lit, this time exchanging the angle of another religion for the discomfort of love triangles and soap operatic entanglements. Notice how I always call these good chick lit, not good books. The genre itself, in my mind, prevents that, because a good novel that is chick lit will have something not chick lit-y that overwhelms the female drama and sugary romances, like how in Pride and Prejudice we have brilliant characters to follow around.
Weddings! There's not much else to say about that.
Why is it that going away to college is so all-fired important that marriage has to wait? Seriously, people.
The love triangle is a love triangle. I don't care for it.
Complete, unpretentious, fluff. If that appeals to you, go for it and more power to you. I'm just glad the chick lit is gone for now.

[Kami · Rating 2 out of 5]

- I can see my sister and I promising each other we were never going to get married!! ha ha!

- Abby is pretty annoying. She is really selfish and ornery. She doesn't quite think things through.

- Seems like the time period is in the early 90s.

- Carol is super inconsiderate of Abby. I would freak out if my sister changed my computer preferences and took over my room.

- This book reminds me of how painful it is to plan a wedding. Seriously, engagements and planning a wedding sucks!! I wish I had eloped.

- I didn't like the use of the Lord's name throughout the book. It is the only swear word used, and it could have been left out.

- Abby assumes WAY too much. She needs to chill!!

- The ending is kinda sweet. Everything turns out alright, but the it sure takes a while for everyone to be happy.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Abbey had me in stiches and sometimes in tears. I totally understood Abbey's feelings of abandanment by her older sister. The extra added twist to the bridesmaid story is that the parents have there own "wedding business". They deal with brides, parents of the brides and all the craziness that goes with wedding planning. Then they have to deal with there oldest daughter getting married suddenly. The whole situation makes for a very amusing story. Add to that the fact that Abbey hates weddings yet now has to plan one, makes the book very funny. A well told story from a young ladies point of view.

[Su · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this! This is the first book I've ever read of Hailey Abbott and I didn't know what I was supposed to expect at first. So I didn't have my hopes up. When I started reading the first few chapters, I have imagined a different ending. But it wasn't something I expected; it took me by surprise and I loved it. I was moved and I think it even got me to tear up a little bit. Family, sisterhood, friendship, love, romance, dramas; everything is mixed up in this one little book. It surely was fun to read and if that's what you're looking for, I say... go for it.

[Shaima · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't feel good about leaving a one star with no comment. It feels very inconsiderate. Unless it was Twilight then whatever.
So, I picked up this book because a) I have been dealing with the same drama the main character was going through and b) I thought Hailey Abbott was Rachel Hawthorne who wrote the cute and fun book "Thrill Ride". As it turned out, not all fluffy books are of the same darn feather, so to speak.

This book was the cheesecake factory of cheesy moments and unnecessary wordings that my writing teacher doesn't approve of.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about abby whose parents are wedding planners which makes her whole life revolve around weddings so Abby and her sister Carol make a decsion never to marry or become a bridzilla ,but to then Carol shows up and shes getting married. This book deals with Abby feeling like shes going to lose her sister and Abby might end up getting to a relationship too. I just love this book ,but it's hard to find a book that I don't like.

[Whitney Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book because it was sooo much simalar to my favorite movie. Her sister's getting maried. she has to be the bridesmaid. she does everything. she falls in love. sam thing hahah and thats i why i love it and yes i would recomend this book to anyone who has seen 27dresses or that just loves a typeish love story.

[Tarynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. It was really wedding obsessed, so I had a hard time reading some of it. But as an altogether story it was awesome. I loved the character Noah, just the way he acted and his whole persona was totally real and fun to read. Thank you Kelly Sprecker for recommending this book to me =]

[Abby Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book. Everything every character did was so freaking annoying. This might be a fun read for a fourth grader, but as a 13-year-old I dreaded this book. Almost everything was predictable, and what wasn't I didn't care about anyway. I would not recommend this book.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

my favorite part of this book is the cake fighting scene. when she shoves the cake in his face and he retaliates. i just thought that part was so adorable. :)

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review: https://hiplibrariansbookblog.com/200...

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

really cute. kinda long at some parts but i loved the ending. i'm a total sucker for those of the happy kind. i wish i had a noah, in italy with my friends. minus the soccer. lol

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Onvan : The Bridesmaid - Nevisande : Hailey Abbott - ISBN : 385732201 - ISBN13 : 9780385732208 - Dar 272 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2005

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book like 10 times in middle school and probably at least five times since then. And I'm pretty sure I'm the only one lol

"Weddings turned ordinary women into bridezillas" this is a tween book but there's definitely an underlying commentary on wedding culture and the pressure that is put primarily on women to plan them

"Everyone except Abby" lusting after Christopher does in fact include delila

Sometimes a family is two girls (Abby & delila) and the boy they boss around (christopher) delila tells him to do the assignment for all three of them and he just does it. Me when a bad bitch tells me to do something

I know tucker turns out to be a good guy but there are so many red flags and Abby clocks them all immediately and she's the only one
They've only been dating TWO months! And they're planning for an August wedding and it's almost June. What's the rush? I'm surprised no one asked if she was pregnant
He hasn't met her family and I bet she hasn't met his. And it's not like she was far away from her family to be able to bring him home. Was she even serious about him before he proposed?
She is a Harvard graduate and she DECLINED her internship to focus on planning the wedding. Girl STAND UP. and Tucker got his masters in education so he can work pretty much anywhere so WHY would they move to Colorado when carol has a job offer in Boston

Abby's feelings of abandonment are a huge theme in this book. "I thought I was getting you back...and now you're leaving me" I've felt this before. I had all these dreams about the two of us taking on the world together and you all but abandon me for a guy you met a week ago. Abby is mourning the future she thought she would have as well as the past she didn't know was gone

It's one thing to use Abby's computer but to CHANGE her desktop photo and DELETE it?! Abby's crash out is totally valid

The call from Margery should've clued Abby in that there had to be another explanation about Tucker because two affairs is insane

How did it take carol and Tucker two months to realize they could have a long engagement but a 15 year old was able to clock it immediately.

[Elynn Downing · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is definitely way more interesting than it sounds. I thought it was about how a Bridesmaid would be helping her bride all the time. Technically yes, it is what it's about but when you read it you almost forget that there is actually a wedding. I really enjoyed how it ended. It was not what I was expecting but I think it was better than what I thought it was gonna be.
The Bridesmaid gets a 4 because it really got me excited to open the book. The only reason why it isn't a 5 is because the beginning was boring. After reading the first 3 chapters I thought about changing my book but I decided to keep it. There were definitely lots of good parts about the book as well. I liked how there were always more problems. It was like the author wanted to give me reasons to keep reading. The girl in the book also gave some good lessons, not on purpose. Overall it was an easy book to understand. Most of the time, I could keep up with everything that was happening. The characters felt very real to me. The author brought the book to life. It was easier to do because me and Abby ( the main character in the book) were the same age. Some parts of the book made me laugh out loud. I usually don't do that when it comes to books. The book moved fast but I liked it like that because it would keep me focused. It also made me realize how crazy planning a wedding actually is.
The ending was definitely not what I thought but I liked it a lot better. This book had me turning pages so fast. I recommend it to people who like romantic and action books. If you really like nonfiction books I would stay away from this book. This is realistic fiction but has no real facts. Overall this was an awesome book and I think a lot of people would like it.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of the dumbest cheesiest books I’ve ever read. Guess I should’ve expected that from hailey Abbott. The only reason I gave it more than one star is for some reason it still had me giving a crap about what was going to happen. Pretty sure I hated all the characters. They were all vapid. They all acted the ways they said they didn’t want to be. I couldn’t stand Abby. She was a huge baby. And carol was the definition of a selfish wedding obsessed bride. Tucker was basically unnecessary. He could’ve never been introduced the story could’ve carried along fine. Noah was immature and the romance angle of that was just undeveloped and boring. Couldn’t stand Christopher and the way he talked. I guess delila was ok but I wasn’t sure why they had to throw the Christopher angle in there at all. I think the only characters I understood at all were Abby’s parents. Their actions made some sense. It was a bit ridiculous how mad at each other they were and how easily they made up. And why would all the guests that were there for carol want to stay there for the vow renewal of two other people. And how could t be so perfect for her parents when all their own friends and family weren’t there and all these fandoms were. And it was just all together too long. So much unnecessary stuff and weird breaks in the middle of the chapters I really wasn’t a fan of either. If you’re a hailey Abbott fan you’ll love this. If you dislike her probably shouldn’t waste your time.

[Robin Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute, easy story about a teen whose older sister decided to get married, even though the two girls had made a pact years ago that they would remain single. The teen doesn't just oppose the marriage; she fears that her sister is becoming yet another "bridezilla" - their term for a prospective bride who goes bonkers and makes all kinds of unreasonable demands as far as wedding arrangements. The teen views her sister's fiancé with complete suspicion as well. Family friction and stress ensue, but so does comedy. I do wish there would be more consequences stemming from the teen's anger and feelings of betrayal and the sister's likely resentment -- it could take some work for the sisters to get past all that -- but I guess that would make it a more serious story. It does have a few mildly mature themes, but nothing a preteen couldn't handle IMO.

[Claire Hay · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very mediocre book for me and I think I would have liked it more if I was younger. Although the main character is only a year younger then me she really doesn’t act like it, she is kind of whiny and over reacts a lot. She also makes some really dumb choices. A lot of the interactions in the book seem really awkward and not super realistic. The one friend who says yo all the time drives me crazy. Honestly the only character I really liked was Noah. Overall this book is good had an interesting concept I just think the characters were excited badly.

[Yukiraking · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was light, fluffy and fun. I read it in just a couple of hours, and I couldn't put it down. I just wanted to know how everything was going to turn out! This was my illustrated cover pick for the contemporary-a-thon, and it's been on my shelf for six or so years. I could never bring myself to part with it (a book about the daughter of wedding decorators/planners, when my job for a decade and a half was to decorate weddings and deal with brides and their mothers). I'm incredibly glad that I got around to reading this.