Book Review: "Other People's Weddings" by Maisey Yates

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.