Review: 'Don't Tell the Brides-To-Be' by Anna Bell (2015)

With a baby on the way and her business starting to boom, has Penny finally found her happily ever after? 
Things are looking up for Penny Robinson. She's kicked her gambling addiction and even started her own business: Princess on a Shoestring, an all-inclusive service for brides-to-be looking to pinch pennies on their big day. Between family fights and wardrobe calamities, wedding planning is no piece of cake, but Penny's got it all under control. That is, until a rival planner decides to take her down—one hard-won bride at a time. Now Penny must fight to save her reputation and her livelihood before it's too late. But when a romantic weekend away has some unexpected consequences, Penny's expectations for her career are brought back down to earth with a bump.
The past week I’ve been busy reading Anna Bell’s successful ‘Don’t Tell...’ book series, which consists of ‘Don’t Tell the Groom’, ‘Don’t Tell the Boss’, and the most recent third instalment ‘Don’t Tell the Brides-To-Be.’ I was lucky enough to have received a review copy of the last title, which was released by Quercus on the 12th of February. I already had the two other parts of the series waiting for me on my bookshelf, and decided to read the entire series in one go! Today, I’m really excited to share my review of ‘Don’t Tell the Brides-To-Be’ with you, the latest part of the series and a read which you definitely don’t want to miss out on if you enjoy chick lit as much as I do!
Penny Robinson has finally found the courage to take the big leap and start her own wedding planning business called ‘Princess on a Shoestring.’ After the success of her blog with the same name, Penny soon finds herself with enough brides-to-be who want her help to organise their own budget weddings. Of course this includes the occasional bridezilla and emergency moments, but Penny is so passionate about her job she is ready to deal with it all. Until a rival wedding planner named Georgina Peasbody, who works in the same area, decides there is only place for one of them and she’s not going down without a dirty fight. Penny has to give it her everything to keep her business going, but when another unexpected bump in the road makes things even more complicated, Penny starts to doubt whether she is really meant to be a wedding planner.
There are certain book series which I can’t get enough of and if it was up to me, there would be at least 36 parts of the series to keep us entertained and up-to-date with all the characters. This certainly goes for Anna Bell’s book series, because ‘Don’t Tell the Brides-To-Be’ is a fantastic third part of this series starring Penny Robinson as the leading lady. Penny is a simply wonderful heroine; she’s spontaneous, naive, funny, incredibly passionate and I think many readers will be able to relate to her one way or another. I loved seeing how Penny tries to build up her own wedding planning business, especially after all she has been through in the first and second book of the series, and all the wedding elements in the book were simply great (I really wish Penny would be available to plan my own wedding someday!). Next to Penny, many other familiar faces make an appearance and together make up a thoroughly entertaining cast of characters, including Penny’s husband Mark, her best friend Lou, and all the brides-to-be who have their own story to tell. Another thing which I really liked about the novel are the Twitter messages/conversations each chapter starts with; this really added something fun to the story.
Sometimes, a sequel or a third part of a series can feel a bit pushed, but that is not the case with this book. The story flowed naturally and I honestly couldn’t wait to read more about Penny’s adventures and I think there are still many more tales to tell featuring these characters (fingers crossed!). I personally read this book straight after the other two parts of the series, which worked really well for me because I knew all the details and character backgrounds, but I think the novel can also be read as a stand-alone because the necessary facts are given. Overall, ‘Don’t Tell the Brides-To-Be’ is an incredibly fun, feel-good, light-hearted romantic comedy which I simply couldn’t get enough of. Anna Bell is slowly becoming one of my favourite authors and I’m keeping both fingers and toes crossed for a fourth Penny novel!

Rating:10/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.