BOOK REVIEW: The Stand-Up Groomsman

The Stand-Up Groomsman by Jackie Lau
Publication Date: October 25, 2022

Hope you all enjoyed our Romance Week posts! If you missed any you can check them out (and past year’s) here. Since I basically only read romance now, I am continuing with another romance novel I read earlier this year and loved.

This book is technically book two in a “series”, but I did not read the first one and it was fine. 

I picked this one up after hearing Hannah from the Romance Your TBR Podcast mention it a few times and since I had the audiobook from PRH Audio (thank you; all thoughts are my own) I figured I would give the audio a try and I was instantly hooked. 

The way this book has a 3.59 on Goodreads is a CRIME because I personally think it is a very good book!!  

Plot: Vivian and Mel have a less than stellar first meeting. Despite the fact that Vivian has been a fan of Mel’s comedy for years their personalities do not mesh. But, thanks to the fact they are in the same wedding party, they keep seeing each other and slowly start to warm to each other. 

WHAT I LOVED 

• I loved both the main characters so much. 
• Vivian is the ice queen of my heart (could relate to her a lot lol)
• And Mel is a short king who uses comedy to cope with life and loves chaos 
• The whole “we are in the same wedding party” trope is excellent and done so well here
• We see them meet in the prologue (or chapter 1? I don’t remember) but then the book takes place over quite a long time period and I liked seeing the slow progression of their relationship. With opposites attract/poor first impression, I think this is necessary since Mel and Vivian are very different. 
• I loved Mel’s brand of chaos and how he keeps buying random stuff. A man after my own heart!! 
• Vivian fiercely keeping her art has a hobby was refreshing to see. She doesn’t want her passion to become stressful and I respect that! 
• Both of them are bisexual!! And it is casually interwoven into the book in such a lovely way. 
• I just love a book where a character does not feel worthy of love falls in love 
• Mel’s family was wonderful
  • A meddling grandma is always a win for me
• The texting!! They are in a long distance relationship for a part of this book and I actually really loved reading it. 

WHAT I DID NOT LOVE  

• The timeline was a tad hard to follow for me
• The third act break up was too late for me!! It needed to happen because of the emotions/conflict, but like there was only an hour of my audiobook left!! 
  • and they got back together too quickly
  • ONLY COMPLAINT THOUGH

5/5 stars

TW: biphobia (via internet trolls), strained relationship with father (Mel’s parents divorced when he came out)
CW: Vivian basically raised her siblings and her parents do not appreciate it

Thanks for reading!

xoxo, Tree