First Bride to Fall by Ginny Baird – Book Review

A huge thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of First Bride to Fall by Ginny Baird in exchange for an honest review.

What It Is About

Heard about the deal. We’re in!
Will let you know who in 30 days.
50-50 share after five years.
No fringe benefits.
Misty, Charlotte, and Nell

Marriage of convenience is hardly anyone’s dream, but it might be the only way for Nell Delaney’s family to keep their coffee shop. So Nell and her two sisters strike a deal – whichever one of them fails to find love in thirty days will marry Aiden, the son of the man who swindled their father.

Nell already has a perfect guy in mind. She’s been in love with Grant Williams for as long as she can remember and she owes it to herself to finally tell him how she feels.

Even if he is the most outdoorsy guy she knows, and she is, well – not. But she can pretend she likes his favorite thing until they get to know each other. What could possibly go wrong?

Grant is not quite sure why would Nell need an adventure guide when she’s clearly not into hiking at all. But she sure is adorable. And he doesn’t mind spending time with her.

At least until he overhears a rumor that the Delaney sisters are in urgent need of husbands. Well, that explains why Nell is suddenly all over him, but he won’t be conned into a marriage. No matter what it takes.

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Read it if you like:

• • dual POV
  • cute, lighthearted & fun romance
  • wedding fever LOL
  • September-in-a-cabin vibes
  • sisterly bonds
  • clumsy heroin and outdoorsy hero
  •  waterfalls and rainbows
  • I’ll die before losing to you!
    

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First Bride to Fall by Ginny Baird – My Review

Nell’s pulse raced because she’d seen that funny look on her mom’s face before. […] Please don’t let it be about a guy. Please, please, please. Please.

First Bride to Fall by Ginny Baird came to me at such a perfect moment. I was in the mood for a cute, fun, sassy, lighthearted romance, and that was exactly what I got. And you can tell from my rating how much I enjoyed it.

The moment I read the blurb, I knew this was going to be a perfect book for me. The premise was adorable. So much potential both for cutesy moments and for things to go down spectacularly.

I mean, sure, it wasn’t the most plausible plot. To find a fiancée in 30 days or less – no pressure! The romance had to be at least a bit insta-lovey. And you have to suspend your disbelief in quite a few instances.

But the good news is – if you are not in the mood to just go with everything, at least you’ll know straight from the blurb that this book won’t be for you. With First Bride to Fall, you get exactly what was advertised, and you get it done pretty well.

“How about we make a deal? Whichever one of us has not found true love by September thirtieth […] And become publicly engaged […]  she’ll be the one to bite the bullet and marry Aidan.”

There were many things I loved about this book. It was well written, with good flow, great dialogue, and it was full of fun and flirty banter. Plus, it had a strong Hallmark movie turned into How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days vibes.

First Bride to Fall was set in September, that sweet spot when the hot summer slowly starts to retreat and autumn begins to paint its magic.

The setting was pitch-perfect Hallmarkian. Small coastal town, a family coffee shop, a cabin in the woods and a promise of spending time outdoors… Perfection.

And the plot was just chef’s kisses. Cute and adorable. Charming, hilarious, heartwarming and very entertaining.

To get engaged in a month? Even though you are not even dating anyone? Otherwise, you have to marry this guy you don’t even know but whom you’ve been quietly hating since his father swindled yours?

The whole time you can just hear the clock ticking in the background and feel the potential disaster lurking around the corner.

Operation First Bride was in full play.
Only it wasn’t exactly working out swimmingly.
It was more like she was drowning in it.

But Nell does have someone she likes, and for better or worse she decides to give herself one last chance to be happy with the guy.

I actually really liked the romance. I loved how both honest and fun it felt. And how stubborn and hilarious, but also affectionate they both were.

The fact that Nell was in love with Grant for so long took out some of the insta love, which was nice. And I thought she was adorable, trying to get him to notice her by yanking herself out of her comfort zone.

Nell was a great protagonist. Sweet and caring, reliable, a bit shy at times, but also quirky, strong and full of surprises.

And Grunt was also a really nice guy. Very the guy next door type. For the first time ever he paid attention to this girl who’s been around since forever. And he liked how adorably clumsy but determined she was.

The way he felt when he heard about the deal the sisters made was so relatable. What he decided to do with that was a bit farfetched, but it made for a great rom-com.

This was so not the fun adventure she’d anticipated. If she didn’t risk the climb down, though, she’d wind up dying up here anyway. Single and unloved. At least she wouldn’t have to marry Aidan then.

I usually hate misunderstandings with my whole heart. In this book, you can see that part coming from the description, and I awaited it with quite a bit of dread.

But it all went down much better than I expected. It came as close as possible to the infamous misunderstanding trope without it actually being a misunderstanding, and I guess that’s why it worked so well.

Unlike most times, what happened weirdly kind of made sense. And also, it was done quite well.

I loved that they both were more or less in on it. So the whole thing only added another layer to the plot that already had quite a bit going on and made everything even more entertaining.

The ending was the biggest cliché (like the biggest one), but also kind of perfect for this story.

This book felt like a box of chocolate on Valentine’s Day. Maybe a bit too much for every day, but when the moment is right, there’s nothing I’d want more.

Although it was true she didn’t spend huge amounts of time outdoors doing adventuresome stuff, she’d always admired those who did. She was also very good at being green.
Hey. She recycled.

Another one of my favorite moments this book offered was the sisterly bond. They knew one of them had to take one for the family. But you could see how much they wished that happy ending for each other just as much as for themselves.

I assume we’ll get the other two sisters’ stories in the rest of the Majestic Maine series. I also can assume how one of those stories will go down, and I’m all here for it.

In fact, I can’t wait to read Misty and Charlotte’s stories. I hope I’ll get to listen to them as audiobooks, especially if the narrator is the same. The narrator for First Bride to Fall was Rachel Leblang, and she did an amazing job.