You May Now Kill The Bride by Kate Weston
You May Now Kill The Bride is a mystery thriller following a group of friends, Lauren, Saskia, Dominica, Farah and Tansy, who have been best friends since they were in nursery. Tansy is about to get married, and the girls get together for her spiritual hen party in the woods. They enter the woods together, but they don’t leave together. Tansy stays behind after choking on a drink that contained peach, which she was allergic to. It couldn’t be murder, right? Just one of Tansy’s allergies. However, come Farah’s hen do not long after, and another hen dies. Hen do 2.0 for Farah, and there is another body. The group now suspect it is one of their own doing the killing. But who is it and why? Will Farah manage to walk down the aisle? And what happened twenty years ago, that they have all been keeping secret?
I know your secret, and I’ll tell your fiancé unless you follow my instructions. Do everything I say, and he never needs to know.
⚫️Murder Mystery ⚫️Whodunnit ⚫️Bridesmaids meets how to kill your family ⚫️Bound by a secret ⚫️Hen Party madness
This book had a good pace; it neither dragged nor seemed rushed. There was an anonymous text sent to the bride-to-be, blackmailing her, by the end of chapter one. So it got straight into the story, which I liked. The book was also split between the present and the past; the chapters from the past started from when the girls first met, up to more recent events that had happened. I liked the way this was done, as you got an even better understanding of how the group was so integrated in each other’s lives, and also got a better understanding of each character.
Not one of these women is without secrets; it’s just that some secrets are worse than others. Not all the hens went to the party to have a good time.
I would say that this book was a mixture of plot and character-driven. Speaking of the characters, there is Lauren, who is seen as the more sensitive one of the group. Saskia, who is the bossy one, always wants it her way, one of the group. Also, I had never heard of the name Saskia until recently and now 3 books I’ve read have had that name in them! Mental. Tansy, who is the spiritual one, is seen as the ditzy one of the group. Farah, who is slightly spoilt and a huge bridezilla, and Dominica, who is the strong one and takes care of the others. I enjoyed the characters, and their personalities worked well within the group. They all had things they disliked about one another, but the love they had for each other overshadowed that. Their love and the shared secret that they all had. I wasn’t surprised by who the killer turned out to be. I was guessing for a little while, but I had it pretty much figured out before the reveal.
I liked the whole hen party, bodies dropping idea. The book is set in England, mainly London, but they do go to Blackpool for one hen do, and then Scotland for the last wedding. The author did a good job with the setting and the way the people were killed. I would have liked a few more twists and turns, but it was enjoyable. The characters all had their shared secret, but they also all had secrets of their own, which was a nice touch. I bought this book last year, a couple of months before my hen do and wedding, and I am quite glad I didn’t read it back when I bought it. I might have been side-eyeing my bridesmaids 😂
I bet you thought you’d got away with what you did to Tansy. I’ve got one hell of a wedding gift for you, sweetie. I’ll let you know when it’s ready. Kisses.
I quite enjoyed the writing style. I started it on the 21st and read about 40% I picked it back up the day after to read a couple of chapters before my husband and I went to watch the Ice Hockey match (we won, Manchester Storm beat Cardiff Devils! 😀). I thought I would read a couple of chapters, and I was engrossed and finished the book. So yeah, I liked Kate’s writing style and would buy a book by her again.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat reading it, but there was some funny banter, murders and a bridezilla, what’s not to enjoy? I’ve read better mystery thrillers, but I’ve also read a lot, lot worse.
Do I recommend you read it? Yeah, if you like a light-hearted murder mystery book, then you may enjoy this.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
