Narration: 5 Stars
Story: 4 Stars

If you're looking for something short & sweet with a dash of spice, you've got to give Sydney Smyth's Bridesmates a listen - this was so cute!

Smyth is a new author to me, it looks like she writes MM romances exclusively for Audible Originals, but I really enjoyed her writing style, it reminded me of some of my favorites (Annabeth Albert, Saxon James) - breezy, filled with entertaining banter, & our MCs Cooper & Will had great chemistry, which is always a make or break for me when it comes to romance. I do have a little critique, though - this was a 5⭐️ listen for me until the end, when it took a turn & got entirely too insta-lovey for my personal taste. Everything just happened a little too fast, if this would've gotten another hour & we were given a little more backstory between Cooper & Will as teenagers & a bit more conclusion prior to the epilogue, this truly would've been a perfect novella

Spoiler

Insta-love is probably my least-favorite trope; the locker room scene between Cooper & Will was everything, but I don't think enough was given to us for the listeners to be like "oh, okay, that ONE interaction between them led to Cooper being irrevocably in love with Will for over a decade, makes sense" - I personally needed more, especially given how it went from love to engagement real fast.

; however, I'd still highly recommend giving this a listen, especially for Teddy Hamilton! I know he's big in the romance audiobook world, but this was my first time listening to anything he's narrated & I'm an instant fan, his performance was both comedic & heartfelt, & he has an incredible voice! I normally get pretty uncomfortable listening to sex scenes being read to me, but I wasn't mad at it, lol!

All in all this was a quick, fun listen, & I'm really looking forward to diving into Smyth's other originals - & I'll listen to anything Teddy Hamilton narrates! Another win from Audible Originals!