Zoey Marks is a free spirit. She realized young that she was not like those around her. She didn’t care about making people uncomfortable, as long as she was true to herself. She wasn’t willing to compromise her own happiness for someone else. And she didn’t want to be tied down.

The first time a friend asked Zoey to be a bridesmaid, the fact that the bride didn’t make it down the aisle wasn’t entirely her fault. Anyone could have opened the door to the closet where the groom was hooking up with someone else. The second time, it wasn’t Zoey’s fault that the bride was reminded right before the wedding of the woman she fell in love with during college and left her groom alone at the altar. But when the third time happened, and Zoey had been torn between talking to the bride about her cold feet or following the instructions of the wedding planner and heading down the aisle herself, Zoey worried during her whole trip down the aisle. And when she got down there, and the bride did not, she felt like she was cursed.

And when it came to her own relationships? She was honest with her boyfriends from the start. She wasn’t looking for forever. And as soon as they got too serious, she would remind them that she had been honest and left them behind. It wasn’t her fault that they didn’t believe her. And then she met Rylan.

Rylan was the cousin of her lifelong best friend Hannah, and as soon as Zoey saw him, she was done for. He was gorgeous and perfect, and he was as crazy about her as she was about him. Zoey didn’t know that love like that existed, and she lost herself in it. They dated, and then they moved in together, and then Rylan proposed. And Zoey, try as hard as she might, just couldn’t say yes. They slit up, and Zoey’s heartbreak was devastating.

Three months later, when Hannah is preparing to get married to Graham, a man she’d met just six months earlier, Zoey is once again asked to be a bridesmaid. Zoey is worried that her curse will cause Hannah’s wedding to be ruined too, but she still has to be there for her best friend. And when Zoey finds out that Rylan will be there too, with his new girlfriend, Zoey is convinced that she has to change. If she can just get Hannah down the aisle, than she can believe in marriage. She can believe that she isn’t cursed. And she can finally say yes to Rylan, if it isn’t too late.

But getting Hannah down the aisle won’t be so easy. It turns out that she has a big secret that she’s keeping from Graham. And he has a brother, Ezra, recently divorced, who is desperate to keep him from getting to the altar with a woman he’s only known for six months. But Rylan is there, and seeing him again keeps Zoey looking toward the prize. If she can get Hannah married, then she can believe in marriage and say yes to Rylan. It’s all on her shoulders. And it all goes wrong.

Bad News Bridesmaid is the debut novel of Hollywood writer Alison Rose Greenberg, and it is packed with great scenes. The story is complex, and the dialogue zings, just like you’d expect from an experienced screenwriter, but the true power of this novel is the characters. Zoey especially is a complicated woman, successful in business and incredibly confident but still struggling to find her place in a society that gives women such specific rules to live by. Her struggles are real and honest, and I think all women can find themselves somewhere in her doubts and strengths.

I loved this novel, but I’m not sure the cover does it many favors. I saw the cover and title and immediately thought that this would be a fun romantic comedy. It is, but the heart of this novel is so much more. This is the story of one woman’s self-realizations, of her journey to find her forever person and all the pain and heartache that comes into her life and the lives of those around her because of it. There is a genuine depth to this story, and to the character of Zoey, that makes Bad Luck Bridesmaid a powerful story that is so much more than a simple romance. It’s definitely worth your time, but keep your tissues handy. And cue up your favorite female power ballads to dance it out with Zoey and Hannah.

Egalleys for Bad Luck Bridesmaid were provided by St. Martin’s Griffin through NetGalley, with many thanks.