Title: Save the Date
Author: Mallory Kass
Publisher: Atria
Publication Date: 2026
Save the Date is a stand-alone romance novel by Mallory Kass, who also publishes under the name Kass Morgan.
The day before Marigold’s luxurious wedding on Sandpiper Island she learns she is still married to the man she eloped with years before. Determined to keep the truth from her family, she secretly flies to Canada for a divorce. But can she make it back in time? Maid of Honour Natalie is left to sort out the mess created by Marigold’s absence – a task not helped by her years-long crush on the groom. Over the wedding weekend Marigold’s older sister Olivia is determined to rekindle things with her one-time lover…only he has arrived with a very beautiful plus one. To make him jealous she enters into a fake relationship with groomsman Zach much to the confusion of the guests.
I don’t read a lot of pure romance so I wanted to challenge myself by stepping outside of my normal reading comfort zone. The plot of Save the Date sounded fun so I was excited to give it a try.
Marigold, Natalie and Olivia are the three point of view characters. Each of them felt very three dimensional and each one develops over the course of the novel.
At first I thought Marigold might a stereotypical silly influencer but we see how much she cares about everyone and how much she wants to prove that she can sort problems out on her own without relying on her family for help. Natalie is poorer than most of the wedding attendees which makes her anxious but she learns to grow in confidence as the story progresses. Finally Olivia comes across as very entitled and full of herself in her early chapters. Then the masks slips and we realise she is just projecting what she wants people to see because she doesn’t want to give into her emotions and fears.
I do have to give the novel one criticism, or rather request. Because Save the Date is set at a wedding there are naturally a large number of secondary characters. In the earlier chapters I did get confused by the volume of names the story was introducing and who was connected to who. A character guide (or guest list to keep with the theme of the story) at the beginning of the novel would have been very helpful to refer to as new characters were introduced.
Save the Date is a strong character-driven story that provided me with everything I was hoping for in a romance novel. A mix of ‘will they/won’t they’ and ‘falling in love with the wrong people’, for a story set over 2-3 days it certainly manages to fit in a lot of drama. That being said, the story never feels rushed or padded out. Overall, a great read!
An Advanced Reader Copy of ‘Save the Date’ were kindly provided by Wunderkind PR. For more information check out their website.
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