4 STARS

Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy!

Best Man was unexpectedly enjoyable. I spent the first half of the book thinking I would rate it three stars; it was light and endearing enough, but the characters felt oddly formal and I wasn't banking on much from the opening. But the book subverted my expectations by far and I ended up falling in love with it. I'm in a total book hangover right now, that last chapter alone left me dazed...and grinning like an idiot, pumping my fists in the air and doing a little happy dance in my bed.

So, without giving too much away, Best Man reminds me of BoJack Horseman, one of my favourite shows in the world. Well, it reminds me of BoJack minus the Hollywood stuff and the anthropomorphic animal aspect of it all. Both of them are about a group of peers in their thirties and forties who are tangled up in regrets, bad habits, and emotional trauma, and who are trying to be adults even though we all know that's an impossible job most of the time, and almost all of us are just faking it really well. Julio, Jonathan, Marcus, and Frank, were all oddly endearing, and it was falling in love with them in all their messiness and immaturity that made me really love the book.

Although I spent most of the time ranting at them as they did stupid, stupid shit and refused to just communicate. Let me be clear. These characters? They're like your drunk friend at a party after a bad breakup. You know she'll get back together with her boyfriend in a 3-5 business days, and you're trying to stop her from fucking every random old man at the bar out of jealousy and emotional spite so she won't regret it in the morning. You're playing fairy godmother. But there is something delicious about watching other people act like as big of, if not more of, a wreck than you are.

That said, at the end of it I felt sympathy for all of them, despite Jonathon and Marcus stewing in self-pity and not breaking out of a toxic cycle. I genuinely want another book following them, or at least Jonathon. I'd love for this to become a series, because it's ripe with storytelling opportunities. I want like four or five books, maybe even six, of just Frank and Julio and everyone around them being friends with complicated morally grey relationships, maturing and growing up. I mostly just want to watch their lives develop.

Again, this reminded me of BoJack. I think it would make a great season of TV especially as a Netflix special. And I'm pretty sure it's self-pubbed, too. Netflix or some other company should start investing in self-published books. I'd love a streaming service like Netflix but they produce shows and miniseries based off of self-published books. I think that gimmick would draw in a lot of people, especially the YouTube reaction crowd.

And then there's the cute factor, because damn, is it cute. I don't want to spoil too much, but god, I ship it. I ship it a million times over. The main romance doesn't come into play until late in the game, but before it blossoms you get to see Frank and his endgame really bond and develop into friends and teammates who respect each other BEFORE they turn romantic, it makes you much more invested because you cared about them already, so the romance does feel like it ups the stakes and increases the risk.

I found myself wishing for a few more chapters tacked on the end that were just cute fluff; I wanted to see the endgame couple move in to their new apartment together and adopt some cats and do cute couple stuff, you know?

Anyway, I'll be investing in a paperback of this as soon as possible, because I need it. Definitely recommend!

Really enjoyed this book.
Would definitely recommend to friends and family.
Read it in one sitting

I started off really enjoying Best Man. Frank's voice was lyrical and very easy to immerse myself in, and I loved the description of his world, his relationships, and the people in his life. The author very quickly set the tone that drew me in and made me want to get to know this lonely middle-aged guy who finds himself in an awkward situation with his best friend, his best friend's fiance, and his roommate. I really felt for Frank. However, while I loved the characters and was compelled to know how the story ended, the pacing really began to slip after the first few chapters and became quite expository, with lots of time jumps that took me out of the story and made me feel disconnected from the characters and their feelings/motivations. It felt rather rushed and there didn't seem to be enough build-up to introducing the main romance storyline, kind of like the lead got buried somewhere. While I did enjoy the ending, I wanted more of that immersive character writing from the beginning, and more of a feeling like the characters were advancing the plot, rather than just telling us a series of events taking place.

I finished reading it and I was left with the HEA I craved, but overall I found the book could have been whittled down to far fewer pages and still kept the same story.

When I read the description for this book, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. Let me start with the basics.



Frank is recovering… sort of… from his divorce from husband, Ethan. He and Ethan were married for years and then Ethan cheated on him. As if that wasn’t enough, Frank came home and found Ethan and his new husband in bed.

Frank has kept the house he and Ethan shared and manages to pay the bills with the help of his yoga teacher/massage therapist roommate, Julio.

When Frank’s oldest friend calls him up, things begin to get a wee bit more complicated. Jonathan is more than a friend really, at least in Frank’s mind. On a fateful night in the past, he was at a dance club with Jonathan and left for a moment to gather himself. He wanted to admit his feelings and take things further than friendship. When he returns… he finds Jonathan dancing with a man. That man is Marcus and that brings us back to the present and Jonathan announcing that he’s marrying Marcus.

Surprised by Marcus’ arrival at his coffee date with his friend, Frank blurts out that he’s dating someone. After all, who wants to be the pathetic old friend who hasn’t recovered from his losing the love of his life? When pressed, Frank says his boyfriend is…. Julio. It’s the only name he can think of.

Still with me? It gets deliciously more tangled. Julio and Frank strike a bargain. Julio’s new massage therapy business requires space and Frank has an extra room. Frank needs a date for dinner with Jonathan and Marcus. Frank, the poor dear lost soul, thinks that maybe he can make it through the dinner and then withdraw from Jonathan’s life once more.

Julio and Frank arrive at dinner with a well-rehearsed plan for how they’ll pull off being boyfriends. What Frank doesn’t count on, however, is Jonathan asking him to be best man at his wedding.

And wait, did I mention that Marcus attends Julio’s yoga classes?

From this point on – things become a tangled mess of emotion, cheating, mixed signals, and betrayal. All the characters in this novel have their issues, some more than others. What they’re looking for may not be what they need and what they want may not be what they’ll get.

When I first picked up this book, I thought it would end up being much more playful. On the contrary, this story addresses some serious things. Beware readers who may have issues with infidelity; there’s a fair amount of that in this novel. I will say, I couldn’t put it down. Right up until the end, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, and I always enjoy that!

OH! I almost forgot! One of my favorite things about this story is that these men are all in their late 30s or early 40s. It was a pleasant change to read about more mature gay men!

It’s safe to say I struggled with this early on but it wasn’t entirely the books fault. I’d read the blurb and somehow expected a comedy. At no point does it say it’s a comedy so this is all on me.

Frank wants Jonathan. Jonathan is engaged to Marcus. Marcus wants Julio. Julio is Franks lodger. Franks pretends he’s dating Julio. Julio goes along with it. Julio wants Marcus.

So I took from that it was going to be some kind of madcap comedy. I pictured the old Michael J Fox film The Secret of my Success. Revolving bedroom doors and Oh Yeah playing in the background.

Don’t ask me why, I’ve no idea.

But this book is definitely not that.

As a result of this I found it depressing in the beginning. Frank lives a dull life and it seems as if he’s a shadow of the man he used to be. His husband Ethan cheated on him in their bed. Now divorced, Frank is trying desperately to hold onto the house bad memories and all. He’s taken in a lodger he hardly sees (Julio). He hides the fact that he sleeps on the sofa every night. Since he can’t face the bed where Ethan cheated.
There’s no doubt Frank has been dealt a bad hand. But he just seems so dull.

Julio is the complete opposite. He’s full of colour and life.

It took me a long time to settle into this book. The main problem I had is that I just didn’t really like any of the characters. This is a major issue for me and I struggle with any book like this.

There was also one part I didn’t understand.
So Julio and Frank are pretending to date. Julio hurts his knee and is sleeping on the sofa so he doesn’t have to get upstairs.

“My knee isn’t giving me any problem. It’s my lower back that’s sore. I’ve been sleeping on the living room couch all week.”
As soon as those words tumbled out of my mouth, I knew I’d blown it. The surprise on Marcus’s face said it all. Guess that means you and Frank aren’t sleeping together.

How does that give away the fact that he’s not sleeping with Frank?
He’s hurt his knee. Surely the sofa isn’t big enough for both of them?

(The section above is from the advanced copy and could change in the final edition)

I voluntarily read a review copy kindly provided by NetGalley.

I really liked this book! Kind of basic but a nice story with a good ending:). Frank was a great guy who has some bad things happen to him. He is super-nice, sweet, has a good job, but is just kind of a quiet and shy loner. Frank marries his love, Ethan who eventually cheats on him and they get divorced, leaving Frank lonely and sad in their house alone. Frank has one good long time friend Jonathan who is kind clueless and in a terrible relationship with Marcus who is a total cheating idiot but Jonathan just doesn't see it, or refuses to acknowledge it. Frank rents out a room out to Julio a flashy cute yoga instructor but they don't really talk or have much in common. Frank hates Marcus and knows that he is all wrong for Jonathan--that they have a terrible relationship and the Marcus cheats and treats Jonathan badly. Frank meets Jonathan for breakfast and finds out that they are engaged which makes him mad. Frank all the sudden says he is dating his roommate and turns out Marcus knows Julio and invites them to dinner which starts this who web of lies between the four of them. The story gets more interesting when Julio breaks his leg, how he and Frank seems to get close while they are fake dating. I love what happens near the end, how Frank realizes that he has been in a rut & not really living since he got divorced and starts to change his life and then how the story plays out. I don't want to ruin the ending but I loved it. Julio was awesome and Jonathan and Marcus got what they deserved! Hand to God! Definitely worth reading! Thanks to NG for the ARC!