Like the book The Gay Best Friend if everything was worse, unfortunately. I had high hopes, and they were not close to met. But Karger's follow-up is a major improvement!

In Best Men by Sidney Karger, Max Moody's life takes a chaotic turn when his best friend, Paige, gets engaged, and he finds himself sharing wedding duties with her groom's charming but infuriating brother, Chasten. Their relationship starts off rocky, fueled by a past one-night stand, but as they navigate the complexities of wedding planning, unexpected feelings begin to emerge. Karger crafts a witty and engaging narrative that captures the humor and emotional turmoil of friendship dynamics amidst romantic developments. While the focus leans more toward the friendship between Max and Paige, the evolving connection between the two best men adds depth to this delightful rom-com.

Fun and upbeat rom-com. I enjoyed the character development and the well developed relationships between main characters. The pacing was uneven at times, but not so much that it impeded my enjoyment of the story. I would recommend this to people looking for a fun, summery romance.

This is a debut book that is very much a debut book. Given his successful screenwriter career, he has connections in high places and thus received a lot of publicity from high places. Despite that, it does not surprise me that it did not do well in the market. Romance readers are very discerning and not swayed by highly-touted romance novels by folks unknown in the romance world, such as Anderson Cooper, who called it a "truly refreshing spin on the romantic comedy." No, it isn't. It quite falls in the tried-and-true rom-com sub-genre lines.

Having said that, the humor is well-done--he has great comedic timing and the plot cracks along at a fast pace with none of the dreaded middle act sag. The romance is sweet and touching. Both men are attentive to each other's every move and mood, and nothing is sexier than being with someone who is as into you as you're into them. However, that romance and the two protagonists needed more page time and development. The romance needs to be the focus, and the platonic friendship the sub-plot. They cannot be on par, otherwise, this book is on shaky ground with being a part of the Romance genre.

I see that the author has a second book coming out. Hope it has received much more developmental editing than this one did.

Short synopsis: Max’s best friend Paige is getting married, and she’s asked him to be her Man of Honor. When he meets the grooms younger brother (who is also gay) they just can’t seem to stay away from each other.

My thoughts: I love a wedding setting! Throw in some best friends, opposites attract, and some laugh out loud moments and this will be a winner for you!

I wanted to like the characters more than I did. I felt like some of the situations were unnecessary and dumb. But there was lots of humor and fun sprinkled throughout the pages

Read if you love:
- NYC settings
- LGBTQ+ Rep
- Opposites attract

What a wonderful and engaging story Best Men was. For being a debut novel, Sidney Karger did a fantastic job building characters, letting the story flow and giving us hilarious laugh-out-loud moments.

You couldn’t help but hope for a happy ending for Max and Chasten. Yes, opposites attract and they were definitely opposites. Max may be gay but he’s not the stereotypical gay man … he can’t be bothered with weddings, fashion, peopleing or anything fancy. Whereas Chasten, a well-known Chocolatier is outgoing and funny. As they both vie to be Paige’s favorite gay, they learn a lot about themselves and each other.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Best Men and couldn’t wait to see where it was taking me. It was a slow-burn romance with characters that were entertaining. A great summer read that will keep you smiling throughout

This reads like a straight person writing about what he thinks the gay experience is. The words "gay best friend" are thrown around so many times.

"I'm not sure how my entire personality has been boiled down to "gay best friend of woman getting married"."

And that's the basic problem.

Best Men is a nice gay romance by Sidney Karger. I enjoyed this story and found it to be a nice, comfy read. My favorite part was definitely Max's internal dialogue. I adore his rambling thoughts throughout.
Overall, it's a nice read.

Such an enjoyable read!! I really liked this book and was so happy I was given the opportunity to read it here at netgalley. Made me laugh out loud multiple times.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

Heartfelt and quirky, this queer romance had my hopes high but didn’t quite meet my expectations.

Best Men follows Max, a cynical New Yorker and a bit of a mess, who is thrown into the role of Man of Honor for his best friend Paige’s wedding. Already uncomfortable with the idea of his friendship changing and his new job as wedding planner, Max is immediately put off by Chasten, the charming, chocolatier younger brother of the groom, who swoops in and begins to take over. Always having been Paige’s Gay Best Friend but never quite fitting the part, Max’s jealousy towards Chasten’s ability to fit that stereotype for Paige begins to clash with his growing feelings toward him.

Best Men, overall, was a very meh book. The writing style and the quirkiness of the characters carried the storyline and helped make up for the fact that the MC’s were a bit annoying and I didn’t really care about them for the bulk of the book. Don’t get me wrong, I think they grew on me, but I never connected with them like I would have liked. The biggest character flaw was Paige, the breezy and honestly rude “best” friend of Max. I kept waiting to like her but was disappointed with each plot point she was involved in.

Only a few chapters in, I could see exactly where the story would go, and I was right. The predictability of a romance doesn’t usually tend to bother me too much, however the main theme of the book seemed to be the growth of Max as a person with the romance almost being a subplot. Max truly did need to change in order for any romance to build with Chasten, but I would have liked a bit less drama.

I wouldn’t be honest if I said I was definitely going to read Karger’s next book, but it seems like he is straying more towards contemporary fiction with sprinklings of romance and that’s just not what I tend to read. I won’t rule anything out completely though, so I’m still going to add it to my digital TBR.

I've never read from this author before, so I knew it was either going to be a fantastic read or something I'd never read again. And thankfully, I gave this book a try because I truly enjoyed reading it. It was such a fun yet messy read.

Let's talk about our messy main character, Max Moddy. He is our messy favorite person in this book. Who cares about his terrible choices with the men he dated before? Everyone has a past. We don't judge here. We fully support our messy characters, no matter what, because they are relatable about their mistakes as they try to grow into themselves. That's what Max is trying to do while navigating his best man's duties with Chasten.

I know what you are thinking, because I was thinking the same thing as well. Max is going to end up with Chasten since they are both fighting to be their best friend at their friends wedding while fighting off their attraction for each other. It's literally giving a bit of bride wars vibes, but it's the best friend wars vibes. It was a pretty entertaining read.

I had such high hopes for this book but it just didn’t blow me away. It was enjoyable for sure. I liked it. Max Moody was a great main character that had me laughing multiple times throughout the story. But I just didn’t feel fully immersed in it and I didn’t feel that pull to pick it back up whenever I had a moment to read. In fact I started this one in May and it has taken me this long to finish it (it is now October).

Overall an ok read but not one that I would pick up again. Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley Publishing, and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a cute read that I listened to on audio. The narration was so funny, and had me laughing with all the humor and heart. It features so many of my favorite tropes and was just the fluffy romcom I needed.

WHAT TO EXPECT
-m/m romance
-opposites attract
-enemies to lovers
-adult coming of age story
-NYC setting

*many thanks to Berkley and PRH Audio, and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

I loved this one. It had everything I look for in a romance. Love a good enemies to lover trope. The characters were well written, but I would have liked to see a bit more vulnerability in the love interest and a bit more compassion from the best friend (she was a bit of a bridezilla).

I would honestly describe this as adult coming of age with romantic undertones. While the romance was sweet, it’s not what felt central to me — it truly felt more about Max discovering himself which I loved. Very similar to Bridesmaids and Bros, this felt like it was written to be adapted into a movie. Vivid emotions, perfect wit, and lots of heart.

Thank you to Berkley Romance for an eARC and physical book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was fine. MC kinda grated on me for most of it.

An enjoyable rom-com about opposites attracting. I really liked it overall; it was funny, witty, and a breeze to read. Feels like watching a sitcom.
.

3 stars lowered to 2 for reasons I shall explain.

I mostly enjoyed this book. It was funny, I enjoyed the characters, it was a fairly easy read. This would have been a solid 3 star book for me (3 stars for me means I enjoyed it, but likely won’t read it again).

The reason I’ve dropped it to two stars is that, for a book published in 2023 it had some very questionable content.
1. So, the MC, Max, LOVES The Smiths and Morrissey. Songs are referenced throughout and nothing is said about how incredibly problematic Morrissey is. Another book that I love has reference to a Smiths’ song, This Charming Man (which I do enjoy), but the character fully owns the fact that they love the song while also being conflicted because of how problematic Morrissey is. I think that’s a really good way to handle something like that, if you want to include songs by a now-problematic person. Like, recognize what the song/band/artist has meant to you, but also acknowledge that the band/artist is now a shit person and that it’s complicated. This didn’t happen at all in this book and that doesn’t sit well with me.
2. There are at least two mentions of HP. I’m sorry, but no queer authors should be mentioning HP in their queer books now that HP’s author has shown who she truly is. And honestly, if ANY author is mentioning HP in their books in 2023, I seriously question what kind of person they are. Because to me, if you’re including HP references in your books knowing what a terrible transphobe the author is, then maybe you agree with her? And I’m not going to support authors who support HP’s author.

So, as I said, this would have been a solid 3 star book for me if it hadn’t been for the seemingly unquestioning love of Morrissey and the HP references.

When Max’s best friend Paige gets engaged, he never expects that his failed one night stand is the brother of the groom, Chasten. Max struggles with his Man of Honor duties… and his feelings for Chasten.

I liked this. I found Max to be super relatable in some ways and super unrelatable in other ways. This is a romance, and I hate when there is only on POV in romance books. Through no fault of its own, the book I read before was so “cute” and this isn’t a cute book, so I just felt like something was missing.