First of all, I would like to say that “himbo” was absolutely 100% not a thing in the year 2003, so I hope some copy or line-editor catches that before this book goes to print. And no, don’t argue with me that it was first used in the 1980s (1988 specifically) and uses of it date from then, but it was absolutely not a term that anyone who was fourteen years old in 2003 would have known. The internet popularized it and repurposed it, around 2020.

I find myself talking about the above issue more than I should because I don’t want to write the rest of this review. This is the third three-star book I’ve read in 2023, and I’ve only read five books so far. And this is the second ARC three-star. And I’m probably being generous with my three-star rating here. They’re going to stop giving me ARCs. I can’t really pinpoint anything wrong with the book, though, hence three stars. I just didn’t really enjoy myself very much. There was something off about it for me, something negative. I felt bad while reading this book.

Also, I never connected emotionally with any of the characters or the plot. Which is a huge deal.

This is a romance about man named Max whose best friend Paige is getting married and he’s acting as her best man/man of honor, while a younger more classically “gay” and handsome man, the brother of the groom, is the best man. Oh, and also they had a disastrous hookup before they knew who the other was. Now they have to work together to help Paige plan her wedding. (Sidenote: Not sure where the author got the idea that it was one of the duties of the best man/maid of honor to help plan the wedding; it’s really not. They can help when asked, but it’s still the main purview of the bride and groom, and any assorted wedding planners.)

But Chasten (the brother, lord what a name) isn’t really the problem. The problem is the narrator, Max, who is a negative Nancy. He’s unhappy in his job, he’s unhappy with his body, he’s unhappy in love (dumped by long-term boyfriend who he still hooks up with occasionally), he’s unhappy about how his gayness manifests and how he’s perceived in the regard by other gay men (which could have been really interesting to explore! I, too, would rather have a quiet night at home than go to a smelly loud bar, and the removal of body hair and keeping up with expensive fashions, etc. sounds exhausting). The narrative is dripping with his negative unhappiness.

Worth noting, a lot of this is addressed by the end, but I was so annoyed and miserable along with the narrator for most of the book, that the ending didn’t really do anything for me. You still need to be on the narrator’s side even while they’re making the poor choices and experiencing troubles in their lives. At least, in a romance you do. Probably having a Chasten POV would have helped balance things out, and also give us a hint as to why Chasten would like, let alone end up with, Max. But we just had Max the whole time.

All of this is of course, YMMV.

Lastly, I do want to express some dismay that while I have been wanting to read more romances by male authors, this is not the result I was wanting. I comfort myself that if Alexis Hall exists, there have to be more male authors who are similarly talented waiting in the wings.

[2.5 stars, talked myself into lowering it a half star while writing this review]

A voicey, delightful summer read. I love wedding stories, and this one is wonderfully queer and funny, laced with tender moments and wisdom. I think romance fans will adore it.

I liked the idea that is Best Men. Where the Man-of-Honor falls for the Best Man. I’m already hooked by this pitch for a story.

Sadly, Karger’s version falls short in a couple of ways. First, for me, none of the characters are likeable. Paige, the bride and BFF of our MC, is pretentious and annoyingly indecisive, while Max, our MC, felt at times like a doormat and third wheel, having me wonder why is he even friends with Paige in the first place?

Next, there’s the enemies to lovers trope playing between Max and Austin. Their first encounter was embarrassingly awkward, and Austin was more of a surface character, never breaking ground, where readers find the depths of who he really is.

The story, overall, is a patchwork of drunken parties with very little character development.

Honestly, I found myself wanting to reach the end hoping Max skips out on the wedding, and finds his own little piece of happiness with some other character we only meet towards the very end. I actually would have been completely okay with that.

This one wasn’t for me…

Happy Reading ~ Cece

We all know I'm a stickler when it comes to romance novels and I can really be very critical, but I absolutely loved Sidney Karger's 2023 romantic comedy novel BEST MEN. One thing about romantic comedy novels that bugs me is that I feel like it can be hard to differentiate between them (but I read thrillers like legit everyday so I am a hypocrite saying this), but Karger's debut really is a complete stand out. It will be a go-to recommendation for me when it comes to MM romantic comedies.

Max Moody, our protagonist, lives in New York City and works in HR. When he's not working, he spends his time eating at Waverly diner with his best friend Paige and trying to restart the spark with his ex-boyfriend Greg. Paige and Max grew up in Chicago together and have been inseparable since childhood. When Paige tells Max that she's engaged to her handsome and wealthy boyfriend Austin, Max's dreams of marital bliss comes crashing down into his mind. He always wanted that, but with Greg wanting NSA fun (no-strings attached) after many years of being monogamous, Max's wish becomes a pipe dream. However, things become a bit more complicated after Max is introduced to Austin's younger brother, Chasten, who looks so familiar. As the group plans the wedding, Max realizes that dealing with Chasten will be harder than he thought.

This book is so funny! I actually want to call it a comedy-romance because Karger's wit shines through the pages. No surprise to find out that the author is a writer/director/producer and has worked for Saturday Night Live and Comedy Central. The book is laugh out loud funny, with both a romantic edge that I haven't seen in a romance novel yet. BEST MEN also does an impeccable job highlighting New York City as its own character. The author got every single hotspot, location, and atmospheric element to this city I call home perfectly. If you are a hopeless romantic, want a hilarious MM romantic comedy, love NYC or always wanted to feel the energy of it, BEST MEN is the book for you!

This book sounded great in theory, I read the blurb and honestly couldn’t wait to read. Yet, going forth and reading I was kind of bored, though some parts I actually laughed out loud .I felt as if max was just going on and on in certain scenes and just needed to work through everything he was going through but overall I liked him, Paige on the other head idk she was kind of irritating. I think the characters had a lot of problems they needed to work out. I just expected more I guess.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for providing me this arc in exchange for an honest review !

This was part rom-com, part self discovery novel that I was totally obsessed with. I found the characters to be realized and engaged and the story itself wonderful.

I was so underwhelmed and disappointed by this book. I loved the premise: two best men fall in love with each other. It's set at a wedding, there's a quasi enemies-to-lovers vibe, there's a sarcastic protagonist. I wanted to love the book itself. Why I did not:

-The characters were underdeveloped. Max had this whole underlying arc of hating his job and wanting to do something with his interest in plants. Fine. That should have been wrapped up by the end. His plants Instagram should have blown up, he should have successfully completed the terrace job, or he should have applied to grad school for landscape architecture. We get wispy little hints that maybe possibly he did something with it, but nothing solid. There was so much writing about this whole sub plot and so little actual payoff by the end for all the attention that was paid to it.

-Another underdeveloped character: Chasten. We get the vibe that he's this perfect golden boy who secretly wants to settle down, but we don't get a lot of explanation for why he's still single. He has the absurd and obvious rom com hero profession of chocolatier. He has an apparently debilitating case of rheumatoid arthritis (wtf?) that is not explored or explained after a single page.

-Another character with problems: Paige. She had all of these doubts when in Fire Island that Max was super shitty and dismissive about and were then swept under the rug when they got back without any real resolution. She also did honestly give off the vibe that Max was her pet or token gay friend rather than her best friend of 30 years. Max said it in a really shitty way, but he wasn't wrong. I feel like we were told as readers to be far more forgiving and loving of Paige than she really deserved.

All of this may have been forgivable or brushed over if the book hadn't almost violated the cardinal rule of romance novels: the happy ever after. Did Max and Chasten end up together? Yes. Did we get any sort of resolution past: they're sorta together now with no official confirmation or future plans? NO. This book, with its underdeveloped plots and characters, desperately needed an epilogue to keep it afloat.

I am a huge romance reader and love the genre. I want books to succeed and I want to give good reviews. I just couldn't do it for this one. I won't be posting my review on Goodreads because I don't want to contribute to dooming books before they've even come out, but this book desperately needs more work if it wants any chance at commercial success.

I am a SUCKER for an enemies to lovers trope and Best Men did not disappoint. I'm really happy to be seeing more books like this on the market. Felt like I was watching a Rom-com the whole time. It was funny, it was sweet, and it had heart, Felt like I was picking sides being a west coaster myself! Definitely recommending this to my friends next summer.

very mixed feelings about “Best Men” by Sidney Karger

on one hand this was a solid 3-3.5 cute rom com

but on the other much larger hand it gave me 1-2 star feelings pretty much 90% of the book
This mostly comes from my intense hate of the “best friend” who “set this all up”. She was just a horrible person and I understand that they’ve been friends for like 30 years but her invalidation of Max as a person was just too much for me to handle at times. Also Chasten was kind of a d*ck for a large part of this book and so was Max.

Ig I’m saying I didn’t like any of the characters and their character development but it was a cute concept that I could definitely see working better as a movie/tv show

ty netgalley and Berkeley publishing for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

A decent romantic comedy. I didn't love that the main character was so whiny and helpless. Some books start that way, but this one took too long for him to emerge out of that. On the upside, it was really similar to a lot of heterosexual romantic comedy books with hapless and incompetent heroines that meet a partner with no acknowledged flaws, so I guess that's a win for parity.