Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Griffin for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Elise is engaged to be married to Derrick, and her best friend has been in love with her for at least a decade and a half.

I didn't love this book, and I didn't hate it either. It took me much longer than I would have liked to finish it. It was a slow burn, and then it gets smutty pretty quickly. What I disliked about it the most what Elise's overreaction to Ginny quitting her job, and the overarching need to just be friends. Overall it was a cute queer story.

Book is out now!

First and foremost, thank you to the publisher and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this story and it was definitely worth the read!

This is my first book by this author. They didn’t wow me but it was an easy read. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mind frame to read it.

DNF

Just couldn't connect to the story- relationship was lacking in emotional chemistry and overwhelmed with physical chemistry to me. Might be enjoyable for others, but just didn't work for me personally!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Griffin for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Elsie is supposed to marry Derrick. He doesn't blow her mind, but he's nice, and she loves him. But when he plans a last minute wedding, she realizes... maybe this isn't what she wants. With the wedding called off, all that's left is the nonrefundable honeymoon. Derrick thinks that Elsie should still go, and take her best friend, Ginny. Why not?

This is a slow burn in a picturesque location with a completely solvable conflict and slightly predictable ending. That isn't criticism though! Sometimes characters do dumb things (and bonus, someone later realizes they were being dumb), and sometimes you want something a little predictable. Once it stops being a slow burn though, it gets really sexual really quickly. Maybe 40-45% slow burn before they make the switch.

This book is out now!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

I didn’t hate this, but didn’t love it either. I’m all for a smutty friends to lovers story, but the characters lacked substance for me. I do think this is a super fun and quick beach/pool read, and I absolutely love the NB representation 🫶🏼 This is my first Meryl Wilsner book, and although it wasn’t my favorite, it definitely won't be my last!

I really enjoyed this book—it was such a cute and heartfelt queer story. What stood out most to me was how much the characters grew, especially toward the end. I also appreciated that the plot didn't go exactly as I expected. That added a nice layer of intrigue to an already charming read.

Love anything Meryl Wilsner writes, and this is no exception. One of my most anticipated 202 novels, this lived up to all my expectations, a perfect summer read, and even better as an audiobook. Highly recommend.

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ARC provided by St. Martin's Press.

Elsie Hoffman has been engaged to her college boyfriend for a year and a half. Ginny Holtz has been in love with Elsie for almost a decade and a half.

When Elsie discovers her fiancé already planned their wedding and honeymoon as a surprise and she is expected to be in a white dress in seven days, she swiftly realizes she has let herself become too comfortable with a future she never wanted. She breaks things off, and a week later is on a plane to the Caribbean for her non-refundable honeymoon with her best friend Ginny instead.

Ginny thinks it is high time Elise learned how to speak up for herself. So, they make a deal with her. For the next week, Elsie can have whatever she wants, wherever, however, and whenever she wants it, as long as she asks. They never expected Elsie to want them.

What starts as choosing activities and taking selfies soon turns to toe-curling kisses and much, much more. But what happens when the honeymoon is over?

My Best Friend’s Honeymoon is about not only learning to ask for what you want, but for the happiness you deserve. This book was extremely fast paced which I appreciated. I loved the foundation of their relationship being rooted in years of friendship. I thought Ginny and Elsie were great characters and were well fleshed out. Watching them grow both emotionally and romantically was really sweet. It was totally believable. I enjoyed seeing them support and uplift each other’s goals and passions. And the banter. The only downside in my opinion is that I did appreciate Elsie’s growth in standing up for herself, but it came at the detriment of them spending a significant portion of the book apart, which was kind of upsetting. But Ginny also had a bit of growing up to do and I appreciated how they handled the situation. My first book by Wilsner and definitely will not be my last.

Rating: 3.5/5

An entertaining story about finding romance in the most obvious place. Good characters and a well-written novel. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

This was a no from me. I don't mind spice/smut - many of the books I read include that and I enjoy reading it.
Something about a book that is nothing but smut and imo masquerades as a romance is bothersome. This book felt like a thin plot to write out a personal fantasy. I felt nothing from the characters and some of the dialogue was off-putting. All of the characters were insufferable.

Alright, here's the gist: This book kicks off with a surprise wedding that our main character, Elsie, smartly bails on. She jets off on the honeymoon with her bestie, Ginny, and things get spicy – like, really spicy. While the premise is fun, the characters can be a bit… much. Elsie's a tad immature, Ginny deserves better, and the steamy scenes sometimes overshadow the actual plot and character development. The supporting characters are pretty forgettable, and the book seems to equate certain intimate acts with emotional depth. Overall, it's a mixed bag. If you're all about the heat and don't mind a flimsy plot, go for it. But if you're looking for substance, maybe think twice.

This book had a fun concept and was an easy, quick read — perfect for a beach read or a rainy day. However, it was about 75% smut and 25% plot, and I would’ve appreciated if there were a bit more substance to the story outside of the spice. If you’re into that ratio though, you’ll love this.

3.5 stars

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story is good and fun and enjoyable. However, I want to be honest here and I feel like I will be in big trouble. English is my second language and I worked so hard to be fluent with it. However, this is confusing me when I have to use THEY/THEM referring to a single person. I did not learn that in English grammar and that part was a struggle. So for the readers like me who has to learn English, I hope you will not have a hard time or this book might not be for you.

This felt a little tired. The story line felt predictable and old, despite the nbmc (non binary main character). Maybe this has been a theme that has become too easy to write about, and I'm bored? This just didn't click withe me.

I have never read anything by this author, but I will be looking out for other books they write in the future. I really enjoyed the story as well as the pacing of the story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with an eARC of My Best Friend's Honeymoon in exchange for my honest review!

As a fan of Meryl Wilsner's work, I must admit that I like this book, but I don't love it. It's certainly not on the same level as Something to Talk About, Mistakes Were Made, and Cleat Cute. The first two novels in particular show off Wilsner's capacity for creating lovable rom-coms out of tropes that could potentially make for the cringiest and clumsiest tales. Unfortunately, this ability for fleshed-out and nimble storytelling doesn't shine as brightly in My Best Friend's Honeymoon. When it starts off, though, it definitely hooks me in with its lighthearted charisma and the bond between Ginny and Elsie. And of course, yay for a rom-com that stars a non-binary MC! You'd think we would see such representation become significantly more prominent, but nope, we're still struggling to get that going on the mainstream route of publishing.

Once we actually go on the honeymoon and the two MCs officially dive into the romantic side of their relationship, though, that's when the quality declines, oddly enough. I would think that when we focus on the development here, this is when the quality would increase. Instead, we dive into a ton of spice that's fun on the surface, sure, but it also hits me as being an insubstantial part of the book. This only grows when we enter the good old conflict portion of the rom-com, considering that conflict kicks off a bit too early and exacerbates the book's odd pacing issues. Whatever happened to letting that start in the third act? Why we are beginning it before that point? It's a janky decision that makes it harder to become more deeply invested in Elsie and Ginny's relationship, which is saddening, since I do very much want this experience to be a fully heartfelt journey. I'm also thinking that this book's choice to reveal the miscommunication trope early on just might have a negative impact on my feelings here.

Overall, I'm officially rating My Best Friend's Honeymoon three out of five stars. I wish this could have been more of a fleshed-out rom-com, but oh well, I'm still glad to have given it a shot. I'll continue to look forward to more of Wilsner's writing.

At times, this book felt like it was two different stories. I feel like the author lost the plot a bit when the couple returns from the trip. A good chunk of the book was spent with them not speaking to each other then all of the sudden, they reconcile and are happily in love. Not my fave unfortunately.

My Best Friend's Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner is another absolute must read by Wilsner!

I can't say enough wonderful things about this book.
It’s funny, steamy and oh so romantic.
The chemistry between Elsie and Ginny was fantastic and the romance and character development made it all come to life. I absolutely loved the characters in this book, even the side characters were funny and entertaining.
And not to mention the book has an incredible premise. Freaking loved it.
The story is strong, the characters are well fleshed out and engaging, the leads are wonderful and memorable, it's uber romantic.
A swoon-fest with laugh out loud scenes, brilliant writing and vivid scenes that made me laugh, swoon and smile.
A fun non-binary romance!

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and review this book. Sadly I DNF about 50% in.
This book has an interesting premise and a wide variety of characters, including a nonbinary main character. However this book wasn’t really for me. The writing felt a little off to me. The characters were a little flat.
The lack of communication from everyone drove me a little crazy. I couldn’t connect with the characters or plot.