This was the first real miss for me with any of Wilsner's novels, and it's partly due to friends-to-lovers being one of my least enjoyable tropes. My Best Friend's Honeymoon features a F/NB romance between lifelong best friends Ginny and Elsie, and the conflict revolves around miscommunication, which is another device that I don't enjoy. As usual, steamy sex scenes abound, and as usual, I flip through those pages as I'm a closed door kind of gal. In this book, it felt like exploring the changing dynamic between Ginny and Elsie would have been better served by less time spent in detailed sex scenes and more time spent in out-of-bed interactions. Thank you to St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for a digital review copy.

Ginny and Elsie have been best friends forever. Once Ginny asked Elsie out, but got rebuffed and it’s totally fine, all good, their friendship is the most important thing to both of them. Wilsner uses some flashback scenes from both Ginny and Elsie’s perspective to give us more of a feel for the nature and long-duration of their friendship. There are decades to cover, but they choose vignettes carefully to ensure that we get just what we need when we need it.

When Elsie’s fiancee, Derrick, decides to “help” by completely planning their wedding for NEXT week, without any input from her, that relationship is ushered to a quick resolution. But he says that Elsie should go on the honeymoon to an all inclusive resort in Santa Lupita. So she does, and brings Ginny. Their relationship changes significantly while they are there.

To say that Elsie and Ginny are both stuck might be an understatement. Ginny is stuck in a cube farm doing graphic design, decidedly not her passion, while Elsie is fulfilling everyone’s expectation that she will work in her parent’s hardware store, quietly, without applying her business degree to the business. There is also a lot going on in their relationship under the surface which they are both studiously avoiding.

I tend to really enjoy Meryl Wilsner’s books, so I jumped at the chance to get this on NetGalley. One of the things I love most about their writing is the character development and I really did enjoy getting to know Ginny and Elsie. They are both thoroughly likeable characters and Wilsner gives them both strong character arcs and growth experiences in this book. Each of them spend quite a lot of time in their own heads, which sometimes felt a little repetitive and frankly their thoughts occasionally read as sometimes irrational, but my brain spirals so I appreciate that is very human. For spice level, it’s worth noting that they also spend nearly the middle third of this book in bed.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Elsie and Ginny were both totally adorable. And there were numerous—like, so many—very steamy sex scenes. But the plot/drama was just not really there for me! These characters start out in love with each other, realize the love is reciprocated, and then have the most minor disagreement ever imaginable to separate them for like 2 weeks. The only obstacle to their ultimate happiness together seems to be, for all intents and purposes, that they're a little young and their self-confidence is slightly underdeveloped. It's not really an obstacle at all! I'm just going to say it: the character growth for these 2 is just so minor and minuscule compared to whatever is going on with DERRICK. What HAPPENS to Derrick over this month?! Holy cow, dude, let's see a love story for Derrick and Cash or whoever! They deserve it!

So I have finally finished this book. I took a break because I got bored and then I got distracted. But I picked it up last night and couldn’t put it down until the end. There are two reasons why I put it down in the first place.

1. I really struggle with reading books that are in the third person. The first person makes it much easier for me to tell how people are feeling and to get emotionally connected to the story.
2. Both of the characters are incredibly passive, but from what I know that is also incredibly Minnesotan.

I honestly don’t get the hate. It’s like people don’t know that romance books are built on obtuse characters. Is it only OK when there’s a man who is emotionally stunted? Not to mention that this dynamic to me makes perfect sense.

You grew up in a small town and you’re bullied during childhood; so much so, that have to move because you told your friends that you had a crush on a girl. Then your best friend who you’ve had a crush on throughout childhood asks you out to dance, but given that they are the best thing in your life and you ate terrified to lose your friendship, you say no. People are holding this against them as if this doesn’t happen to people in high school.

And finally, even as an adult, it is obvious that this girl grew up in a large family where she was overlooked. You can tell how she felt, so it is bizarre to me that people are holding onto this so tightly when there is obvious character growth. This book has some of the clearest character growth and some of the healthiest encouragement for growth that I have seen, even compared to real life relationships.

I will say I don’t know if or what people said about the intimacy, but I also find that highly realistic. If two people are incredibly close and have liked each other while believing their feelings were unrequited for over a decade, then of course they are going to be freaky as fuck as soon as they’re able to be with each other. It’s also one of the best and maybe most realistic sexual dynamics that I have read in a queer book since the Wattpad days. I get that people have sex differently, but once again I do think that there is less tolerance for types of sexual expression that folks aren’t used to. Which is truly a shame. Because they’re missing out.

So ultimately, I really enjoyed this book. And I don’t think there should be as much hate for it as there is.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc and alc.

Overall, this was a cute queer/lgbtqia+ book. I do agree with some of the other reviews that said this book went too fast at some times. I definitely did not hate this book though. I also enjoyed the audiobook narrators and I found both of their voices to be quite pleasant. Definitely a cute read for the summer for sure!

𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: 3/5 ⭐
𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: 4/5 🌶️

I loved the idea of this book and I loved Ginny's journey to finding what they really wanted out of life. 10/10 would recommend the Ginny chapters minus the pining for Elsie. Ginny deserves better...

I knew going into it that I'm not a fan of the miscommunication trope, but (𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒊-𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓) I would actually categorize it as more of an extreme overreaction to leads to the two main characters not talking for 40% of the book. I can live with a miscommunication if the characters keep me invested and alas, only Ginny kept me reading.

Overall, I feel like Elsie might benefit from going to therapy and talking through her feelings and conflicts with a professional rather than dialoguing in her head and deciding things are ok when she says they're ok. She was giving off toxic vibes and I wasn't a fan. Justice for Ginny!

But the few chapters of spice were SPICY and kinky, Wilsner did a great job writing Elsie's first experience being with someone with female reproductive parts. Especially the idea of seeing your best friend in that new light for the first time. It was really beautiful!

DNF this one, I really didn’t like this one at all. I really hate the miscommunication trope and everyone was just kind of in love with everyone in this book, it was a bit exhausting to work through this one

Meryl Wilsner is one of my favorite writers of sexy Queer Romances, and this one definitely fits that category. Elsie and Ginny have been best friends since childhood, and Ginny has pined for Elsie for years and years. Elsie once turned them down when she was worried that starting something together would hurt their friendship. Fast forward to the both of them being in their twenties, and Elsie on the verge of marriage to a man, While he’s kind and loving, Elsie realizes that she doesn’t want to marry him. When he encourages her to go on their honeymoon with Ginny, Elsie does. My only criticism of this book is that Elsie goes from not ever speaking her mind and saying what she actually wants to very quickly hopping into bed with Ginny. I’m happy for Ginny to get what they have always wanted, but I just don’t see where Elsie’s feelings suddenly came from. There is lots of steamy sex at a lovely resort, so this is definitely the stuff of vacation Romance. If you’re looking for something hot and fun, this book might be for you.

Every book Meryl Wilsner writes is better than their last, and My Best Friend's Honeymoon is such a sweet and spicy sapphic love story between two lifelong best friends who have always loved each other in every way possible and finally let themselves fall in love.

When Elsie's fiancé decides they've been engaged long enough and unilaterally plans their wedding—only one week in advance!—she realizes that she's been putting everyone else's desires ahead of her own and she needs to end her relationship. The all-inclusive honeymoon in the Caribbean her fiancé had booked for them is non-refundable, and he's too sad to go, so he tells Elsie to bring her best friend, Ginny, along with her.

Ginny has loved Elsie for as long as they can remember, but since they asked Elsie to the high school dance and Elsie rejected them, they have always prioritized their friendship and put their feelings to the side. When Elsie asks Ginny to go with her on her honeymoon, Ginny is committed to making sure that Elsie puts what she wants first for once. In the romantic resort environment, Elsie realizes that what she wants most of all is to be with Ginny.

This novel is a beautifully queer friends-to-lovers love story, with supportive given and chosen family, career growth, and deep, committed love. I loved both Elsie and Ginny and their rich friendship, as well as their chemistry and the many, many spicy scenes. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves women and loves love! My only qualm is that the MCs were way too young (23 years old!) and I wish they had been a bit older given their stage in life.

Overall, this was a great read and I am so glad to have been able to read this one early. Thank you to Griffin and Netgalley for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review. 4.25 stars

I adore Meryl Wilsners books, and when I saw they were releasing one with a non-binary character I was so excited. Alas, this one fell pretty flat for me. I will say the gender representation was fantastic, I related so much to how Ginny described their gender. The issue for me was the pacing of this book. The smut hit out of nowhere, and it felt really random to me. For smut scenes to work for me, I like a lot of build up, tension, yearning, etc., and this book felt pretty lacking in that department. There was some build up starting, but just as it was starting to simmer they were already hooking up. Additionally, the third act break up while making sense for the characters dragged for so long. It felt longer than their time together as a couple. I do wonder if part of that was just a necessary flaw with the concept, as the actual honeymoon trip they were on wasn't very long, which logistically just constrained how much time they could spend together.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed with this book, but it was still a Meryl Wilsner and it had some of the elements I come to expect in their books, which made it still a fun time to read, aside from my frustrations. I do think this is a good summer read contendor, the beach tropical vibes are quite good.

My Best Friend's Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner is such a fun, refreshing read that completely stole my heart! This is my first book by Wilsner, and now I’m hooked — I can’t wait to explore more of her work. This novel is a perfect mix of romance, humor, and personal growth, and I had such a blast reading it.
The story follows Elsie Hoffman, who’s been engaged to her college boyfriend for over a year, but when she discovers that her fiancé has planned their wedding and honeymoon without consulting her, she has a wake-up call. She realizes she’s been living a life that wasn’t really hers. In a moment of self-discovery, she calls off the wedding and decides to go on her honeymoon — with her best friend Ginny, instead.
This is where the magic happens. Ginny, being the supportive (and very wise) friend she is, makes a deal with Elsie — for the next week, Elsie can have whatever she wants, but she has to ask for it. What starts as a carefree vacation filled with activities and selfies quickly escalates into something more — toe-curling kisses and unexpected romantic chemistry. I absolutely loved how their friendship blossomed into something deeper, and watching Elsie figure out who she truly is was such a rewarding experience.
Meryl Wilsner’s writing is super engaging and playful, making this book feel like a perfect, feel-good escape. The chemistry between Elsie and Ginny is off the charts, and I found myself rooting for them from the very first page.
If you’re looking for a romance that’s as much about finding your voice and being true to yourself as it is about love, then My Best Friend’s Honeymoon is definitely the book for you. I can’t wait to see what Meryl Wilsner comes up with next — I’ll be first in line to read it!
Thanks to Netgalley and the author for the chance of reading the book in advance.

You might like this (I thought it was just fine). The plot of friends to lovers on vacation together is fun.

Meryl Wilsner’s books are possibly not for me. I love to read as many queer books and authors as I can but I guess I can’t love all of them. I think it’s their writing that I just don’t vibe with, the stories are good I just end up annoyed by the POV and structure of the books.

Tries Too Hard To Be 'Edgy'. Having read both Mistakes Were Made and Cleat Cute, it seems that the issues that really seem to have begun in Cleat Cute, where I wrote in my review that "this is one of those stories where there are a LOT of valid issues that people may have with the book, but ultimately pretty well all of them are matters of taste and not something truly concretely objectively *wrong*" have gone even further here, and now there are things that while still arguably not *objectively* wrong, there is a fair amount here that gets much closer to that line, at least in some readers' eyes.

Specifically, while none of the following really get up there to a star deduction on their own, there is enough that I'm about to detail that I felt the star deduction was warranted due to the accumulation. First, there is the more than once yet also not *pervasive* bigotries against anything non-queer, including one character getting quite preachy when a server refers to both characters as "Ladies", even though one of the characters is a female but claims "non-binary". Then there is the oral period sex. Yes, you read that right, and yes, I know it is a (minor) spoiler. But it is one that I feel people will want to be aware of when deciding to read or skip this book, so I feel justified mentioning it here. It is also one that many that decry explicit lack of use of condoms during sex *should* decry as even more unsafe than condomless penetrative sex can ever be, yet I've seen no such condemnations as I write this review less than two weeks before publication. To be fair, I also don't track reviewers who explicitly comment about such things in other books, so it is quite possible that *someone* has in fact called this out and I am simply unaware of it. Then there is the degrading talk during sex, but to be fair to Wilsner this *was* specifically done with a discussion of safe words just before this and explicit instruction to use them if the partner was uncomfortable with such speech. Finally, there are the barely-there and almost caricature level supporting characters - indeed, it almost seems as though the aforementioned server was included specifically so the preaching could be "excused". Even relatives of the characters felt like stereotypes at best, rather than fully (or even really partially) fleshed out and understood characters. As I noted previously in this review, none of this (possibly with the exception of the oral period sex) is objectively *wrong*, but it also all adds up to Wilsner just seeming to try to hard, particularly as the sex scenes take up seemingly 20% of the book - and the entire middle section of it. Thus, the star deduction. If you don't like that I deducted a star for this, maybe read the book and write your own review. Feel free to crucify me when you do, should you feel the need.

Beyond these issues though, Wilsner actually manages to create a plausible enough, if in a "queer Hallmarkie" kind of vibe, story that works well enough. Yes, things happen *fast* in actual shown-time, but at the same time, again in a "queer Hallmarkie" kind of mindset... meh, I for one didn't really have a problem there. Particularly given that these two had known each other for decades before the events of this book, again, meh, plausible enough that one day long-guarded truths are exposed and different paths emerge.

And then there is the titular honeymoon. The Caribbean setting was done well enough, though as it largely takes place inside that middle damn-near-erotica section of the book... maybe it could have been done even better, but that is likely a quibble that some will agree with and others will think it was done quite well indeed. For me, it was absolutely enough to show the beauty of the setting, almost in a Couples Retreat (the 2009 Vince Vaughn movie) way. They're there, they spend quite a bit of time in their mostly private hut over the water (as honeymooning couples would do, obviously, even though this couple isn't actually on their honeymoon and hasn't even admitted their feelings to each other at the time they arrive), but they also get out and explore a decent amount as well (which is where the server scene above happens, among other locations around the resort they explore). Like I said, it works well enough, could arguably have been done a touch better, but nothing really to *actually* complain about there.

Overall this was a book that many won't want to read for many perfectly valid reasons, but also many *will* want to read for equally perfectly valid reasons, and as with Cleat Cute in particular, it absolutely is one Your Mileage May Vary on. If what I've described above is close enough to something that interests you and you don't really have any major issues with those things, this is likely a book you should at least try to read and see if you enjoy. If you're more adamantly opposed to any of the things I describe above, you're likely better off skipping this one and sparing yourself the wasted time and the author the potentially far more harsh review than what I hope I've done a relatively balanced job with here. If you do choose to read it though, please leave a review on Hardcover dot app, BookHype dot com, PageBound dot co, or whatever your preferred book review platform may be.

Recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts!

Meryl Wilsner’s My Best Friend’s Honeymoon is another hit by an author that I love. It’s their first book with a nonbinary main character who also happens to be fat (and their name is Ginny which is basically my name when you think about it!). The on page discussion of trans bodies, preferred language, and constant check in for consent gave me so many feelings. Elsie desires Ginny’s body. She wants to touch and kiss them. It’s beautiful!

The concept was really good but I felt like it jumped into romance really fast, not enough chemistry built between the two main characters, I think the pacing was just to fast.

this was spicyyyyyy.

ginny and elsie have been best friends forever. and ginny has been in love with her since then. when elsie breaks off her engagement, she invites ginny to go on her honeymoon with her.

the entirety of their relationship development is spice. I wish we got more of them growing together rather than just hooking up. the third act conflict was so drawn out and I felt like it was also underdeveloped- they go off and figure out their jobs and they’re suddenly ready for a life-long relationship at 23? 🥲.

the vacation aspect and honeymoon vibes were really fun. ginny was so down bad for elsie and it was really cute. I just wish we got a little more.

what to expect
⟢ f x nb queer romance
⟢ best childhood friends to lovers
⟢ love after breakup
⟢ vacation/summer vibes

3 stars

This wasn’t bad by any means but I felt a lot was lacking . The first 1/3 of the book was just ragging on the ex-fiancé calling him dumb and making fun of how supportive he was of Elsie’s queer identity. The second 1/3 of the book was just sex scene after sex scene back to back to back with almost no gaps. And the last 1/3 was them not speaking because of a very blown out of proportion argument. I felt there was next to no yearning like we should get in a friends-to-lovers romance. And the 5 second change from “let’s date” to “I don’t want to talk to you” was intense whiplash.

Also there was no need to Elsie to be rude to that server.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.

My Best Friend's Honeymoon missed the mark for me. I was so on board for a nonbinary/queer representation romance and the synospsis had me hooked. The beginning started off strong, the friends-to-lovers trope, secretly pining for the other, was a great start. However, once we got to the spice, it was like we lost all that was built for us. It became all about the physicalness of their relationship and then predictable for the rest of the book. I gave it a three for the strong start and foundation. This story had potential and I look forward to seeing what we get in the future from Wilsner.

I received an advanced copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

This was a quick, cute best friends-to-lovers romance- I literally read it in less than 12 hours actually. I will say, I wish the break up/conflict hadn't lasted quite as long as it did- it happened around 50% and then didn't resolve until the very end so we didn't get a lot of time seeing them together (apart from the honemoon itself). But overall I enjoyed it. If you're looking for a book to take on vacation with you, this would be a good one.

The tension was absolutely tensioning in this one OMG! Love love love Ginny and Elsie they are now both the loml! This was such a sweet story of friendship and deep love and overcoming the fear of finally taking what you really want and it was just such a good read. I loved the backstory we got throughout of their friendship and ups and downs each of them have faced. Learning about why Elsie moved in elementary school actually broke my heart :(

The pacing was great throughout the whole story and the third act breakup felt necessary for both of their character arcs (thank god bc I hate an unnecessary breakup). Ginny is the selfless icon we all deserve and they were such a constant light in this story, loved watching them come into themselves and take that final leap to make their dreams happen! I also felt so close to Elsie and her struggle in asking for what she wants and I loved her growth as well!

Overall such a fun read that I absolutely blew through and highly recommend!!