what fun, spicy, tender, sweet romance 🥹 this audiobook was perfect to read this story! the narration and production let me fall right into this romantic story 🥰

Ginny and Elsie are the most adorable, dedicated, horny for each other friends to lovers!!! they have so much history, interweaving their scars and dreams. watching them overcome years of pent up fears and longings to finally fall into what makes them happy was so beautiful to read. the yearning and the friendship make this such a romantic story, as well as the beautiful tropic setting of their finally getting together, then that of real life where they can finally start their lives together as the horniest love bugs 🥰🫶

just a beautiful, romantic, tender love story. thank you for the ALC!!!

I did not like this book at all. I have read other lesbian romances, but this one was way over the top. The premise didn't really make sense to me. The pronoun usage of "they" made it very confusing to know if the author was meaning one of the characters or multiple characters. I just hated it.

My Best Friend's Honeymoon may now be my new favorite Meryl Wilsner book. It's such a heartfelt and horny best friends-to-lovers romance. I loved every moment, and I think the pacing was so perfect. There wasn't a single minute where I was bored or wished it was moving a little faster. The only time I wished something had been a little different was when Ginny and Elsie finally get together - it did feel a little too soon. I wish it had been a little more drawn out, but it still worked out well - it just comes down to personal preference.

I loved that Ginny is a nonbinary person who uses they/she pronouns. I thought the discussions around their identity were perfect. I especially love the scene where they are greeted as "ladies," and Elsie comes to their defense.

The spice was also phenomenal. It's something that Meryl Wilsner always does well, but it was especially phenomenal in this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and SMP for my ALC.

80% sex, 20% two adults who call themselves best friends but are unable to have a conversation. I would have DNFed if not for my current participation in a read-a-thon (shoutout to my fellow lions) and my commitment to finishing my arcs.

As a big fan of Mistakes Were Made, I was excited for the author’s newest release. Unfortunately, it was a massive let down. The main characters live in their heads and cannot speak to each other to save their own lives (or relationship). I was never shown that the characters had chemistry or belonged together. I was just told that they were both into each other and that was supposed to be enough to convince me to ship them. The main conflict was miscommunication that was blown out of proportion and was simply not believable. Reminded me a lot of the episode of New Girl where Cece and Jess just need to punch each other (S4 E10).

The best part of this book was when these two took a break from each other and were not codependent. I do not think they should have ended up together, and I am not convinced that their relationship will last.

I am thankful to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. I do not think I will request from this author going forward.

Rating: ⭐⭐ (2/5)

This one just wasn’t my cup of tea. The premise had potential, but the execution felt messy, and I kept feeling like something was missing. The characters and their relationship development didn’t feel fully fleshed out, making it hard to connect with them. The story had some cute moments, but overall, it lacked the depth and cohesion I was hoping for. If you love friends-to-lovers romances, you might enjoy it more than I did, but personally, it didn’t work for me.

Agh! I want to like this one because I love the author and liked the book… but the narrator doing the male voice like that jus killed the vibe for me 😅 with all due respect

ALC Review: My Best Friend's Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner
Pub Date: April 29, 2025

Thank you to @macmillanaudio for the ALC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Meryl's books are always so horny and my god did this not disappoint in that realm! It's real horny, quite spicy, and definitely kinky. I loved seeing Elsie really explore her sexuality and realize so much more about herself through her relationship and experience with Ginny. I loved them both as characters but there was something about Ginny in particular that really got me - I think it was how well they understand Elsie and what she needs. There's something so intimate about knowing a friend that well - that platonic love (though of course here it was more) is so wonderful to see reflected in a book.

I don't always love friends to lovers for a variety of reasons but I do think it worked pretty well here and the ending especially worked for me since they took time to themselves to really grow and figure out what they both wanted. They both really do the work to figure themselves out before committing to a relationship

This is a super short audio and I enjoyed the narration by Blair Baker and Emily Shaw - I never had a hard time distinguishing which character's POV I was in due to their narration.

Meryl Wilsner has created such a sweet and fun besties to lovers romance in My Best Friend's Honeymoon.

Wilsner captures all the history between these two, and I was plugging for them from the start. (Though I did feel a little bad for Elsie's fiancé.)

I also enjoyed the scenes from the Twin Cities! I went to college there, so hearing about landmarks and the folks there is always fun for me.

The audio version of My Best Friend's Honeymoon is nicely performed by Blair Baker; Emily Shaw.

The narrators captured Elsie and Ginny's voices completely and breathed life into this fun romp!
I can best characterize My Best Friend's Honeymoon as FUN. It's not groundbreaking. It's not the Next Great American Novel. BUT, it is a joyful romp through the figuring out your identity in-and-outside of relationships. And a book like that doesn't need to be anything pretentious. Meryl Wilsner explores LGBTQIA+ identity with the care and joy and sass that can only come from an "elder" of the community.
As a sapphic in a sapphic-presenting relationship, this book ticked boxes and tickled me in all the right ways.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Meryl Wilsner book and I thought it was good, but that it could have been better.

I was left wanting more from Ginny and Elsie’s relationship. The lust was definitely there no doubt about that - with a lot of spice to go with it. I wanted more romance between the two. I wanted to see why they loved each other and not just “you’re my best friend I love you now let’s bang.”

I think this had so much potential, but just fell flat for me. I would consider reading more of their work in the future since my friend’s speak so highly of their other books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. ✨

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced copy! You can pick up My Best Friend's Honeymoon on April 29, 2025.

Meryl Wilsner once again delivers the perfect combo of spicy and sweet queer romance. I love a good friends to lovers story, but pining best friends who've loved each other like nobody else and are scared to take the dive into a romantic relationship despite sizzling tension? Chef's kiss.

Ginny and Elsie were not only great together, but I loved their individual perspectives and growths throughout the story too! Elsie definitely needed to learn to stand up for herself and ask for what she wants. And Ginny deserved a chance to pursue their dreams without worrying about what Elsie needed. Their third act breakup actually felt kind of justified in that sense, because we see them grow into themselves without the other person present.

And the spicy scenes... phew! Definitely hot, but also very clumped together in the middle of the book. It would've been nice to have a little more plot interspersed throughout, but otherwise I have no complaints.

Definitely pick this up if you want a spicy friends to lovers story with some great pansexual and non-binary rep!!

Do you know what you want in life? Elsie and Ginny are figuring it out in this book.

Lifelong best friends find themselves on a honeymoon planned by Elsie's ex-fiance. Ensue tons of will they /won't they.

This book gives such a realistic look of what it's like to be in your mid twenties, finding yourself looking at the results of a ton of decisions you didn't know you were making.

This book gets 5 stars from me because there were so many little moments that I related to. From being the daughter of a small buisness owner, to all the Midwest references and even the use of Jenifer when that's not your full name (justice for all of us with nicknames for full names lol).

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Friend's to Lovers, miscomunication
Representation: Pansexual, Non-binary character
Spice: Open door, 3/5 🌶

Read as a part of @transrightsreadathon

TW: Flashbacks to childhood bullying, which includes lesphobia

This was enjoyable and well written, just a tad on the spicy side for my liking. However, I did think it was well written.

Elsie and Ginny have been (co-dependent) friends since middle school. When Elsie breaks up with her fiancé after he plans a surprise wedding, she is left with a non-refundable honeymoon to Santa Lupita. It only makes sense that Ginny would join her on the trip. The thing is, Ginny has been in love with Elsie since they were young and one bed in the nice warm Caribbean isn’t going to change that.

I found Elsie to be quite annoying (read:unbearable) but I generally liked Ginny enough to help me get over it. Overall I enjoyed this one! Though it was definitely fluff and I do wish we got a bit more romance and plot.

Blair Baker and Emily Shaw were great narrators for this story!

Writing this review, I feel pretty conflicted. Overall I thought the book was good, but it was missing some key things that would have made me love it.

What I liked:
I thought it was the perfect rom-com set up! Wedding is cancelled, honeymoon is non-refundable, person takes best friend, ultimately leading to ✨feelings✨ Ginny is the absolute best and they deserve all the happiness.

What I wasn’t a fan of:
I just really didn’t care for Elsie. She seemed so in her own world and just had some mean girl behavior disguised as sweet and innocent. Also, while there was a lot of spice (which I didn’t mind) there wasn’t a lot of actual romance. I wanted more from a friends to lovers situation.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Overall Rating | ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’ve read books by Meryl Wilsner before, and I enjoy her representation of queer characters…and the spice is always good! This one missed the mark a little for me though.

While I appreciate the nonbinary representation, it was really hard to follow in audiobook format. The they/them pronouns were hard to distinguish if the author was talking about Ginny or about Ginny and Elsie together. I think if I were reading instead of listening I might’ve been able to better follow that.

I also really don’t enjoy a miscommunication/noncommunication trope, and this was full of it. So many of Ginny and Elsie’s issues could’ve been solved by having a conversation.

I really liked their relationship, and I loved Elsie discovering her wants and learning to speak up for herself. But overall it was just average for me.

This friends to lovers romance is well written, there is tension and dual POV with dual narrators. However, I disliked Elsie's characters so much and her behavior continued to get worse as the novel went on. She is the most selfish and manipulative character I have read about in a long time and her gaslighting Ginny upset me to my core. I ended up DNF at 70% because of her behavior and how ridiculous the third act break up fight was 🤦‍♀️ It was so immature

I really wanted to like this novel more because friends to lovers is a trope I adore but I just found the characters flat the immature for my taste.

This book was so heart warming. The characters were really well done. I love their journey from friendship to love. Highly recommend for romance readers!

Listened at 1.75x
I am a fan of Meryl Wilsner's writing. It is always clear and concise and very well plotted.

This friends to lovers romcom had it all. The narration was well acted, the story flows seamlessly. Navigating sexuality when so young is confusing and I appreciated that we see how both MCs were able to work through life.

I enjoyed this story and give it 4 solid stars.

Thank you NetGalley for sending this ALC for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I was so excited to receive the arc for this audiobook- the plot was so interesting and it seemed like something I would absolutely love! However, it fell extremely flat. While I did like the character of Ginny (non-binary main character), I hated the trope of her being head over heels in love with her best friend since childhood…especially since the character she was in love with was Elsie. Elsie was a huge let down of a character to me- her character and actions ruined this book for me.

Tropes: friends to lovers, miscommunication (aka Elsie is the most annoying pushover character EVER and I truly didn’t understand any of her actions in this book), queer romance (non-binary representation!).

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook.