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.
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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.

Best Men is a cute and fluffy rom-com in the best possible way. It's sweet and silly and perfect for those that enjoy their fluff without steam! .

This is the worst book that I have read in a minute. Every single character is unlikable and annoying as hell and there's not a single redeeming quality about any of them. Do you know how hard someone has to work to make every single character terrible? I'm a little bit impressed but I am more frustrated at the fact that I continued to listen to this despite not liking it and I really should have stopped at the 30% mark when the aphobia hit.

So recap about this book. There's this guy named Max who is the gay best friend to his straight best friend Paige. Max works at some stupid HR firm and he fires people and you'll know that he fires people because there are legitimately multiple chapters that are him firing people. It was quite pointless. Anyway, Max's a bit of a mess and he somehow thinks he's still in a relationship with his ex-boyfriend despite multiple times saying that they're fuck buddies but then turns around and gets upset that his ex-boyfriend is seeing someone else. So he makes the decision to go out and have a one-night stand which is fine whatever go you but it goes really terribly and is super awkward and he basically runs away because yeah I would too. Then he finds out that his super duper awkward one night stand is the other best man at his best friend's wedding. Not only is he the other best man but he is the brother of his best friend's fiance. Did you follow all that?

So both Max and Chasten, yes his fucking name is Chasten, are assholes. But the big thing is that they're on different sides of the gay stereotypes. Chasten is very much more the sassy gay and fits the gay best friend stereotype more than Max does So Max gets all butt hurt and jealous and is extra assholey. I still am not quite sure what the whole point of this book is but from my understanding it's that these two guys who had an awkward first meeting then lie about it and say they didn't know each other and then become enemies because they're opposites and everyone wants Paige's attention for some reason and they try and plan a bachelorette party and a bridal shower etc while also planning the wedding and end up falling for each other.

If you're going into this looking for a romance you should turn right around and walk out the door. Their " romance " happens at like the 90% mark of the book and consists of a blink and you'll miss it declaration and then they're dating. I actually missed it the first time because by that point I had so zoned out and I had it sped up very quickly cuz I was absolutely done with his book and I had to go back and listen to it again and then go back in my physical copy that I received from Berkeley to see if I could find it. There's no discussion about what they like about each other because they're both so insufferable the entire book that it is hard to imagine what they see in each other.

Now we have to talk about the gay best friend angle. If you want an actual quality book that delves into the harmfulness of the GBF I would highly recommend The Gay Best Friend by Nicolas DiDomizio. It's also about a gay guy who his best friends are getting married and keep putting him in the middle but there is legitimate discussions about why that's harmful and how to change it and how they can move forward without being toxic.

This book has none of that. The straight best friend Paige is the most annoying of all of them I think. Not only she's super homophobic because the only queer people she cares about are the sassy gay men and the drag queens, but she is selfish and fat phobic and exhausting. One of her little quirks that they have is that she cannot make a decision to save her life and I swear to God if I ever encounter someone like that I could not be held responsible for my actions. Figure out what the fuck you want in your head and then make a decision like an adult. No you cannot have something off the menu. You don't get to sample wines at a sports bar. You can't just cancel your floral arrangement days before your wedding and then be mad about it. Those are just a handful of the incidents that would send me into a rage induced homicide.

The only reason I really kept reading after I had hit the 50 60% mark was that I wanted to see if there was going to be a confrontation between Max and Paige and there technically is but it is so horrible in terms of nothing actually getting solved that I immediately regretted all my decisions.

Beyond just a terrible plot and horrible characters, there are so many problematic moments in this book and I am pissed for one and sad that it's receiving so much hype and that people think that this is what constitutes a good queer rom-com.

I briefly mentioned aphobia at the beginning and this happens in a sentence where the main character says something along the lines of "I was basically asexual" and this is referring to him not having sex as a teenager. That is not what asexuality means and I'm really going to need other queer people to know what the heck it is. If you don't know, one you should look it up but two you should shut the fuck up.

There are multiple instances of biphobia referring to people as a little bit bi. There is a Harry Potter reference which we all know is transphobic and can we freaking not? It is 2023 God damn it do fucking better. There is rampant fat phobia throughout the entire book in terms of gay stereotypes about bodies but also with the straight best friend Paige talking about how much he needs to go on a diet and how often Max has to tell her that she's not fat and she looks great etc. It is very 2002-esque and is exhausting. I lived through that I don't need to listen to it in a book too.

Then because yes there's more, the only other queer person in this book besides the three white cis gay men, is a sports loving lesbian who is Max's boss and she is ruthless. She is mean and toxic and gets enjoyment out of firing people. She does not listen to anything that anyone else is saying and is so self-absorbed in herself that she is incapable of feeling any sort of empathy for all of the people that she's firing / having Max fire including her supposed beloved secretary of years.

This book screams vapid toxic gay masculinity. It is everything that the queer community despises about gay men and I will not get on board the train of "oh well I'm gay so I can't be queer phobic" You absolutely can and you are. This author is very clearly stating his opinions on other members of the queer community and it's not a good look. You can tell that he believes that only gay or lesbian are valid and that gay men are still superior. It is also intensely clear that he would, in a heartbeat, make fun of a trans person, anyone who identifies as bi or pan, and immediately discredit any aces or aros.

This type of white cis privileged gay man gives off the same energy as Christians regarding the rainbow. This is the same energy that they think that the rainbow is their flag despite their being a separate Achillean flag. This is the same energy that screams "why are there so many letters now?" This is the same energy that says "pronouns are too difficult". This is the same energy that gate keeps and harms the larger part of the queer community that are not white cis gay men.

If you are a white cis gay man reading this and are taking offense I highly suggest that you take a step back and shut up and evaluate how you're feeling. Because chances are you're going to say something misogynistic or fat phobic or queerphobic and it's going to be better for everyone if you don't. Put the freaking microphone down.

Max and Paige have been best friends since they were neighbors in a suburb of Chicago. Max has always been the romantic one and Paige was the complete opposite, until she wasn’t. She shakes Max’s world when she announces she’s engaged. He accepts the position of Man of Honor and wouldn’t you know it but Austin’s best man turns out to be super handsome and sparks fly between the bridal party members. This is a fun one and I especially loved the relationship between Max and Paige.
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Huge thank you to @berkleypub and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This wedding romance between the two best men was a struggle to get through. I listened to the audiobook and found the narration to be a bit over the top. Paige is a central character in the story as the bride and is given so much attention that the romance between her friend and almost brother-in-law seems secondary. The little side bars in between chapters felt distracting and took me out of the story. I can appreciate the effort that went into writing this novel, but it didn't work for me.