Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The concept had potential, but the execution didn’t work for me. The pacing felt sluggish, and the story dragged in too many places.

Ginny, the non-binary main character, has been in love with their best friend forever, but after being rejected, they continue to fixate on them. Meanwhile, Elsie, the female lead, lacks any real agency—she doesn’t stand up for herself, avoids important conversations, and hesitates over things that should be clear-cut. Her reasoning for not confessing her feelings felt weak, making the miscommunication trope even more frustrating.

On top of that, the flashbacks were poorly integrated, making the timeline feel disjointed. The POV shifts were unclear, adding to the confusion. The romance itself didn’t feel well-developed, as the book spent more time on sex scenes than on building emotional depth between the characters.

Overall, I was expecting to enjoy this book a lot more than I did. The slow pacing and lack of engaging storytelling made it difficult to stay invested.

I really wanted to like this book but I think I’m the end it just wasn’t for me. I instantly disliked one of the main characters and was annoyed by her throughout the rest of the book. The theory and plot behind the book was cute but something was just missing for me

Elsie (she/her) and Ginny (they/she) have been in love with each other for as long as they've known each other, yet they have each kept their feelings to themselves almost entirely. When Elsie finally realizes the lack of emotional intelligence and the "ho-humness" of her relationship with fiancé Derrick after he plans their wedding without telling her, she calls off the relationship. However, there's an all expenses paid, non-refundable honeymoon at a truly breathtaking resort and Derrick tells Elsie to take it and bring her best friend (Ginny). Ginny's focus on Elsie saying what she wants added to her recent break-up, lead her to finally admitting to herself the love and attraction she's felt for Ginny for as long as she can remember. Their love and emotional intimacy has always been there, so the book explores both their sexual awakening with one another (lots of it and very hot!) and the ways that having been attached at the hip since childhood kept them from fully exploring their wants and needs as adults. And, of course, there's an HEA.

Reasons to read this book:
- one of very few romances out there with a nonbinary MC
- social commentary about gender identity, but also lots of normalizing the ways that sexual orientation and gender identity don't fit into neat little boxes
- a fat MC who the author does a beautiful job describing the beauty of, not in spite of their size, but because of it
- a beautiful setting that will make you want to pack your bags and book a trip

Thank you so much to Meryl Wilsner, SMP, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Yeah no, this is not for me. Sorry Meryl Wilsner, sorry Net Galley since you provided me with an ARC for this, but just no.

I got 10% in and I'm already rolling my eyes with these characters. Ginny is incredibly selfish and self important, and Elsie is a doormat. I understand that this is barely 10% and there's probably some character development along the way, but I don't see myself caring for their journey. I can already tell where this is headed with all the emotional longing and the wishing, but meh. SNOOZE!

Elsie is Ginny’s favorite person. Ginny is Elsie’s favorite person. The only reason that is known is because they each think and say it more times than you can count. But very little happens in the book to substantiate their relationship. There is little to indicate why they are so close other than the fact that they’ve been close since childhood and weathered a few bouts of conflict by completely avoiding it. Given the flashbacks we do get of their upbringings (primarily from Elsie's perspective), I would have liked a greater underpinning for their friendship (their early friendship/first meeting, more key memories together, etc). Additionally, their respective interiority seems unbalanced. We get far more context into Elsie’s life than Ginny’s. And given how open and communicative Ginny’s family does seem from the small snippets we get, their own avoidance is confusing. I would have loved to get to know a bit more about Ginny’s family, though I liked the friendships they began to build toward the end of the book. I really enjoyed Cleat Cute and Mistakes Were Made from Wilsner, but for me this story lacks the fleshed-out characters (in both the leads and any supporting characters) and depth to the central romance that made their past books so enjoyable.

I love the idea of asking for what you want but I just never really connected with the story. There were moments to hang on to but overall the story felt flat and I had trouble rooting for the main characters.

There is a story here worth telling and I do believe there is an audience for the book.

Thanks to NetGallery and the publisher for This Arc in exchange for my honest review.

As the parent to two LGBTQAI+ children, I wanted to read this book not only because I found the premise interesting ( a non-binary friend goes on their best friend's honeymoon after the wedding is spectacularly called off) but also because I wanted to understand life from their perspective better. I have always turned to books for more information, and this did not disappoint. While not a research book by any stretch of the imagination, My Best Friend's Honeymoon had real characters that were fully developed, well-plotted, and felt like friends by the end of the book. The author never shied away from anything and allowed for emotional exploration throughout, which was quite refreshing. I loved how it started out as one type of book (MF rom-com) and ended as another (F-NB rom-com) without missing a beat or a reader. It was just smooth and engaging, keeping my interest throughout. I really liked this book and will look for more Meryl Wilsner books to enjoy soon. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes well-thought-out, planned, engaging, character-centric novels. It will not disappoint on any level.

This was an ok read for me. I've heard good things about Meryl Wilsners' novels and things my first experience with her. I liked some.parts more than others but I couldn't completely connect with the writing at times. I found myself finishing the book cause I always want to give queer books a chance.

So, I liked this. I didn't love it, and that's okay, but I did like it.

This is a friends to lovers story that follows two lifelong friends, Ginny and Elsie, as they go on Elsie's honeymoon together after she breaks up with her fiance before their wedding. Smut ensues.

Here's the thing—I felt like a lot of the personal growth and character development happened veeeeery quickly. Like, Elsie's whole thing is putting people above herself/not having boundaries/not being able to stand up for herself. And that gets worked through with incredible speed for someone who has presumably dealt with this her whole life. IDK, the pacing of the whole book felt off too me, and I wanted the ending to be more fleshed out.

Anyway, I will never not read a Wilsner book, but this isn't my favorite of their work. While I enjoyed it, it's not something that I'll be holding close to my heart the way I have with some of their other stories.

This was a DNF for me unfortunately. I couldn't get into it at all. I found it to be extremely slow. There wasn't any true romance with the characters- it was purely hooking up and that gets old super quick for me. I have another Meryl Wilsner book on my shelf that I will definitely give a try. This just wasn't up my alley. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early, though!

While this book did have its cute moments, it just didn't work well for me as a whole. It felt very rushed and clunky and I would have liked a little more from the ending, even just an epilogue jumping ahead a bit. The spice was incredibly well written but I was not expecting it to take up practically the entire middle of the book. Worth a read, but not Wilsner's best.

I would like to start off with thanking both the publisher and netgalley for allowing me to read this book!

I am a huge Meryl Wilsner fan and this book did not disappoint!! I loved the inclusion of nonbinary characters and also a character who is bigger. I think their friendship was very sweet and wish for someone who only wants the best for me lol. I highly recommend this book!!

I would say this is a solid 3.75 stars. I loved the premise of it but Elsie kind of drove me nuts being so.... docile. I did love Ginny, they really saved the book for me. I didn't necessarily "feel" the love between the characters but I think it's because the romance took a back seat to the sex in the book. I was craving a little more but did enjoy this overall

This was an enjoyable reader! I enjoyed Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner and this was a good follow up.

I enjoyed how fast paced it was and this was a great F/NB book to start with, as I had never read one before.

I’m always a sucker for the friends to lovers trope. This did not disappoint! I loved the plot and the slow burn romance. The spice level was just right! The story is about two best friends (Elsie and Ginny) who go on a nonrefundable honeymoon together after Elsie dumps her boyfriend.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

There were a lot of things I really liked about this book – especially in the first half. I also read this pretty quickly, and it was a great fun read, definitely on vacation or in the summer. However, I felt like the spice in this book took over the plot & sidelined the romance. I don’t mind spice in my romance stories, and the scenes were good, but the way these two got together seemed so quick & didn’t make sense given the years of secret pining. I also don’t love miscommunication as the driving conflict, but I did like how Ginny & Elsie developed as characters after the third act conflict.

I love Meryl Wilsner’s books and will continue to pick them up - I just wanted more emotional depth while the romance was really developing.


Thank you to NetGalley, the author, & the publishers who sent me this ARC to read & review! <3

Already going in a big fan of Meryl Wilsner I had my hopes up for this book and was not disappointed at all. The slow build of this book was worth the wait with the level of spice Wilsner gifted us with. I finished this book caring about the characters and am already ready to add this to my reread list, Definity a recommended read to anyone who is a fan of a spicy friends to lovers read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Meryl Wilsner delivers on the steam in My Best Friend’s Honeymoon. Their talent for writing sizzling, well-paced intimacy is undeniable. Unfortunately, the rest of the novel didn’t quite work for me.

Elsie was insufferable—I struggled to connect with her and found her frustrating rather than endearing. The friends-to-lovers trope also fell flat because we didn’t get enough of their actual friendship before the romance took over. Simply stating that they’ve been friends since childhood isn’t enough to build a strong emotional foundation. I wanted more depth and development before they jumped into bed.

Overall, this was a quick, steamy read, but I needed more from the characters and their relationship to be fully invested. Three stars, but only because of the steamy scenes.

This was a fun read! I really enjoyed Ginny as a main character, especially. She was so protective of Elsie, and I could really feel their chemistry! I will absolutely be adding it to my recommended lists.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read the ARC.

After being completely obsessed with Cleat Cute I was so excited to get another ARC from Meryl Wilsner.

This book is about two long time best friends Elsie (she/her) and Ginny (they/she) who go together on a nonrefundable honeymoon after Elsie calls off her wedding and are forced to face the truth of their feelings for each other during their week in paradise.

**Spoilers below**

At face value this book seemed like it would be right up my alley but unfortunately it really wasn’t. I found both main characters, but especially Elsie, to be quite unlikeable and it made it so hard to root for them. Then when Elsie finds out Ginny didn’t tell her that they quit their job and she completely freaks out and says some cruel stuff to Ginny I found myself outright wanting them to fail.

I’ve also felt like Wilsner has done a great job in previous books of writing inclusivity in a very natural way but I didn’t get that with this book. Having Elsie lecturing people about how they treat Ginny and the way that Ginny’s fatness was talked about ending up feeling like it was trying too hard.

Ultimately I didn’t dislike this book strongly enough that I won’t read others from this author but I definitely disliked it enough to not recommend it to others.