Thank you St Martins Press for the gifted ARC!

When Elsie Hoffman calls off her wedding she goes on the non-refundable honeymoon with her best friend Ginny instead.
Ginny thinks it’s high time Elsie 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.
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.

Okay first, this book has so much queer rep! Ginny is non-binary and Elsie is pansexual! There are also some older queer characters later on in the story. And Ginny is also plus size and a woodworker and fosters dogs! I think Ginny is one of my favorite characters from a book i've read, ever!
Second, this book is super spicy! Like the entire middle of the book lol. SO hot but it's done so well.
I don't think i've ever seen two bigger idiots to lovers than Elsie and Ginny!! For the love of God, just talk to each other! Seriously though, their friendship is so sweet and the longing was sooo good. I loved the dual POV and I'm glad they both got to figure out what they wanted for themselves too in the end.
If you're looking for a spicy and sweet quick read then check this one out,

This didn’t really work for me. I was hoping for more of an emotional connection. The main characters felt a little bit too juvenile, and there wasn’t a strong enough plot to keep me engaged.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Meryl Wilsner, and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

HOT HOT HOT!!!!! Wilsner has done it again with the ultimate spicy queer romance!!! I love any juicy gay drama and this book DELIVERED. However, I was impressed by the genuine moments of introspection woven throughout that were equally as strong as the sex scenes. I believed in Elsie and Ginny’s friendship AND romance and found myself rooting for both their individual growth and growth together. I enjoyed seeing the story unfold and appreciated that we got to see them outside of the honeymoon setting as well. I’ve only read one other of Wilsner’s works (Mistakes Were Made), but reading this made me so excited to check out the rest of the backlog! Great beach/pool read for summer.

“It was easier to move away from the problem than to fix it. Easier to never trust anyone to care about what you want, never trust anyone to be kind about it, than ti risk vulnerability. Easier not to risk anything than to lose everything.”

I really wanted to love this. I enjoyed Mistakes Were Made when I read it a while back, so I was excited about this one. This started out pretty good, but as I got further into the plot I got frustrated with the story.

Ginny and Elsie’s find themselves in Santa Lupita on the honeymoon Elsie was supposed to be on with her now ex-fiancé, Derrick. I was surprised that the reason they go is because he insists Elsie should still go because she never takes time for herself, despite that fact that she just broke up with him. He is definitely way too calm about bring broken up with, even though he was wrong for planning their wedding and not telling Elsie. It's an incident that starts this pattern of quickly resolved issues. There is a bit of chemistry between Ginny and Elise that does boil over in their forced proximity at the resort, which was really fun to read. But even then there's still this disconnect between them and I struggled to stay invested.

The entire time they’re at the resort, they don’t talk about either of their feelings and just continue to be intimate. This is frustrating because as a reader you know that Ginny has always had feelings for Elsie, and you learn that Elsie rejected them in 10th grade over fear of losing her friend. Additionally, Ginny quits their job in order to go on the vacation but doesn’t tell Elsie. It’s the cause of their third-act breakup, but it feels hypocritical when Elsie has been keeping her own secret about her feelings for Ginny and why she rejected them years ago. It's understandable because they are so young, but at the same time Elise gets mad about something she's been doing herself and doesn't really acknowledge that. There is a lot of spice, which is great, but one moment felt so jarring and out of place that it took me right out of the story.

There’s also the frustration of how Elsie’s family treats her in their hardware store business. They don’t want her input and don’t listen to her at all. It doesn't feel like they value her input or the fact that she went to college to get her education to help the family business. They're almost cruel to her about everything, including the fact that she didn't want to marry Derrick. Not only is no one listening to her, Elsie doesn't speak up for herself. And while this is a catalyst for her character arc, she still doesn't stand up for herself because it gets magically resolved when Elsie’s sister reveals she’s on her side and Elsie gets to give her dad a presentation on updating some things. She has other people help her ambush her dad with a presentation and even though she does give him her opinions, it doesn't feel as satisfying as it could have been. There isn’t a good conversation that resolves this and it feels way too neat and clean.

I just never felt connected to the story of the characters, and the overall plot felt really frustrating. It felt like there was just such wasted potential with this book and the plot. I never felt connected to the story or the characters, and it continually felt like something was missing. I do think there will be readers that really enjoy this as everything is very surface level, but it just didn't work for me.

I am a Meryl Wilsner completionist. If they write it I'm going to read it. This was another fun one. I didn't feel like this book went as deep as some of their previous books did. It also suffered from some very unfortunate miscommunication issues. Elsie and Ginny had great chemistry and there were some sizzling scenes in this book! I enjoyed the adventures they got into on the actual honeymoon portion of the book and honestly would have loved for that to take up a longer portion of the story. Friends to lovers stories are always a favorite of mine which is what made the miscommunication really sad. They didn't seem to have the type of relationship where they couldn't actually speak to each other in an honest way. Even with those few issues I still had a good time and look forward to reading what Meryl writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A delightful take on the friends-to-lovers romance with a beautiful Caribbean setting.

Elsie Hoffman has been engaged for well over a year. When she discovers her fiancé planned their wedding and is expecting it to happen in seven days, Elsie realizes that she actually doesn't want this version of her future. After a breakup, she goes on the non-refundable honeymoon with her best friend Ginny Holtz instead. Small complication: Ginny has been in love with Elsie for 15 years. For the honeymoon, Ginny wants Elsie to learn to speak up for herself, so she can have anything she wants as long as she asks for it. When things turn a bit steamy, what happens when they go back to Minnesota?

First off, the Caribbean setting of the middle of this book, during the honeymoon, sounds amazing and immediately makes me want to schedule a vacation. The characters also have a lot of depth and this story is as much about them learning about themselves as it is about their romance. Elsie has to work on standing up for herself with her family and proving her worth with the family business. Ginny has to figure out what they actually want with their career. This character growth arc is inspiring and felt realistic for two characters in their mid-twenties. The secondary characters are there as a good support system (or occasional unintentional antagonist). Finally, it's important to see all kinds of romances on the shelves, so I very much appreciate this story with a nonbinary lead and plenty of spice.

The main drawback of this book, in my opinion, is the pacing. It takes quite a while to get to the honeymoon and then things move slowly for a while from there. It takes until about 50% of the book to get to the full set-up included in the description. I wish we got a bit more time seeing them working on themselves and their relationship, although I do understand the need to show us Elsie and Ginny's friendship.

Overall, I definitely recommend this book. With the setting, it's perfect as a beach read, but it's equally good to curl up with to block out the grossness of the world. If you enjoy friends-to-lovers stories or vacation romances, give this book a read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an advanced copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

I had a hard time getting into this book. The writing was great and the steam was very good, but the beginning just threw me. I wish her fiance would have been more of a jerk so I could dislike him more. It felt like she had just been stringing him along with no plans to ever marry him.

I'm sure this will have the right audience, but it was a bit of a miss for me. The writing was great and I will definitely check out more books by this author.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for an arc. All opinions expressed are my own.
3.5 rounded to 4

Ginny has been in love with their best friend Elsie for as long as they can remember, but they put their friendship first, always. Elsie knows her people-pleasing tendencies aren't doing her any favors, but she just can't seem to stand up for herself. When Elsie's engagement to her nice-but-oblivious boyfriend falls apart, the two best friends go on what was supposed to be Elsie's honeymoon. But maybe Ginny isn't the only one who's been pining for their best friend.

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. Wilsner's Mistakes Were Made and Cleat Cute were two of my favorite romance reads last year, but I was disappointed in this one. Neither character had much depth beyond their friendship and their jobs. The characters interact only to each other for most of the book, which left me feeling very trapped in their codependent dynamic. I was begging for an interaction with another guest at the resort or for the two of them to do anything but swim and fuck and eat.

The shifting third-person-close perspective didn't do any favors to the story--we were so far into the book before (view spoiler)

Still, there are good elements in this story. I always love seeing queer friendship represented in novels, and I think the third act breakup felt more realistic than many other romances. I think if I hadn't read Wilsner's other novels, I may have rated this higher but, for an author I like so much, this truly felt like a let-down.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC from Netgally for an honest review.

I wasn't a huge fan of the book, I thought the story and plot were cute to start, but struggled with how two dimensional the characters were. I was actually glad for them when near the end they learned who they are as themselves, but struggled with the first 2/3 of the book, as it felt very flat. I also found it a bit off-putting that one of the messages was people's obsession with sex. It's like that's all people in the story found as a reason for their relationships. I know it said other times that the main characters had a friendship that was 'amazing' but I didn't see a ton of that in the writing. I also felt like the friend characters that appear at the end of the story were hard stereotypes. Anyways, it was fine, but not something I wanted to sit and read or would recommend.

Thank you for the opportunity to review. I was interested in the dramatic tension that I felt could've been created with the characters as they were introduced, and found it a little bit of a letdown and overly predictable - there was a lot of potential! The writing was good but not memorable.

At this point, I will read anything Meryl Wilsner writes! They are an auto-buy author for me. And I'll likely still buy this book after it is released to support them!

I know there is going to be a large population of readers that adore this book! That being said, My Best Friend's Honeymoon is maybe my least favorite of Meryl Wilsner's books. One of my favorite romance books tropes is friends-to-lovers, and this book definitely has that trope going for it. However, it relies a lot on the relationship that developed before the story started. I am not a reader that loves a lot of spice, and this book is vastly spice. Like I said, there is a large population of romance readers who will love this book for the very reasons that I am hesitant to!

I did love the different queer representation in this book! I don't get to read a lot of major publishers that publish non-binary main characters.

Do I still recommend this book? Absolutely! Just because it wasn't my favorite Meryl Wilsner doesn't mean I didn't still enjoy my time reading this!

ARC Review - Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this eARC.

4.5 ⭐️s!! Beautiful story of going after what matters to you in life - whether that’s in your career, your love life, or even activities you’re interested in.

Ginny (nb) and Elsie (f) have been best friends for over a decade so it makes perfect sense to Elsie to invite Ginny on her honeymoon trip after she calls off her wedding. Ginny is determined to show Elsie how much her opinions, wants and desires matter, so they insist that she gets everything she asks for during their week in paradise. And they mean everything. 🫦🥵

This book is sweet, funny, heart wrenching, beautiful, spicy and full of love. I absolutely loved it! Get your hands on My Best Friend’s Honeymoon when it releases later this month (April 29!)

Perfect if you enjoy any of the following:
- Friends-to-lovers
- Non-binary MC
- Open door spice
- Loads of pining
- Dirty talk
- Forced Proximity

This was my first book by Meryl Wilsner but it certainly won’t be my last!

I loved the plus size non gender conforming representation. I am a huge fan of friends to lover and most markedly best friend to lover, so this book was really meant for me! I enjoyed the story even though I was scared a few times. The spice is also on point. Definitely recommend.

Elsie is days away from her wedding, but she doesn't know that. Her fiancé, Derrick, planned a wedding behind her back, and it's happening next week. Now, Elsie needs to decide what to do. There's a reason they haven't planned a wedding yet, she just hasn't come to terms with it. When she calls off the wedding, Derrick insists that she still go on the honeymoon to Santa Lupita and take her best friend Ginny along with her. Ginny has been in love with Elsie since the start of her friendship, but after a slight flop in high school, she has not voiced her feelings to Elsie. Now isn't the time to share her feelings anyway, with Elsie hot off the end of her engagement. However, things start to heat up during their week away from Minnesota. In an effort to do what Elsie wants and to start to stand up for herself and her beliefs, Elsie approaches Ginny for some "fun." Soon, they cannot get enough of each other. When the vacation comes to an end, their future is at stake. Will they ruin their lifelong friendship after the last few days of experimentation? Will they be able to move forward, no matter what their label is? More importantly, will Elsie take the lessons learned during her vacation and find who she really is?

This one was S P I C Y!!!! More so than her other books! However, I enjoyed the storyline and was really rooting for these two. Even if they do not end up together, I just want everything to work out. The book is fast-paced but also keeps you engaged with Elsie and Ginny's story. However, the book didn't blow me out of the water. It's a great sapphic read, but it lacks something to make it truly outstanding. If you've enjoyed Meryl Wilsner's other books, you'll absolutely love this one. Plus, it's the first book of hers to feature a non-binary character. If you haven't given her books a try, please give this one a shot! I was skeptical based on some of the other earlier reviews, but this is a really good read, especially if you're stuck in a slump!

When Elsie calls off her engagement, her fiancé insists she still goes on the honeymoon and takes her best friend along.

This one from Wilsner didn't do it for me. The whole book is a giant miscommunication as the characters don't talk to each other. There's more spice than romantic connection so I wasn't buying into their relationship, even if they've known each other for years.

Meryl Wilsner does it again!!

My Best Friend’s Honeymoon is adorable, quirky and unapologetically queer. This story follows the classic best friend to lovers trope and if you enjoy that particular style, then this is the perfect novel for you! Additionally, this story is inclusive in a way that the world desperately needs. One of the love interests is a non-binary and Ginny is written wonderfully. Their non-gender conforming life is brought to the page in a way that shows how we all can be better allies!

The love story within these pages is absolutely delightful! It’s endearing and readers have plenty to connect with! It’s a genuine second chance romance for Ginny and Elsie and their love deserves the chance to flourish. Another component of this romance is the spice. This is one of the spiciest Meryl Wilsner books I’ve ever read and I LOVED it! It starts in a dorky way, but the “asks” get more and more sensual. The sexual tension reaches a boiling point and all the feelings explode from there.

My only minor confusion point were the flashbacks. They were somewhat separated from the story and although they gave great characterization they did at times make the story feel a little disjointed. But ultimately the characterization I gained from it, made me love the characters even more making the love story that much impactful!

Check this story out, it’s wonderfully wild, hot & steamy, and it’s the romance you NEED to read this summer!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. This is my second read from Merlyn, and I honestly did not like this story. I wanted to DNF at 40% but I held out hope thinking this would end differently. This is a Friends to Lovers Romance where we follow best friends Elsie and Ginny who go on Elsie’s honeymoon after she dumps her fiancé a week before the week he planned for them and urges her to still take the paid vacation. I’m giving this ⭐️⭐️⭐️ only because I loved Ginny, I couldn’t stand Elsie at all. I enjoyed their growth separately and some of their friendship. Also Ginny’s granddad, Sue and her friends were gems! Love them!

A friends to lovers romance with a lot of steam, And spice. Elsie and Ginny while on the honeymoon Elsie was meant to take discover that they can be more than friends, And so they do. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. For Wilsner's fans.

Huge thanks to Meryl Wilsner, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC. I’m so grateful I got the chance to read this one early! This was actually my first romance featuring a female and non-binary main characters, and I love the representation. The first 40% totally had me hooked, I loved the setup, the chemistry, and especially the setting. The way the resort was described made me feel like I was right there, lounging by the pool and watching everything unfold like a movie.

That said, I wasn’t fully prepared for how spicy it would get. That might be on me, but I did find myself feeling a bit overwhelmed after a certain point. Up until around 60%, I was rolling with it, but there was one scene in particular that pushed me past my comfort zone, and I ended up DNF-ing at 64%. Still, there was so much to love: the banter, the vibes, the friendship. I think a lot of readers are going to fall hard for this one, especially if you’re looking for a steamy, summery escape with heartfelt LGBTQ+ rep.

The pace was fast and the story was super steamy. I really enjoyed the warm setting in the book as a way to escape the cool Chicago spring.