I picked this one up specifically after reading a bioessentialist comment in a cis sapphic book after the UK Supreme Court ruling and I was greeted by a Harry Potter mention a few chapters in. I know they're millennials but is it necessary?

I was initially a bit disappointed that this was published as literary fiction and not genre romance but after reading the book it would have felt lacking as a romance as it is more centered around Julia and her family, the advertised romance is the guiding plot but the actual relationship is a small part of the book and not the most compelling.

Julia is a messy character but feels very real to trans people. She makes morally questionable choices but informed by fear and trauma and is relatively proven right (and wrong) by the narrative. Her relationship to her family is the main strength of the book as she attends her brother's wedding after her coming out. While her family has initially been supportive, she is afraid that some of it is pretending or blanket acceptance. It often feels like liberal cis people entertains you, they don't see you as your gender but they respect you enough to gender you properly.

I loved this!! It definitely have My Best Friend's Wedding vibes to me. I thought this was a very funny and entertaining read. I highly recommend!

I absolutely loved this book! It was laugh out loud funny, heart warming, and also heart breaking! I love Julia and all of her friends who have become her family. I also love how supportive most of the people in her life have been with her transition. The majority of this book deals with Julia feeling guilty over telling her decade old high school crush a lie to gain sympathy in hopes to like her. Julia gets caught up in this lie and isn't able to to really come clean and worries if she does it could ruin everything. I laughed out loud of every time Julia brought up her maybe-psychotic twin brothers. I loved her friends River, Daytona, and Kyle as well. I highly recommend this book if you like a millennial complicated queer love story. Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for this ARC.

I really enjoyed this book! I rarely read books where the main character isn’t cis, and it’s always refreshing to get a new pov to learn more about this kind of stuff. This was a cute story, and I loved how much love there was in the book!

Very interesting (and funny!) journey through complicated dynamics. Julia is a realistic main character. I love when main characters get to be wrong, and Julia is wrong in both her actions and her interpretations of those around her. The dynamics between Julia and her family are real and raw, and it was lovely to watch her perceptions of those closest to her shift throughout the story. Great read!

I won’t lie, at first it was hard for me to get into this story. I loved the initial connection between Julia and Kim, but I couldn’t get over the lying for sympathy sex thing. It just felt like an illogical improbable series of half truths she decided to tell this girl to get her to sleep with her–that in the end were sort of true? Overall i loved the humor and thought it resolved nicely.

Really fun and sweet and a tribute to every romcom set at a wedding but specifically the best one MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING!!!! I’ve loved Rose’s humor and wit for a long time and it was so great to experience it in book form :)

This one was an interesting read. Had some mixed emotions but I quickly realized that was probably the intent! I love when authors can take a story/trope that we’re aware of but make it queer 🌈 as someone that’s queer, It makes me happy that despite the story is inspired or is similar to ‘my best friends wedding’ it highlights the parts that are hard or challenging of being queer

This was fun quick read that really highlighted the wonderful complexities of identity, family, wedding culture, and identity. This book does not shy away from the messiness of life and in doing so truly celebrates what makes life special. I found myself laughing more times than I could count because this book had the wry wit, humor and cultural references that takes me back to time spent with friends and family over the holidays, and please don't get me started about Wedding Dress Shopping at The Mall.

This was a great low spice romance that was as much about Julia finding and loving herself as it was about connecting to get her Second Chance with Kim. A powerful and compelling story that reads as a true work of humorous Women's Fiction.

I’m not typically a huge romance fan because I get really hung up on the premise the romance is constructed around. In this case it’s the MC pretending her brother is more transphobic than he is to get attention from her high school crush. And I did struggle with this because it’s a dumb and hurtful lie but also because pity does not really equal chemistry in my mind? But I really wanted to power through because it’s a sapphic romance with a bi trans protagonist, something that is exceptionally rare to see represented.

In the end I’m glad I pushed through my initial sense of annoyance. The initial lie ended up making more sense in the context of the story, how it was an assumption of oppression by a trans ally, but also not far from the truth. It makes sense how this got muddled up given Julie’s complex lived experience and (misplaced) desire for validation of her gender.

The sense of humor worked for me and it felt genuinely funny. I loved the bits of Jewish culture that were sprinkled in, they felt natural and not tokenistic. And the trans rep felt really lifelike, it examines the complexities of being trans in a way that felt really true to life for a certain type of relatively privileged trans person.

My favorite thing was how this examined the MCs relationship with her family being a child of divorce. Her dynamic with her parents felt really fleshed out, especially with her mother, and the complex Jewish mother daughter relationship made even more murky by Julie’s transness.

Things to know:
Bi, trans woman MC, lesbian and pansexual love interests
Humor felt funny to me but borders on feeling millennial which might put some people off
Low spice level, there are sex scenes but they don’t go into much detail

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Rose Dommu’s book is a dazzling, laugh-out-loud romp through the chaos of weddings, queer identity, and the tangled mess of growing up—no matter how old you are. Julia Rosenberg is the ultimate reluctant participant in her brother’s Florida wedding, swapping the vibrancy of her New York life for a week of over-the-top bridal festivities and awkward family dynamics. But when she’s reunited with her high school crush, Kim Cameron, Julia makes one impulsive decision that spirals into a web of deception and romantic misadventure. Dommu’s sharp wit and effortlessly breezy prose make every moment of Julia’s journey a joy to read, from the ridiculousness of wedding-week antics to the deeply relatable struggle of proving—to others and herself—that she belongs.

Beneath the champagne-fueled chaos and biting humor, *Best Woman* is also a heartfelt exploratio of self-acceptance, second chances, and the messy, nonlinear path of personal growth. Julia is a refreshingly flawed, charismatic protagonist, and her relationships—both romantic and familial—are infused with authenticity and emotional depth. Dommu masterfully balances comedy and poignancy, delivering a story that’s as tender as it is outrageous. Fans of My Best Friend’s Wedding and irreverent, big-hearted queer rom-coms will fall head over heels for this sparkling debut. Julia might be making the worst decisions of her life, but for readers, Best Woman is an absolute win.

"Best Woman" is Rose Dommu’s debut novel, and if this is her first offering, I eagerly anticipate what she will create next. The story follows Julia, a late-twenties trans woman and wonderfully chaotic bisexual, as she returns home to Florida to be her brother’s Best Woman at his wedding.

Throughout the novel, we see Julia navigating her coming-of-age experience in New York City while reconnecting with her quirky Jewish family and high school friends. She confronts past relationships and old crushes, all while dealing with her loving brother, divorced parents, and more.

Although this book pays homage to the hilarious and unforgettable rom-com "My Best Friend’s Wedding," it transcends typical rom-com boundaries. It offers a witty exploration of family dynamics, self-esteem, the quest for acceptance, and the importance of being loved for who we are.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would recommend it—think "My Best Friend’s Wedding" meets "Home for the Holidays." Fans of Torrey Peters, Nicola Dinan, Anna Dorn, Emma Cline, and Jen Beagin may find this messy but lovable story appealing. Thank you to Random House Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

I devoured this book and enjoyed every minute! It hits all the emotional beats you expect from a romantic comedy while brining fresh perspective and twists to the idea of people from a wedding party falling for each other. Julia is a vibrant, relatable, very real character with flaws and desires that made me feel like I knew her and was part of her NYC inner circle. Dommu perfectly captures the feeling of returning home when your life has changed in such enormous ways, and the immense complexity of emotion that comes along with seeing the people who knew you before you got out. Dommu also spoke to the difficult experience of being queer with a vaguely supportive family who doesn’t truly “get it” and all the ways big and small that they can do harm while sincerely loving you. This book is a romance, but there are so many beautiful love stories between siblings, parents, and friends that it’s hard to pick my favorite sub-plot. I can’t wait to recommend this book.

3 stars- An enjoyable quick read! Thanks netgalley & the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a chaotic, hilarious, and deeply heartfelt rollercoaster that had me grinning, cringing, and fully invested in Julia’s mess. The writing is sharp, the humor is biting, and beneath all the wedding mayhem and questionable choices, there’s a story about self-discovery, longing, and the complicated relationships that shape us. Julia is a disaster in the best way, and I adored every second of her flailing attempts at romance, her sharp wit, and her painfully relatable family dynamics. The chemistry with Kim crackles with tension and nostalgia, and every interaction is laced with that delicious mix of yearning and ‘oh no, what have I done?’ chaos. This book is vibrant, wildly entertaining, and impossible to put down. I loved every second of it.