Review: "My Best Friend's Honeymoon" by Meryl Wilsner

My Best Friend's Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner
Published April 2025 via St. Martin's Griffin
★★★

Elsie is good with going along with it: she goes along with what her family wants her to do at their family-owned small business, she doesn't make waves, and she's stayed comfortably in a good-enough relationship because it's...well, because it's good enough. And it's not until her long-time fiancé decides to spring a wedding on her that she realizes that it's time to form some of her own opinions. And what better way to do that than take her best friend Ginny along with her on the all-inclusive honeymoon that Elsie's now ex-fiancé insists that she take anyway? Meanwhile, Ginny is determined that Elsie will spend the not-a-honeymoon asking for what she really wants...and if that happens to be Ginny, well. Ginny's been in love with Elsie for years.

There's plenty to like here: it's a fun setup, first of all, with bisexual and enby rep (plus an MC who is not a size two and is comfortable with that), and I love that the ex-fiancé isn't evil—he's a little clueless, yes, but he genuinely cares for Elsie and isn't about to intentionally make her life difficult. I'm a broken record on the subject, but this is so rare for ex-partners in romance novels, and I'm always happy to see not-evil exes who just aren't the One. (Bonus: the ex gets some character growth throughout the book.) Both MCs have solid family support (even if that support is also sometimes a bit clueless), which isn't a given and is always nice to see. And although I'm generally not interested in resort vacations (give me a tent in the woods and some bug spray), the honeymoon location sounds pretty fab. I did have a bit of trouble telling Elsie and Ginny's voices apart, I think partly because they have...well, their names aren't actually similar, but they're each two syllables with an "ee" sound at the end, and I guess that tripped me up.

The thing that tripped me up in a bigger way: I really would have liked a discussion of consent and just of interest before things heat up. Because...Elsie knows that Ginny was interested when they were teenagers, but she doesn't actually know if Ginny is interested now. The reader knows that Ginny is still in love with and happy to jump into bed with Elsie, but Elsie more or less takes it for granted that "whatever you want" includes a whole lot of banging. It's chapter 14 (39%) when things heat up, and then it's not until two chapters later (51%) that Elsie thinks to ask "Not just because I want to ... Do you want me to?" (loc. 1601*) Twelve percent of a book might not sound like much, but it feels like quite a lot when that twelve percent is, you know, mostly banging.

Between the sometimes shaky communication and the similar sense I got from their voices, I'm left thinking that Ginny has just as much trouble articulating what they want as Elsie has. I would have loved to see that be more of a realization throughout the book. Later in the book, Elsie throws some pretty hefty accusations at Ginny, ones that I'm honestly surprised their relationship can recover from so quickly; they take a look at some of the patterns in that relationship and what is and isn't working, but...I suppose I would have liked that look to be even deeper. To be fair, they're young—young and passionate and I think still trying to figure out what healthy relationships (platonic and/or romantic and/or sexual) look like.

I don't think this was quite the right book for me, but I'll still happily read more of Wilsner's books, and I do think it'll go over like gangbusters for readers looking for a lot of heat and perhaps a queer escape to the Caribbean.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.