A funny, totally different rom com. The bride's best gay friend, the groom's brother. Both involved in the wedding planning. There's a definite attraction, but will it lead to anything?

This was an enjoyable and funny read. I enjoyed how the relationship developed. I found the best friend a little annoying and a bit inconsistent with her supposed personality. But the story was a fun read.

This is a mixed bag: some parts are very funny, some drags and there's a bit of sterotype.
It's entertaining and compelling, an escapist rom-com that made me smile even if I skipped a bit when it dragged.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

This was a bit of mixed read for me. On the one hand, there were scenes and details I loved: the not-so-meet-cute of having a past hook-up reappear in your life, and the way Chasten and Max communicated in song lyrics. On the other hand, I disliked Max's best friend Paige, and she played a big part in the story. Max Moody himself, fully lived up to his surname. He had a negative outlook on things, at times low self-esteem, and while his self-depreciating sense of humour was mostly funny, he seemed a bit stuck in a midlife crisis, trying to untangle himself from a bad relationship and unable to move on from a job he doesn't like. All in all an okay read, thanks to the funny aspects, but not my favourite cast of characters.

I have mixed views about this book. Some parts I found very funny but the rest did not really work for me. It was pretty predictable. I found Max to be very negative and Chasten (where does this name come from) to be just too larger than life. On balance a very light and largely enjoyable read. Left me feeling that I really needn't have bothered.

I think I feel a bit cheated by my expectations. “Best Men” left me more frustrated than swooning. I found the characters annoying, Paige (the narrator’s best friend), especially, although the narrator was a bundle of negativity too. And this is a personal thing, but I find the name Chasten simply meh to read. You can tell there was a lot of thought put into the format of the book, but I do wish it was just more enjoyable overall. I’m really sorry about not liking it, but it just wasn’t for me.

Best Men by Sidney Karger
Format: eARC
Pub. date: May 25/23

Max Moody (the name fits him well) is technically single and looking for that special love of his life. While still in a complicated relationship with his ex, and in a job he hates, Max starts to wonder if there is more out there for him. In Best Men Max, as the bride’s best man, Max may just get that opportunity.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It had some of the most endearing moments that made my heart break, melt, and hope for Max. He is such a compassionate character however he gets a lot wrong. He doesn’t know how to express his fears, worries or longings, to those closest to him. He stays in a job that is soul sucking because he can’t seem to find the confidence to move forward. I absolutely loved the growing relationship between Max and Chasten. When they talk in song lyrics I became a big fan and hoped they would find love with each other.
However, I found that the book got off to a slow start. Also, didn’t care for the times when there were so many descriptive words. I do not need to know every single thought the character has or what they see. I also didn’t get much from the extra tidbits at the end of the chapters. I’m sure some people will like them but they weren’t for me. Still, I really enjoyed going on this journey with Max and would recommend people give it a read.

Many thanks to HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. for inviting me to read and review this book and to NetGalley for making it available.

I really enjoyed this book, the characters felt like real people rather than perfect ideals of what we would like them to be. Each of the main characters had their own set of flaws but they worked through them and what came out was a beautiful love story and a great one of lifelong friendship.

Max seems to be quite set in his ways but still a romantic at heart and he always thought he would be the first to snag a groom especially after same sex marriage was legalised. Sadly his love life hasn't worked out that well for him and now he's his best friend's Gay of Honour!

The book tells us how Max copes with this as well as his problems both with his Ex and his job. Little does he know that his life is about to have a massive upheaval thanks to that hot stranger from last night!

As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this book, there were lots of nods to movies and music I grew up with (1980's & 90's) so prepare for a trip down memory lane with this humorous story!

when I read the synopsis of this book I thought this was right up my street, unfortunately once I started reading I was quite disappointed. I gave the book a good go before I ended up DNFing it as it really wasn’t for me.

I really didn’t enjoy the dynamic between them, I felt there was lack of chemistry between the MC’s and I especially didn’t like Paige’s character, I felt she was very shallow and didn’t care about anyone else’s feelings.

I really enjoyed this, it was a lot of fun and the relationship was really cute! I definitely recommend if you’re looking for a wedding based romcom.

I'm afraid I didn't finish this one. I'm not a fan of the "I'm not like other <blank>" trope when it's used as a form of elitism. I didn't find the character particularly engaging beforehand and when they started describing themselves as such I stopped being interested. There's a million ways to be gay and putting people down because of the media they consume to make someone look better is a cheap way to build a character.

I received this book for free in exchange for a fair review from NetGalley.

An hour after meeting a hot guy, Max is making out with him on the roof of his apartment building, minutes later Max is fleeing and hoping that he never sees him again.
Unfortunately for Max after his best friend gets engaged and asks him to be her Gay of Honour he finds out that the hot guy is the groom’s brother and best man. The battle is now on to see which of them really is the best, well it is in Max’s head as he feels that hot guy is better at being gay than he is and is out to steal his position as the bride’s gay best friend.
I liked Max as a character, especially as he clearly doesn’t have his shit together and is just as screwed up as the rest of us, but the bride is annoying and seems to be the type of bride that thinks that their wedding is the most important thing that is going on and that everyone else should think that as well.

I adored this book’! A queer Tom vol that explores friendship, love, and navigating emotions, was exactly what I needed. Fun and light yet grown up, relatable and moving at the same time. Absolutely fantastic

Best Men was a super cute romcom following Max whose best friend is getting married and when he goes to the wedding he meets the groom's brother.
Although this book was super cute and there were some aspects that I really enjoyed, I found the book to have fell a little flat for me. The characters didn't feel very fleshed out and the plot felt like a little lost like the author did not know where the story was going to go and was using a lot of small filler side plots to fill out the story instead.
This was a really easy read and I read it really quickly but a lot of it fell flat for me and I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

This book had its moments, it was a different romantic comedy. However, as many have already said, Paige was an annoying character who I would have preferred to see much less of. From the outset it was clear she was going to be there to play the foil for our two main characters, Max and Chasten (seriously it must be the English in me that finds some names absurd).

It was clear that Max was very insecure about himself, whether that was due to his failed relationships, or down to the fact that Paige was so determined to be the centre of everything that she played her best childhood friend (who she was overjoyed to call her GBFF from a very young age) off against her new GBF, Chasten, the younger brother of her fiance Austin.

I read this book in one sitting, and read it quickly. As a romcom it’s okay but as I struggled to care for any of the characters, it remains just that.

Truthfully, I DNF'd this book at 42%

Reasons why it wasn't for me
- no chemistry between the two MC's
- I didn't like Paige and so her being a major part of the storyline wasn't for me
- nothing had really happened yet despite being nearly halfway into the book

But I'd still recommend to others!

I absolutely loved this romcom!! It’s about Max, a young man living in New York whose best friend gets married. At the wedding preparations he gets introduced to the groom‘s brother. However, they had already met before when they had an embarrassing hook up.

With that plot it sounds like a typical rom com, however I felt it was much deeper than that. This book deals with topics like job satisfaction and friendships in your thirties in a way that I think everyone can relate to. It felt less like a romance novel and more like an insight into Max‘s life and that one point of his life where he needs to figure out if he wants to change some important aspects of his life and the struggle that comes with. I found it very relatable and especially incredibly realistic.

A quick, easy and cute read that I couldn't put down. I loved the characters and the storyline had me laughing out loud at times.

This was a simple, fun, easy and quick read. The perfect type of book for your holiday, beach, pool kind of read. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words some text written has been typed in red and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I started reading this as soon as I was approved for it and I have got to say that I found it funnier and more entertaining than I had expected,
While there were some gay stereotypes thrown into the story they were done in a fun and light-hearted way that it actually helped the story