I genuinely enjoy reading and find myself being a more generous rater of books than some other reviewers. If I finished a book, it will typically get at least 3 stars from me. I do, however, regulate my 5-star ratings. Generally, I give out so many more 3 & 4 star ratings than 5 stars. The book that I am reviewing today is one of only 3 books that I have given a 5 star rating to this year! Of the three, this book is the only one that was NOT a re-read for me. If that doesn't indicate how much I loved this book, I don't know what will!
The Gay Best Friend is a contemporary fiction/romance novel written by author, Nicolas DiDomizio. It was released on May 30th of this year.
If you would like to purchase The Gay Best Friend you can find it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can follow the author, Nicolas DiDomizio, on Instagram and Goodreads! You can also check out Nic's website!
He's always been the token gay best friend. Now, stuck between a warring bride and groom hurtling toward their one perfect day, he's finally ready to focus on something new: himself.
Domenic Marino has become an expert at code-switching between the hypermasculine and ultrafeminine worlds of his two soon-to-be-wed best friends. But this summer—reeling from his own failed engagement and tasked with attending their bachelor and bachelorette parties—he's anxious over having to play both sides.
The pressure is on. The bride wants Dom to keep things clean. The groom wants Dom to "let loose" with the guys. And Dom just wants to get out of this whole mess with his friendships intact.
But once the rowdy groomsmen show up at the beach house—including a surprise visit from the groom's old frat brother, handsome and charming PGA star Bucky Graham—chaos (and unexpected romance) quickly ensues. By the time Dom returns for the bachelorette party, he's accumulated a laundry list of secrets that threaten to destroy everything—from the wedding, to Bucky's career, to the one thing Dom hasn't been paying nearly enough attention to lately: his own life.
I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads. May and June were super busy months for me---I celebrated my birthday in May, started Summer courses for my graduate program, and have been a camp counselor for 4 summer camps this month! Unfortunately, this has left me with less time and desire to read than normal. I have also found myself in a bit of a reading slump---which my Goodreads reading challenge progress bar has continued to reminded me of. I bought this book because it was the very first pick of our Bookie Besties Book Club. I have terrible FOMO (fear of missing out) and didn't want to miss this opportunity to connect with fellow book lovers. I am SO glad that I picked this book up! It was such an enjoyable read from beginning to end.
As mentioned in the synopsis, one of the main characters is a professional golfer. I'm from Georgia and keep up with the Masters when it is in town but am not the biggest golf fan on the planet. Its not even that I don't enjoy golf---I just don't think to keep up with it/understand the history and rules of the sport. My little knowledge of golf didn't hinder my enjoyment of this book at all---which was so refreshing!
I also loved the several pop culture references sprinkled in throughout. Some of the ones that I am remembering as I write this review are: Mariah Carey and her 90s wedding to Tommy Mottola, the 'Friends' themed wedding, Drew Barrymore, and Kardashian spinoff shows---and several other references that I am sure I am forgetting. As a pop culture girlie, myself, I adored all of these references. Every time I stumbled across one, it made me smile! The writing style made me feel connected to the story in such a fun way. This felt like I was sitting down with a friend to catch up on all of the hot goss about the messiness and drama going on in their life...and that is one of the biggest compliments that I can give. This was the perfect easy summer read and I couldn't recommend it more.
***Sidebar: I wrote this review before I attended our book club meeting, but wanted to add this afterwards. The author of this book joined our Zoom meeting to hear our thoughts and share about his creative/writing process----among other things. I thought I couldn't love this book any more...but then I met the author, who was one of the kindest and most genuine people ever. Nic's writing and story-crafting abilities are in a league of their own but what impressed me most about him was how open he was about his personal and professional experiences. I was a big fan of this book (as if you couldn't already tell from this glowing review) but I found out after this meeting that I am an even bigger Nicolas DiDomizio fan! Nic, you are deserving of all the praise and success in the world! From now on, if you write it I will read it.***
Here's a pick from our book club meeting!
With all books that I read, I make a playlist to go along with the book. These playlists are full of songs which encapsulate the feeling of the story as a whole, capture the essence of a particular scene, or just remind me of one of the characters. You can find my playlist for The Gay Best Friend on Apple Music or Spotify.
Have you read The Gay Best Friend? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
As always, thank you for reading!
XO,
Madison
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