This book was really cute and wasn’t at all what I was expecting. The synopsis reads as though Barnett is the loud, flamboyant gay man who is coming home to his small town with an entire out and proud LGBTQIA+ entourage to teach the small town a lesson or two about acceptance, but that isn’t what I got – which is 100% okay. I too come from a small conservative farm town, and I’m more of a quietly impactful proud gay than a loud and proud and in your face gay (for the record, there is absolutely nothing wrong with either of those types – we all play a part). That to say, I related to Barnett much more than I thought I would.

Barnett has come home to his rural Louisiana town to visit his widowed mother. Barnett lives in California now and it’s been a while since he was last home. He’s come to break the news to his mother, Chrissy, that he’s met the man of his dreams and he really wants her to meet him. With the help of his “pop-pop” he finally breaks the news, and conservative Chrissy isn’t ready to hear it. She’s known Barnett was “different” since high school when she found a “How to be Gay for Dummies” book that he’d ordered online, but she was certain he would grow out of it. She reluctantly agrees to meet Ezra, the love of Barnett’s life, and as soon as she agrees, Ezra is on the next plane. Chrissy finds everything wrong in Ezra that she possibly can, certain she can convince Barnett to change his mind, but before she knows it Ezra’s parents and his sister are flying in from New York to meet Chrissy and Barnett and within a few days time, Ezra and Barnett have decided to get married, and Ezra’s sister is planning the wedding which will take place on Chrissy’s farm and be filled with go-go dancers, drag queens and the most fabulous décor this town has ever seen.

It’s not long before word gets out around town that there’s about to be a big gay weddin’ and several folks aren’t too happy about it and are intent on stopping it, and now Chrissy has to make a choice – will she support her beloved Barnett or will she join the rest of the town and try to stop the wedding?

This book was more focused on Chrissy than Barnett, and while this isn’t what I was expecting going into the book, I think it worked better that way. The book is told from the third person so we get a much broader view of the various character’s thought processes and get to see the big picture. I felt this was super important when you are telling this kind of story. I think if it had been told solely from Barnett’s point of view, we would have hated Chrissy and the book would have had a much different tone.

The book does deal with homophobia in various forms (from intolerance to full on ignorant hate), but it has a great message – that love is love and everyone deserves to have and feel love. While I felt the book was too rushed in some places and dragged a bit in others, I really enjoyed it. I did feel that the sudden change of heart of all the homophobes was a bit abrupt and unrealistic (maybe I’m just jaded due to the state of our country), but it didn’t ruin the book. There were several parts of the book that made me laugh out loud and even a few really sweet moments that had me a little misty-eyed.