The Gay Best Friend by Nicolas DiDomizio
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.
Review:
I’m typically not one for romantic comedies. I’ve had a really difficult time connecting with the characters over the last several years, so I have stayed away. The thing is, most of the rom-coms that I’ve read as of late were about straight romances. I haven’t read many LGBTQ+ romances, and I think I found the issue. I just needed some gay man romancing to rekindle my interest.
I used to read a lot of romance books or books with romance as a theme when I was younger. I loved Sweet Valley High and even smuggled a few Sweet Dreams romances here and there – but this was in the 80s and 90s – we didn’t have queer books back then. As I’ve grown older and experienced gay love myself, I guess my reading interests have shifted.
Anyway – all that to say The Gay Best Friend was exactly what I needed to get myself out of a very long anti-romcom slump. Had I not made it a goal to read several LGBTQIA+ books in June, I probably never would have found this gem. I’m so glad I did because I was a little obsessed with the book.
The main character is Domenic – a 30-something man from New York who was recently dumped by his fiancée. While canceling all of the reservations they’d made for their upcoming nuptials he is also serving as best man in the wedding of his two best friends – Patrick and Kate. Dom and Patrick grew up together and despite a lull in their friendship in college, they’ve remained close. Patrick grew up rich and Dom was kind of his surrogate brother, letting Dom tag along with he and his family to their beach house in Mystic, CT.
Dom is serving as Patrick’s best man, so he is in charge of the bachelor party. Kate insists that Dom needs to keep an eye on Patrick and report back if he does anything questionable. Dom has a pretty chill weekend planned, but two of Patrick’s frat brothers decide to spice things up with some strippers and this puts Dom in an awkward position. Kate will flip if she knows strippers were involved. To add to the mix, Bucky – one of Patrick’s frat brothers and a current Pro Golfer shows up and much to Dom’s surprise, he isn’t as straight as everyone thinks he is. Flash forward a few weeks to Kate’s bachelorette party which Dominic is also invited to. This is when things get really interesting. Bucky’s girlfriend is also in attendance as is the wife of the frat brother who ordered the strippers. Dom is the holder of a lot of secrets and when they start trickling out he just might burst under pressure, threatening the happily ever after of his two BFFs.
To say I loved this book would be an understatement. I went into it expecting to think it would be just okay and ended up not wanting it to end. I totally understood where Domenic was coming from. I have a lot of straight friends and there have been times in my life where I found myself making sure I didn’t talk about too much gay stuff in front of my straight gay friends, and there have been times when I feel like I’m expected to “perform” as the funny, snarky, catty gay for some of my female friends. I’ve definitely felt the pressure to play the “token gay” that everyone saw in Jack on Will & Grace. It can be exhausting.
I’ve also had a couple of Bucky’s in my life – men who are sooooo deeply in the closet and terrified to come out. They LOVE everything about you in private, but won’t even think of talking to you in public. On one hand I get it, but on the other hand it gets exhausting after a while.
I initially bought an ebook copy of this book, but ended up loving it so much I bought a physical copy to keep on my shelves. I’ll definitely go back and revisit this one again. I enjoyed it that much.
