My Best Friend’s Honeymoon

This escapist queer contemporary from Wilsner (Cleat Cute) takes readers from snowy Minnesota to a tropical and steamy Caribbean island. Elsie’s future is all figured out: she works at her family’s hardware store alongside her parents and siblings, and she’s engaged to her long-term boyfriend, Derrick. But as the wedding approaches, she panics, suddenly unsure if this is the life she wants. Only after calling things off does she learn that their Caribbean honeymoon package is nonrefundable, so she invites her lifelong best friend, Ginny, to come along with her. What follows is a fairly predictable and trope-heavy friends-to-lovers story against a gorgeous backdrop: Elsie and Ginny, it turns out, have been mutually pining for each other since high school, but not wanting to ruin their friendship, have kept their feelings hidden. Ginny, who is fat and nonbinary, makes a refreshing protagonist, especially as, through Elsie’s eyes, Wilsner makes their attractiveness perfectly clear. The matter-of-fact queer representation enhances the solidly constructed, if unsurprising, plot. Wilsner’s fans and anyone looking for nonbinary romance will want to check this out. Agent: Patrice Caldwell, New Leaf Literary. (Apr.)