Spotlight & Giveaway: BEST MEN by Sidney Karger

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Sidney Karger to HJ!

Hi Sidney and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, BEST MEN!

 
Hi! I’m so excited to chat with you.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

BEST MEN is about a hopeless romantic gay guy named Max Moody who’s about to turn 35 and lives in New York City. His world is turned upside down when one day his best childhood friend tells him that she’s getting married and wants him to be her man of honor. Max is shocked because he’d always thought he was going to get married before his unpredictable friend. Then he meets Chasten, the ridiculously handsome, gay younger brother and best man of the groom. Max and Chasten are polar opposites–Max is an introverted Midwesterner and Chasten is a social butterfly East Coaster. They can’t stand each other at first but learn to tolerate one another for the sake of the wedding and soon a romance sparks and blooms. Can they transform their gay best friend supporting roles into the leading best men in each other’s lives?
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

“What’s a group of bridesmaids called? A school? An army? Let’s go with a cackle.”

“I believe the theme is dress as your favorite WASP? All the men are wearing pastels with tiny lobsters, whales or sailboats on their pants.”

“Lunch?” she asks.
“Splunch,” I correct her.
On Fridays, historically, we Splunch. That is, we splurge on lunch, monetarily and gluttonously.

“Are you going to that birthday thing later?” She asks.
“Another birthday thing?”
“It’s like a pre-school. F****n’ birthday celebrations every other day.”
“I’ll be the fat kid in the corner eating crayons,” I say.
“Save me a burnt sienna,” she says.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Fun fact: This is my debut book!
• My inspiration to write Best Men came to me after my own childhood best friend had asked me to be the man of honor in her wedding party. I immediately said yes, of course, but then her wedding planner wasn’t having it. The planner didn’t want one male in the all-female side of the bride’s wedding party so I was promptly demoted to… an usher???
• I was able to laugh about it later but I’d always thought that was a great idea for a rom-com. So I imagined what that main character would look like if he became the man of honor in his best friend’s wedding. Could there be a potential love interest with the best man?
• Typically, gay characters in stories have been the best friend sidekick so I also wanted to write a story about the gay best friend transforming into the main character and leading man in his own life.
• If this book had a soundtrack it would be The Smiths’ greatest hits.

What first attracts your MC to each other?

Max, our hero, and Chasten, our other hero, are polar opposites at first.

Max is Midwestern, introverted, has zero fashion sense and doesn’t care for Madonna.

Chasten grew up on the East Coast, he’s a social butterfly, loves fashion and worships Taylor Swift.

Their differences divide them at first as they quickly become rivals, vying for the attention of the bride-to-be Paige in the ultimate competition for Gay Best Friend.

But over the course of the story, Max and Chasten realize they have more in common with each other than they thought.

Max is attracted to Chasten for his ability to connect with other people, his urbanite sophistication and of course his thick biceps.

Chasten is attracted to Max’s dry humor, his loyalty to friends and family and, naturally, his cuteness.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

A few scenes had me laughing while I was writing them. I don’t want to give anything away but Max dealing with his overbearing boss, Max trying to navigate a crowded gay bar and a bridal shower theme party had me cracking up, which is always a good sign.

There was some blushing going on when I wrote Max and Chasten’s love scenes. I thought, um, my aunt is going to read this. I don’t want our next family get together to be awkward. But I powered through it.

A tear or two was shed when Max and Chasten started to connect romantically. It’s sort of a slow burn so I probably became a little misty eyed when they’re finally on the same page.

Reaching the end of the book also made me tear up. It’s such a release to finish writing a book and I was a little sad that I had to say farewell to all of my best friends–I mean, characters.

Readers should read this book….

If you like laughing, chocolate, cool weddings, obscure and not so obscure pop music, interesting food, Broadway references, male/male rom-coms, plants, fun lists, commiserating over lame jobs, and all the joys and horrors of summer in New York City, Fire Island and the Hamptons, then this book is for you.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’ve just finished a first draft of my second book and will be going into edits on that one soon. It’s a rom-com about a gay couple on the rocks who decide to go on a road trip adventure just before they’re about to have their first baby via surrogacy. What could go right? It’ll be published in May of 2024. I’m also working on several film and TV projects that I hope to reveal soon.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A Print copy of BEST MEN by Sidney Karger 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Are you more of a Max or a Chasten and why?
Do you have any friends or know anyone like Paige?
Have you attended any memorable weddings?

 
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Excerpt from BEST MEN:

“When They First Met, Love Was Afoot.” That was the New York Times wedding announcement headline my best friend Paige had jokingly imagined for Greg, my ex-boyfriend, the podiatrist, and me even though we were never engaged nor had we even remotely discussed getting married one day. Our actual wedding, in my head, wasn’t exactly planned out because I don’t really have that gay-wedding-planning gene, but it probably would’ve been a super-casual affair for three hundred and fifty of our closest friends and family on Pier Sixty overlooking the Hudson River, with Greg and me wearing tuxes while we had our first dance together as husbands to “This Charming Man” by the Smiths. Okay, maybe I thought about it a tiny bit.

This increasingly distant memory pops into my mind right now because, like a tourist, I’m standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk on Twenty-Third and Eighth on a hot summer Thursday evening, grinning at a text from Greg. I feel a tiny warm tingle in my undercarriage as I reply, Yep.

Oh, I didn’t tell you? I’m still seeing my ex for sex. Wait-is that a Rascal Flatts song? Right before entering the subway on my way home from work, Greg texted, Free before dinner? which is code for “hook up,” so maybe after we do the sex, we’ll grab a bite at Pepe Giallo, our once favorite Italian restaurant in West Chelsea that we’d been going to since we first met eight years ago. (In fact, it’s where we had our first date.) Then, over a bottle of red wine and plates of deliciously gooey chicken Parm, he’ll admit he misses us and say he desperately wants to get back together.

Greg asks to meet at six thirty, in forty-five minutes, which means I’m early, so I slip into a diner called the Rail Line. It used to be called Moonstruck Diner, and I imagine they wanted to name it the High Line Diner, after the nearby High Line elevated park, but couldn’t get legal clearance, so they ended up with this weird, off-brand name.

I take a seat at the counter and order an old-fashioned along with a basket of bread and butter. There’s nothing weirder-or more fun-than ordering a cocktail at a diner. It’s like the opposite of ordering chicken nuggets at some fancy French restaurant.

Scanning the room full of silver-haired early birders, I spot an extremely handsome fella sitting alone in a booth, texting, waiting for either his food or a companion. Occasionally, he looks up from his phone and eyes me. Doesn’t he know I’m about to have complicated relations with my ex-boyfriend? I’m taken, sir.

My seen-it-all Polish server makes me the strongest old-fashioned I’ve ever had, and I love it as I tear into the stale bread, butter a piece and look up again, noticing Cutie in a Booth is still staring at me. This time I really clock him. He seems slightly younger than me, definitely more chiseled and somehow more New Yorky. But then, that’s pretty much everyone in this city. I also notice he has a June-in-New York sun-kissed face and looks like the kind of sophisticated urbanite who wouldn’t be caught dead in a mediocre diner. Unlike me. Mediocre diners give me life.

I decide to smile. I may be in an unhealthy relationship with my ex, but I’m not dead inside. Now he squints at me. Did I do the smile wrong? Was I creepy? A grizzled server probably named Margie or Bernice arrives at his booth and takes his order. Now they both look at me. Was I that obvious? A sudden thought occurs to me, so I look over my shoulder and realize he’d been reading the chalkboard of tonight’s specials the entire time. He was literally looking right through me. He probably didn’t think I looked as good as “Virginia Ham Steak,” and he’d be correct.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

“Best Men is a big-hearted, feel-good summer escape.”—Anderson Cooper, #1 New York Times bestselling author and journalist

“Sid’s debut novel made me laugh out loud and feel alive.”—Amy Schumer, #1 New York Times bestselling author, comedian, and actress

“There’s so much to love about Sid’s brilliantly hilarious debut book. With sharp-witted dialogue, charming, smart characters and tons of heart, Best Men is such a funny, clever, fresh take on modern romance. From start to finish, you won’t stop laughing! I just loved it!!!!”—Molly Shannon, New York Times bestselling author, comedian, and actress

“Best Men takes the reins of the rom com and reinvents the genre in a thoroughly modern way. Karger’s debut is inventive, hilarious, and satisfying; it’s also a keenly-observed portrayal of love and friendship. This is a hilarious, heartfelt, charmer of a book.”—Grant Ginder, author of Let’s Not Do That Again and The People We Hate at the Wedding

“With an unforgettable voice, Best Men is all at once funny, tender, and wise. A sexy, swoony, summer love story to get lost in!”—Ashley Herring Blake, USA Today bestselling author of Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail

“This appealing debut…offers plenty to enjoy.”—Publishers Weekly

“Karger’s debut is laugh-out-loud funny, and Max is the epitome of millennial dry humor…Max and Paige’s friendship is ultimately the star of the show, and readers will find their banter reminiscent of fan favorites like Amy Poehler and Tina Fey or Dan Levy and Annie Murphy.”—Kirkus

“With a spot-on gift for writing dryly witty banter and a deliciously acerbic sense of humor in the Nora Ephron mode, Karger…makes his fiction debut. A fun and flirty rom-com that is the perfect addition to beach bags and suitcases.”—Booklist
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Meet the Author:

Sidney Karger is an award-winning screenwriter for film and television. He is a former writer/director with Comedy Central, MTV and AMC, among other networks, and contributing writer for Saturday Night Live, Billy On The Street and McSweeney’s. He currently lives in New York City with his partner and their Australian Labradoodle, Zelda. Best Men is his debut novel.
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