[Review] Dragged to the Wedding - Andrew Grey

Summary: James Petika is living the single gay life he always wanted. A police officer in Chicago, he has a good job, good friends—and he’s two thousand miles away from his family’s expectations. He also has a problem: he needs a date for his sister’s wedding in Missoula, Montana, but his family has no idea that he’s gay, and he’d like to keep it that way.

The solution? Daniel Bonafonte aka Lala Traviata, the queen of the Chicago drag scene. Lala is the real thing: she can sing, she can dance—and she can throw more shade than a solar eclipse. One drink and plenty of dishing later, Daniel agrees to help James out and be his incognito date to the wedding.

Daniel’s drag-diva skills are put to the test right away, with the bride’s ill-fitting wedding dress, a groom who’s a danger on the dance floor and more drama than auditions for a gay men's chorus. Faking this relationship—and ignoring the very real feelings developing between them—might just be the performance of their lives.   (Pub Date: Oct 17 2023)

 

It's the good old trope—James is in a jam because he fibbed to his folks about having a girlfriend when he's really gay and hiding it from his conservative family. His buddy, who was supposed to be his date to his sister's wedding, can't make it, so he goes all out and hires the fabulous drag queen, Lala Traviata, to play the perfect lady for his mom and the whole wedding crew.

Now, let's be real, it was hard to hold suspended disbelief to believe that Daniel (aka Lala) could pull off being a woman for days on end, while living with those people, but let's believe he was born with the perfect body to dress as a woman.

Anyway, Daniel is a blast of a character. And it's pretty cool how Andrew Grey makes the two main characters' voices stand out without diving too deep into stereotypes. It's just the right amount of spice.

Now, my one gripe with this book? The lovey-dovey stuff. While I get they fell for each other, I didn't quite see it happen. It's like I took a quick bathroom break and missed the best part of the movie. I get that the author didn't want to go all in on the romance – there's a bunch of heavy stuff about James' tough relationship with his mom, and that's interesting (sometimes a little painful), even with the light tone. But the lovebirds just click like magic. I live for those "Aha!" moments in romances, and I missed it this time.

Daniel is also a bit of a Mary Sue, if anyone is familiar with concept. He can solve anything and he doesn't even need superpowers for it. It irked me a little, but not enough. It's fine, as Daniel is so likeable, that you just wish you could find a Daniel to solve your life's problems. But MS alert for those readers who'll wrinkle their noses at such characters with no flaws.

(I was also wondering why they never mention the possibility of Daniel being a trans woman if someone ever finds out about him... I can't give details because it would be a spoiler, but the book has maybe one very quick and superficial mention to the possibility that is much more expected than someone fooling others to pretend they're a woman)

This book is a lighthearted book, even when it dives into some serious stuff. You can almost see it as a Hallmark movie while you're reading (even though it's not Christmas-themed, I could see it very clearly). It's not mind-blowing, but you'll be delighted for sure.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.