NEARLYWED, starting #PrideMonth early and with a resounding laugh

NEARLYWED
NICOLAS DiDOMIZIO
Sourcebooks Casablanca
$16.99 trade paper, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: An engaged couple's compatibility is put to the test during their ill-fated early honeymoon in this smart, dazzling, and provocative summer comedy perfect for fans of People We Meet on Vacation.

5 Signs You and Your Fiancé Might Be Secretly Incompatible…and #3 Will Shock You!

Ray Bruno and Kip Hayes are horrible on paper. Ray is a chaotic millennial ex-clickbait-writer who's been oversharing his every thought online since he was a teenager, and Kip is a pragmatic Gen X doctor who values privacy above all else.

But somehow it all manages to work…until Ray convinces Kip to join him for an early honeymoon at a famous lux resort in Ray's coastal New England hometown, eschewing the tradition of bachelor parties and hoping to recharge before their end-of-August wedding. When a surprising encounter with another couple at the resort leads to a series of escalating mishaps and miscommunications, Ray and Kip are forced to look at their many differences in a stark new light, turning the trip into less of a vacation and more of a test: will they be able to work through their issues in time for the big day? Or is this marriage over before it begins?

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Frothy fun. Seriously, there's a lot to love about frothy fun all on its own. I'm not going to criticize anyone for looking to read a plain ol' entertainment.

This book's got the frothy on top, and then a deep well of relationship fiction keeping it up. (So to speak.) The set-up...a prenuptial getaway together...is classic, and introduces the idea that there's something to get away from, which while it's shown as an external...life is always stressful...is really something intrinsic to the couple's couplehood.

That being, in this story, communication skills. Ray is someone who "shares" his entire life online and has used this as a substitute for communicating his deeper emotional reality. After all, he gets the positive reinforcement he needs so badly from his curated, online self's doings, so it's all good. His mom, a deeply indulgent parent who genuinely wants to support her ebullient son, encourages his extroversion without much examination. Then why does he choose older, deep-waters Kip as a partner, the savvy reader notes. Why indeed....

Kip, a buttoned-up young (forties) doctor with a certain kind of background, feels duty-bound to be the man his ancestral expectations lead him to be. The weight of Expectations is, I assume we all know by now, is untenably heavy to carry by yourself. But those expectations make Kip unwilling to ask Ray for badly needed help...it would be All Over The Internet, and what Kip does with Ray should be PRIVATE. (Read: Shame! Shame! Shame!) Kip is, though, loyal to his love, and his love is Ray. How far can Ray push his uncommunicative love before he suddenly, finally sees Ray's essential emptiness?

The stage is set.

What happens between these oddly assorted men at the glitzy resort (a setting that in one stroke assures the reader that shiny, pretty surfaces will be shattered yet the basic architecture will survive) is a very effective communication manual. I do not intend a knock or insult with this! The effectiveness of a story always depends on its logic. The logic of working through communication issues is universally compelling. No one I've ever known has not felt the need to communicate more effectively. These men, one ruled by fear of rejection, the other by shame, discover in their love the support each needs to confront their unique fear.

Because it's the same issue. At heart, "do you love me enough to be with me when I'm just myself?" is the one question every spouse must answer. The good news is, unlike a self-help book or a workbook, reading a novel where each of these two very relatable men answer this question with a resounding "yes, you silly oaf, I always HAVE!" is fun, not a chore. There's a moment in the story where an aperçu is delivered that I think should be part of anyone who's so much as considering the commitment's mental furniture: "The reality of a marriage is all the days that come after." The biggest success of this story is that I believed Ray in all his scattered glory really wanted Kip in all his weighty seriousness to know each of them was loved, accepted, and forgiven in advance for all the mistakes to come.

What fun to find in Nicolas DiDomizio a new gay-fiction writer whose work I want to go back and read, and follow from here on.