The Marrying Kind by Ken O’Neill
M/M Romantic Fiction
May 30, 2012
Bold Strokes Books

Reviewed by Mandi

I accepted this review request with a little trepidation. First of all, this is more a romantic fiction than the standard romances I read. The author described the book more as ‘chick-lit but with two gay men’ in his review request, so I was intrigued. He also said, “that if enough people read it my sweet little book might have an impact on the state of equality in this country.” I’m am 100% for marriage equality in this country, but I also didn’t want to be preached at for the few hours I sat to read. Fortunately, Ken O’Neill puts plenty of humor and quirky characters in his engaging story, that while his message is loud and clear, it still reads as a really fun book. I also need to note that this book is set in the year 2007, before gay marriage was legal in New York.

Adam More and Steven Worth have been happily together for six years. Steven is a writer for The Gay New York Times, a weekly free circular. Let’s just say, Steven shows up to work late and leaves early, often leaving his boss Brad and his other work partner, Gail nervous if his column will ever get done. But they are good friends of his, and put up with his neurotic behavior. Steven has a lot of quirkiness to him,  for example, when Steven gets upset, he can’t speak. His throat literally closes up. So instead of being able to yell at someone, he has to resort to silently stewing and mouthing his words. He is also great at pouting. All of this combined makes for some amusing scenes in this book.

Adam is a very successful wedding planner (having once been on The View, his claim to fame) and works very hard owning his business. He is the much more laid back of the two, leaving the theatrics to Steven. Obviously they both attend a lot of weddings a year, not only clients, but many family members as well. Steven comes from a strong Romanian family, and as he tells this story, he often flashes back to very humorous stories of his childhood and his Romanian mother. Steven has a brother Peter, who designs wedding cakes and is also seriously dating Adam’s sister, Amanda. Remember these two, they play an important role in a minute.

It is during one of these weddings that Adam has meticulously planned, that he crumbles. When the DJ asks for all the married couples to join together on the dance floor, Adam looks at Steven with despair. This feeling has been building up inside of Adam for some time. The injustice of not being allowed to get married, yet planning and going to hundreds of wedding a year, is all just too much. So he quits and announces he will not plan another wedding until he can get married too. That also includes going to weddings, buying wedding gifts etc.

Steven is proud of this statement and stands behind Adam 100%, even writing a column about it for The Gay New York Times. The column explodes, and it becomes a movement of sorts across the city. All is fine and dandy, until Amanda and Peter announce their engagement.

While The Marrying Kind definitely has conflict with the fact that Adam and Steven have decided to protest all weddings and the two closest people to them, Amanda and Peter have decided to get married, there is much more to this story. This is really the life story of Steven. We learn how he met Adam, how much his crazy, Romanian mother shaped his life, and how he has met his warm, funny friends who make this story so appealing. The author gives us some really silly moments, enough that make you laugh, but not so over the top that it doesn’t seem realistic. From one of his cousin’s French garden themed weddings where she made all the bridesmaid’s where powdered wigs and gowns 250 years out of style, or his boss Brad who is obsessed with pretty and young catering waiters. He sets up these scenes as Steven is telling the story that are so humorous, yet never weigh down the story and the direction it is going.

There are some poignant moments as well. Adam becomes so obsessed with his protest of marriage, he starts to lose focus on his family. Steven gets caught in the middle, wanting to attend the marriage of the brother he is so close to, but also wanting to support his lover in his cause. I really like how it all plays out in the end.

I really enjoy this author’s voice. As I said at the beginning, this isn’t your standard boy meets boy and falls in love romance book, but it is definitely romantic. I’ll even go as far to say there is a renewed HEA at the end that will make you smile.

Rating: B

Recent Reviews:
Romancing the Book
Goodreads

Author’s Website

Kindle l Nook