Reviewed by Lesley

TITLE:  Dragged to the Wedding

AUTHOR: Andrew Grey

PUBLISHER: Carina Adores/Harlequin

LENGTH: 267 Pages

RELEASE DATE:  October 17, 2023

BLURB:

The Wedding Date meets The Birdcage in this laugh-out-loud gay romantic comedy from Andrew Grey 

He’s here to slay…but will he stay?

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.

REVIEW:

This is the story of James a police officer in Chicago who is still firmly in the closet when it comes to his family back in Missoula, Montana and Daniel the Queen of drag queens in Chicago. When James needs a date for his wedding and all his female friends are unavailable his friend Randy introduces him to “Daniella Bonafonte” AKA Lala Traviata, real name Daniel Bonafonte and so the drama and laughter begin.

READ DANIEL IN YOUR FAVOURITE DRAG QUEENS VOICE!!!!

No that is not an OOPS Cap Lock moment it’s meant to be shouted. I actually read this book twice. The first time I read it with my normal narrator’s voice in my head and really enjoyed the book. I found it a bit heart wrenching that someone had to go through all this (James) because they were so scared of their family’s reaction to them being gay.

Then I pondered the book for a couple of days thinking this should have been funny what did I miss. Then I twigged, I needed to re- read Daniel in a drag queens voice. I did and everything took on a new and a hilarious slant. Mama’s Commandments take on a whole new perspective when you read them in a completely over the top way of a queen full on sassing it and let’s face it only the Queen of Queens could manage to save an entire wedding from disaster. For me I pictured my favourite “looks” queen. You know one that is incredibly beautiful and then they talk and so much shade come out.

The secondary characters in this book really add to this story.  James’s devout Christian mother is such an over-the-top character in her own way, completely interfering and causing mayhem in her wake. But all from a misguided place of love. We have a weird minster, a little sister who is feeling very left out and bride who is overly stressed as well as others that add to the storyline and dramas.

Add into all the above a love story between the main characters, who are complete opposites, and you have a truly lovely and funny book.

I think this book would be brilliant as an audio book with the right narrator or as a film. I would buy/watch both.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon