I admit that I am a fairly novice reader when it comes to the LGBT genre, so my experience with some of the plot development and expected story lines is limited. But from the first page, Glen & Tyler’s Honeymoon Adventure kept breaking my preconceived ideas.
Glen and Tyler, two decidedly heterosexual and stereotypical manly-men, decide to marry each other in an “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry”-style plot. Turns out that Tyler’s trust inheritance states that he must be married in order to claim the cash. Been there, done that, saw the Adam Sandler version, right? Wrong.
In what was possibly the only overreaching moment in the book, Glen and Tyler go through with what everyone assumes is a farce of a wedding, only to discover during the wedding kiss that they have both harbored secret feelings for each other that neither had ever acknowledged. If you can suspend disbelief long enough to overcome that hurdle, the rest of the story is entirely unpredictable. Assassination attempts, kidnappings of entire cruise ships full of billionaires, and charitable foundations vying for Tyler’s inheritance abound.
There is a lot of stuff missing from the book, some of it good, some of it bad. First, the bad: I never really got the sense that Tyler and Glen faced serious discrimination and hatred like many in the LGBT community have had to face. It’s not that I want to sit on the sidelines of a witch hunt, but I don’t know how realistically their relationship is portrayed. Certainly we are given the impression that being a billionaire several times over lends you some level of insulation from the day-to-day ugliness of homophobic idiots, but even the most insulated people have been victims of ignorance and hatred.
On the other hand, as readers we were not subjected to trite stereotypes of the gay community. There were no silly or sickening euphemisms, no shoe obsessions, no Cher jokes. More importantly, while the main characters were affectionate and loving towards each other, the readers were not led to believe that a homosexual couple is only interested in sex. We were given a very clear depiction of two completely normal people who happen to be gay and have formed a family.
For anyone who can keep an open mind and see the humanity in everyone, it also stands to make you think about what other people endure at the hands of the government and the people.
Reviewed by Mercy Pilkington for IndieReader