Best Woman – Rose Dommu

Published By: Bantam
Pages: 288
Released On: 22/01/2026

Julia loves her family. They stood by her when she came out as a woman and have been nothing but supportive of her life in New York. So when her brother asks her to be ‘best woman’ in his wedding, how could she say no?

Now though, Julia’s facing a week in her hometown dealing with bridezilla and her cronies, her parents’ messy post-divorce relationship, and a mountain of old memories she’s done her best to avoid. She’s totally fine.

That is, until Julia learns that Kim Cameron – gorgeous, self-assured, and the object of Julia’s unrequited high school crush – is maid of honour.

Thinking no harm will come of it, Julia tells a tiny little lie to win Kim over. But the lie quickly snowballs, jeopardizing both their blossoming attraction and Julia’s relationship with her family. As Julia struggles through the wedding week and tensions begin to boil over, can the best woman fix her worst mistake?

*****

Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

This was billed as a “hilarious, uplifting queer rom-com”, and I have to admit, it only achieved some of that. It is a queer rom-com yes, and overall it is uplifting. But I can’t say I found it overly funny, let alone hilarious.

I don’t know anything about Rose Dommu and so I cannot say anything about her background with the LGTBQ+ (particularly trans) community, but the way this is written, the way the character of Julia is written, is with such love and understanding. My heart broke for her at times, she just wants to be who she really is, not who everyone else expects her to be, and even though she wasn’t perfect, I did like her. One thing I didn’t like about her – no spoiler, it’s mentioned in the synopsis above – was this lie she tells that starts of small and grows out of control. I know that’s the whole premise of the story, but I wasn’t altogether comfortable with her pushing this fantasy in order to win the love of a woman. That had me sitting on the fence a bit, but I suppose without it we would have no story.

I loved the honesty here. I am a cis woman and I can only write from that perspective, but I think Rose has given us the two sides of a trans person’s experience. She’s written about those who understand her, the brother who is fine with having a sister, the friends who support her etc. But she’s not hidden from the difficult moments, the mis-gendering, the narrowmindedness, and the plain rudeness. It’s hard a times to read but overall I think she’s made it a positive story of identity.

It is a very open-ended ending. Sometimes I don’t mind that but I would have preferred a finished ending so I felt like everything was resolved. I think that would have upped my enjoyment of it as I didn’t think it was the kind of story that needed an open-ended ending.

I am probably in the middle when it comes to rating this book. It’s relatively short and so quick to read, which is good because otherwise it would have felt a bit drawn out. Julia is a great character who I bonded with almost instantly. And I was impressed by Rose’s honest depiction of trans life.

However, it was heavy on the pop culture references that just didn’t gel in the situation they were used – particularly several comparisons to Harry Potter, which given it’s a book about a trans person felt a bit odd. The romance storyline also felt a bit forced and a bit light; I’d have preferred a bit more meat on those bones, as it were.

Overall it is a fun and uplifting story about finding yourself and being yourself and accepting yourself, about love and friendship and community. If it just ironed a few bits out and the pacing was rejigged, what bits to give more or less energy to, then it would have been better. But it was an enjoyable book to read and I would recommend it.