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The Night We Met
Rob Byrne's wickedly funny debut novel is a thoroughly contemporary and completely off-the-wall variation on classic screwball comedy: Boy gets gorgeous Mafia boyfriend, boy loses Mafia boyfriend and nearly gets whacked by most of New York, boy gets Mafia boyfriend back -- and gets more than he bargained for.Andrew Westlake -- gay, 35, and barely scraping by in Manhattan -- has two dreams, neither of which has come true. He has yet to become the literary voice of his generation. And he most definitely has not met Mr. Right. Now, stuck in a dead-end publishing job, and nursing a broken heart, Andrew is resigned to a life of anti-fabulousness...until the night he meets dark, hunky Frank DeBenedetto. With his confident way of taking care of things and his shy demeanor in the bedroom, Frank wins Andrew over. But problems arise when Frank turns out to be the son of the Maria's top boss, and he's engaged to Anna Franco -- daughter of "Crazy Tommy" Franco -- a woman who does not take to catching her fiance in the act of becoming a "made man."
Suddenly, Andrew's once-boring life is heating up with enough action to fuel ten novels...if only he can keep his very cute butt intact and his man from ending up on a Most Wanted poster. From a couple of "sensitivity-trained" cops to a persistent FBI agent...from guys with nicknames that all have to do with pain to a Mafia princess whose hair is nearly as big as her mouth...from ex-lovers, drag queens, and suspicious doormen to a cast of other characters as zany as New York itself, "The Night We Met" is a frantic, nonstop, madcap romp through a wild romance no reader will be able to refuse.
Suddenly, Andrew's once-boring life is heating up with enough action to fuel ten novels...if only he can keep his very cute butt intact and his man from ending up on a Most Wanted poster. From a couple of "sensitivity-trained" cops to a persistent FBI agent...from guys with nicknames that all have to do with pain to a Mafia princess whose hair is nearly as big as her mouth...from ex-lovers, drag queens, and suspicious doormen to a cast of other characters as zany as New York itself, "The Night We Met" is a frantic, nonstop, madcap romp through a wild romance no reader will be able to refuse.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2002
4 people are currently reading
146 people want to read
About the author
Rob Byrnes
13 books20 followersA 21st century American, gay novelist and blogger, whose fiction focuses primarily on gay men and other sexual minorities. Byrnes's work is often set in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 30, 2016
#ThrowBookThursday: I bumped into this hashtag on a virtual book club, and I loved it. The notion is instead of a Throwback Thursday photograph (which, like many queerfolk who were kicked to the curb, I don’t have beyond a certain date), you post a book you loved from back when. You all know how I feel about book reviews and bringing attention to missed gems, so…
There's a whole story about reading this book that I love to tell. Basically, The Night We Met dropped perfectly into my lap at a time when I truly needed it. I'd been dumped by my works-in-finance older boyfriend (and replaced by a blonder model), I'd struggled to find a new place to live with zero notice, and although I loved my job in the book industry, I was coming home to a tiny empty apartment every night (I hadn't managed to afford a bed yet) and things were beyond tight.
Then, I opened a box at work one day while doing stock, and there was this book. The cover made me do a double-take: wait, are those two guys smiling at each other like... y'know?
I read the back flap, and blinked in surprise. Yep. It looked like I'd actually just found a gay romantic comedy. Woah. So, I bought it with my store credit (we used to earn rewards for working above-and-beyond, and I hoarded my points to trade into gift certificates to buy books with), and I started reading it on my break, where people kept asking me what I was reading because I was laughing so hard.
I read it on the bus-ride home, even though that makes me feel a little motion sick (and people stared because I laughed so loud). And I decided that, damn it, I deserved a treat and I went to the pizza place across from where I lived in my tiny empty apartment and I had dinner while I read.
They kicked me out for laughing too loud, so I took my remaining pizza home with me kept reading.
I finished the book sometime in the wee hours of the morning, wrote a barely coherent review on Amazon, and collapsed into one of the best sleeps I'd had in years. It was the perfectly timed book: it reminded me that no matter how low I got, I needed to laugh, and the eerie parallels certainly helped: the main character of the book works in the book industry and gets dumped by his older boyfriend (who works in finance) for a blonder model right off the bat.
Mind you, I never fell for the son of a mafia boss after that, but a guy could dream.
The story is witty and reads like a cross between a mad-cap zany caper and a rom-com, and the result was gold. Picture a book editor, Andrew, recently (and not willingly) single and gay, whose ex just picked up something younger and cuter. Andrew's first two books are on the bargain bin, he's feeling pretty down, and then at an opening party for a new gay bar on Hallowe'en, he meets the man of his dreams, the man who could just maybe be, Mr. Right.
If Mr. Right was a quasi-heterosexual son of one of the worst Mafia Capo bosses in the city, and if Andrew could be sure that Mr. Right didn't just mistake his Hallowe'en costume (a drag outfit) for Andrew himself being a woman...
The bon-mots are fabulous, the plot is so outrageous that it has a Evanovich-esque slaptstick to it that just totally leaves you gasping for air between guffaws. And beyond it all, there's Andrew, hopeless (and hopeful) romantic, dodging thugs, police, FBI, his best friends, and once or twice having nookie that will curl your toes.
Phenom. And from this book onward, every time Byrnes put out a book, I nabbed them immediately.
There's a whole story about reading this book that I love to tell. Basically, The Night We Met dropped perfectly into my lap at a time when I truly needed it. I'd been dumped by my works-in-finance older boyfriend (and replaced by a blonder model), I'd struggled to find a new place to live with zero notice, and although I loved my job in the book industry, I was coming home to a tiny empty apartment every night (I hadn't managed to afford a bed yet) and things were beyond tight.
Then, I opened a box at work one day while doing stock, and there was this book. The cover made me do a double-take: wait, are those two guys smiling at each other like... y'know?
I read the back flap, and blinked in surprise. Yep. It looked like I'd actually just found a gay romantic comedy. Woah. So, I bought it with my store credit (we used to earn rewards for working above-and-beyond, and I hoarded my points to trade into gift certificates to buy books with), and I started reading it on my break, where people kept asking me what I was reading because I was laughing so hard.
I read it on the bus-ride home, even though that makes me feel a little motion sick (and people stared because I laughed so loud). And I decided that, damn it, I deserved a treat and I went to the pizza place across from where I lived in my tiny empty apartment and I had dinner while I read.
They kicked me out for laughing too loud, so I took my remaining pizza home with me kept reading.
I finished the book sometime in the wee hours of the morning, wrote a barely coherent review on Amazon, and collapsed into one of the best sleeps I'd had in years. It was the perfectly timed book: it reminded me that no matter how low I got, I needed to laugh, and the eerie parallels certainly helped: the main character of the book works in the book industry and gets dumped by his older boyfriend (who works in finance) for a blonder model right off the bat.
Mind you, I never fell for the son of a mafia boss after that, but a guy could dream.
The story is witty and reads like a cross between a mad-cap zany caper and a rom-com, and the result was gold. Picture a book editor, Andrew, recently (and not willingly) single and gay, whose ex just picked up something younger and cuter. Andrew's first two books are on the bargain bin, he's feeling pretty down, and then at an opening party for a new gay bar on Hallowe'en, he meets the man of his dreams, the man who could just maybe be, Mr. Right.
If Mr. Right was a quasi-heterosexual son of one of the worst Mafia Capo bosses in the city, and if Andrew could be sure that Mr. Right didn't just mistake his Hallowe'en costume (a drag outfit) for Andrew himself being a woman...
The bon-mots are fabulous, the plot is so outrageous that it has a Evanovich-esque slaptstick to it that just totally leaves you gasping for air between guffaws. And beyond it all, there's Andrew, hopeless (and hopeful) romantic, dodging thugs, police, FBI, his best friends, and once or twice having nookie that will curl your toes.
Phenom. And from this book onward, every time Byrnes put out a book, I nabbed them immediately.
August 21, 2014
Rating 2.5
There was nothing new about this story for me. I grew up watching tons of Bollywood movies and this kind of story line was their motto, except the two guys falling in love part of course.
Anyway, it was a simple rom com nothing much. When I first started reading it I was hooked. I loved the writing and the main character Andrew. But as the events unfolded the story lost it's charm. Andrew was just plain stupid and the writer made him super stupid so that he could take the story forward. The things that Andrew did made no sense to me. And was the point where the writer and the book lost me. I still like it for it simple, lighthearted story and writing but that's all.
There was nothing new about this story for me. I grew up watching tons of Bollywood movies and this kind of story line was their motto, except the two guys falling in love part of course.
Anyway, it was a simple rom com nothing much. When I first started reading it I was hooked. I loved the writing and the main character Andrew. But as the events unfolded the story lost it's charm. Andrew was just plain stupid and the writer made him super stupid so that he could take the story forward. The things that Andrew did made no sense to me. And was the point where the writer and the book lost me. I still like it for it simple, lighthearted story and writing but that's all.
February 26, 2009
It is a fluffy, comedy situation type of book -- only change the usual hero/heroine to hero/hero. it started funny and made me giggled with the hero's experience. unfortunately, after i passed the mid part of the book, the hero started to annoy me very much ...
August 31, 2015
Even though some of the main character's choices in this story approached egregious levels (I was seriously rolling my eyes through some of it), I found this to be a fun and enjoyable read overall. It even got a few laughs out of me, which is something that doesn't happen very often.
June 28, 2011
This was a very fun read! There were times the book had me laughing at the situations in which the protagonist would find himself. Good, light-hearted read!
August 9, 2018
Reluctant Drag. Heartbreak. Mafia sons and daughters. Spoiled engagements. Coming outs. Hot sex. FBI agents. Bad NYPD Detectives. Fun read and less Mafia than the current White House...so this feels more like real life than real life...
August 27, 2024
DNF @ 52%
November 5, 2016
3.5 stars
You’ve heard the term ‘romp,’ right? That describes this book perfectly.
Andrew is a book editor who’s managed to publish two novels to absolutely zero notice and no acclaim. Frank is a gangster, who has just opened a new gay bar called Benedick’s (which throughout is constantly mispronounced by people as Benedict’s, perhaps so they don’t have to realise that the original name, well, Frank is Italian and ‘bene’ in Italian means ‘good…). After being harangued into drag for the first time on Halloween, he stumbles through the wrong door in Benedick’s and meets Frank. They have a lovely evening, but of course, Frank is straight, right?
Well, kinda.
What follows is a madcap rollercoaster romp including book tours, gangsters with names like Crazy Anna Franco (who just happens to be Frank’s fianceé) and Big Pauline Macaroni. Andrew’s hum-drum life is completely turned upside and he ends up on the run from the cops, two families of gangsters, the FBI and the grande dame of literary crime. It’s ridiculous at times but it’s that kind of book. The book has the great supporting characters of Denise and David, Andrew’s two best friends who throughout are trying to talk sense into Andrew and make him drop Frank who has, intentionally or otherwise, completely wrecked his life. But Andrew can’t, he’s in love, and having been recently dumped at the start of the book, he never thought he’d find it again.
With shades of Armistead Maupin, this book is the right blend of clever and silly, and had me reading to the very end, and even had me worried if Andrew and Frank would get their Happily Ever After.
(Postscript: I absolutely hate the cover, and the blurb on the back is pretty crap too. It was a friend’s review that actually spurred me onto read this – I don’t think I would’ve picked it up, so it just goes to show important reviews can be *koffkoff*)
You’ve heard the term ‘romp,’ right? That describes this book perfectly.
Andrew is a book editor who’s managed to publish two novels to absolutely zero notice and no acclaim. Frank is a gangster, who has just opened a new gay bar called Benedick’s (which throughout is constantly mispronounced by people as Benedict’s, perhaps so they don’t have to realise that the original name, well, Frank is Italian and ‘bene’ in Italian means ‘good…). After being harangued into drag for the first time on Halloween, he stumbles through the wrong door in Benedick’s and meets Frank. They have a lovely evening, but of course, Frank is straight, right?
Well, kinda.
What follows is a madcap rollercoaster romp including book tours, gangsters with names like Crazy Anna Franco (who just happens to be Frank’s fianceé) and Big Pauline Macaroni. Andrew’s hum-drum life is completely turned upside and he ends up on the run from the cops, two families of gangsters, the FBI and the grande dame of literary crime. It’s ridiculous at times but it’s that kind of book. The book has the great supporting characters of Denise and David, Andrew’s two best friends who throughout are trying to talk sense into Andrew and make him drop Frank who has, intentionally or otherwise, completely wrecked his life. But Andrew can’t, he’s in love, and having been recently dumped at the start of the book, he never thought he’d find it again.
With shades of Armistead Maupin, this book is the right blend of clever and silly, and had me reading to the very end, and even had me worried if Andrew and Frank would get their Happily Ever After.
(Postscript: I absolutely hate the cover, and the blurb on the back is pretty crap too. It was a friend’s review that actually spurred me onto read this – I don’t think I would’ve picked it up, so it just goes to show important reviews can be *koffkoff*)
September 3, 2012
First off, I rarely give "just for fun" books five stars. This one deserved it, so there's the beginning of just how wonderful this book was.
Picture a book editor, Andrew, recently (and not willingly) single and gay, whose ex just picked up something younger and cuter. Andrew's first two books are on the bargain bin, he's feeling pretty down, and then at an opening party for a new gay bar, he meets the man of his dreams, the man who could just maybe be, Mr. Right.
If Mr. Right was a quasi-heterosexual son of one of the worst Mafia Capo bosses in the city.
This was my first Byrnes book, and I read it in the space of a day. I cried I laughed so hard (and I also got tossed out of a pizza joint for laughing too much when I read this book). This book isn't just funny, it's witty, and that's a style in short demand. The bon-mots are fabulous, the plot is so completely outrageous that it has a Evanovich-esque slaptstick to it that just totally leaves you gasping for air between guffaws. And beyond it all, there's Andrew, hopeless (and hopeful) romantic, dodging thugs, police, FBI, his best friends, and once or twice having nookie that will curl your toes.
Phenom. When Byrnes puts out a book, I nab them immediately.
Picture a book editor, Andrew, recently (and not willingly) single and gay, whose ex just picked up something younger and cuter. Andrew's first two books are on the bargain bin, he's feeling pretty down, and then at an opening party for a new gay bar, he meets the man of his dreams, the man who could just maybe be, Mr. Right.
If Mr. Right was a quasi-heterosexual son of one of the worst Mafia Capo bosses in the city.
This was my first Byrnes book, and I read it in the space of a day. I cried I laughed so hard (and I also got tossed out of a pizza joint for laughing too much when I read this book). This book isn't just funny, it's witty, and that's a style in short demand. The bon-mots are fabulous, the plot is so completely outrageous that it has a Evanovich-esque slaptstick to it that just totally leaves you gasping for air between guffaws. And beyond it all, there's Andrew, hopeless (and hopeful) romantic, dodging thugs, police, FBI, his best friends, and once or twice having nookie that will curl your toes.
Phenom. When Byrnes puts out a book, I nab them immediately.
June 14, 2012
Someone thinks they're Joe Keenan. This book was ok, but it just didn't have the good comedic dialogue that Keenan's books do. When I read Putting on the Ritz and My Blue Heaven, I laughed my butt off throughout. While this book had some funny moments, I never experienced that full-belly-laugh moment I get with Keenan (and Ethan Mordden).
January 23, 2008
I wanted to like this book, but didn't. The lead character of Drew was just too lame and the plot too outlandish. The dialogue worked better than the narrative, but it was still rather amateurish.
October 31, 2014
This is a delightful book. If you like the movie, "Some Like It Hot", you'll love "The Night We Met". It's extremely funny. If our main character didn't have bad luck, he'd have no luck at all.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews