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Oh readers, I hope you expected romance to show up this month, and also you’re welcome it only showed up twice (so far), in addition to *gasp* TWO nonfiction titles.  We contain multitudes!  And so does the Russian.  That, my friends, is almost all I want to say about Isn’t It Bromantic (Bromance Book Club #4) by Lyssa Kay Adams.  Here’s the rest: Don’t read the marketing copy and don’t read reviews with spoilers.  This book is everything I didn’t know I wanted it to be.  In the first three books, the Russian is often the butt of the jokes because he has gastrointestinal issues.  Yes, in a romance series about a “crew of star-studded degenerates” who read romance “manuals” to help them be better partners, and better people, there is a character who seems to exist mostly for potty humor.  *intense side-eye* However, before this book opens, Vlad (yes, he has a name!) gets the medical help he needs and determines he cannot eat gluten.  I confess, I was scared of this book because of Vlad’s stomach struggles, but I’m delighted to say it was a joy to read about characters learning to adapt cooking to the dietary needs of their friends.  (And if you need help doing this, DM me.  We avoided garlic for several years, and yes, it’s in everything.)  

But what of the leading lady of Isn’t It Bromantic?  Well friends, that’s why I want you to just pick up the book.  We know from the first three books that Vlad has a wife, and no one knows anything about her.  Well, she shows up, and we actually get to know Vlad, and there might be aforementioned degenerates discussing the physique of a professional hockey player repeatedly, and the whole book is a really fun hang that I just don’t want to be a part of spoiling for you.  Vlad and his wife have a really fun backstory, with a complex relationship, and interesting interactions with the other characters.  There’s a bit of a mystery on the page too, which is intriguing, and helps propel the action a bit.  

You all know Isn’t It Bromantic and all the Bromance Book Club series are set in Nashville and that’s sometimes a struggle for me when I can’t place the settings in my city.  Adams did pretty well with her descriptions of going to the arena from the suburban neighborhoods, and even going in the staff entrance (yes, I’ve done it, but it’s been several years, so that might help me feel better about it).  I do need to know more about the Cheese Man though…I’m very intrigued by the idea and I want to know if he’s based on something real in Nashville or just a fun, random character (but either way, I’m here for it).  

I’m giving Isn’t It Bromantic an enthusiastic four stars.  I had very specific expectations after reading the first three books, and I genuinely enjoyed reading Vlad and his wife’s story more than I thought I would.  It helps that we don’t know much about him going into this book, and this story does feel more layered than some of the others with the backstory and also the cast of characters that surround them, and the truth bombs that are dropped through their discussion of the “manuals.”  I also very much enjoyed the set up of the leading man for the next book in the series, A Very Merry Bromance and am only mad we have to wait nearly a year for it.  I fully expect it’ll be worth the wait!

What’s your favorite truth bomb from a book you adore?  Mine, this week, is “Intimacy is an act of communication. Hold nothing back.”

~Nikki

I’m so glad that I can depend upon Nikki to give you lovely readers the overview of the plot without spoiling. And, you can typically depend upon me to give you the background about the author and their works. However, I’m going to refer you to last year’s post about the first two books in The Bromance Book Club Series by Lyssa Kay Adams, The Bromance Book Club (which is on sale for $1.99 as of our post date) and Undercover Bromance. We read the third in the series, Crazy Stupid Bromance in March but didn’t write about it, and that’s OK since we were deep into women’s history titles at the time. As you know, today we’re bringing you the fourth in the series, Isn’t It Bromantic, which gives us the story of the Russian and his wife, Elena.

Truly though, we need to have a bit of a discussion about reading books set in your home city, with lots of professional sportsball teams being mentioned, and yet all the team names are different. I can get behind what Adams did in the first book, where she turned the Nashville minor-league baseball team into a major-league team with a different name, the Nashville Sounds became the Nashville Legends. Cool, all the things make sense. But, in Isn’t It Bromantic, the current Nashville hockey team is the Predators (and this girl loves her some Preds hockey) and not the Nashville Vipers (and for the OG folks, it was the Knights before the Preds, and they were a minor professional team)! The least that could have happened is that we get a name like the Copperheads, which is one of the four venomous snakes that inhabit our lovely state. And, look, I know that there’s licensing issues and rules and legalities, blah blah blah, but if you can’t use Nashville Predators, why can you mention the Vancouver Canucks and the New York Rangers as teams the Vipers play against?! The sense that is not made here is frightening in its intensity. So, I have this little problem, but it’s my problem and I’ll just have to sit with it forever.

Otherwise,Isn’t It Bromantic, was the comfort book that surprised me the most this month! When Nikki says Vlad contains layers, like an Ogre or an onion, she’s so on point. Who knew that he would be the book clubber to read the ‘manuals’ to have a better relationship with his wife, who was his best friend growing up in Russia and they have a marriage of convenience so that she can leave the country when he’s offered to play professional hockey in the USA. Who wins the book, though, are all the supporting characters in Vlad’s life. His group of neighbors who call themselves the Loners, because they’re all widowed, divorced, or abandoned by their spouses, are comedy gold. Colton, the future hero in A Very Merry Bromance, is the greatest country music star best friend a hockey player could ask for. They even had a silent conversation in front of Vlad’s wife Elena at one point – she thinks Colton was silently scolded via eye contact. But, my favorite bit of advice, since Nikki already shared hers, was from Claudia, one of the Loners: “That is marriage. Security and stability with the occasional what the hell was I thinking?” A solid 4 star review from me, too, because of expectations that were exceeded and the excitement I have for book 5! 

Only a few more days left in this month of Comfort Reads, and we hope you’re curled up with something comforting to you during this holiday weekend!

~Ashley

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