Last year I read and reviewed The Bro-Magnet and liked it. It is only by accident that I came across Isn’t It Bromantic?, which proves to me that I need a better system of tracking authors with impressive first books. I would have been upset if I had unknowingly let this book slip by me.

This is the second book in the series and while you can read it as a stand-alone book, I think you will get more enjoyment out of it if you know the background of the characters and the relationships.

Johnny Smith (“Always a best man, never a groom”) is at the altar again, but this time he is finally a groom. He can’t believe that he is actually getting married to District Attorney Helen Troy, the most wonderful woman in the world.

Because they know that this is going to be their only wedding, they go all out. Big wedding and “cliché and kitschy” cruise. The first day Johnny is so impressed with his intelligent, knowledgeable wife. She did research and knew to pack their swimsuits in a carry-on because it can take forever to get your luggage on a ship. But later that night after Helen drags him to karaoke, and then proceeds to sing “ABBA” in a not so great voice he wonders what other surprises are in store from the woman he thought he knew. But hey, better or worse, right — sickness and health too, although he didn’t expect that to be put to the test so soon.

They both end up sick with the norovirus. Johnny, telling Helen to stay in the room and rest, heroically stands in line with all the other infected people to get relief. But the doctor will only give him medication enough for one person. Unselfishly he gives that one chance of relief to Helen. The next day she feels great, and he is still not up to par. The disappointment on Helen’s face when he says he going to stay on the ship rather than go off shore compels him to suggest that she go off by herself, and she actually does it, leaving him sick and alone. Same thing happens again the next day. Helen comes back with tales of meeting some great friends but she didn’t mention that she was partying with eight men in Speedos. Don’t these know guys know they’re not supposed to show their junk in swimming suits anymore?

He knows that once they get home, everything is going to be great, but Helen has some more surprises. Her furniture needs to stay, and his has to go. Which, hey, is not ideal, but compromise right? But as they are unpacking, he discovers that she is a song garbler. Not only does she have lousy taste in music with her ABBA again, but she mixes up the words in the lyrics all – the – time. That is just wrong on so many levels. It changes the whole meaning of the song. Plus she is not exactly interested in the latest happening on General Hospital. More disturbing of all, she just hasn’t warmed up to Fluffy, his cat.

This marriage business is trickier than it seems. But both are adamant that they will never turn into a bickering married couple, like some of their friends have.

First of all, being told in the first person from Johnny’s point of view makes the story unique. It is not often that a book is told from the male point of view. However, it is the humor that makes you laugh and laugh and laugh, which is what I did all through the book. Here is an example:

My bathing suit? A little less skimpy than hers. Actually, they’re the jammy things. About twenty years ago, it was all Speedos. Guys’d would be walking around like “ooh, here is all my junk” and “see how big my junk is”; now we wear stuff that says “ah, I got no junk and besides I been eating too many French fries lately.

The only criticism that I have is towards the end, when a bit of ennui set in about a few of the scenarios, like talking about General Hospital. It was almost like humor overload, but within pages, my interest was rekindled again.

The book is not deep, far from it, but sometimes you just need a book that makes you laugh. And this one does that. It is a truly fun read.