Crazy Stupid Bromance

August 10, 2020
Adams keeps her Bromance Book Club series going strong with this charming third installment (after Undercover Bromance). Computer security expert and former hacktivist Noah Logan is hopelessly in love with his best friend, Alexis Carlisle, the owner of a cat cafe, but fears ruining their existing relationship if he acts on his feelings for her. Noah’s friend Braeden Mack offers to help him, inviting Noah to join his all-male romance novel book club, made up of Nashville’s most successful men, all of whom are dedicated to “doing the hard work on themselves to overcome a lifetime of toxic masculinity.” Braeden hopes that reading some romance “manuals” can guide Noah on how to navigate his relationship with Alexis. Though Alexis’s cat, Beefcake, strenuously objects to Noah’s presence in their lives, Alexis turns to Noah for comfort in the midst of a family medical crisis, pushing their relationship forward. Despite the emotional subplot about Alexis’s family and the inevitable third-act communication issues between Noah and Alexis, Adams keeps things light, focusing on the many colorful members of the bromance book club who advise Noah on how to handle the growing pains of transforming a friendship into a romance. Series fans will be pleased to have another cute couple to root for. Agent: Tara Gelsomino, One Track Literary.

August 15, 2020
A woman learns the father she never knew needs a kidney transplant. Alexis Carlisle is settling into a quiet life; a few years earlier, she joined several women to reveal they had been sexually harassed by a celebrity chef. Now she owns a cat cafe in Nashville, but she is also committed to providing a safe space for other sexual assault survivors. Alexis assumes a new customer, a shy young woman named Candi, is looking for support, but it turns out Candi has a personal relationship to disclose. A DNA test for an ancestry website has identified Candi and Alexis as probable siblings. Their father has only a few months to live unless he has a kidney transplant, and Alexis is his last hope for a compatible family match. Alexis approaches her best friend, Noah Logan, for advice, but he fears she is yet again rushing in to save others before thinking about herself. Noah has been hiding his love for her for years out of respect for her traumatic past. His best friend, Mack, and the rest of the men in their book club--introduced in Bromance Book Club (2019) and Undercover Bromance (2020)--encourage Noah to tell Alexis how he feels. Along with the kidney transplant story, the book has other meaty subplots--the men of the Bromance Book Club are planning Mack's wedding, Alexis' business is being targeted by a neighboring merchant with a vendetta, and Noah struggles with strife in his own family. The romance is a third-string plot, and though readers will be happy to see Alexis and Noah transition from friends to lovers, the romance is disjointed and unfocused. The large, unwieldy cast of characters exists to create crises for Alexis and Noah to solve or offer advice on how they can get back together. Numerous subplots overwhelm a romance between friends.

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