Title: The Bro-Magnet
Author: Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Comedy
Pages: 213
Published: December 2011
Publisher: TKA
Source: via Author (through NetGalley)
Where to buy: AmazonSynopsis:
Women have been known to lament, "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride." For Johnny Smith, the problem is, "Always a Best Man, never a groom." At age 33, housepainter Johnny has been Best Man eight times.
The ultimate man's man, Johnny loves the Mets, the Jets, his weekly poker game, and the hula girl lamp that hangs over his basement pool table. Johnny has the instant affection of nearly every man he meets, but one thing he doesn't have is a woman to share his life with, and he wants that desperately.
When Johnny meets District Attorney Helen Troy, he decides to renounce his bro-magnet ways in order to impress her. With the aid and advice of his friends and family, soon he's transforming his wardrobe, buying throw pillows, ditching the hula girl lamp, getting a cat and even changing his name to the more mature-sounding John. And through it all, he's pretending to have no interest in sports, which Helen claims to abhor.
As things heat up with Helen, the questions arise: Will Johnny finally get the girl? And, if he's successful in that pursuit, who will he be now that he's no longer really himself? THE BRO-MAGNET is a rollicking comedic novel about what one man is willing to give up for the sake of love.
Oh how this book made me giggle! Johnny has been the best man for his friends a total of eight times, and uses the same speech almost every time. He knows exactly when people will laugh, when he’ll get the polite chuckles and who has heard the speech before. He has strangers come up and ask him to be THEIR best man!
When a woman comes into his life that he wants to stay in his life, he decides it’s time to make some changes. With the help of his friends (and their wives) and family he gets a new wardrobe, paints his house, gets a cat and tries to be a more mature adult. He gives up his beloved sports, hiding his love for them from Helen. Some of the ways he comes up with to cover a certain radio station or how he knows that random piece of sports trivia is hilarious. Some of the ideas his family comes up with had me laughing out loud while I read this book.
I really enjoyed the building relationship between Johnny (sorry John) and Helen as the story progresses. I loved the interaction between John, his friends and family. How their ‘helpful’ advice manages to get him into some pretty funny situations and how he gets himself out of them. I think my favorite part of the story is the Opera. I’m not going to go into too much detail on that because it’s pretty darn funny and I felt for John who was so so so not dressed for the occasion LOL.
Will I recommend this to anyone? Yes, this is a fun, light, funny read that will have you laughing and cheering for John to get the girl. Will I read more by this author? Most definitely! I love the humor and romance – and how well it went together. Lauren is a very talented writer and I’m looking forward to more by her.
More by Lauren:
For a complete list of Lauren’s work click HERE.
I did a lot of giggling with this one too. Johnny was such a cutie! The soap operas, the cat, everything...the author really did a great job with this one, and I hope she writes more non-YA books in the future.
ReplyDeleteThis is a new one for me--I have never heard of the author or book. It sounds soooo good!! I will have to add to my TBr pile. Thanks for introducing me to a new author!!
ReplyDelete