Abandoning Ship: Valentine's Inc. Cruises Book 7, Susan Hawke

From terrible puns to inappropriate nicknames for fun appendages to extremely small speedos, the awkward yet charming interplay between Ryan and Sawyer give credence to the idea that marrying your best friend can turn into the best kind of partnership.

I really wasn't kidding about the puns.  I'm a huge fan of them, but the sheer number of them in this story, no matter their cleverness or quality, was a bit much.  It was certainly a unique-ness thing for the not couple/couple though.  The relationship was just as obvious as the pun choices and it was both frustrating and humorous with how they eventually got together.  The shenanigans once they were on the same page is definitely a fine work of fiction.  It induced snickering, eye rolling, swooning, and fanning from the amount of chemistry they had.

While I know all was forgiven in the end with Julia I can't help but feel her forgiveness was given too easily.  She really was all kinds of selfish.  Though I am glad we got a few glimpses into how her chosen partner encouraged her to make amends and to see the effects of her choices.

And the family dysfunction was absolutely ridiculous.  While the homophobia and judging is horrible, it was all included in a slightly softer way.  By making the father an exceedingly caustic human being it lent more humor than pain to the situation.  Ryan still had to acknowledge that it wasn't a complete relief to see his father do what was predicted, so that was good, but it was still a far simpler matter because his dad was truly such an awful person.

Overall I think that's pretty much the way you can sum up all the confrontations and unions—simple and over the top in display.  It was definitely a humorous story with far less angst than the antagonists and friction could have played out so I'd definitely say this was more a light and fluffy story.  The feeling at the end was one of freedom, joy, and love and that despite so many setbacks and mishaps they all proved to be happy accidents that led them to the person and the life that was always meant to be theirs.

*$3.99 on Amazon

When the seas of love grow choppy, sometimes the best course is to abandon ship!

Two years ago, Ryan Abernathy was too tongue-tied, too introverted, and entirely too nervous to flirt with his hot but presumably straight new roommate. So when Ryan’s sister swooped in and scooped the hottie up for herself, he accepted his fate and kept his crush a secret.

Sawyer Muller never meant to find himself in a fake relationship with his sexy roommate's sister. And how was he supposed to know that Ryan would become his bestie and star in way too many of his dreams?

Things get complicated when Julia Abernathy strikes a deal with Sawyer to upgrade from fake boyfriend to groom, though they only need to stay married long enough for her to get her trust fund. They plan a fun cruise ship wedding with her entire family in tow. Sawyer figures it sounds like an adventure, and when they quietly divorce later, he’ll finally be free of all the fakery.

With Julia and Ryan’s homophobic, snooty family present, the pressure is turned up… especially when Sawyer finds himself jilted at the altar and drowning in a sea of blame. His only life preserver is the Abernathy sibling he can’t admit to wanting… Ryan.