The Bromance Book Club
Discover both male and female perspectives and expectations in a romance for all.
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1. THE BROMANCE BOOK CLUB by Lyssa Kay Adams
SYNOPSIS
The first rule of this book club: You don't talk about the book club.
Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott's marriage is in major-league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him.
Welcome to the Bromance Book Club.
Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner-hero and win back the trust of his wife.
BOOK REVIEW
Romance novels are primarily written by women for women, and they’re entirely about how they want to be treated and what they want out of life and in a relationship. We read them to be more comfortable expressing ourselves and to look at things from their perspective.
Lyssa Kay Adams did an amazing job addressing the issue of broken marriages by creating an all-male book club (the very first time I’ve come across such an outstanding idea), the members of which read a genre that celebrates equality, consent, open communication, and sex-positivity for everyone, in order to establish much stronger ties with their loved ones. My initial fear was the idea of the book club as some sort of manipulation scheme, some theory/practice lessons to learn how to recreate a number of swoon-worthy scenes from a book to make an illusion of supposedly female dreams. But I was so wrong! The boys were genuine, very funny, and sweet. They did try their very best to improve and thus save their relationships by embracing some changes within their inner selves. They were fully committed to a true definition of love, trust, and respect in a marriage.
I liked Gavin and Thea very much. They were not some cheezy protagonists of a typical rom-com. No. They felt real in the best way possible. Gavin being too focused on his professional career and Thea being too exhausted to do more than just go through the motions of her daily housewife life, real people with lots of flaws and imperfections, who love and hate, show selfishness and make sacrifices. I absolutely loved that Lyssa Kay Adams didn’t make one particular partner the villain and difficult to redeem since marriage is a dance for two, after all. Also, it was good to see two sides of the story, revealing the problems that pose an actual threat to a long-term relationship (I would definitely like to highlight the problems of professional sacrifices and sex).
The Bromance Book Club is a heartfelt second-chance romance of a married couple with common problems of an average household with kids (you don't need to be a wife of a professional baseball player in order to find yourself in the exact same situation). Gavin’s and Thea’s love from first sight was cute and somewhat relatable, but the highlight of the book was the process and efforts they both made (not only Gavin) to make that love last throughout years of lack of so needed communication (I would give a funny professional baseball analogy if and when I know it, sorry).
Overall, I really enjoyed the book (three and a half hours felt like a minute, let me tell you). I would have liked a little bit more context since some of the issues seemed to be skimmed over, but I highly recommend to join The Bromance Book Club, nonetheless!
BONUS: There is going to be a Netflix adaptation! Super exciting!
PS. My hubby does read romance novels (at least three books every month from my recommendations list always available on our chalkboard in the kitchen) in order to have better communication with me even though our connection is really strong. He says there is nothing threatening to his masculinity when reading the books supposedly for women only. He argues that it’s good to be able to understand my perspective and expectations.
2. UNDERCOVER BROMANCE by Lyssa Kay Adams
SYNOPSIS
Braden Mack thinks reading romance novels makes him an expert in love, but he’ll soon discover that real life is better than fiction.
Liv Papandreas has a dream job as a sous chef at Nashville’s hottest restaurant. Too bad the celebrity chef-owner is less than charming behind kitchen doors. After she catches him harassing a young hostess, she confronts him and gets fired. Liv vows revenge, but she’ll need assistance to take on the powerful chef.
Unfortunately, that means turning to Braden Mack. When Liv’s blackballed from the restaurant scene, the charismatic nightclub entrepreneur offers to help expose her ex-boss, but she is suspicious of his motives. He’ll need to call in reinforcements: the Bromance Book Club.
Inspired by the romantic suspense novel they’re reading, the book club assists Liv in setting up a sting operation to take down the chef. But they’re just as eager to help Mack figure out the way to Liv’s heart… even though she’s determined to squelch the sparks between them before she gets burned.
BOOK REVIEW
“We spend a lot of time talking about the unfairness of how our toxic masculine society forces us to be ashamed of embracing romance novels. Yet we buy our books in secret. It’s time we practice what we preach.”
The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams shifted something significantly within my way of thinking about the relation between gender and romance. The first book in the series raised an important question of the so needed equality among the members of the reading community in the so loved but shamed by many people genre. Undercover Bromance continued with the general idea but with a number of slight deviations. This time around, instead of a historical romance, the story followed a romantic suspense one, which seemed to be suitable for the book couple, but I had my doubts... Honestly speaking, the second book wasn’t as good as its predecessor (the charm of the uniqueness of The Bromance Book Club was lost somewhere along the way) but still enjoyable.
He loved a little danger with his romance, and he especially loved an enemies-to-lovers story. There was just something satisfying about two people discovering that what makes them fight is also the thing that makes them perfect for each other.
I think it’s no secret that our tastes in books we tend to read speak volumes about us personality-wise. Braden Mack was the leader of the Bromance Book Club. The odd man in the group. The man who could save a hundred marriages but seemed to be doomed to never find his own happy ending. I mean, he was funny and adorable, an unapologetic romance lover with a loving outgoing nature. Mack knew exactly how to romance a girl but was clueless when it came to actually be with her.
“You use weakness as a weapon. You’re so ashamed of your own mistakes in life, so afraid of your own fragility, that you accuse everyone else around you of being soft just for the crime of basic human frailty.”
Liv (Thea’s sister) was an annoying and stubborn girl with lots of trust issues... She was snarky for the most part and went out of her way to stay independent (and not in a good freeing kind of way). I just couldn’t connect with her on an emotional level and simply didn’t like her.
“Don’t you think it’s high time you and I fell in love?”
The relationship between Mack and Liv was awkward and unconvincing. It was a strong but forced case of ‘opposites attract’. I didn’t buy their chemistry, but I really loved Mack. The slow-paced process of learning about his past and him as a person, in general, kept me entertained throughout the whole book.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy read, check the book out. It was funny and light-hearted. The only weak point, unfortunately, was the romance aspect itself.
3. CRAZY STUPID BROMANCE by Lyssa Kay Adams
SYNOPSIS
Alexis Carlisle and her cat café, ToeBeans, have shot to fame after she came forward as a victim of a celebrity chef’s sexual harassment. When a new customer approaches to confide in her, the last thing Alexis expects is for the woman to claim they’re sisters. Unsure what to do, Alexis turns to the only man she trusts—her best friend, Noah Logan.
Computer genius Noah left his rebellious teenage hacker past behind to become a computer security expert. Now he only uses his old skills for the right cause. But Noah’s got a secret: He’s madly in love with Alexis. When she asks for his help, he wonders if the timing will ever be right to confess his crush.
Noah’s pals in The Bromance Book Club are more than willing to share their beloved ‘manuals’ to help him go from bud to boyfriend. But he must decide if telling the truth is worth risking the best friendship he’s ever had.
4. ISN’T IT BROMANTIC? by Lyssa Kay Adams
SYNOPSIS
With his passion for romance novels, it was only a matter of time before Vlad wrote one.
Elena Konnikova has lived her entire adult life in the shadows. As the daughter of a Russian journalist who mysteriously disappeared, she escaped danger the only way she knew how: She married her childhood friend, Vladimir, and moved to the United States, where he is a professional hockey player in Nashville.
Vlad, aka the Russian, thought he could be content with his marriage of convenience. But it’s become too difficult to continue in a one-sided relationship. He joined the Bromance Book Club to learn how to make his wife love him, but all he’s learned is that he deserves more. He’s ready to create his own sweeping romance—both on and off the page.
The bros are unwilling to let Vlad forgo true love—and this time they’re not operating solo. They join forces with Vlad’s neighbors, a group of meddling widows who call themselves the Loners. But just when things finally look promising, Elena’s past life intrudes and their happily ever after is cast into doubt.
5. A VERY MERRY BROMANCE by Lyssa Kay Adams
SYNOPSIS
Country music’s golden boy Colton Wheeler felt the most perfect harmony when he was with Gretchen Winthrop. But for her, it was a love him and leave him situation. A year later, Colton is struggling to push his music forward in a new direction. If it weren’t about to be the most magical time of year and the support of the Bromance Book Club, he’d be wallowing in self-pity.
It’s hard for immigration attorney Gretchen not to feel a little Scrooge-ish about the excess of Christmas when her clients are scrambling to afford their rent. So when her estranged, wealthy family reaches out with an offer that will allow her to better serve the community, she’s unable to say no. She just needs to convince Colton to be the new face of her family’s whiskey brand. No big deal…
Colton agrees to consider Gretchen’s offer in exchange for three dates before Christmas. With the help of the Bromance Book Club, Colton throws himself into the task of proving to her there’s a spark between them. But Gretchen and Colton will both need to overcome the ghosts of Christmas past to build a future together.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lyssa Kay Adams is an award-winning journalist who gave up the world of true stories to pen all-the-feels romances featuring sexy heroes and women who always get the last word.
Lyssa lives in Michigan with her family and an anxiety-ridden Maltese who steals food and buries it around the house and who, according to the author, will undoubtedly be a character in a future book.
In the book, men are reading romance novels in an attempt to repair their love lives. What do you think men could learn by reading romances?
Let me first say that of all the criticisms that get tossed at romance novels, the one I find most telling is that they somehow give women (only women, of course) unrealistic expectations about relationships. It’s such a self-own to admit you think it’s unrealistic to expect respect, equality, and good sex. Romance novels can teach you how to talk to your partner, how to touch your partner, and how to find out your partner’s preferred methods for talk and touch.
As for sex? Romance novelists help to strip away the mixed messages men and women are taught about pleasure. Pop culture and pornography tend to center the penetrative male gaze. Women are taught that their pleasure has to be earned, but male orgasm is a given.
But romance novels celebrate the full intimate experience, sometimes from the male point of view. We give men permission to be vulnerable, to admit that they are nervous, insecure, and emotional. We give women permission to embrace their sexuality, to expect equal satisfaction, and to ask for what they want.
The most important thing both my characters have to learn is that they both have to do some internal unpacking to fix their marriage. Both characters have dragged some heavy baggage into the relationship but initially resist cleaning out the lingering dirty laundry in their individual suitcases.
As the Bros tell Gavin at one point in the book, sometimes you have to open a vein to clean the wound. The thing you’re most afraid to talk about is the thing you must talk about. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be uncomfortable. But intimacy—real intimacy—requires both partners to poke at the things that hurt.
Those aren’t lessons that matter only to cis-het couples. These are important lessons for everyone in a relationship.
- Lyssa Kay Adams
