Bromance Book Club
Lyssa Kay Adams
Berkley
Romance
Format: Kindle
No. of Pages: 352
Date of Publication: November 15, 2019
My Rating: 4 Stars
DESCRIPTION:
The first rule of book club: You don't talk about 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.
MY THOUGHTS:
Gavin might be successful when on the baseball field, but with his wife, not so much. In fact, he discovers that their sex life is not what he thought it was and now that she has revealed a huge secret to him, the next step is accepting the fact that his wife Thea plans on filing for divorce.
Gavin and his buddies come up with a rather unusual idea. They form a romance book club. They hope that if they read and anaylize various romance books those who are in relationships can fix them, and those looking for love will find it. The first book they choose is a rather raunch Regency that is called Courting the Countess. Can the words they read in this book be used by the guys so that Gavin can save his marriage?
Gavin is a family man and has beautiful twin daughters. But more than that, he truly loves Thea and would do anything to make her happy. I love this first book in the series. In fact, at the writing of this review, I have read and loved the other three titles, Undercover Bromance, Crazy Stupid Bromance and Isn't It Bromantic?
I loved Gavin's story and this book, The Bromance Book Club, is the perfect book to jumpstart a thoroughly engaging series.
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Format: Kindle ARC
No. of Pages: 348
Date of Publication: March 10, 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
DESCRIPTION:
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 pastry 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.
MY THOUGHTS:
Braden Mack and his friends have created the Bromance Book Club. Just recently, their first group read was instrumental in saving his buddy Gavin's marriage. Their next book, this time a romantic suspense, soon proves to be a useful tool when it comes to helping pastry chef Liv Papandreas when she witnesses sexual harrasment at the restaurant where she works by the celebrity chef owner. Trying to defend an innocent woman results in Liv being blackballed and now no restaurant will hire her.
Mack and his buddies hope that the book they are now reading and discussing will work as a guidebook of sorts to create a trap to expose Liv's ex-boss. Meanwhile, Liv and Mack definitely have a connection, an attraction that proves difficult to ignore.
These books are hilarious. Of course, they do touch on difficult and sensitive issues, but watching these brawny men being turned to mush by reading romance books is simply hilarious. The characters are great, and my favorite just has to be the Russian. Poor guy - everything seems wrong with him (wait! because book four .... well, go read it!).
Conflict is everything in romance books. Without conflict there isn't much of a story. The guys are learning that by the books they choose, but in these delightful stories by Lyssa Kay Adams, each book in this series has that required conflict, but they have so much more. There are fabulous characters, enjoyable stories, the requisite HEA and more.
Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.
* * * * *
Format: Kindle ARC
No. of Pages: 342
Date of Publication: October 27, 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
DESCRIPTION:
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.
A hacktivist and a cat café owner decode the friend zone in this romantic comedy from the author of Undercover Bromance.
MY THOUGHTS:
In the second book of the Bromance Book Club series, Undercover Bromance, Alexis was the victim of sexual harrassment at the restaurant where she worked. Due to the case of #metoo as her ex-boss was a celebrity chef, her life hasn't been the same since. Now Alexis has started a successful cat café, in part due to the fact that she is now a household name. One of her newest customers approaches her and tells her that they are sisters. Alexis cannot believe that this is true so she asks her best friend and computer security expert, Noah Logan, to find out if this is at all possible.
This is just perfect for Noah. He loves Alexis. Of course he does, as they are best friends. But, for Noah it is far more. He is desperately in love with her. With the extra time they will be spending together researching the claim the woman made to Alexis, Noah hopes he can find a way to tell her how he feels. Noah does have an ace up his sleeve. He and his buddies are part of a book club where they make life lessons out of the romance books they read. Noah is hopeful that their current book will offer him the tools he needs to get Alexis to see his true feelings.
This book was just as enjoyable as the first two. I loved Noah and Alexis, the drama surrounding Alexis, the friends-to-lovers trope and Noah's friends and their interpretations of the books that they read.
Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.
* * * * *
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Andrew Eiden
No. of Pages: 350
Date of Publication: July 20, 2021
My Rating: 5 Stars
DESCRIPTION:
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.
MY THOUGHTS:
The Russian gets his story! Yes, this is Vlad's story. Vlad is a famous hockey player who is waylaid by an injury during a game. Meanwhile, Vlad has been waxing poetic when it comes to how he feels about his wife Elena. She is the daughter of a Russian journalist who has been missing for years. They have an unconventional marriage. Vlad lives in Nashville. She lives and goes to school in Chicago. He wants to make the marriage real and last forever. She wants a divorce.
It is in this book, Isn't It Bromantic, readers discover Vlad's true reason for being a part of the Bromantic Book Club. Vlad's best friends are in the club and they are as close as brothers. In previous books, Vlad was very much the butt of many jokes. In this installment, we get to see the real Vlad and what he really wants out of life.
Elena comes to Nashville when Vlad is injured and decides to stay with him to help him recover. This is perfect for Vlad as this might finally give him the opportunity he has been waiting for - to address his heartfelt feelings for Elena. Meanwhile, Elena has a lot going on when it comes to the search for answers about her father. With regard to Vlad, it is clear that Elena is a very nice person who only wants the best for him, but will being nice be enough to sustain this unusual marriage?
This was my favorite book of the series! It was engaging, entertaining and exceptional. I loved Vlad and Elena as well as Vlad's friends and their wives. Vlad's neighbors, The Loners, were a real hoot. I got it via Audible and listened to it in one sitting. The narration was flawless, and when moments of levity occurred in the story, the narrator hit it spot on.
Lyssa Kay Adams read her first romance novel in eighth grade after swiping one from her grandmother’s book shelf and was hooked forever. After a nearly 20-year career as a journalist, her dreams of writing and publishing her own HEAs came true in 2015 with the release of her first novel, Seventh Inning Heat, followed by the RITA-nominated novella, Wild in Rio. Today, she writes full-time from her home in Michigan with a pesky, fluffy K9 assistant named Domino who spends most of his day snoring on her desk (that is, when he’s not burying things around the house).
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