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If you don’t know the premise of The Bromance Book Club, let me clue you in – second chance romance, dude’s buddies drag him into a romance book club to help him get her back.  That’s all I needed, I’m there.  And y’all – IT DELIVERS.  This open door romance is set in Nashville (*side eye because I’m from Nashville and live here) and our male lead is a professional baseball player (we’ve had a minor league team since before I can remember, but no majors – but I guess it’s harder to write about something that does actually exist).  While I love the premise and it’s really well executed, there were some minor things I struggled with (as mentioned above) that others may or may not even notice.

As with many romance novels with the hand-drawn covers, The Bromance Book Club is not the cliche light read romance novel.  It’s not overly serious and there are definitely funny parts, but it’s also authentic.  This couple has issues and we dig into the issues alongside them including family of origin issues, failed expectations, communication challenges, and how each of them has gotten sucked into distractions and has not made their marriage a priority, which is made more challenging by twin preschoolers and a husband who travels a ton for work.  This is real life, the kind you talk about with your best friends over wine, or maybe something stronger.  It’s rough, and complicated, and what I expect from literary fiction, but not what I thought I wanted in a romance novel that was finally going to have dudes learn from “manuals” (their code for romance novels), because really, there’s SO MUCH HELP to be found in the genre (and there are issues here too, I know).  

When a book (or show) is set in my home town or anywhere I’ve been, I want to recognize places in the text.  It’s part of the charm of the experience (see also: The Gilded Wolves).  Did anyone watch the show “Nashville”?  I watched for several seasons because I appreciated the drama and the glimpses of my city!  Deacon’s house was blocks away from where my sister-in-law lived at the time, but the best part was my husband (who’s been around Nashville since he was eight) who, when they talked about a shop or a venue would say “oh they’re just making that up” to which I would respond “or you’re out of touch,” which was the accurate saying.  (At the time I worked a couple of blocks from Broadway and he worked in the suburbs.) [ASHLEY HERE: Wanna know something super cool about the show Nashville? I got up early and to the office around 4am one day so that they could turn our RE/MAX office into the army recruiting office for the show. The interior of the building was in one episode and the exterior was in at least two others. No, I didn’t get to play an extra, but I got to experience the filming from ‘backstage’ and the Vanderbilt Children’s Miracle Network Hospital got a sizeable donation in our name.] In The Bromance Book Club, I recognized downtown Franklin and the houses in the surrounding neighborhoods (except for the basement part, which I find ridiculous because of our excess of limestone locally but Ashley assures me is accurate for historic houses, but still, they are usually unfinished, gross, and damp), but the rest of the descriptions I just couldn’t place.  Not the giant art store, not the restaurants, nothing.  Maybe I’m out of touch, maybe the descriptions were intentionally vague, or maybe both.  I don’t know, but it definitely detracted from my reading experience.

What The Bromance Book Club does well is show the guys caring for each other.  They’re professional athletes and business men and they’re outwardly confident, but realize they need each other and value each other’s friendship.  These guys have and do help each other through some rough times and it’s really nice to see that described while still including the serious one, the joker, and the outsider in the ensemble.  Each has a contribution to make that is important and I just adore seeing this from men in a way that doesn’t make them less manly, only more real and three-dimensional.  

Adams shows character growth from both the leads.  He has a lot to learn, she also has some baggage to deal with, and they both make significant progress (it’s a romance, HEA is part of it).  Their twin daughters are different and close, and the wife’s sister is great!  She demonstrates her own baggage, while also showing up for her sister in a variety of ways that show she too can learn (and does in #2).  

Overall, I’m glad I read The Bromance Book Club, would give it 3.5 stars, and I still want a more comedic version of this premise (which Pippa Grant gives us a taste of in the background of several of her books, but I want MORE).  I am not likely to reread it, but I want more from the series.  I feel like I’m almost saying the book takes itself too seriously and that’s not it at all.  It’s just serious and challenging in how it discusses the issues behind needing the second chance in a way that was very much like real life, perhaps too much for my taste for this genre, however if I’d have gone in thinking it was listed more as fiction than as romance, I’d have had more appropriate expectations.  

As I read The Bromance Book Club in November of 2019, then read Undercover Bromance this month, I did have more appropriate expectations for the follow up.  It had been waiting in my holds, and we decided it was time for Ashley to read the first and me to read the second, and then to share them with you.  I didn’t remember how much I liked the idea of this, but I adore it, and it delivers.

What to expect and what not to expect in this book: Undercover Bromance is an open door romance, without some of the details generally included in such novels of the bodice ripper variety.  It has a very purposeful plot.  We have family of origin issues our hero and heroine have carried into their 30s.  We have a boss who is sexually harassing his female staff, and then paying them off to keep quiet, in addition to verbally abusing all of his staff.  This combination results in a serious romance novel wherein our hero and heroine transition from enemies to lovers as they work together to take down this jerk who’s been getting away with his abhorrent behavior for years.  Now remember, the members of our bromance book club are big deal business men and athletes, and so is this boss, only he’s also super shady, so there’s a bit of suspense too.  Will their plan work?  What will go wrong along the way?  Oh, and who are the hero and heroine?  None other than bromance book club leader Mack, and Thea’s little sister, Liv.  He knows the manuals more so than the other members, and she’s cranky and full of sarcasm (and Ashley and I would love to make friends with her because we are too).  

For the Nashville locals, Undercover Bromance does a better job of being separate from the real city than The Bromance Book Club.  The nightclub, restaurant, and neighborhoods described don’t have names of actual places in town (or perhaps I’m out of touch), but definitely feel like they could be one of a handful of actual places.  

Undercover Bromance is real, from the family drama to the complex nature of friendship, and found family who drag you out of your despair and help you fix your moments of stupidity, pride, and regret.  I give it four stars to this title.  I’m not likely to reread it, but I’m here for the idea of the bromance book club and will be anxiously awaiting the next book in the series, which is expected to come out in October, Crazy Stupid Bromance.  Also, if Lyssa Kay Adams is reading this, I would like to request Sonia be considered for the heroine in #5 because she’s fantastic! Ashley dittos this sentiment and wants to share with the group that number four is The Russian’s Story and she is excited for another hockey romance book…

~Nikki 

I am not sad that Lyssa Kay Adams left a 20 year journalism career to write romance novels full time. Nope not a little bit. I was so into the story of The Bromance Book Club that I couldn’t hold off on continuing the story to catch up with Nikki. As soon as I finished my library book I 1-clicked Undercover Bromance on my kindle. (It was on sale for $2.99 earlier this month and is currently available for $9.99. Sorry, dear readers!) I read both books in the span of about 3 sleeps. It was imperative that I cover both books for you, along with Nikki, especially since she was texting me that the plot was so on point in Undercover. Ms. Adams has a lovely website where she admits to loving planners and pens and provides us with this thrilling Bromance Book Club Starter Kit List. Thank you, Lyssa, and Y’welcome, readers.

Nikki and I have been saying for years that if men would read romance novels (or specifically the books their womenfolk love to read and re-read…) they would have the blinds opened into women’s psyches they so desperately crave and need.  [Nikki: And now there’s even a what to read list, y’all, come on!]  Chapter 3 of The Bromance Book Club is full of relationship gold and I want to share a money quote right here, the thing every man needs to figure out: “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.”  Big fat duh on that right there.

I’m not ashamed to admit that there were at least three instances in The Bromance Book Club where my eyes got a little moist, and my nose sniffled in sympathy mostly from our heroine Thea’s chapters where she thinks about how she put her career aspirations on hold for wife- and mother-hood. I felt that hard, the slow process of becoming less of the person you felt yourself inside while succumbing to these other expectations and responsibilities while at the same time not being appreciated for doing those things, being taken for granted for accomplishing things which could also be done by any other adult in the same household. Yeah, I went there. This book is more serious than the typical romance we read because it’s about a couple who is already married, rather than a couple that ends up with engagement or marriage as their HEA. Instead of working towards love and a ring, we’re hoping Gavin can do the inner and outer work it takes for a divorce to not be their best choice scenario. Thea needs to go from being so angry and frustrated she literally demos a wall in their house to being able to see that Gavin is trying to do the work while simultaneously dealing with the holiday season and residual family of origin issues.

I wanna get out of my feelings though and talk about Nashville. (Which is also partly my feelings, semantics.) Yes, Nikki and I grew up around, live, and work here. I commented on several of the inaccuracies while I was highlighting and reading – including the mention of basements or how Vandy is 30 minutes from Franklin – only if you’re speeding and it’s 10pm. Nikki talked about the art supply store, and I will point out there’s one in East Nashville I envisioned as the location of Gavin and Thea’s date night, Jerry’s Artarama, which is currently closed due to tornado damage from the beginning of March. I also did a little googling, and there’s an art warehouse blocks away from the Music City Center called Plaza Art Artist Materials and Picture Framing which is more likely the inspiration for the locale. Undercover Bromance definitely covered the downtown restaurant/bar/nightclub vibe and I can place my experience and mental maps over the generalized descriptions Adams gives.

Undercover Bromance opens up with the Bromance book club taking a field trip to a bookstore: “How often did a group of hulking, good-looking men walk into a bookstore together? They were like an offensive line for the Literary League of Tennessee.” Let’s all answer that together with a resounding NEVER does that happen, dear readers. I’ve been in quite a few bookstores in my life (and employed by one many years ago) and when men come in they don’t ask for directions to specific books, much less directions to the romance section.

Book club founder Braden Mack and Liv, Thea’s  younger sister, met in The Bromance Book Club when the club was meeting at Gavin and Thea’s house and Liv arrives home to find Mack eating her leftover chinese food. Enemies-to-lovers begins! The shenanigans they get into in their quest to take down Liv’s pervy former boss are also quality, hello bar fights! Liv’s farm-life stories are comedy gold, angry man-hating rooster anyone?, and the low-key MVPs of this book are again Gavin and Thea’s twins Ava and Amelia. Liv takes that #AuntLife seriously and I respect that. What else do I respect about Liv? Well for starters our girl drives a black Jeep with a bumper sticker that reads: A Woman Needs a Man like a Fish Needs a Bicycle and her best friend owns a cat cafe called ToeBeans. I have found more of my people and they are fictional.

A solid 4 stars each for these books from me and I am super excited for Lyssa Kay Adams’ third installment in the Bromance Book Club series, Crazy Stupid Bromance,  where cat cafe owner Alexis and secretive hacktivist Noah take their childhood friendship to romance! It’s scheduled to release on October 27th and I am holding out for my recommendation to the library to get me to #1 on the holds list or another really good kindle sale.

Do books set in places you’re familiar with make you excited or make you want to cringe? We’d love to know!

~Ashley

Don’t forget, we have our own Virtual Book Club where we read a variety of genres, and we’d love for you to join us Friday, September 18, 2020, at 7:30 PM Central Time to discuss the YA Fantasy novel Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin.  We would really enjoy seeing your face on our screens, please register HERE. Now, if you’re more interested in the aforementioned Bromance Book Club list, just slide on into our DMs and let us know! No promises, but we’ll discuss it. If you’re a Bro looking for book club tips to start your Bromance Book Club, we’re here for you too!