Review: The Bromance Book Club

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As soon as I read the back cover description of "The Bromance Book Club" by Lyssa Kay Adams, I knew I had to read it. A group of men - cocky athletes and powerful businessmen, at that - reading romance novels to try and better understand the women in their lives? The potential for hilarity seemed enormous, and thankfully, this book more than lived up to my expectations in that department. However, there is also a lot of heart to this book. For example, main character Gavin's relationship with his young daughters is very sweet, and he comes across as a pretty great guy in general. Yes, he made some mistakes, but I appreciated that his love for his family was clear and that he was willing to do whatever it took to fix things with his wife, Thea - even if that meant listening to his friends and reading romance novels (aka "the manuals").

Gavin's wife, Thea, was also a wonderful lead character. She was smart, independent, loving, and determined to finally forge her own path after setting aside her dreams of a career as an artist to try and be the perfect baseball wife and mother. I particularly loved the scene when Thea confronted Rachel, another player's wife who seemed to delight in torturing Thea and making fun of Gavin. Thea was like an avenging angel, strong not only in her defense of Gavin but also in defending her own choice to finish school and pursue a career of her own. I really admired Thea for standing up for her beliefs and her right to choose what made her happy. Who cared if most of the other players' wives chose not to work outside the home? Thea is her own person, and as long as it works for her family, she should be able to do whatever makes her happy.

In addition to the wonderful main characters, I really enjoyed the "book within a book" that Gavin and his friends read during their book club, entitled Seducing the Countess. The excerpts that were included as part of this book were very entertaining, and I would love to read that story in its entirety too. All of Gavin's nicknames for Lord Benedict, the hero of Seducing the Countess, were incredibly amusing, and made me laugh out loud a number of times.

Overall, I loved "The Bromance Book Club" and can't wait to read the next book in the series. I hope Gavin's "frenemy" Mack ends up being the main character of that book. He was hilarious here, and I loved the way he and Gavin bickered. Mack came across kind of like an overgrown teenage boy a lot of the time, but his heart seemed to be in the right place. Thea's sister, Liv, was a lot of fun in this book too, and I can't help but wonder if she would make a good match for Mack. There certainly seemed to be an attraction on his side when they met for the first time.

*ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss. All opinions expressed are my own.

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