Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - The Bromance Book Club

The idea of this book is fun; a book club for men who read romances to improve their relationships. It’s interesting to have a male lead in a hetero romance book too, you don’t see that very often.

But unfortunately I found the main characters a little unlikable. They are both a bit foolish, and the whole plot is based on their inability to communicate. Misunderstandings and dramatic storm-outs are rife, and to add to that it was a little too steamy for my taste, it overtook the plot.

Another thing I struggled with was the regency era chapters interspaced within this book. The plot of those chapters was so similar to the plot of the main book that it felt like I was reading each chapter twice. I found myself skim reading a few of these.

This book didn’t quite hit expectations for me so I won’t be continuing on with the series. But it was interesting to read something unique and a little bit different.

— I received an e-ARC of this novel through Netgalley. This doesn’t affect my view and it is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinions on this book

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have seen this book all over the book community. I was dying to read it as it seemed right up my street. I was right. This book should be hyped up. It was funny, cute, a small amount of spice – the whole works.

This book has two points of views. The first is Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always been faking the Big O. After he finds out, he loses his cool and it was the final straw on the already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce and Gavin realizes he has let his pride and fear get the better of him. Gavin is desperate and he 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: Courting the Countess, a steamy Regency novel, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it will take a lot more than fictional words and flowers to get his girl back. The second point of view is Thea Scott. She has been married for three years and even though she loves her husband, she hates some part of his job. Mainly having to socialise with the other WAGs. See, she isn’t like the rest of them who plan their life around being a WAG. She is a mother first, a mother who gave up her dreams of being an artist three years ago when she got pregnant with twins. She has to be a solo parent for 50 percent of the year whilst Gavin is away and she hasn’t told him she doesn’t like going to all the social events that Gavin goes to. She is trying to make sure that her girls don’t witness any of the fighting as she grew up witnessing her mum and dad fight. Will she be able to forgive Gavin? Will she ever give him the Big O?

I think this story is adorable, and so heart-warming. For a story that I was expecting a lot of spicy in, we didn’t get it but it was made up with a cute and fast-paced storyline with the portraying of the real issues of marriage and you know having to keep the marriage alive by working on it and being open and honest with each other. I loved the twins I think they were adorable and having Thea see the fact that one was like her and one was like her sister when it came to the family dynamic was sweet and heart-breaking at the same time due to the fact that Thea was working so hard to avoid that. I have seen that this book is a series and I really hope that Thea’s sister get a book and I would have loved to seen more of Del in the future.

Overall, I loved the MCs and the storyline was realistic but also funny, like all I’m imagining now is grown men saying they are going the pub or the gym but instead they are going to the basement of someone’s house to read romance books to try and impress their significant others. However, I do think men should read some romance novels because why not. I am looking forward for the next one in the series.

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thesmutsister_emma's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Here's to Breaking the First Rule of Book Club.

I'm not going to lie. I was worried about this one. I was soworried in fact, that I broke my own habits and rather than buying the whole series at once, I only bought the first book. I can (thankfully) say I was pleasantly surprised. I truly loved this book and have to have the rest of the series PRONTO.

The Characters
Thea: Look girlie pop... I loved you. And I loved you because I saw WAY too much of myself in you. With my parents' divorce just finalized November 15th, I truly related to the way Thea felt about her father. I liked seeing the way she handled everything because my parents' divorce has impacted me as well. It was interesting watching one of my worst fears at this point play out in a way and see the way that I as a person might deal with it. Thea honestly had just as much character development as Gavin did and it was something that made me happy because in these situations, it's easy to put all of the blame on one party, but the fact that Thea made it back to who she truly feels she is meant a lot to me.
Gavin: I honestly liked Gavin a lot. I felt like he was extremely dense and prideful at times, but I liked his character. Once he was willing to let go of his manhood and be vulnerable. I honestly liked him more than Thea 😅 I was worried that he was never going to wise up and do it, but we were able to get there.

Things I Loved
I loved the way that Thea dealt with Gavin, just in general through the whole thing. I also really liked the rest of the Bromance Book Club so much. They were amazing and I honestly can't wait to read about the rest of them.

Things I Didn't Love
I think my biggest problem with the book was how long it felt like it dragged out. It was very realistic, but it felt to me as though it went on for ages.

The Final Verdict
I feel like this will end up being a book I read over and over. I loved it so much and plan on coming back to it as a comfort read.

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mrsmishler's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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atamano's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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amandalorianxo's review

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funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

For a romance novel, I'm glad this didn't take itself too seriously. There were a lot of funny lines and pieces of dialogue sprinkled here and there. But I felt like I was reading caricatures/cardboard cutouts instead of fleshed-out individuals. I definitely don't think Gavin or Thea should have gotten married in the first place and I'm not overly confident in the fact that they lasted for three years. I don't even have faith they would last beyond the epilogue of this book. These two are supposed to be somewhere in their 20/30's. But the couple doesn't read like that. They read like a much younger couple who don't even know each other and barely communicate. Gavin definitely overreacted to the whole " my wife was faking it the whole time" and he seems a lot more uber-sensitive compared to most men (but I also realized this could also coexist with his stutter) Thea wasn't any better though. She was annoying in her stubborn behavior and refusing to just talk. Liv didn't help, she was just grumpy the whole time. Amelia and Ava read like pre-k/kindergarten students but I thought they were supposed to be 2/3? So the premise itself was a cool one but I found it difficult to believe that a bunch of baseballs and other athletes in Gavin's age group were woke enough to host a book club and spout all these things we really want men to believe. Seemed to be fictionally good to be true. Also, Braden being enamored with Liv? That def feels like the second book is going to revolve around them or one of these books in the series is going to revolve around them.

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