Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Crazy Stupid Bromance

It saddens me that this book did not live up to the greatness of the second book. And it's not that I was expecting it to be better, exactly, but I cannot help but think that Undercover Bromance was the high of this series and the following books will not reach it and that's a bit sad. And I know this makes it sound like the book is terrible, when is really not. It's an entertaining and enjoyable read, with a cute friends-to-lovers relationship, a great family side plot and the characters are good, the plot doesn't drag, the drama is not so dramatic as to make you roll your eyes... But all that being said, something was missing. Guess I simply did not click with the couple as I should to enjoy the book to its fullest. Still, it was a nice read.

Content Warnings

duarshe's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny lighthearted sad tense slow-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

2.25

I was dreading finishing this book because it was getting too long to my liking. For starters, I felt there were many plots going on, between Noah's family, Alexis' family, their love story AND, ON TOP OF THAT, the meeting thing with the zoning board. Like, give me a break. I was happy I was finally finishing the book until I remembered there was this other plot we still had to close and I just thought the end was never coming. Furthermore, I didn't quite connect with Noah and Alexis' relationship. They sold this as a "friends to lovers" story, but at the same time this is the third book of the Bromance Book Club series, so I would've preferred if the characters were presented as FRIENDS in the previous books. I mean, I would've liked for Alexis and Noah to be shown as a possible "thing" in the previous books, or at least that they had met in the previous books. Not in a time gap between the second in this third book in which they became wonderful friends. I WANT TO SEE THEM BECOME FRIENDS because I just don't buy the "they're really good friends now, although they met right after what happened in the second book and we didn't show you". Well, boomer, because I wanted to see that dammit. Another option would've been to show flashbacks or something about what happened in that time gap, I don't know.

Between that and the all the drama that I didn't really care about anymore towards the end, I'm giving this 2.25⭐, because at least I get to see the Bromance Book Club being chaotic once again.

Content Warnings

samisreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

bryelle's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

Best friends to lovers. And reuniting with lost family.

Content Warnings

mandathebiblio's review

Go to review page

4.5

While this wasn't necessarily my favorite read of the series, I really did enjoy this one. These books are so much fun for me and I just love how they seem to balance romance and fun with heavier and deeper topics.

Content Warnings

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

I wanted to read this series because it was all over the book community. I was dying to read this series. I loved the first two and was excited to read this one when it was focusing on Alexis. It was adorable and good banter, but at the same time, made me want to bawl my eyes out.

This book has two points of view. The first one is Alexis Carlisie. She owns a cat café called ToeBeans and she has shot to fame after she came forward as a victim of a celebrity chef’s sexual harassment. Her café has become a place where people of sexual assault can come forward and try to heal. When a new customer approaches to confide in her, the last thing Alexis expects is for the woman to claim they’re sisters. She is unsure what to do, so she turns to the only man she trusts – her best friend, Noah Logan. He is the second point of view and he is a computer genius who has left his rebellious teenager hacker years in the past to become a computer security expert. Now he only uses his old skills for the right cause. But Noah’s got a secret – he is 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 buddy to boyfriend. But he must decide if telling the truth is worth risking the best friendship he’s ever had.

I love these characters and this friendship group. I haven’t read a lot of the trope being he falls first. I love Noah, I love the broken nerd with daddy issues. I just love broken characters who want to treat women better. I loved that Lyssa wrote a book where a victim of sexual assault gets her happy ending and learns to trust people again. The broken family conflict nearly killed me especially with how Alexis was just trying to run her café and do yoga classes and get ready for a wedding and instead she gets ambushed with a sister who wants her kidney. I love this friendship group and love how no matter these boys don’t give up on each other even when they all act like complete tools. I love the Russian and I hope to God he gets his own book because I want to know what the hell is going on with his wife.

The only thing that I didn’t like was the miscommunication and third act breakup. They personally drive me nuts in books and yet it keeps happening in this series.

Overall, I liked how fast-paced this book was and this was one of the few friends-to-lovers I liked, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Content Warnings

shelbyl's review

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-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

5.0

Loved it! Yes it’s a romance novel, yes there are some open door scenes, but this book had a lot of heart and some serious topics. I love how this author deals with both light and heavy topics and weaves in a cute story. Great series!

Content Warnings

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.5

Finished reading: June 25th 2023

"People screw up. A lot. The key to a lasting relationship is the ability to forgive over and over again."

Right... I wasn't expecting this to be honest. I really enjoyed the first two Bromance Book Club books, and I fully expected Crazy Stupid Bromance to be a new favorite of the series. I liked Noah and Alexis in the previous book, and I've been looking forward to get to know them better. Add the fact that it's a friends-to-lovers romance and that it has a cat cafe angle, and it sounded like a perfect match. Sadly, the real focus seem to be elsewhere in this sequel, and this family drama and live-donor/long-lost-family angle truly put a damper on things for me. I'm never a fan of family drama in stories in the first place, and the whole long lost family showing up suddenly because they need a kidney donor made me SO angry. Especially with the horrible way the whole family (yes, including Candi) treats Alexis, how they basically see her as a walking organ bank and then the story STILL taking the direction it took. I was left wanting to throw my kindle against the wall, and it sure didn't make me think better of Alexis as a character (doormat syndrome, anyone?). It's such a shame, because I was hoping for lots of cat cafe scenes with adorable cats and all. Sure, we get Beefcake, who is hilarious, but still... The friends-to-lovers romance I had mixed thoughts about as well, because the transition was a bit too abrupt (and the consequent sexy time WAY too long and steamy). Sure, I did like the chemistry between Alexis and Noah, but I wish we could have had more focus on the friendship part of their relationship and a slower build up to the transition. The bromance book club members were hilarious as always, but they weren't exactly as present in Crazy Stupid Bromance either. And what is with all the unnecessary side stories to create extra drama (Karen, Mack)?! You would think the whole long-lost-family-wants-a-kidney plot would be enough drama for one story... I was expecting a fun contemporary romance read, but this sequel was mainly just sad and extremely frustrating instead.

Content Warnings

More...