Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Crazy Stupid Bromance

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

21 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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.

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whitneyonline's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-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? No

4.0

A little heavy-handed on the forgiveness propaganda, but otherwise another solid entry from Adams. I love how she sets up her next book(s) so that we have at least a little foundational knowledge of and relationship with the characters and they don't feel like complete strangers to us and each other, thus undermining the believability of their own love stories.

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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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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.

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what_karla_reads's review

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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kespittia's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.0

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ju_harue's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-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

Eu gosto muito de alternar a leitura com alguns livros como este, onde sabemos como será o desfecho, rápida e cheia de clichês previsíveis de friends to lovers.

Dos três da série, acho que esse foi o mais fraco no enredo, o casal não me pegou muito durante o desenvolvimento da história, tinham várias coisas acontecendo em paralelo e senti que ficou um pouco raso. Mas serviu perfeitamente ao propósito da leitura.

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kirareadssometimes's review

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hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.25

Very cute and touching friends to lovers story. Noah’s issues wrap up a little too quickly but this is my (very close) 2nd favorite book in the series. Good mid level spice

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