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A review by jkneebone
The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
lighthearted
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
3.5
The Bromance Book Club is a fun, meta spin on the classic romance novel. MLB player Gavin Scott has been married to his wife Thea for three years. Having grown up with a stutter, Gavin lacks confidence when not on the field, and when he finds out that Thea has been faking her orgasms for their entire marriage, he overreacts and moves into the guest bedroom. Thea never planned to be a “baseball wife,” but an unplanned pregnancy lead her to drop out of college and put her artistic dreams on hold to raise their twins while Gavin played baseball. For her, Gavin’s overreaction to the orgasm revelation is the straw that broke the camel’s back: she wants a divorce.
A distraught Gavin is inducted by his best friend and teammate Del into the “bromance book club,” where the other club members help him use a Regency romance to figure out where his relationship went wrong - and how he can fix it. After some negotiating, Thea allows Gavin to move back in for a month: one month for Gavin to use his new lessons in courting and win her back.
This is a pretty standard romance novel - not breaking any conventions of the genre - but it was well-written and a fun read. I thought the premise was really creative, and made for some really interesting moments. I liked that it was about a couple trying to make their relationship work, as opposed to two people falling in love for the first time. The “excerpts” from the book club read that are sprinkled throughout were really funny, and I liked how the author used them to comment along with the things that were happening in the plot - very meta, but it worked. A solid contemporary romance that hits some of the tropes but still puts a unique spin on things, with really compelling main characters!
A distraught Gavin is inducted by his best friend and teammate Del into the “bromance book club,” where the other club members help him use a Regency romance to figure out where his relationship went wrong - and how he can fix it. After some negotiating, Thea allows Gavin to move back in for a month: one month for Gavin to use his new lessons in courting and win her back.
This is a pretty standard romance novel - not breaking any conventions of the genre - but it was well-written and a fun read. I thought the premise was really creative, and made for some really interesting moments. I liked that it was about a couple trying to make their relationship work, as opposed to two people falling in love for the first time. The “excerpts” from the book club read that are sprinkled throughout were really funny, and I liked how the author used them to comment along with the things that were happening in the plot - very meta, but it worked. A solid contemporary romance that hits some of the tropes but still puts a unique spin on things, with really compelling main characters!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Vomit
Moderate: Alcohol