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A review by rayd
The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
3.0
The only reason I'm marking this with three stars is that despite this book being annoyingly frustrating, it was also a really fun, fast-paced, engaging read.
First a small synopsis:
Men get on soapboxes and lecture about 'toxic masculinity' and the horrible treatment of women as if they are professors in a woman studies group reading from textbooks instead of professional sports athletes. In order to better understand what their wives/girlfriends want they actively read dated, regency romance novels for ideas on how to better please them.
(Yes, It sounded like the epitome of pandering to me too.)
Now let me get into the reasons this book made me so angry I wanted to tear it up:
1. The horrible treatment our main character Gavin goes through not only from his wife but her sister and his teammates as well. Now you may be asking: Why does he go through this horrible treatment? What did he do to deserve it? Simple. His wife won't ever discuss anything that's bothering her and, news flash: ALL MEN ARE SUPPOSED TO BE MIND READERS!! If you aren't, then you're a shitty ass husband and deserved to be talked to like garbage and slapped on the back of the head constantly by other men.
2. The frustrating times in this book the author makes it abundantly clear that men who aren't born with mind-reading superpowers are trash. The first is when Thea says her husband should have known that she was faking her orgasms throughout their entire marriage and the second is when she was having personal trouble with the wife of one of his other teammates. Thea actually states that her husband, whom she has never talked to about her personal troubles, should have *somehow* automatically known she was having issues with them...
*record scratch*
.....
Ok, moving on.
3. Thea has a troublesome past which she avoids revealing to her husband (not for lack of trying on his part, he's asked her about it, but she always shoots him down), but somehow, he's STILL the bad guy for not being persistent and forcing her to talk about it? HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK? Should we just ignore the fact that it's horrible to force the people you love to reveal traumatic parts of their past when they aren't ready? Should he have held her down and not let her up until she admitted she had a shitty childhood? I'm sorry to the people who feel that NOT being a barbaric asshole means you don't love your wife.
4. And we leave the best for last: Thea finally reveals she was lying to him for THREE YEARS. Yes, she was faking orgasms for three years. This I could deal with, but what really annoyed me was that the author uses this as yet another time to rip on men for their 'fragile masculinity' and 'hurt egos'. Once again, I'm sorry, but if your spouse has been lying to you your entire marriage about enjoying sex with you when they really were NOT enjoying it, you have a right to be upset.
Anyway, instead of talking to him, Thea orders him to pack his bags and leave. Ok, fine. I mean, you just told the guy he has only satisfied you once in three years and he's still dealing with that, but cool, he has to leave now. Ok. However, when he respects her wishes and leaves, what do you think happened? Yup, she's pissed off at him for leaving. Why wouldn't she be? This fragile man should have automatically known that she was testing him.
What I did like about this book:
1. In the last 20% of the book, he finally stands up to her. He finally tells her that she was being a shitty spouse, too. That yes, maybe he should have known she was faking her orgasms, but she lied to him for three years, so they share the blame. And she needed to put in equal amounts of effort if they were going to get this to work.
2. When Thea finally defended him. I just remember shouting "IT'S ABOUT TIME". But sadly, too little, too late.
3. The hilarious dynamic the teammates had. I swear I could read an entire book dedicated to them.
First a small synopsis:
Men get on soapboxes and lecture about 'toxic masculinity' and the horrible treatment of women as if they are professors in a woman studies group reading from textbooks instead of professional sports athletes. In order to better understand what their wives/girlfriends want they actively read dated, regency romance novels for ideas on how to better please them.
(Yes, It sounded like the epitome of pandering to me too.)
Now let me get into the reasons this book made me so angry I wanted to tear it up:
1. The horrible treatment our main character Gavin goes through not only from his wife but her sister and his teammates as well. Now you may be asking: Why does he go through this horrible treatment? What did he do to deserve it? Simple. His wife won't ever discuss anything that's bothering her and, news flash: ALL MEN ARE SUPPOSED TO BE MIND READERS!! If you aren't, then you're a shitty ass husband and deserved to be talked to like garbage and slapped on the back of the head constantly by other men.
2. The frustrating times in this book the author makes it abundantly clear that men who aren't born with mind-reading superpowers are trash. The first is when Thea says her husband should have known that she was faking her orgasms throughout their entire marriage and the second is when she was having personal trouble with the wife of one of his other teammates. Thea actually states that her husband, whom she has never talked to about her personal troubles, should have *somehow* automatically known she was having issues with them...
*record scratch*
.....
Ok, moving on.
3. Thea has a troublesome past which she avoids revealing to her husband (not for lack of trying on his part, he's asked her about it, but she always shoots him down), but somehow, he's STILL the bad guy for not being persistent and forcing her to talk about it? HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK? Should we just ignore the fact that it's horrible to force the people you love to reveal traumatic parts of their past when they aren't ready? Should he have held her down and not let her up until she admitted she had a shitty childhood? I'm sorry to the people who feel that NOT being a barbaric asshole means you don't love your wife.
4. And we leave the best for last: Thea finally reveals she was lying to him for THREE YEARS. Yes, she was faking orgasms for three years. This I could deal with, but what really annoyed me was that the author uses this as yet another time to rip on men for their 'fragile masculinity' and 'hurt egos'. Once again, I'm sorry, but if your spouse has been lying to you your entire marriage about enjoying sex with you when they really were NOT enjoying it, you have a right to be upset.
Anyway, instead of talking to him, Thea orders him to pack his bags and leave. Ok, fine. I mean, you just told the guy he has only satisfied you once in three years and he's still dealing with that, but cool, he has to leave now. Ok. However, when he respects her wishes and leaves, what do you think happened? Yup, she's pissed off at him for leaving. Why wouldn't she be? This fragile man should have automatically known that she was testing him.
What I did like about this book:
1. In the last 20% of the book, he finally stands up to her. He finally tells her that she was being a shitty spouse, too. That yes, maybe he should have known she was faking her orgasms, but she lied to him for three years, so they share the blame. And she needed to put in equal amounts of effort if they were going to get this to work.
2. When Thea finally defended him. I just remember shouting "IT'S ABOUT TIME". But sadly, too little, too late.
3. The hilarious dynamic the teammates had. I swear I could read an entire book dedicated to them.