Not too much to say except I loved the story of Braden and Liv. Both were introduced in the first book in the series and they really shined in this one. Adams takes on the romantic suspense genre in this one and I honestly now understand why I get bugged about most of those romance novels. You have the heroine supposed to meekly let the hero rescue her even when she tells him multiple times that she's good and can do things without him. I am still annoyed at the Nora Roberts books I have read when a smart and capable heroine gets walked over by the hero and told she just needs to deal with him protecting her and that's that. And I get really upset when the heroine has shown she can take care of herself but when the final showdown between them and the bad guy the hero saves her. Bah. Bah I say! 

Anyway, "Undercover Bromance" has Braden wanting a real romantic relationship like the rest of his club members. He has been dating a woman for a couple of months and thinks it is the perfect time to declare himself. Instead things go sideways at the fancy restaurant he takes his date when a $1,000 cupcake ends up in her lap. Liv is the pastry chef who caused the mishap and knows that her boss is going to fire her when all is said and done. When Liv overhears her boss sexually harassing someone she jumps in to stop it and puts a target on her back. She and Braden reluctantly (on Liv's side) work together to bring her boss down. This book really focuses on consent and the far reaching effects of sexual harassment. Adams does such a good job here with showing both sides but also showing how assholey (yeah I said that) some woman are towards other women who are reluctant to step forward. I was glad that the fictional conversation was had. I hate it when other women go looking for a woman scapegoat. 

Liv is hard-headed and you feel for her a lot. She still has some emotional scars because of her parents. I am surprised that Liv is still resisting a relationship with her father when Thea has set that ghost to rest. I did want more scenes between the sisters. However, I got why we didn't, the end of the last book showed how co-dependent the two of them were and I actually thought Liv sucked with wanting her sister to foist her husband out of her life for good. 

Braden and the club members per usual are a highlight. I laughed so much. And I maybe sniffled a bit when you read why Braden got into romance books and specifically why romantic suspense is his favorite. 

The romance actually worked for me (the enemies to friends trope works well here) and even the romantic suspense elements for once worked.

The ending was great and I can't wait for the next book!

Not too much to say except this book was hilarious and heart-felt and I needed it badly right now. This is the first book in the series and I cannot wait to see what develops with other characters we are introduced to. I did love that Adams did a great job of showing us both sides to the hero and heroine's marriage (Gavin and Thea) and you end up feeling for both of them. This is true romance through and through with some excerpts from a Regency romance novel that I now want to read in real life. Seriously Adams, how are you going to give us teases and no ending for the book within the book?!

"Bromance Book Club" follows major league baseball player Gavin Scott. Gavin's wife Thea has asked for a divorce and he is drinking his woes away before his fellow players come to save the day. They tell Gavin they have a way to get his wife back, but he has to listen to them and do some reading. From there we get the most hilarious fictional men I have read in some time. I just want to hang out with them and listen to them talk about feminism and how romance books are great.

Thea we find is at a crossroads in her marriage. She wants to love and trust Gavin, but she realizes she gave up a lot for him and being a wife and mother of their twin daughters is not enough. There's a lot of backstory to Thea and I am glad we get to see it unravel over the course of the book. She and Gavin together made me root for them.

We get secondary characters like "The Russian" who my goodness man, go to a gastro doctor, heart-throb Braden Mack who has some hidden depths, and Gavin's best friend on the team Del. I hope we get a novella showing how Del was brought into the Bromance Book Club. Thea's sister Liv was a bit hard to take and I am glad that we get to see what was going on with her and why she's so hell-bent on her sister walking away from Gavin. I really disliked her through parts of the book, but I get why she acted the way she did. 

I loved the idea of men reading romance books in order to be able to delve deeper into how to make their wives and girlfriends happy. I do have to say that Adams does a good job of walking the line with the book we get to see. Though it is regency romance, it sounds like a Courtney Milan style book (a progressive woman and men with none of the darkness that were in the 80s romance books) so one wonders how the men in this book would find "Whitney, My Love" which is still among one of the worst romance books I have ever read. 

The flow was great. We get third person perspectives from Gavin and Thea and also chapters from the romance book that is Gavin's homework. 

The setting of the book takes place in Nashville which I have to say, I can't recall being at the center of a romance series before. 

The ending was great and hit the spot! 

Perfect! I laughed through this whole book. So good! I wish this book pub was real.

Onto something lighter.

Off for the rest of the day and tomorrow. Much needed break from work. 

I really really do not like romance and yet I still read some of it because I am sure I will find something that will knock my socks off and will make me change my opinion on the genre . So far that has not happened.Just the plot of most romances are chessy to me and I get bored with them more likely than not. I thought the summary for this one sounded different and fun so I thought I would give it a chance. While is not all the worst romance I have ever read, in fact it is very from that, it still had certain cliches that drive me crazy and are sadly some cliches that are just particular to romance in general. I should know going into a romance that there are going to be certain cliches in it that will drive me crazy or that I will just not like . Yet here we are. I don't overall think cliches are the end of the world and depending on how they are used can be interesting. Then there are cliches that to me that are just cringy and no matter what the author does it will just not work for me.

Will get into that but first want to talk about what I did like about this book because again did overall enjoy it. Enough so that I am going to give the second in the series a shot. I did overall like the characters in this. They felt mostly liked flawed/real people. There were certain things about them that bugged me and will get into that in the things I didn't like section. Since in romance you should care about the characters felt this book did a good job of that. I also liked that this one focused on an already established relationship instead of strangers to lovers. Way way too many romance novels turn into insta love fests and it was nice to see trying to find love again in a not so perfect already established relationship. The writing overall was pretty well done there were some cases , and again will get into that in the things I didn't like section, but didn't find myself hating the writing or rolling my eyes while reading , which has what turns me off from a lot of romance. I also liked that the side characters were pretty well established . Too often in romance side characters are just there for the sack of being there. They get quick mentions every now and again but after the two main leads get together they are too soon forgotten . That are the side characters are just there and do nothing for the story. Felt like in this that all the side characters had personalities of their own.

Now to what I didn't like. What drew me into this was of course the book club element and to be honest just felt like that aspect was underused or just not used in the way I was expecting. Just felt at times it was just there and more often honestly forgotten about . Mentioning that is there are bits of the book that are from the book that that Gavin is reading. Books inside books can be done well and they can be done poorly . For this book felt like they were just sort of there . I would have loved if those chapters had underlines or sections marked out so it felt like you were reading Gavin's copy of the book. Just something. Otherwise they just felt sort of there again and oh look similar things in the book are actually happening to the characters. Honestly if you choose to skip those sections you really would miss anything and that is the thing . If you put something in it has to serve a purpose . Now Gavin commented on the book in the other chapters but again felt like you could read his comment without reading the sections from the book that came before and still been ok.

The sex..Oh ...just yeah. I get that sex scenes for romance and erotica are written way different but the sex scenes in romance is one of the top reasons I tend to avoid the genre. They were ok for what they were and thankfully they were not as cringy as they could have been and thankfully the author did not overdo it on euphemisms. Seriously drives me mad when authors go out of their way to avoid saying cock for instance. Young adult I get a bit more but seriously if a book is for adults I don't get the need for the overly flowery language. Least not in this day in age. Just it is not sexy to me personally and just feel it is silly. There were a few times here and there so the author is not totally immune to it but they were not so overused that they were distracting. Still even so the sex scenes were just sort of juvenile. I really disliked that these two adults sort of acted more like teenagers while having sex. And just some shocked dialogue in the middle of the sex scenes were so bad , ( The oh god's and oh fuck sort of things) Again ...just I will never get this sort of stuff. I don't even get it in romance where one or both have never had sex before. Especially not when it is adults. Just sadly see it too often and it is always distracting to me.

Another thing about most and this romance as well that are just not my cup of tea is the need to repeat over and over how attracted they both are to the other. Once or twice ..fine. Just like the reader should get that the characters are attracted to each other without having to have it repeated to it over and over. As stated before the characters didn't always feel like adults to me . Certain things just made them feel more like teens than two grown adults with kids. Thankfully it didn't happen so much that it ruined my reading experience but it is there from time to time.

Also the big issue in this book and how it is resolved just doesn't really make much logical sense. At the start of the book and hell in the summary , a big fact is made that Thea has been faking it in bed. Now with the book I get Gavin being able to say "the right" thing as way to make his wife fall back in love with me but I just don't buy it that chessy romance books would turn you from not realizing you can't make your wife cum to turning you into a sex god, which by the end is what happens. Now I do buy that books on sex (not romance books but actually books about sex, sex positions etc ) can help couples try things that can make them better lovers . Here,though, is the thing you actually have to try the things out a few times. Not be oh I read this thing in a book omg I am going to try this and be amazing at it. If that is the case than go you . Just Gavin is given a month to make his wife not want to divorcee him and again he goes from not being able to make her cum to by the end making her cum several times in a single love making session. Yeah, sorry not sorry , don't buy it. Not with what he had to work with and also because at the point they had been close but had not had sex at all during the course of the book til that moment.

Another thing that bugged me is that toward the end Gavin and Thea have a pretty serious fight to the point that Gavin leaves again. Now to be fair my issue is not about the fight. Thought it was pretty bold of the author to have a fight at the end. Shows that even if things seem ok that they are never perfect. No , my issue is how the fight is resolved because it is resolved with the romance cliche that I personally hate the most :The grand gesture. It's that scene in a romance novel, though, more so in romantic comedies when one of the main characters is running through the airport to catch the flight the other is on or running to the church to stop a wedding . To me they make no logical sense, they are stupid to watch and read and just feel lazy. There is a tiny joke about it made by one of the characters, but still Gavin and his group of friends are able to stop a flight so Gavin can get off the plane so he can go to Thea's father's wedding to whatever wife he marrying (the father has remarried quite a few times) . Again I get that a lot of things in romance don't always make sense but no matter how it is written I will also hate/dislike these sort of grand gesture moments. I don't find them sweet more so I find these stupid and annoying.

Overall though even with the things I did not like was still one of the better romance novels that I have read. I still wish the actual book club aspect had played a bigger role. Am still interested to read the next one in the series.