[Marie’s Review]: The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

The first rule of book club:
You don't talk about book club.

Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott's marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him.

Welcome to the Bromance Book Club.

Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I read The Bromance Book Club as a palate cleanser while reading some very emotionally intense stories at the same time. A professional baseball player who turns to a secret book club consisting of other alpha males who read romance novels to revive their marriages is such a fun and refreshing concept, especially among romance novels about married couples. The book follows both Gavin Scott and his wife, Thea, and is told from both of their perspectives. Interspersed throughout the chapters are excerpts from the regency romance novel Gavin is reading, which helped to break up some of the more serious moments.

Though the romance storyline was enjoyable, my favorite scenes from the book were actually the ones that included the book club group. Each of the book club members had very distinct personalities and provided the humorous backdrop Gavin and Thea needed. There were several times that I laughed out loud at their antics. I also appreciated the scenes where Gavin and Thea interact with their twin daughters. I’m not a parent, but reading about their interactions and the love shared between them was really sweet.

I appreciated Gavin’s efforts to win his wife back after his blow-up about her revelation that she’d been faking ‘it’ for most of their marriage. For me, Thea was definitely a bit less likeable in that she seemed really immature at times. There’s a lot of growth in her character that was well-paced, but for some time I was aggravated by her angst.

Marie

Marie loves finding strangers reading her favorite books, it truly seems like the books are recommending people as potential friends. By day she works in healthcare technology product marketing, but can always be found amongst the streets of Boston with a book or her Kindle in hand. Reading is one of her greatest passions and she has an appreciation for all genres – favorites include business non-fiction, contemporary, historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction. Since most strangers frown upon being interrupted reading their book, and if it’s one of Marie’s favorites they’re probably super absorbed into it, she enjoys supporting her local bookish community and writing reviews and making recommendations to those who are looking to explore books that might be a bit out of their comfort zone.