Thank you NetGalley for a first read of this book. I loved the idea of having a book club of men that used their picks to help with relationship troubles. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

I love everything about this book! The humor and romance is pure perfection! Highly recommend to all romance lovers.

I started reading this book because it takes place in Nashville but I was pleasantly surprised. I was hesitant to read a book about a married couple because I didn't think I could relate but I really liked this one!! I've already requested the next one in the series!

I really enjoyed a great many things about this book. Characters were fleshed out and the plot was well spaced. Some of the secondary storylines could've used a bit more page space but all in all an enjoyable read!

A literary rom-com that will make you all kinds of giddy! I hereby demand that ALL of our husbands join the Bromance Book Club! This is a sweet, funny, and sexy read that will leave a lasting impression.The author was spot on! Fans of both Contemporary Romance AND Historical Romance will fall head over heels for this refreshing story.

As the wife of a husband who reads “my books” this had me with a big ol’ smile on my face. Yes, at times I was frustrated with Thea, and Gavin, as much a loved him, was a bit clueless sometimes, but overall, I really enjoyed this book. I loved how much effort Gavin put into saving his marriage and especially loved the BROMANCE happening between all the guys. It was so much fun to read. Definitely recommend!

I read this months ago and really liked it. But I didn’t take any notes and felt like I needed to reread it in order to write a mini review of it. It held up the second time around and actually this time I was less annoyed by some of the things I didn’t like the first read.
Here’s what worked for me: It is a marriage in trouble book, one of my favorite tropes. The dialogue is fast-paced and witty. I loved seeing the strong and supportive male friendships in this book. I thought it was appropriately funny and emotional. It is sports adjacent and wasn’t too heavy on sportsball. Thea and Gavin’s twin daughters were just the right amount of moppety for me and there was no forced drama involving the children. It hit all the right notes for me.
The things that didn’t work as well: Thea’s sister is really angry at Gavin. I wished that Thea would have not let that seep into her relationship so much, but I also understand why it did.
Thea has some issues with one of the other wives on the baseball wives. It had a medium amount of nuance, and I understood Thea’s feelings about it all. But I am pretty much over the usage of an “evil” woman as a plot point.

Lastly one of the issues between Thea and Gavin is that she’s been faking orgasms for three years and he didn’t notice. When he finds out, his pride is hurt and their marriage starts to unravel. The crux of it is that he isn’t paying attention to their relationship and there by not paying attention to any of her needs. And that part actually worked really well for me. What I take issue with is that once they reconnect and start dealing with their shit, the orgasms are back for Thea. In between my reads of this book, I listened to Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski and just once I wished for Thea to tell Gavin that orgasms are not the only goal of intercourse and that sex can still pleasurable if they don’t happen. But this is romancelandia and that’s not a thing characters talk about.
All said and done I still really liked this book. I thought the writing voice was fresh and very enjoyable. My quibbles were small and did not take away from my overall enjoyment of the book.

Such a fantastic read! Really enjoyed the plot of this story. It was funny, smart and emotional. I loved the conversations the male characters had examining the patriarchy, so spot on and funny yet resonating. Thea was my favourite though. I liked her character development, from the outset where she feels lost to the end when she’s recovered her identity. Overall just so much fun!

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is such a fun book, with some very moving moments too – so it is great news that it is part of a new series. And I am all for stories about men who have the wisdom to read romance books to work out how women think and how they perceive men. This particular bunch are a fun mix of wealthy, happily married, players and hopefuls – which should give us plenty of fun in future installments.

The first man in need of help is Gavin – his marriage has taken a dive, he is living in a rubbish hotel and drowning his sorrows, until an intervention by his friends who induct him into the Bromance Book Club. The only problem is that Gavin is deeply ashamed about why his marriage is on the rocks and just cannot bring himself to admit the cause, so he seriously hampers their attempts to help. It does, however, make it much funnier for the reader as he gets himself tied up in knots about it.

As we see things from both his and his wife, Thea's side, it is easy to believe that there is a chance for success, although Thea's sister, Liv, and their upbringing is clearly also a significant issue that needs to be addressed. I loved the twins and their importance to both parents in finding a way to move forward. And of course, most of all, the romance novel which helps Gavin see things differently, and gives him a whole new vocabulary of hilarious words to call himself!

I think this is a winning formula, and as we are given a clue as to who is going to be the next man that gets help towards a happily ever after, I am waiting expectantly for the next installment.


Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
The story starts with Gavin’s mate, Del, arriving at the crappy hotel he is staying in to stage an intervention. Gavin’s wife has kicked him out and asked for a divorce. Del, with several members of the Bromance Book Club, tell Gavin they are going to help him save his marriage through romance novels. We read parts of the novel with Gavin and we kind of get a novel within a novel, which was fun. I have to say the scenes of this book with the members of the book club are thoroughly entertaining.

When we meet Gavin’s wife, Thea, things with her seem more serious. She is taking care of their twin daughters with the help of her sister, applying to return to college, and wanting to get her life back on track without Gavin. Girl power is the order of the day. I had no idea how Gavin was ever going to win her back because she seemed determined not to give him the time of day. Having her sister in her ear the whole time, putting Gavin down at every opportunity, wasn’t helping either.

Gavin’s fight to win Thea back was at times sexy and romantic and at other times raw and emotional. Parts were challenging to read. They are confronting some really embarrassing and difficult issues. I particularly struggled with the feeling that the blame for their issues lay at Gavin’s feet. It takes two people to make a marriage and neither of them was perfect, and it is glaringly obvious that Thea has her own issues to confront.

This is such a good story. It has a mix of heavy and light subject matter and it does an excellent job of showing us a marriage isn’t all wine and roses, it takes work. This year I’ve struggled with reading contemporary M/F romance and with The Bromance Book Club, I feel like I’ve fallen back in love with the genre, so the author gets a big thank you from me.

This was a really fun romance with strong feminist themes—I loved the character arcs of both leads, and following the male LI as he learns the value in things women like (e.g. ROMANCE NOVELS, PSLs, etc.) was deliciously meta.

LOVED this! I love the idea of guys helping out other guys through books and shattering toxic masculinity. Loved watching Thea and Gavin grow together because they love each other, not just staying together because of the kids. Questions I still have: if they're loaded why didn't they just but their house outright? DID THEY EVER FINISH TAKING DOWN THE WALL?

Overall, I'm a sucker for romances with athletes and this one really knocked my socks off. Can't wait for the next in the series!

Y’all this book is definitely in my top of the year and is my favorite contemporary of the year so far. So many things about this book just clicked for me and I’m still in gush mode having finished it the day before writing this review (a few days ago by the time you read this).

“You guys read romance novels?”
“We call them manuals.”

—>characters<—

Gavin – Our protagonist, new to the world of romance novels. Super insecure and self-conscious despite being a major league baseball player. Has a stutter and is adorable.

Thea – Gavin’s wife, the lovely lady he’s trying to win back. She saw her parent’s marriage crumble and doesn’t really believe in love. Thinks Gavin’s stutter is adorable.

Liv – Thea’s sister. Has no use for love, men, or broken promises. Also isn’t too keen on second chances.

“Don’t be ashamed for liking them. The backlash against the PSL is a perfect example of how toxic masculinity permeates even the most mundane things in life. If masses of women like something, our society automatically begins to mock them. Just like romance novels. If women like them, they must be a joke, right?”

–>plot<–

This book jumps straight into its premise. Gavin is in a hotel room, drinking away his woes due to his wife throwing him out after he lost his cool when he found out she’d been faking it. Gavin’s friends help him save his relationship by using romance novels as loose manuals for what women want out of relationships. Also, the book boners are a nice perk. Skeptical at first, Gavin uses the book club to try to save his marriage.

Y’all, I was not expecting this book to be as good as it actually was. I thought this might be a cute tub read, something to kill an evening. I wasn’t expecting the utter delight I experienced when reading this one. Several parts made me literally laugh out loud and some parts even had me yell at my book with the other book club members.

I loved that we followed a couple trying to stay together, rather than get together. Having that level of predetermined attraction helped make things that would come off as insta love in other novels feel organic and even cute in this book.

I was put off with how quite some things happened. The time frame of this book wasn’t particularly long and there were some plot details that appeared to go by quite quickly. That being said, it didn’t affect my enjoyment of this book. I found myself rooting for Gavin and Thea and was so invested in the story, I was okay with it flying by.

I did also enjoy how the book club as a whole helped challenge some harmful stereotypes and toxic masculinity. I included the quote above, but there was a great point made about how when women like something, it’s usually worthy of being mocked and is seen as inherently less than. Seeing a group of jocks be the ones to challenge this was pretty great. The group’s reaction to Gavin’s f-ups was also hilarious.

“If a man wants to leave you, wave goodbye and lock the doors. You’ve got better things to do than chase a lost cause.”

Final Thoughts:
This was such a fun, quick read. I was not expecting to love this story as much as I did, but holy hell did I love this story. I was rooting for Gavin and Thea so much and didn’t hate the snippets of the romance book that we got. I also really watching Gavin break down his insecurities and really begin to evaluate what was going wrong in his marriage. Romance fans, you’re in for a treat.

This is a fun and charming book. I enjoyed how the Bromance Club worked together and the camaraderie they had together. This is the first Lyssa Kay Adams book I have read, but it won't be the last.

This book is so fun! I wasn't real sure about this book but once I started reading, I just had to devour it. It was a different romance story than I've read before but I enjoyed it. The characters are a little frustrating at times but there are definitely laugh out loud parts. I really loved the concept of men reading romance books. When I finished the story, I was hoping that there would be another to the series and it looks like there is. I can't wait!

This one gave me all the feels, but honestly.. the real reason I loved it? It was so amazingly unique, and a concept that I have never read before. I love me some romance, but even I can get bored sometimes. Sometimes it seems like the same old, same old, but not this time! I am anxiously awaiting more books in the series.

The Bromance Book Club is definitely one of my favorite contemporary romance reads of the year. After reacting very badly to finding out his wife had been faking her orgasms for most of their marriage, professional baseball player Gavin begins to spiral and leans on his teammates to help convince his wife to get back together. The team invites him to their romance book club, where they read different historical romances to learn how to both please and treat their partners. Thea, Gavin’s wife, is confronting her own feelings about their relationship’s stagnation, her role as a wife to a baseball player, the fact that she dropped out of school when she got pregnant, and her relationship with her parent’s divorce. The Bromance Book Club is unique in that it features excerpts of the fake romance novel the men are reading and uses it as a way to discuss romance tropes. And this isn’t just a book about Gavin trying to win back his wife. It deals with both characters’ personal development and self-esteem struggles. For Thea that is education and feeling accepted in Gavin’s world and for Gavin that is his stuttering. I can’t recommend this enough!

This book is SO much fun. If you are looking for something that's simply a hilarious ride with a couple you can't help but root for, this is definitely something I would recommend picking up.

This book did nothing for me. I thought the premise was interesting, but Gavin’s way of trying to win back his wife felt manipulative and similar to what a pick up artist might do. I did not care for the love scenes and it was tiresome how they fought after every one.

Gavin Scott is a sexy baseball stud who is happily married to Thea - at least he's happy until he finds out that she's been faking it in bed and in life and she kicks him out of their house. Thea loves Gavin but she can't go on pretending to be the empty-headed trophy wife that Gavin wants. In comes the sexy cavalry of "Bros" to help the clueless Gavin save his marriage. Their solution is to coach him and have him read the "manuals" on how to romance a woman - aka romance novels.

I liked Gavin and the the cast of sexy guys who were friends to him in his time of need. It was a cute idea to have Gavin learn from romance novels how to communicate with his wife so that they could renew the love that had been lost in the everyday drudgery of taking care of kids and tasks. At times the story was too slow and I found myself getting frustrated with Thea who seemed determined to put no effort into salvaging her marriage and her family. But, maybe that's the way some people truly behave when they have baggage and hurt that cloud their judgment. After all, if everyone was great at relationships, divorce would be rare. Overall, I appreciated that the author made staying married sexy and I would recommend this book.

4.5 stars

I absolutely loved the premise of this book. I’ve read a lot of contemporary romances this year (haven’t we all?) but this is one of the few about a married couple. We’ve all read romance after romance about enemies to lovers or friends to lovers but how many almost divorced to lovers have you read? It’s the trope I didn’t know I needed. I really enjoyed watching a couple fall in love all over again after nearly falling out of love. It gave us so much more history to unpack and I felt myself rooting for them more than other couples. Thea and Gavin had to find themselves before they could find their way back to each other. And can we just talk about Gavin for a minute? He’s a professional baseball player, he’s very attractive, and he’s using Regency romances to win his wife back. Swoon.

Aside from watching a married couple fall in love, how many times have you read about grown men reading? I loved it! A lot of these men verged on “I can’t stop rolling my eyes because you’re so bro-ey” but beneath it all they just cared about helping Gavin be happy again. I think all men need to be in book clubs like this.

I loved this romance novel! The idea of a bunch of men reading romance novels to improve their relationships is fantastic. This novel focuses on Gavin and Thea's relationship, Gavin had recently found out that Thea had been faking it in bed. Gavin didn't take this well which ends up leading them towards separation. Gavin wants to save the marriage so his friends get him to join their book club.

This book is a humorous and fun read! I really liked the characters and the development they go through!
Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc!