A cute YA romance from a guys point of view and a snarky and fun take on a soccer jock falling for his best friend’s sister. Half the book is about bromances and the other half is about adhering to the bro code. Sarcastic, unique, and surprisingly funny!

Blurb: Nick is just trying to make it through high school totally unscathed. He must stay loyal to the boys, earn a soccer scholarship, and stick to the bro code rule book. But Nick is starting to notice how hot his best friend’s little sister is and he doesn’t know if he can stick to the bro code like he planned.

At first I almost put this book down because of the way it’s written. It’s almost like it flows straight out of a teenage boys mind. But once I got past Nick’s random comments and the stream of consciousness that seems to flow through each paragraph, this book is both accurate and stereotypical.

The romance was cute, but I felt like a majority of the story was about friendship and surviving high school. Even though the writing style wasn’t my favorite, I found myself wondering about Nick when I wasn’t reading. In the end, Nick won me over and this was a weird, but somewhat entertaining read.

I would first love to shout out a huge THANK YOU to the publishing company, Wattpad Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of The Bro Code by Elizabeth A. Seibert. Congrats to the author for her debut novel! I’m wishing her the best. I truly admire young authors following their writing dreams. True inspirations <3
Nick is friends with Carter and Austin and they all follow the Bro Code (which must never be broken). However, this all changes when Nick has a crush on Carter’s sister and Austin’s ex, Eliza. He must then decide whether to risk it all for Eliza or follow the code and stay true to his friends....
When I read the blurb for this, I expected a cute and fun rom com. I love rom coms, because they always manage to bring a little joy into my life. And boy was this a cute read! Not only did this book make me grin like a cheesy idiot, but this book had me laughing out loud! Yet, this book had so much more to offer than a teenage love story. This book dealt with such important and empowering teen issues such as toxic masculinity, privilege, consent, respect and the power of one’s voice...I’ll admit the beginning was slow, but halfway through I flew by the rest. I really like how the romance was built. Great character chemistry. Eliza was one of my favourite characters in this. Love how outspoken she became and just fought for what she believed in. However, what really got me was the end. A true sign of change! (which you must read to find out ;))

My Rating : 3🌟
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Kindle/Favourite Pages/ September2020
#mabookyardchallengeSep20
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Thank you @favouritepagesclub for the blog tour, @wattpadbooks for the review copy, which lets me give you my unbiased opinion.
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This book follows our main character , who explains the happenings that led to the ending with the help of the Bro Code list.
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First, When I started reading this book, it started with a letter and proceeded to explain the events prior to that. I think that's kind of a genius idea to give you something to look forward to while reading a book! It definitely created a sense of anticipation for me. The characters had a bit of mystery to them which I really loved.
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Second, I really liked the format in which the story was told. The friendship between Carter and Nick was really heartwarming to read about. There weren't a lot of bonding or emotional moments per se, but they had a strong bond that is put to test when Eliza comes back home. I loved Eliza's character the most. She was effortlessly sassy and confident , and Nick didn't quite reach that level. Small moments between Nick & Eliza like, silent support when Nick needed, speaking up when Eliza needed and just a look here and there with understanding, were good.
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Coming to the plot-line and character arc, I think the way the story progressed was good, but could be done in a much more immersive way. There were a lot of conflicting emotions involved which could have been made advantage of. The relationship between Carter and Nick on thin ice, Eliza and Nick struggling with feelings and acceptance, and the main concept of Bro code. There were a lot of repetition of sentences which I didn't think was necessary, and the locker talk kind of got boring after a while. But if you like that storytelling, then you won't be put off by the narration.
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Overall, this book had a really nice found family kind of trope, amazing characters, friendship group, lots of conflicting emotions, hope and acceptance.

The Bro Code by Elizabeth A. Seibert - DNF

Unfortunately, this book was not for me whatsoever.

I had a really hard time with the writing of this novel. The language used felt very much like the author has never met a real teenage boy before. The amount of slang used from "bro" to initialisms was way overdone. It pulled me out of the story every time "bro code" was mentioned or the rules of "bro code" and the inner thoughts of our main character.

I didn't care about these characters at all. I felt disconnected from these spoiled rich kids who didn't seem to care about anything.

Unfortunately, this one just didn't work for me but it could possibly work for a much younger audience just getting into reading YA.

This... is ridiculous. The whole plot is so childish in my opinion.

The writing was so confusing, the sentence throwing and characters introduction were very bad, I was so confused and that’s mainly why I dnf’d it. I was very lost in the story, it felt like I was in the middle of something.

Plus, the main characters are terrible. When he mentioned his white male privilege, I was done. I’m sorry to the writer, it took time and creativity, but this is just not for me.

If it was 2013 though, I would have probably loved it.

Not for me , just felt quite childish at times, it felt very shallow and I just found myself bored because I was sympathetic to any of the characters, just not for me sadly

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This was a book I picked because it looked like a straight up story about a best friend’s little sister romance with a HS background and I’m a fan of young adult stories. I didn’t expect it to be a dissection of rules for the boys of the popular clique at the school and how it translates into our politically correct world.
There was a lot to this book and I think it could be a great story. Unfortunately, I didn’t care for it one bit and not because of its contents, but everything else.
I didn’t like the writing and felt the story failed to have an established plot/properly developed storyline. It kept jumping around without grasping at one thing and even the family and friendship issues took a back seat to the drama of the main character getting into college.
IMO there was a lot that could have been done with the story as there are a lot of lessons packed in the final interpretation of the code itself, but the delivery was trying too hard to be on the politically correct wave and was quite sloppy for my taste. I don’t believe one can fix a story with passable last chapters and a decent epilogue.

As a female, we all know the girl code where we don't date guys that our friends have commented that they like and it's friends before bros, etc. Well, it seems that guys have a code as well called The Bro Code. Meet a group of male friends who are in High School - we have Austin, Nick, Carter who are the best of friends. Enter Eliza - she is Carter's older sister and has just come back from spending a year in Australia on a student exchange and she has gotten hotter over the past year and Nick has his eyes set on her but of course he can't break the bro code, so, for now, he has to sit back and be her friend. However, if he's not careful he might lose Eliza to a jerk named Josh Daley. Can Nick navigate his high school year and friendships with Carter and Eliza without technically breaking the "Bro Code" and ruining his "bromance" with Carter? The Bro Code was lad lit and a perfect read for teen boys out there. As a female, I found it a bit too male-orientated for myself and wasn't a favorite and struggled a little to get through the book. I think if I was younger and in my teens then I would have enjoyed it a bit more. The Bro Code is written for teens aged 14-16+. Any older, you may find the characters a tad juvenile and immature as most teenage boys are at this age.

Thanks, Netgalley for the early review copy of this bbok.
I'm sorry but dnf'ed it at 30%... I tried to read it but just couldn't get through it

DNF. The writing was very choppy and I did not like these characters at all. I know this is targeted to a YA audience but it was just so juvenile. I hate the term "bros before hoes" and I wish it was banned from the English language. I also really disliked "real talk" and "hashtag". The terminology felt like it was trying too hard. Maybe I don't get it because I am not the intended audience.

"Bros can't date their friends sisters". I should have guessed this was going to be archaic by the title, but come on. This read like early YA books from 2009-2014. Didn't have much depth and felt dated.

Overall, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I DNF'd this book at 22%.

And although I DNF'd this book, I do want to point out something that I liked about it and that is how snarky the main character was. This was the most accurate part of the book for me.

I really loved the premise but I couldn't really get into the main character's, Nick's, head.

My little brother is 19 and we've always been close. Now I know that I don't know everything that goes on in his head but I really doubt he does or has ever thought "lol simp".

This may just be my problem and not the book's at all. It's just difficult for me to imagine a 17/18 year old boy thinks this way. Like a true "bro". It just seemed very stereotypical to me.
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Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC of The Bro Code in exchange for an honest review.

The Bro Code is an okay novel, though I had several issues with it. It was the classic rom-com--boy meets girl, falls in love, face problems and challenges, and live happily ever after. And it was too predictable for my liking. The plot was irregularly paced; some parts were too fast, and some too slow. I wandered away when I was through halfway. But I came back. I am a conqueror. Honestly, I wanted to enjoy this book because the blurb hooked me from the very start, but I was very disappointed.

In short--I strongly disliked the characters. They were not very emotional, and I didn't feel any connection to them. This book is whiter than a loaf of white bread. Most of the cast of characters were white and financially stable, so they weren't very relatable. And Nick. He was the MC, so I thought it would be easier to like him, but no, I didn't. He and his so-called "bros" are sexist, with all the "bros before hoes" nonsense, and rude to others. In addition, the relationship between Nick and Eliza was extremely underdeveloped and I didn't even feel a spark of chemistry between them. Then they kiss, and then I thought I missed something. But I didn't.

There is also a sense of forced diversity. According to Nick, the population of North Cassidy is "90% white, 8% Asian, and 2% anything else." I wanted to bang my head against the wall.

I was frustrated with the writing from the very start. There were too many details at some parts, and not enough details at others. I didn't enjoy this writing style much, and it was too confusing for me. I also thought that the chosen narrator was a bad choice. I wish Nick wasn't the narrator; I would have enjoyed Eliza's POV much more.

The Bro Code had so much potential, but it didn't use it. There wasn't anything special that stood out to me. The characters felt flat and one-dimensional, and there were too many bro codes. It made me want to fling my Kindle out the window. There were also way too many relationships to keep track of. Nick wants Eliza, so-and-s0 breaks up with so-and-so, and I was so confused that I kept mixing up the characters.

This book was removed from my library before I could read this book which sounded amazing so sadly couldn't read it to give it a review on. This book was removed from my library before I could read this book which sounded amazing so sadly couldn't read it to give it a review on. This book was removed from my library before I could read this book which sounded amazing so sadly couldn't read it to give it a review on. This book was removed from my library before I could read this book which sounded amazing so sadly couldn't read it to give it a review on. This book was removed from my library before I could read this book which sounded amazing so sadly couldn't read it to give it a review on. This book was removed from my library before I could read this book which sounded amazing so sadly couldn't read it to give it a review on.

The Bro Code centres around a group of guys and their - you guessed it - Bro Code.

It's an easy read, a bit cheesy, and relies on a few too many stereotypes for my liking. It does delve into some more serious themes, but they weren't handled particularly well (rape, sexism, toxic masculinity etc). If you can overlook this, you may enjoy it more than I did.

The romance is quite sweet, and I think it should have focussed solely on this, rather than throwing in some of the other issues that the Author just wasn't able to tackle satisfactorily.

I probably would have enjoyed it a bit more if I was teenage. It did remind me of lots of the Wattpad Books I used to read, so there was a sense of reminiscence there. However, now there are lots of turn offs for me (like the sexual assault almost being excused), and the way that the boys generally acted and spoke about girls.

This book had a definite Teen rom-com feel, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Nick, Eliza, and the 'Bros'. Yes, the guys were borderline d-bags at first, but you could see how they grew and became better people as the story passed. By the end, you were rooting for them all.

An enjoyable debut novel, and I look forward to reading more from Elizabeth Seibert.

The Bro Code is a debut YA novel following the loves and lives of a group of guys, who follow the strict "The Bro Code." Yes, it's cheesy and cliched, but it's also cute and endearing with a positive message in the end.

Ideal for a light-hearted YA read that doesn't require too much brainpower

NOTHING CAUGHT MY FANCY, NOTHING APPEALED TO ME

There was absolutely nothing I liked about this book - not the plot, the characters or the writing. The only reason why it got two stars instead of one is that at least it didn't offend me. It just made me want to stop reading.

👎 What I Disliked 👎

Writing: Already from the beginning I was ticked off by the writing. It was so annoying! So many weird jumps all over the place. Strange, inserted sentences into the middle of other sentences. Very annoying and disturbing. Cringy, weird word choices that really showed that the author was trying too hard at being young and hip. It just made my toes curl. In a bad way.

Dialogue: Again, the choice of words was SO cringy! I sincerely hope that no one actually talks like that in real life.

The end?: I was only 20% into this book when I started thinking about giving up on it. I should have. It did not get better.

Touchy subjects: So many important subjects were handly really poorly - date rape, rape culture, #metoo, sexism, toxic masculinity. It just glazed over the whole bunch and even excused some of these things.

Characters: None of the characters were to my liking. Especially not the guys, Carter, Nick, Josh and Austin. They were total and utter douches, every one of them! Shallow, superficial idiots.

Predictable: Not once was I surprised by anything that happened in this book. It was utterly predictable and very unoriginal. I felt like I already new the story from countless other books, movies and high school TV-shows.

3.5 ⭐


It was a great read. The characters were funny, charismatic, and loveable. Plot was predictable but it was written wonderfully, allowing me to enjoy it. The bro code rules made me laugh and Carter's personality had the perfect balance of cockiness and caring.

This is probably a very solid 3/5 stars for me. I read this when I was younger and it was on Wattpad and ate it right up, so naturally, when I made a Goodreads account, I made sure all my Wattpad loves were recognized at the 5 stars I thought they were. Then I saw the ARC listed and my excitement over another one of my Wattpad loves getting published took over. Unfortunately, as I have grown up I've realized that these are just... they're not for me. We'll leave it at that.

I think a lot of my actual enjoyment of this came from the nostalgia of reading it as a teenager honestly. I remembered very little as I started it but the deeper I got into the story, the more I recognized. However, I CANNOT for the life of me tell you what/if anything has changed. Overall, it's cute. It's not terrible. But reading it at 25 is very different than reading it at 15 and all the cute things I may have liked back then, I'm just not overly thrilled about the second time around.

* Thank you to Net Galley for an ARC of The Bro Code in exchange for an honest review*
What I Liked
Rule number 1: Bros* before hoes**
*A bro is any dude, chick, they, or robot in a bro’s circle of friends.
**A hoe is any dude, chick, they, or robot who is toxic, disingenuous, or only wants to be around you for attention.

There were quite a few things I liked about The Bro Code, but I thought I would enjoy it more than I did. The characters are likeable and I found myself wanting to get to know them more. Each chapter is a different rule of the Bro Code which is a nice insight into the boy’s world. It also brought back a lot of high school memories including the ‘he likes, she likes’ drama. However, sometimes the characters were a bit over the top, making them unrealistic at times. But I was able to move past this for the majority of the book.

The Story
Rule number 7: A bro shalt treat his mother like a queen.

We follow Nick, Carter (his best friend) and their group of ‘bros’ through their senior year of high school. Enter Eliza, the girl Nick is in love with but doesn’t realise yet. The only problem is he can’t have her due to rule number 4 of the bro code: Don’t date your bro’s sister.

I did find the story a bit slow in the beginning, but once I got to know who the characters were, I got more into it. The whole premise of the book revolves around the ‘bros before hoes’ concept and I enjoyed it for the most part yet I did think it was a bit cringy to read about. The boys were oblivious on how to treat girls at the beginning and sometimes ‘boys will be boys’ doesn’t make up for that. It can be argued that Seibert purposefully made these boys unaware of girls thoughts and feelings to amp up the dramatic change the boys make of themselves.

The romance between Nick and Eliza is quite sweet and enjoyable seeing as there is this kind of forbidden love between them. As well as a love story, issues such as toxic masculinity and homophobic behaviour are tackled. This is great for a young adult book, especially a high school romance, as it teaches a younger audience about toxic behaviour and how to deal with it.

The Characters
Rule number 11: A bro shalt text a love interest whenever a bro wants.

Eliza was my favourite character by far. She is always the one to call out the boys behaviour and always thought of her own happiness before jumping into a situation. Because of her past, she was very sensible throughout especially when it came to dating.

I couldn’t stand Nick or any of the other boys at the start of the book. I know they are immature students going into their last year of high school, but I feel like it was a bit excessive and too stereotypical at times. Once they started to realise that high school was coming to an end and had to grow up, they became a lot more bearable and I ended up really liking a lot of the characters and rooted for them to do well.

Overall Thoughts
Rule number 25: A bro shalt decide for themselves what rules are worth following.

It was a nice change to read a young adult, high school romance and just forgot all about my adult problems haha! I wish I liked it more, but it seems like a book I would have really enjoyed a couple of years ago before I started really reading adult fiction.

Rating: 3/5