The title of this book gives nothing away. It sort of threw me off course, because I wasn’t expecting a tender femme romance, a difficult career move, and self-sabotage mired in grief. I highly recommend this book! It straddles that line between genre romance and just traditional fiction because all the elements are balanced so perfectly. As a bonus, I didn’t know much about Armenian culture before reading this, and I felt fully immersed in the beauty and richness of it while reading. I am eager to try some Armenian food that is mentioned throughout the book! There is a richness to this book because of the cultural thread weaved through it, it’s really well done. Trigger warning: homophobia, sexism in the workplace, and grief over the death of a parent.

There were things about this book that I really enjoyed and admired, and others that didn't work as well for me. I guess I'll start with the former and then talk a bit about the latter.

In terms of what I enjoyed, first and foremost is the representation of the Armenian community and culture. Almost everything presented here was new to me, and I sincerely loved reading and learning about it. You could feel how much love and care was put into this element of the book. I especially enjoyed all the Armenian words and phrases used throughout, though I wish the editor had been a bit more consistent about whether and how they were going to be glossed (this is a very personal bugbear of mine that will probably bother nobody else).

The cultural rep was integral to the central conflict as well, in a way that felt unique. The story opens as the POV protagonist Nareh is being surprise-proposed-to by her (non-Armenian) boyfriend Trevor. She's not thrilled about it, and the two of them put the relationship on ice for a bit while he heads off to Germany for work. In the meantime, Nareh realizes that dating Trevor has made her feel alienated from her family and her Armenian culture, and that she might be able to rekindle that connection by dating an Armenian. Luckily (lol) her mother has LOTS of ideas about Armenian men she could date. While Nareh is cycling through a list of increasingly dire prospects, she meets and falls in love with Erebuni, an Armenian woman.

Watching Nareh struggle with the idea that dating an Armenian might bring her closer to her mother and her broader community, but that coming out as bi and dating a woman might not be accepted by them, made for a fairly compelling conflict. I mean, for me personally, "wanting to date to please your parents" is, like, 0% relatable or important, but the book entirely sold me on why it was important to the characters, which is what matters. I obviously cannot speak to the accuracy of how homophobia in the Armenian community was portrayed here but... it felt to me like the book avoided caricaturing an entire culture as intolerant, while still being honest about how homophobia is experienced differently across different cultural backgrounds. In particular, the contrast between Nareh's mother and her (deceased) father did some interesting work. Nareh's mother has some heteronormative ideas about her daughter's future that are tied to meeting the cultural expectations of the Armenian community, while her father (who wanted very much to assimilate to American culture) wanted his daughter to adhere to a heteronormative version of the American Dream. Nareh really has to climb out from under the cultural expectations of both parents, one whom she's trying to get closer to and one whom she's trying to grieve. There was clearly a lot of thought and detail about how heteronormativity gets culturally coded here.

Still, there was a lot about this book that just didn't work for me. Most of which I would describe as elements that were <i> uneven </i>, which might come down to a combination of needing stronger editing, and being a debut. The prose style struck me as inconsistent- there were times where Nareh did this very voicey "I'm talking directly to you, reader" thing, but it was infrequent enough that every time it popped up I got borderline startled by it. The pacing was off as well: very little happened to move the plot forward for the first 70% of the book, and then in the span of one chapter <spoiler> Nareh and Erebuni kiss at a banquet and get caught by Nareh's mom and her aunt, so Nareh denies to her relationship with Erebuni to her mom to hide her sexuality, but Erebuni overhears it and is hurt, but they kind of make up and kiss again, at which point they are caught AGAIN by a drunk guy who reveals that Nareh is still technically engaged to Trevor, which Erebuni didn't know, so they break up </spoiler>. ONE CHAPTER! And there was nowhere near enough time to deal with the fallout, some of which had to be pretty emotionally intense.

The characterization of Nareh and Erebuni also felt weak. Nareh was a blank slate outside of her feelings about her family: I didn't know what else she liked, what her personality traits were, if she had hobbies or friends other than her cousin, what she cared about. She has a super intense job as a reporter working 6 days a week, but we rarely see her at work (until a scene at the end where a bunch of coworkers we've *never met* rally behind her). We're told that her job as a reporter makes her good at talking to people, but in social situations she seemed to largely just create awkward moments for plot reasons? I never felt like I knew her in any specific way. Erebuni was also super vague, though I was willing to put up with that more because we weren't in her POV. We're told constantly that she's "witchy" but ... aside from her clothes, and some crystals, and one very awkward scene with a bonfire ritual at a beach that felt like it was made out of TV witch clichés, I didn't get it.

The book is closed door, which worked fine for the mood and tone of the book except... every time the door "reopened" Nareh was bragging exaggeratedly about what a mind-blowing sex goddess she is (despite the fact that she's supposed to be quite inexperienced with women). In general, even when sex isn't on the page, what is reported (or not) about it does important character work, and I'm not sure what was accomplished by "we've never once had to communicate about sex, I just have inherent sex superpowers."

There are a few CWs I would mention for potential future readers. There were times this book came down pretty heavily on the side of "no matter how intolerant your family members are, you have to love them unconditionally." This isn't how I feel personally, and I know intimately how heavy the social pressure to just accept the intolerance of your family can be. It was hard to read, so take care if that might be hard for you to read too. The other thing to mention is that, in part because Erebuni is an activist and educator about the Armenian genocide, that topic is discussed extensively. I thought the author did a great job of explaining why it's so important not to just leave that topic in the past, or to act like it can't be discussed. As such, its inclusion in an otherwise lighthearted book still felt warranted. However, there is a very intense scene where aggressive genocide deniers show up at a lecture Erebuni is hosting and Nareh is attending. Again, do take care if you might find that hard to read.

Other CWs include: homophobia, sexism, workplace microaggressions, death of parent (in past), threat of forced outing (mostly averted in the moment)

Sorry, Bro is a funny, relatable romance book with lots of diverse rep! I have never read a book with Armenian rep before and wish I had! I learned so much about food, dancing, culture, and more! This also had an amazing sapphic relationship that was sweet, sexy, at times angsty. I really like how the main character worked through things at the end. I was really proud of her character growth! I can't wait to read more from this author!

This was really beautiful. I knew little to nothing about Armenian culture before I read this book, and this book really opened my eyes to it.

I loved Nar and Erebuni and the other characters.

Honestly, my only qualm about this book is I don't totally love the title but that really doesn't detract from this book that much.

Super cute rom com! The coming out storyline was handled really well and it’s always so great to read sapphic stories that center diverse voices.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for the honest review

CW: racism, microagressions, death of a parent (past, driving a car drunk), grief, biphobia, toxic work environment, coming out of the closet

I had a couple friends hype up Sorry, Bro to me and I'm so happy they did. Taleen Voskuni's writing was fresh and voicey and hit all of my single-POV soft spots.

This was entirely Nar's story as she grappled with her job, a maybe fiancé, coming out of the closet, her culture as an Armenian and truly her identity and who she wanted to be. She made quite a journey, exploring her culture, her sexuality, and her family dealing with the grief of the loss f her father.

The romance in this book was soft. Erubini connecting Nar with her culture as well and helping her decide what she wanted out of her life and her work. While I was expecting more of a romance, I liked Erubini and her sexual chemistry and attraction with Nar were instantaneous.

Overall a wonderful story of culture, of identity, and just being yourself and finding your people. I can't wait to see what Baleen writes next.

Steam: 1