Title: The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
Bromance Book Club Series Book One
Publisher: Jove
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: C+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
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.
Review:
The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams is an entertaining “save the marriage” romance.
Gavin Scott is a major league baseball player whose best career day turned into his worst personal day. After a demoralizing discovery, he eventually leaves his wife Thea when she kicks him out of the house. While at his absolutely lowest, Gavin’s friends step in to help him save his marriage. But will Gavin be able to convince Thea to give him and their marriage a second chance?
Thea plays the victim extremely well as she punishes Gavin for doing what she demanded he do: leave. She also blames him for not knowing what she wants although she has NEVER given him a clue about how she feels. Thea is a wonderful mom to their twins Ava and Amelia but she is tired of being seen as nothing but a mother and baseball wife. Having lost herself after putting her dreams on hold for the last several years, she is ready to reclaim her life. And right now, Thea does not plan on Gavin being part of her future.
Gavin will do anything to save his marriage even if it means exposing his vulnerabilities to his friends. At first reluctant to trust his friends’ assertions that reading a romance novel will help him with Thea, he nonetheless takes their advice. Although Thea is not exactly thrilled with his proposition to let him move home, she eventually and, quite reluctantly, agrees. Gavin is dismayed by her lack of eagerness and cooperation, but he works hard to woo his wife.
While the premise of the story is cute and unique, Thea is unreasonable and downright unlikable. Gavin is putting his heart and soul into fixing his mistakes but Thea refuses to admit she is a big part of their problems. For every step forward they make, they eventually wind up back where they started. It does not help that Thea’s sister Liv is extremely negative about Gavin and she freely expresses her opinion her sister is making a mistake trying to reconcile with her husband. And then there is the fact that Thea and Gavin’s problems could have been avoided if she had bothered to tell him how unhappy she is and why.
The Bromance Book Club is a charming reconciliation romance. Gavin is a bit clueless but he is an overall likable and endearing man. Thea finally becomes self-aware but readers have to wait a long time for her to figure things out. Although parts of the story are frustrating and a little predictable, fans of contemporary romances will enjoy this first installment in Lyssa Kay Adams’ Bromance Book Club series.
