The Bromance Book Club

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gavin Scott messed up. Badly. The love of his life, his wife of three years and the mother of his twin 3-year-old daughters, wants a divorce. He hadn't even realized they had grown so far apart until the night he found out she'd been faking it in bed for their entire marriage. The pain of her revelation sent him into a tailspin, shutting both his mouth and his ears until she got fed up and kicked him out of the house.

The thing is, Thea is furious because somehow over the past three years she lost herself, subsumed her identity and morphed from an artist into a stereotypical baseball wife, one whom Southern Lifestyle magazine called "wholesomely pastel." What Gavin doesn't grasp is that it's not just sex she's been faking, but everything, and she is D.O.N.E. being a stranger to herself.

Gavin, though, is desperate to save his marriage. So desperate, his best friend drags him to a very unique book group. A dozen or so alpha men of Nashville society--business owners, athletes, city officials--meet to read romance novels ("We call them manuals") and save each other's relationships. What?! Gavin thinks he's being punked, but the men are completely serious. What better way to learn the language of women than to read books "written by women for women...entirely about how they want to be treated and what they want out of life and in a relationship"? The men formulate a plan for Gavin to win Thea's heart all over again. In short? Backstory. It's ALL about backstory, and Gavin needs to understand not only Thea's, but his own if he is to have any hope of success.

I am so glad this is just the first in the series, because it's hilarious, heartwarming, and I wish men would try this strategy in the real world! Seriously, so many relationships could be saved and strengthened.

There is so much to love about this book. One of my favorite quotes is from a funny-but-serious moment in chapter 5 when one of the men says, "Don't be ashamed for liking them. The backlash against the PSL [pumpkin spice latte] 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?" OMG, yes! Well, I don't know about the PSL--I hate coffee-flavored anything--but Ms. Adams is Spot On about the pervasiveness of toxic masculinity and the constant condescension toward the romance genre in particular.

My biggest beef with this book is that I really wanted Gavin to have more of an Aha! moment after he and Thea are cleaning up the puking toddlers and he has zero idea where the extra towels are. I mean, DUDE. It's your own house, how can you not know where the linen closet and clean towels are? A telling moment, no? But Ms. Adams moves on and passes up the chance for Gavin to have a meaningful awakening there, and I SO wanted him to.

I also kept forgetting the main characters were supposed to be in their mid-20s. Most of the time it seemed more like they were in their early or mid-30s. But given the belly laugh I had in the scene where Thea and her sister Liv come home earlier than expected and interrupt book group in progress, I forgive Ms. Adams entirely!

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, character and language secondary. There is no violence, but there is a lot of swearing amongst the witty banter and some very steamy sex scenes. Gavin struggles with a stutter and all the self-esteem issues that can crop up around that. The main characters are presumed white, but there are a few POC secondary characters.

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