Undercover Bromance

Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Liv Papandreas is a brilliant pastry chef with a horrible boss. Braden Mack is a wealthy nightclub owner who wants to settle down with his current girlfriend so he can experience the kind of relationship he has helped his friends achieve. When Mack decides to splurge on a fancy dinner and $1000 cupcake at the restaurant where Liv works, the evening ends in disaster, with Mack's girlfriend dumping him, and Liv witnessing a young server being forced into performing sexual acts by their boss. Liv's defense of the girl costs Liv her job.

Realizing her former boss clearly has a history of harassing and coercing women, Liv goes on the offensive, trying to discover his previous victims, regardless of their fear, shame, and reluctance to come forward and accuse this powerful celebrity chef of his crimes. She demands Mack make up for costing her her job by offering a job to the server in an attempt to protect her. The girl initially refuses the help, but Liv is determined to put a stop to the abuse. Eventually the entire Bromance Book Club (plus a few others) cooks up a plan to break in to Royce's office and steal his computer files containing information on the women he's harassed and paid off so they have hard evidence with which to confront him.

All this plotting and planning means Liv and Mack are spending large amounts of time together, and despite Liv's initial disdain for Mack, she discovers there is more to him than she imagined. Mack, in turn, comes to realize he's going to have to face the trauma of his childhood if he wants to create something real with Liv, who has her own emotional baggage to deal with.

Book #2 in the series reveals more about how the Bromance Book Group got started and why Braden Mack, a bachelor, is a member. Spoiler alert: he started it! Getting to know more of Braden's backstory was one of my favorite aspects of the book. Also, the best thing about a hating-to-dating romance is the lack of insta-love. I generally prefer a slow burn story.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways via for prominence. Profanity is pervasive, there are some steamy sex scenes, and a rooster gets pretty violent when men come to the farm where Liv resides. Trigger warning for anyone sensitive to issues of domestic violence and sexual harassment.

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