e-ARC, 320 pages
Release Date: March 10, 2020Published by: Berkley
Read from: February 21-23 & March 6-9, 2020Bromance Book Club, #1Source: LibraryTW: Sexual HarassmentFor fans of: Romance, Bookish, Book Club, Contemporary Romance, Romance, Adult
Braden Mack thinks reading romance novels makes him an expert in love, but he’ll soon discover that real life is better than fiction.
Liv Papandreas has a dream job as a sous chef at Nashville’s hottest restaurant. Too bad the celebrity chef owner is less than charming behind kitchen doors. After she catches him harassing a young hostess, she confronts him and gets fired. Liv vows revenge, but she’ll need assistance to take on the powerful chef.
Unfortunately, that means turning to Braden Mack. When Liv’s blackballed from the restaurant scene, the charismatic nightclub entrepreneur offers to help expose her ex-boss, but she is suspicious of his motives. He’ll need to call in reinforcements: the Bromance Book Club.
Inspired by the romantic suspense novel they’re reading, the book club assists Liv in setting up a sting operation to take down the chef. But they’re just as eager to help Mack figure out the way to Liv’s heart… even though she’s determined to squelch the sparks between them before she gets burned.
BETWEEN THE COVERS!
*This book is part of the new adult contemporary romance genre! It is more mature than YA. I have featured it in Between the Covers as a way to feature the few Adult and New Adult titles I am beginning to read!”
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I heard there would be more Bromance Book Club, I was so excited! I LOVED the first one and I devoured it in 2 days. AND this one was about Mack?! I knew I would love it. I liked it, but it just wasn’t like the first one.
“How often did a group of hulking, good-looking men walk into a bookstore together? They were like an offensive line for Literary League of Tennessee.“2%
Mack is the cookie cutter perfect man. And that’s what’s wrong with him. Liv is a pastry chef that just ran into a really bad situation. She’s black balled by her ex boss from the restaurant scene and Mack and the Bromance Book Club decide to try helping her. This time they use the romantic suspense book they’re reading to make sure they can help Liv out of the bad situation she’s in.
“…bad guys get away with it because the good guys look the other way.“27%
The whole time I was reading this I kept thinking something was missing. I didn’t figure out until I got to the end what it was. The book excerpts aren’t there. There’s only one in the entire book and it’s at the end. That was one of my favorite parts in the first book. I loved how they made the book reflect the situation they were in. It really showed Adams’ talent because she was able to write two stories in one. I know it seems selfish to say I wish this one had been the same (it might have been too hard or took too long) but I really do wish it had the same.
“Fear is a powerful motivator.“32%
The ending was another reason I took away a star. It seemed like it was tacked at the end. And that sucked because that was what the entire story was about. And when it got to it, it was like squeezed on the end. I wish it had been a little more “romantic suspense-y” if that makes sense. It was a little too easy to get it done.
“She elbowed him. ‘You’ve read too many romance novels.’ And you haven’t read enough.“44%
As for the characters, it was really good to be back with everyone again. I liked to see that certain people were doing so much better after the last one. And I have to be honest… Mack was my favorite character from the first one, so I was super happy to see this was his story. I wish I had liked it a bit more, but still, I was really happy with the Epilogue.
“Would it be so fucking bad if I cared about you?“69%
This book wasn’t my favorite in the series, but this series as a whole is still one of my favorites. I can’t wait to get to the next book, the one that seems like a contemp romance, maybe a rom com. It’s obviously going to be my favorite. (Until we get Malcolm’s story that is….) [PLEASE TELL ME WE’LL GET MALCOLM’S STORY.]
Overall, I give this
