The Bromance Bookclub series by Lyssa Kay Adams is a constant and memorable delight in the contemporary romance genre. Every book has a bit of twinkle to it that brings the magic to a genre full of tropes and stories. In the second book, Undercover Bromance, a nightclub entrepreneur turns to his friends in the bromance book club to help him with his own real life love story.

If you are new to the Bromance Bookclub series, it is a contemporary romance series written by Lyssa Kay Adams that centers around a group of men who are having trouble with relationships. They start a book club where they read romance novels to help them learn more about women, love, and relationships. How could anyone not be interested in trying this series?

Each book in the series centers around someone that was a minor (or even major) character in a prior book. Of course, since we expect a happily ever after with each book, these can easily be read out of order. In fact, I just read book 2 after already reading books 1 and 3!

Liv Papandreas is a chef at one of Nashville’s hottest restaurants. Of course, anyone who has worked in the restaurant industry knows that chefs have a reputation of being a bit temperamental at times. But Liv’s boss Royce Preston takes this to an extreme—verbally abusing his staff, taking credit for their recipes, and most recently, sexually assaulting the hostess, Jessica. Liv unfortunately witnesses the sexual assault and confronts him, leading him to fire her. Afterwards, she makes it her mission to shine a light on Royce’s abuse.

Braden Mack, a friend of Liv’s brother-in-law Gavin, becomes an unlikely ally in her quest to take down Royce. Mack is fired up when he learns about Royce’s predatory and abusive actions towards his staff (and particularly women) in his restaurant. Mack brings in some of the bros from book club to help out. Nothing turns up the heat like collaborating on revenge, and Liv and Mack find a bit of time to pursue a no-strings-attached fling. But what will happen when real feelings become involved?

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, since Liv was the sister of the main female lead in the first book of the series and I had a fairly negative reaction to her. She was combative and her efforts to be protective sometimes crossed a line. But her fiery spirit is perfect to be the female lead in this story. She needed a growth arc to be a rootable heroine, and she gets one in Undercover Bromance.

The topic of sexual assault in the work place and the power that men in leadership positions hold is at the forefront of the workplace conflict. This book doesn’t purport to be the most nuanced portrayal of a #metoo story, and leans into the stark portrayal and revenge plot that felt like it kept a very heavy topic from flipping the book in a bad way.

Mack is another interesting figure as the leading male. We learn that he has always failed in love, and perhaps that is because he leans too much into trying to be the male hero from a romance book and isn’t authentically himself. Mack is fiercely protective over those in his life—a pattern we also know is characteristic of Liv. It was easy to see why these two just may end up being meant to be after all.

The romance part is slower since the revenge plot is central to the book. This kept it fresh and made it so that the issue of sexual assault didn’t feel like it was thrown in gratuitously. As always with this series, there are plenty of humorous moments particularly with the side characters (the bromance book club always delivers the laughs). Every time I read one of these books I get excited for the characters who may become leads in the future!

I loved the first book in this series, but I definitely felt like the romance wasn’t as flushed out as it could’ve been—what made that one really amazing was the feminist aspects, the way that the couple rebuilt their relationship, and the bromances...and this one definitely had the feminism and bromance aspects in full swing too. In fact, they were even better here because they built on the last book. I also loved the romance even more in this one! A classic hate-to-love with two characters who came together to stand up for justice and against bad guys. It was awesome!!!

Loved this book so, so much!!!

Undercover Bromance is a spicy enemies to lovers, slow burn that has a plot twist or two with lots of great characters to fall in love with. The series focuses on a group of men who gather to discuss books. This is not your usual book club, this is an eclectic group of men who love to read romance and swear it has changed their lives.

What happens when Braden Mack tries to impress his girlfriend with a fancy dinner and gesture? The end result isn't what he planned, the pastry chef is fired, and the girl says goodbye.

Liv Papandreas is a pastry chef who has big plans for her future but when an unfortunate disaster happens and it's layered with secrets, deception, and lies. Not exactly the ingredients for a decadent high priced cupcake. To add more fuel to the fire she uncovers a horrible secret involving her boss that threatens to destroy her life if she tells anyone. Now blackballed she will need to figure out a way to work and save her reputations before it destroys her career.

If both Liv and Mack can find a way to trust, be open to love and stop running from the past they both find figure out that their love story is better than a romance book happy ending. The chemistry is off-the-chart H-O-T and the banter sizzles. Totally there for the baseball banter, romance book references and the guys from the bromance book club.

I can't wait for the next installment and more adventures with the bromance book club. Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this advance reader copy for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I’m a huge fan of romance ! My fave genre and this was so cute and sexy but I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character (the hero )

I loved the first Bromance book so I was so excited to get approved for this one - and it's another knockout hit from Lyssa Kay Adams! I love reading romance, but this series keeps me interested because of the added bonus of some suspense - it definitely kept me guessing the whole way through. I just love the guys in the Bromance Book Club and I feel like we'd all get along great in real life. Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!

After reading Bromance Book Club, I knew I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one! And, I will tell you, this one? EVEN BETTER THAN THE FIRST! This is most definitely a story worthy of 5 stars! Filled with mystery, romance and laughs, this one kept me hooked until I reached the very last page. Definitely one of my favorite reads and most assuredly a favorite author!

This series is such a treat. I loved getting to know Mack more and was once again thrilled about how Lyssa Kay Adams manages to incorporate modern issues such as sexual harassment in the workplace and offer a happy ending!!!

I highly anticipated this one and Less Kay Adams did not disappoint. I love this series and can't wait for more. The guys were hilarious with their banter and the romance was just perfect. This isn't just a romance as it includes so much more. Fast paced and fun to read, I cant wait for the next installment.

Absolutely adored this one!!!! I LOVE THIS SERIES! I don’t read as many romantic suspense as I want to but this was a lot of fun!!! I thought Mack and Liv had a ton of chemistry and it was such a joy to read! It was also super fun to see Gavin and Thea! It was definitely really interesting getting the intense plot mixed in with romantic comedy balance but I thought Lyssa did a really great balancing it! I’m excited to pick up book 3!

Braden Mack and his friends have created the Bromance Book Club. Just recently, their first group read was instrumental in saving his buddy Gavin's marriage. Their next book, this time a romantic suspense, soon proves to be a useful tool when it comes to helping pastry chef Liv Papandreas when she witnesses sexual harrasment at the restaurant where she works by the celebrity chef owner. Trying to defend an innocent woman results in Liv being blackballed and now no restaurant will hire her.

Mack and his buddies hope that the book they are now reading and discussing will work as a guidebook of sorts to create a trap to expose Liv's ex-boss. Meanwhile, Liv and Mack definitely have a connection, an attraction that proves difficult to ignore.

These books are hilarious. Of course, they do touch on difficult and sensitive issues, but watching these brawny men being turned to mush by reading romance books is simply hilarious. The characters are great, and my favorite just has to be the Russian. Poor guy - everything seems wrong with him (wait! because book four .... well, go read it!).

Conflict is everything in romance books. Without conflict there isn't much of a story. The guys are learning that by the books they choose, but in these delightful stories by Lyssa Kay Adams, each book in this series has that required conflict, but they have so much more. There are fabulous characters, enjoyable stories, the requisite HEA and more.

Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

I tried to get into this book but maybe it was my mood but I just couldn't. I'm bummed about that because I enjoyed the first book so much but this one didn't capture me the way the first one did. I did purchase the book for the future.

Pastry chef Liv hates working for her famous restaurateur boss. She also hates Braden Mack, a notorious bachelor, nightclub owner, and acquaintance of her sister. But when Liv calls her boss out on sexually harassing another employee and subsequently gets fired, she finds an unlikely ally in Mack. As they seek justice against Liv's former boss, she finds she's not as immune to Mack's charm as she thought.

The first book in this series was so fun and light-hearted, so I was a little surprised to see Lyssa Kay Adams dive into the #MeToo movement in book two. But I think it really works! The sexual harassment plot is written very thoughtfully, and there's still plenty of the sense of humor I loved in Bromance Book Club. I can't wait to see what happens in book three!

I can't get enough of the Bromance Book Club! Undercover Bromance is a delightful slow burn between two people who couldn't be more different from each other, but right in so many ways.

The bond between the guys only gets more entertaining with each book. I've been highly anticipating Mack's story and this exceeded my expectations.

Filled with minimal drama, romance, and enough comedy to have you laughing through your tears - you'll be coming back to read this series all over again after each new release!

I read the first book in the Bromance book club series back in 2019 and loved it, so naturally I was pretty excited to read the next installment. The only thing that held me back was knowing the Heroine of this book, was my least favorite character in the last one. Liv.
I was a bit confused by the overall tone of this book. I guess it was supposed to be a bit of a thriller romance? Kind of reflecting the hero’s (Mack) favorite sub genre of romance novels. But that might be a bit of stretch. The subject matter was rather heavy, as Liv catches her sleazy boss in the act of sexually assaulting a young coworker! But despite this subject matter the book tries to convey a rom com tone that I thought was rather clunky.
I felt like the book barely focused on the romance at all. It felt more like chick-lit with romance elements in it. Usually I adore the “Hate-to-Love” trope, but I felt this one sort of missed the mark. Liv disliked Mack for the silliest reasons. I mean, sure I would be mad if some douche ate my leftovers but she was holding onto the grudge for waaaaay to long! And beyond that, she really had no excuse to hate him. Liv just wanted to hate Mack because he was a male with money. Her sexism got pretty old pretty fast, it made it very difficult to like her as a character. I don’t know. I actually love flawed characters, but there also has to be something to LIKE about them! I agree with pretty much everyone who had something negative to say about Liv. She’s abrasive, needlessly mean and sarcastic. She’s incredibly judgmental of people she has no business being judgmental about. She is a very poor representation of Feminism, however, I believe that was actually intentional. What this book did very well was establish a clear differentiation between feminism and “Man Hating”. Mack was the perfect representative for feminism. I’m very happy that this book continues the trend of abolishing toxic masculinity at its source. I loved it every time that Mack was right and Liv was wrong. I couldn’t fault him at all really, even when he got super protective.
But I couldn’t help the feeling that Mack deserved way better than Liv. She took way too long to soften up. I get that she’d been hurt and had Daddy issues, but the fact that she hurts so many people and the bullshit she pulled in book one. I just feel we didn’t get enough redemption.
I wish that we spent more time with the boys in the Bromance bookclub, they really are the main appeal aside from the romances themselves. I love their discussions and there thirst to change society’s few on men and romance. I really hope we get more of that in the next installment.
I like that what little steam we get was pretty worth while. Always could use more, but I can see why we had to wait for it, considering how Liv wouldn’t budge an inch. But then again, the romance played second to the drama in the story for sure.

In the end, I would say it was a 3.5 out of 5 stars. The tone was very confused and even in the end I couldn’t wrap my head around Liv’s nonsense.

The first book in this series is easily one of my favorite rom-coms. I had such high expectations for Undercover Bromance, but I really struggled with reading it. It took me over 9 months of picking it up and putting it down to finish.

I think my biggest deterrent to finishing the book was Liv’s character. I did not like her in the first book and many of her behaviors in this book also made me not like her. On the bright side I loved Mack and the book club, and some of the new characters that were introduced (I need a romance for Rosie and Hop immediately!)

I have very mixed feelings about the sexual assault storyline. I see what the author was trying to do, but I feel like it didn’t read as well as I hoped? I always appreciate woke feminist men reading romance, and I just really wanted more of the “book club” aspect than there was. This story did make me even more excited for the Russian’s upcoming book (he’s one of my favorite characters!) Not sure how I feel about who the leads are in the third book, but I do enjoy this series overall and I will be trying that one next.

Undercover Bromance was a three star read for me.

I liked this book quite a bit and appreciated the ways the male characters addressed toxic masculinity. The love story was well done and the revenge story was satisfying.

This series is so unique, and keeps getting better with each new release. It has earned Lyssa Kay Adams a lifelong reader in me.

Another great book by Lyssa Kay Adams. If you enjoyed the others in the series this is also a great read. It does standalone but it is nice to read the series in order to.

OMG! So much fun. This series just keeps getting better and better and every time, I close the book with a smile on my face. Can’t wait for the next one!

Another hit from Ms. Adams as she continues her Bromance book club series. A fun read that really devotes time to fleshing out the romance. Not as strong as the first book but a solid sequel.