Set in Nashville, Adams draws a familiar-feeling, small town vibe where everyone seems to be connected to one another. Liv Papandreas goes toe-to-toe with her celebrity chef boss that she inadvertently witnesses in a compromising position. Now threatening to destroy Liv's reputation, she very reluctantly accepts the help of Braden Mack, who starts off wanting to right his part in events that ultimately got her fired. But when Mack hears the full story from Liv, he goes all-in, and for the right reasons. Members of The Bromance Book Club assist their leader with hilarity and sincerity. And the Me Too moments here will resonate. Adams crafts a fabulous cast of characters who embody what it means to have one's back especially when they think they don't need it. That said, at times when Liv and Mack are judgmental, or when they lie, their "armor" and defense mechanisms are are totally relatable. Readers will for sure be rooting for Liv and Mack the whole time. Featuring a $1000 cupcake and a talon wielding rooster named Randy, this is a series smash hit!

I loved that the boys are back together for another love connection and still reading their romance novels. The Russian had me in stitches yet again. Highly recommend for all those looking for a fun book for summer. Thank you for the advanced reader copy NetGalley.

4.5 Stars / 2 Steam Fans

Undercover Bromance is all about Liv and Mac. Liv is the hard-nosed sister from The Bromance Book Club who gets her own story here, and she becomes this very likable character that you feel for and root to succeed. Mac is the creator of The Bromance Book Club but can't seem to find love. When an accident causes Liv to lose her job because of Mac, they work together to fit an injustice that is currently happening in real life. I appreciated that Lyssa Kay Adams tackles the prejudice with care and respect without going overboard with why the act is unjust. The sexual tension between Mac and Liv jumps off the page and gives the angst that I love in a story.

Video review available in Week 21: May 17 – 23 weekly book reviews.

For other video book reviews, check out my YouTube Channel: Steph's Romance Book Talk.

Undercover Bromance is the second book in the Bromance Book Club series by Lyssa Kay Adams, and is also one of my most anticipated reads for 2020! I read The Bromance Book Club earlier this year and really enjoyed the story, so I couldn’t wait to get started on this second book in the series. I really, really loved the first book, and I was curious to see how this sequel was going to compare. I was NOT disappointed at all!

One of the things that I love about this series is the characters. All of the guys in the Bromance Book Club are interesting – and also pretty damn hilarious – and I love that each book in the series is about a different character. The first book in the series was about Gavin and his wife Thea, and in this book, it is Mack and Liv. To be honest, I LOVE MACK AND LIV! They were just so perfect for each other, and I very much enjoyed watching the relationship between them grow. It was so sweet!

I also very much enjoyed the storyline for this book. There was so much going on, from the guys in the book club to Liv and her horrible boss, and then everyone working together to take him down. Add in the steamy parts of the book, and I WAS HOOKED. I have to say that I think I enjoyed this book even more than I did the first book, which is saying a LOT because I really loved the first book too. They are both so great!

A lot of interesting information has come out about this series recently that I wanted to share, just in case you haven’t yet heard yourself. First, the cover was recently released for the third book in the series, Crazy Stupid Bromance, and I think it’s my most favorite cover yet! Also, it has been confirmed that The Russian is definitely getting his own book soon! And, last but definitely not least, The Bromance Book Club is headed to NETFLIX! (Granted, I don’t watch tv or movies often, but I am SO down to watch this!) Exciting, right??

Overall; If you couldn’t already tell, I very much enjoyed Undercover Bromance! I love the characters, and the storyline, and all the steamy parts in between. This series is so good, and I absolutely can’t wait to get my hands on the next book, Crazy Stupid Bromance, which is currently set to release in October! If you haven’t yet picked up this series, I highly recommend them! And if you start reading soon, you’ll be all caught up when book #3 is released!

Happy Reading!

I think I liked this one more than my first. This story follows the leader and founder of the Bromance Book Club.al Mack and Liv, who we saw in the first book, are after exposing her former boss, who's been harassing his employees.

This book was different oon that there was no back and forth between the book club's book and the present story. It was nice to have both perspectives. It was entertaining and cute.

So fun! I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this one, because I didn't quite care for Liv at all. I felt like her own personal feelings got in the way of giving her sister good advice. But she definitely grew on me here. Mack was great! He had me rolling my eyes a bit in the first book, but he's that lovable goof that you can't help but love. Really great banter and chemistry! I'm really enjoying this series.

this book was AMAZING! I couldn't stop reading!!! I had to know what happened. The chemistry between Mack and Liv was off the charts. I loved the mystery along with the romance. There was a few unpredictable moments which I love in romance. Usually romance is a pretty straight forward story but I enjoyed being surprised by quite a few things in this book. I cant wait to read the next book. I loved Noah and his mystery job.

Another fun read in the bromance series. I look forward to the next one as these are quick escapist books that take you away from everyday life into romance. Keep the Bromance Club going!

Another fantastic story in the "Bromance" Universe. This story is different from the first in terms of tropes but is enjoyable. I can't wait for the next one!

I didn't find this one quite as enjoyable as the first book, but I loved the characters so much. The writing was, once again, wonderful and completely sucked me in. I wish there were more scenes of the bromance book club as that was one of my favorite parts of the first book. All in all, this was a solid installment in a series that I can't wait to read more of!

This is a fanstastic follow up to Bromance Book Club. Liv’s experiences reflects heavily on many women’s struggles. The relationship between liv and Braden is fantastic.

This book featured Braden Mack and Liv Papandreas, two characters I despised in the first book. In Undercover Bromance, Liv came across as a very sympathetic character, and I thought her character here was consistent with her character in the first book. Mack, while sympathetic in Undercover Bromance, seemed as odds with his character in the first book. In the first book, Mack came across as an unlikeable individual, who seemed to have little respect for women, and he dated women once! No commitment, nor any interest in developing relationships. It seemed much of his behavior was in the book for laughs. And I still can't get over how he hit on the wives of his friends!!! In Undercover Bromance, Mack is sympathetic because of his history (revealed as the book goes along), interested in developing a relationship with a woman, and respectful of women!! I couldn't reconcile the two different Braden Mack characters.

I do recommend Undercover Bromance, and have high hopes for the next book in the series.

This was an improvement over the previous title which I decided not to finish due to lack of interest. This story, though a continuation, did manage to entertain me quite a bit more. The romance did get overshadowed, however I'll let it pass for the moral importance of that overshadowing plot line.

The Story in 4 Sentences or Less: Liv Papandreas’ job as a sous chef at the hottest Nashville restaurant is over and all because she confronted the celebrity chef owner after she caught him harassing a hostess. After being fired and blackballed from the restaurant scene, Liv wants revenge but knows she’ll need help to take on someone as popular and fake as this chef so she turns to Braden Mack. Aside from being popular with the ladies, Braden owns a nightclub and offers to help Liv expose her ex-boss for the rotten person he is, but Liv is suspicious of Braden’s motives to he has to call in his friends for help, aka the Bromance Book Club, basically they’re a group of men who read and enjoy romance novels. Helping Liv also lights a few sparks between her and Braden and with his buddies using their current read as inspiration, they’re not only trying to help Liv take down the chef, but help Braden get the girl of his dreams.








Like It? Hate it? Love it? Why? Guys who read romance novels, what an idea right? That’s what got my attention about Undercover Bromance. I missed the first book but was able to find my way around in this second book. While there were chuckles to be had, there were also some bumps and grumps along the way.


What I Liked:
The author has a talent for bringing out the humor in a situation. She doesn’t force events or characters to make something funny, they just happen. Even if it’s something kind of goofy. And it wasn’t just physical comedy either, there’s plenty of snark to go around which is what I find truly funny.

The concept of a group of men who get together and read romance novels is what drew me in. I was curious to see if and how that hobby would shape these guys and if they would differ from other male characters I’ve come across. Were they more romance minded? Did Braden have an easier time wooing Liv because he was more in touch with his emotions than perhaps a man who didn’t read romance? I think the author answered these questions and more in a way that made Undercover Bromance more than just another romance. And no, reading romance novels did not make Braden more knowledgeable in the love department. He tried to make real life fall into place like a romance novel and it just wasn’t working out. Part of the humor in the story actually came from him losing it because he just didn’t know how to win Liv over.


What I Didn’t Like:
Liv. Oh boy but I just couldn’t with this girl. She was just so unreasonable, pushy to the point of rude, and acts like she’s never wrong and even when she is she has “reasons.” I never really felt she took responsibility for her unlikable personality traits and she definitely didn’t grow into a better character for me. I found myself rolling my eyes through her scenes and her dialogue wishing Braden would just open his eyes and find someone better.


There’s a larger plot at work in the book that could have been done better. Liv and the guys in the book club are trying to expose Liv’s ex-boss for the sexual predator he is. So much attention is paid to this that the romance suffers as a result but with me not caring for Liv one bit, I didn’t mind. I was torn between whether to applaud the use of a sexual predator as a villain and going “Not Again” because sexual assault victims need and deserve justice even in fiction, but there were moments I felt that this conflict was more like a roundabout way to pat Liv on the back for confronting this man in the first place which I get but it should have been more about the victims and not Liv. It should have been fleshed out better to make a valid point but in a way that didn’t feel preachy and instead delivered a very real representation of sexual assault and the aftermath for the survivors. The book missed a chance to represent survivors.

Undercover Bromance is funny, but it’s also sugary cute to the point of hitting cavity city. If this book is meant to follow in the footsteps of those Hallmark movies, well it did on some levels but to me that’s not necessarily a good thing. I can’t stand those ridiculous movies.

And I liked Braden as a hero because for the most part he was a relatable kind of flawed but he had this thing he did that drove me nuts. He winked. A LOT. It irks me when male characters wink or when an author makes him “all knowing” where he gives off a lot of “knowingly” looks. There’s a slight element of him wanting to be patted on the back for not being a typical male, which made kind of made me question whether or not he meant all his charming words and actions or was he just acting the part so he could charm women into sleeping with him.


Click It or Skip It? Skip It. There were too many misses in this one for me to really enjoy it. The concept was great but the execution wasn’t.

I love this book! I feel very behind since I knew this book isn't the first one regarding the group of characters, and now I regret no having read the book before this one. I love this group of characters! They are an absolute joy to read. The dialogue is brilliant because it's very fiery and goes so with the flow that the book tries to set. Mack is such a dreamy main love interest, he's the originator of the guys romance book club and it reason why he makes it are so heart warming. I love that the book deals with the reality of non gender conforming and the realities that women can face in the work place in terms of women and predators and the injustice of it. It's a serious and heavy topic to handle, but I loved that while the book is a romance and about two people connecting,. it's also about the importance of equality and what that means in the eyes of societies.

❤️😎 BOOK REVIEW 😎❤️
.
I read THE BROMANCE BOOKCLUB last year and LOVED it! I found the idea of a bookclub for men that read romance novels to help their relationships both original and ingenious!
.
I also loved reading about a married couple, as that genre subcategory seems mostly underexplored. And, as a married woman with kids I could relate more to the characters.
.
@lyssakayadams newest book UNDERCOVER BROMANCE is completely different in that it follows Gavin’s best friend, playboy Braden Mack, and Thea’s sister, Liv, who takes Braden through a rollercoaster of emotions. These emotions surprise him and he turns to his friends and The Bromance Bookclub because these feelings are nothing like he has ever experienced before.
.
UNDERCOVER BROMANCE was just what I was needing in a book right now. A fun read with heart that showed to be a wonderful escape from the craziness in the world right now. This one was steamy but it had another amazing storyline and the sarcastic dialogue between Braden and Liv had me literally laughing out loud throughout the story.
.
If you have read THE BROMANCE BOOKCLUB, you will love this one and probably get a mad crush on Braden Mack. If you, haven’t I suggest you starting with THE BROMANCE BOOKCLUB because although they could be read as stand-alones the backstory is what makes this one so much better.
.
Now to try to patiently wait for BOOK 3- CRAZY STUPID BROMANCE which shows on @goodreads to be releasing October 27!!! Eeekkk!!
.
Both of these are available now! Thank you so much @berkleyromance @berkleypub {partners} for my gifted copy!
.
Have you read either of these or are they on your TBR??? 😍😍😍
.
.
.
.
#southernbellereading #bookqueen #bookstagram #reader #reading #bibliophile #bookworm #bookaddict #bookphotography #bookbabe #booksharks #booksparks #bookaholic #igreads #bookblog #mybookfeatures #instabooker #booklove #booksbooksbooks #readersofinstagram #readersgonnaread #booksofinstagram #pictureoftheday #bookishladiesclub #thebromancebookclub #undercoverbromance #berkleypublishing #lyssakayadams

First and foremost, if you're having an ok time reading this book (as I was), switch to the audiobook! You can thank me later. ⁣⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Secondly, I enjoyed the second half way more than the beginning of the book! Once Mack and Liv got past being annoyed with one another and started their flirty banter back and forth, I was all in. The had amazing chemistry.⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
They guys are still hilarious and I enjoy anytime they're on the page. I can't wait to read more about them in the future.⁣⁣

I didn’t like this one as much as the first one but this was still a solid read! I didn’t connect with Liv that much and I think that was part of the problem. The chemistry was lacking a bit also. Overall this was a decent one for me!

What a fun book to read! Unique character vantage and insight. I love the premise behind this book - how men will fight for love and with the full support of their friends.

It was Navessa’s 4 star review of the first book in this series that excited me for starting it. That was a long time ago, and I finally (with our goal of getting through our NetGalley list) decided to pick this one up.

And I see a very strong theme in these books. I haven’t read the first one, but this quote from Navessa’s review rings very true for Undercover Bromance as well:

[QUOTE] The main reason is because while Gavin’s character learns and evolves throughout the story, all of her character growth came towards the very end. [ENDQUOTE]

Switch the name Gavin for Mack and you’ve got the same thing happening here.

There were moments that I genuinely enjoyed Liv. I understood her desire for justice and to not want to let horrible men get away with the shit they’ve been getting away with for decades.

But those moments were small in the grand scheme of things. Because the truth is, Liv spent most of the book judging other women for what they did or did not do in response to sexual harassment, and rape. (For anyone wondering: it’s still rape when someone in a position of authority takes advantage of your inability to say no.)

Liv didn’t start recognizing her own faults until she’d hurt nearly every women she claimed to care about. Sometimes surviving is the only thing one can do. Being told you haven’t done enough to protect other women – when that guilt is likely already in the survivor’s mind – is NOT okay. Everyone, everyone, imagines how they would react in certain situations. And sometimes it’s even gut-wrenching to imagine it. But that’s easy compared to actually experiencing something and figuring out how to move forward with your life*. People are allowed to be concerned for themselves, their health, and their safety, too. And if that’s all they have the bandwidth for, then support the ones you love – don’t guilt them. They have enough of that already.

Add to the fact that Liv was a bit of a hypocrite, and it really didn’t sit well with me. That being said, she did recognize her hypocrisy – but it was very far at the end. I won’t say that she doesn’t have reasons for the way she feels and acts. We all have things in our past that affect the way we handle life and certain situations. Liv does, too. When she finally admits that her judgments were based on her own insecurities about herself, and goes about making things right, it made up for some of it.

Mack, on the other hand, was fantastic the whole way through. He had so much compassion and care in every little thing he did. If it took him a while to figure out that relationships aren’t perfect and take some work, despite reading romance novels, I forgave him that. Because he always learned, grew, and rolled with the changes love and life threw at him. His concern was always for the comfort of someone else. I loved the relationship between him and the other members of the Bromance Book Club – though I wish we could have seen more of the actual book club.

Liv had her heart in the right place. She honestly didn’t want women to be hurt, she wanted the perpetrator to pay, and she wanted to protect. And she grew a LOT by the end. She came away with a new understanding – not only of how to treat people around her, but of herself. This is what allows me to believe in the HEA between Liv and Mack.

Take this next bit with a YMMV thought, because humor rarely hits me well in books. I have a very dark, dry sense of humor that leans into sarcasm. Biting wit, I love. Most “comedy,” I do not. There were a lot of moments that I think were supposed to be funny in this book, but most of them didn’t ring right for me. Though the chicken stuff ALWAYS made me chuckle.

Also, just for informative purposes: vegan cheese IS NOT CHEESE. It does not cause issues in people who are lactose intolerant. There is NO lactose in vegan cheese. Lactose comes from milk. Vegan cheese, by definition of being vegan, has no milk in it. And there ends my vegetarian/lactose intolerant** fueled rant.

So, what do I rate this book? If I were rating it on just Mac and the Book Club, it’s a solid 5 stars. The rest … eh. Let’s go with 3 stars.

Footnotes:
*I was pressured by friends into coming forward once. And the pain of being disbelieved when I was still entrenched and believing of the “fault” of my own actions, haunted me for years. I know, with all my heart, that those friends honestly were trying to help. But it didn’t. It made me feel even more culpable. More at fault. Less like a victim and more like a woman accusing an innocent man.

**I am a vegetarian, for a multitude of reasons. I don’t really care what other people want to eat, I only care about my own choices. I also am lactose intolerant. And while I don’t drink dairy (cow milk is gross to me), I LOVE cheese. I grew up in Wisconsin and cheese is my comfort food – much like chocolate is for others. I love it. Now I limit myself to hard cheeses (the longer they’ve aged, the less lactose is in them) and know when to stop on softer cheeses. But I also use vegan cheese from time to time, because it’s good and it gives me no problems. It can be made from many things: soy, cashews, other seeds and nuts, nutritional yeast, and a list of others. But one thing that is definitely NOT in it: lactose. Which comes from milk.