The idea of this book is fun; a book club for men who read romances to improve their relationships. It’s interesting to have a male lead in a hetero romance book too, you don’t see that very often.

But unfortunately I found the main characters a little unlikable. They are both a bit foolish, and the whole plot is based on their inability to communicate. Misunderstandings and dramatic storm-outs are rife, and to add to that it was a little too steamy for my taste, it overtook the plot.

Another thing I struggled with was the regency era chapters interspaced within this book. The plot of those chapters was so similar to the plot of the main book that it felt like I was reading each chapter twice. I found myself skim reading a few of these.

This book didn’t quite hit expectations for me so I won’t be continuing on with the series. But it was interesting to read something unique and a little bit different

I do not usually read romance but I was intrigued by this one. I'm so pleased I've now read it and can't believe I put it off for so long. I loved the relationships in this book both within the bookclub, the romantic relationships and the sibling relationships.

The book within a book trope is also a favourite of mine. This was brilliant for a quick to read and steamy romance.

I enjoyed this book so much more than I expected to! The premise is brilliant and the execution lives up to it - super masculine men reading romances together and analysing them for how feminist and sexy they are? It's genuinely hilarious.

The fact it is based around men figuring out why women read romance also means that the book itself is heavily geared towards having strong plot lines, relationships and backstory - this is a book that doesn't shy away from being a realistic interpretation of a relationship in the midst of going wrong in order to fill itself with gratuitous scenes instead. Gavin and Thea are brilliant because they are both flawed and seeing them work through their issues and come out stronger for it was lovely.

I read this in two sittings. It made me laugh and kept me entertained when I had a very sore knee and couldn't get up off the sofa. A fantastic mood buster that gains extra points for sentistively depicting the difficulties faced by those with a speech impairment.

Really struggled with this book . Didn’t really like any of the characters there was none that felt swoon worthy to me. I just couldn’t imagine guys doing this . Thea is just horrible needs to make up her mimd

The Bromance Book Club is a story of Gavin, a popular baseball player, whose marriage is falling apart. After seeking help from his teammates, they introduce him to their secret book club. Designated to help with repairing broken partnerships, the club meets to read trashy romance novels to understand what women want. Even though Gavin is a bit sceptical at the beginning, he knows there is much more to lose than his manly pride.

I must say that I have enjoyed The Bromance Book Club much more than I have expected. The characters of Gavin and Thea are well written and relatable, I liked their development individually as well as together. There were many parts where I was laughing out loud, completely invested in the story I was reading. I think that the storyline moved in a great direction and with an appropriate speed.

Overall, a highly addictive romance book that shows the difference in thinking between men and women and how understanding these differences can help in partnerships. I would recommend for anyone who wants a quick, hilarious read with a little bit of twist to it.

I loved the originality of this story. Where romance tropes can and do get tiring after a while. this one kept me going. I liked that the couple in question were already married and husband was feeling fooling for not giving his wife mind-blowing orgasms. Which she'd been faking. But it culminates when she asks for a divorce and he doesn't want one. So in come his fellow teammates and other sports stars to help him 'romance' his wife. Interesting story, very well done. The Bromance Book club is a witty idea.

What a fabulous concept The Bromance Book Club is, so unique and clever.

For its a book club made up solely of Nashville's most top men from all walks of life, who read romance novels, to use them as instructional guides in how to understand and treat women.

Gavin is a top baseball player, has just had a wonderful season, and discovers his wife Thea has always faked it, and his reaction to that causes big damage to their marriage. Some of his teammates are in the book club and they initiate him into it, and use a certain regency romance novel to try to get Thea to fall in love with him again.

As a result we as readers are treated to not only Gavin and Thea's story, but also extracts from this book that he is using, and you can see how fiction parallels life in this!

I loved that this book was written predominately with the focus on Gavin, the hapless sweet man who is eager to learn the ways of the woman! Thea is lovely and I enjoyed the character development from her side, and their toddler twins, Amelia and Ava are adorable (most of the time).

I'm also very happy to read a book that features a sexy Baseball player, but in the off season, so we didn't have too much actual baseball in the book, as it is one of the few sports that doesn't hold my interest!

I loved the various dynamics in this book and the whole way it was written. I found its a quick and delightful story to read, and I'm already looking forward to seeing what the next Bromance book club book in the series will bring us.

Thank you to Headline and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

A fantastic book!! I loved the different take on the romance. I loved that these big, strong men were taking the time to read romance. I loved the writing style, and the flicking back and forth between Gavin and Thea. Their chemistry was an instant hit for me.

This book was so much fun! The Bromance Book Club is exactly the kind of heart-warming content I needed after a succession of melancholic, gloomy reads. It was fast-paced and engaging from the outset, and I flew through it in just a few hours. Gavin’s quest to salvage his marriage sees him receive an induction into a book club full of guys trying to learn something from romance novels. Too often, romance novels are disregarded and looked down upon as trivial. Yet, in this book alone, they lead to discussions of toxic masculinity and how it is important for men, as well as women, to open up. Yes, the ending is predictable, but it by no means detracts from the enjoyment of the book. This was pure entertainment, and I look forward to reading the sequel!

I loved it! Thankfully, I had the important notes written up for this one. Not that I needed too many because this book was good enough that my book amnesia didn’t strike and I still remember the good stuff (which means this was definitely a good book).

As soon as I began this book I knew I was onto a winner. The hype was not wrong. The characters. The story. The writing style. Everything worked for me with this one. I know that's boring to hear but it's the truth. This book didn't take a single misstep for me. I worried that the analysing of the romance novel structure to navigate the romance of this book would grate and make this even more predictable than the typical romance or take me out of the book too much but in never did.

This both has an excellent romance and celebrates the love of Gavin and Thea and why they should most definitely not give up on their marriage. But it also celebrates the brilliance that is the romance genre and the joy it brings to many a woman but also the fact they are strong feminist reads that are harshly judged simply because a large part of the female population enjoys them and if it's popular and consumed by women it must be bad (that is a whole other rant to have and one which other people have done far better than I ever could).

I was falling in love with Gavin from the first time he was stuttering and heartbroken over his wife asking for a divorce (yep, you read that right, divorce is on the table with this one so it’s a high stakes romance). He was far too easy to love. He was a husband head over heels for his wife. He was an excellent father who so obviously loved his daughters. And he was a man terrified of failing at his marriage and being unloved and losing the person he adored and would do anything for. I couldn't not like him. Thea was a harder sell. I understood her many hang-ups and why she was so adamant that she wanted a divorce after Gavin's numerous failures to be a good husband but her stubbornness and unwillingness to forgive made it slower for me to love her. She was hard and put up a wall and as you learn her backstory you realise where she’s coming from. Does it justify her being so harsh on Gavin? Maybe not, but you come to see until she tackles some of her past no matter what Gavin does she would never forgive him and take him back. I was dying for her to give him a second chance and it was so much fun to see her slowly breaking her walls down for Gavin and realising that she could move forward as a person and still keep her loving husband. The two things were not mutually exclusive. It took her a while to reach that realisation. They could both support each other on their career paths and her life didn't need to be left on hold any longer.

The secondary characters in this book were spectacular as well. I hated Mack right along with Gavin initially but as the book progressed I loved his sassy comments and just his whole character. He added lighter moments when things were getting a bit tense and this book wouldn't have been the same without him. and Gavin and Thea's daughters Ava and Amelia! I normally am very wary of kids in romance as they never feel real. Nothing felt more real than those pair throwing up after overeating at Thanksgiving.

I loved reading the dissection of romance novels by these menly men. Sports players are like the epitome of alpha male so seeing them breaking the stereotype with their book club was great and talking about romance novels so seriously just had me smiling. I had so many scenes highlighted from when the book club was meeting up because these guys together were the best.

I cannot say enough good things. I pre-ordered my ebook copy and I need to get me a paperback copy for my shelf too. This way I can force all of my friends to read this book too. It’s one which deserves to be shared. Now I just need to get around to reading the second book because it’s been waiting on my Kindle forever.

Final thoughts: where can I find me a man to read romance novels with in bed? Folks who read romance together stay together.

This book was an absolute delight to read! I honestly don't know why it took me so long to pick it up because this was fantastic. I loved reading from the perspective of a married couple with kids, which is not that common in New Adult Romance. The book club was so endearing and realistic. It was also refreshing to read about a couple having intimacy problems because that is such a taboo things that people refuse to discuss and yet it affects most couples. Overall, one of my all time favourite romance books.

An enjoyable romance novel. An original plot using, in part, the male characters voice to tell the story of Gavin and Thea.

"The first rule of book club: You don't talk about book club"

THIS BOOK WAS SO MUCH FUN!!

Gavin is a baseball legend and achieved the big grand slam in the last game, however the day soon turned cloudy when it turn out his wife Thea has been faking the big O for most of their marriage, Gavin doesn't take too kindly to this and ends up leaving prompting Thea to ask for a divorce. We follow Gavin as he wakes up drunk in a friends basement, telling the guys what has happened they initiate him into their top secret book club, but this isn't your normal book club, this is a book club devoted purely to regency romance, the guys kind of use these as their manuals on how to understand women, they supply Gavin with a book and tell him to use it to win back Thea, he has until Christmas, will he be able to find something within the pages of the books to repair his fractured marriage and maybe repair himself while he is at it?

I loved this, it was so much fun and just what I needed to take my mind off everything that is currently going on. I loved every single character in his book even the side characters and found myself rooting for Gavin the whole time, I felt such a well of emotions from pure joy, anger, frustration and joy, I found myself laughing out loud several times. I also loved the book within the book aspect of this and loved reading the duke and duchess story too.

I really loved this book it was such a breath of fresh air and I can't wait to continue on with the series!.

As one of the most-anticipated books in Romancelandia, I had high hopes going into The Bromance Book Club - and I wasn't disappointed. It's a true romcom, with plenty of hilarious moments, without scrimping on the heart and the depth.

When Gavin's wife kicks him out of the house, he's miserable but his teammates soon come to the rescue with an unusual solution - reading a romance novel. The juxtaposition of the chapters of the historical romance with Gavin's story as he attempts to woo back his wife is delightful. Both characters go through a lot of growth, becoming more self-aware and communicating better with each other - which isn't something you often get to see in love stories.

This is a very self-aware book, poking fun at romance from 'inside the house' - it's good-natured and so fun for a regular romance reader, without slipping into parody or satire. Listening to a group of men discuss romance novels, toxic masculinity and their emotions was a real treat - if only The Bromance Book Club was real!

This is more like 3.5 stars which I've rounded up because overall, I really enjoyed this book.
So, this follows Gavin, who is a professional baseball player who is trying to fix his relationship with his wife Thea. Yes, you heard that! A book about fixing a relationship that already exists and not 2 people coming together! That was one of the things that I really enjoyed about this book was that we got to see a re-kindling of love between a couple and not starting a new couple. There was also a lot of banter between Gavin and his team mates which I enjoyed too.
The other thing I really loved was the obvious - the fact that Gavin and his 'bros' have a book club where they read romance books which are stereotypically not read by men, in order to try and help fix their relationships or keep the spark alive in their relationships.
Now, there were clearly a lot of plot points that just felt really forced and engineered in order to help further the plot in the book and some of it just seemed so unnecessary and had me sighing at the book. I also found some of the interactions between Gavin and Thea, and Thea and Liz (her sister) annoying at times.
Overall this is a fun rom com that I definitely enjoyed and I’m looking forward to the next book!

1.5 stars from me.

This book was different to what I expected.

For starters, I think I liked the idea of this book more than the actual book. It wasnt as funny as I was expecting and it held much emotion between Gavin and his wife. I wanted a but more of a laugh. Some of it was a little forced with Gavin calling Benedict silly names and what not, saying these strange words (supposed to be british?)

Also, another problem was Thea.
I didn't like her at all.
Mostly because she blames Gavin for the problems in their marriage when I'm struggling to understand why. What did be actually do to be branded a bad husband? He is constantly put down, made out to be the bad guy, when he is simply trying his hardest. Thea is walking around like some kind of queen when she is actually the one to blame. Lying all this time, not communicating, being secretive. Didnt like her at all. It's frustrating reading a book when a character is constantly slagging off a character - everyone agrees - and you're like ???
Playing victim isn't going to work Thea, you're the one in the wrong.

And her sister is the WORST. I didnt see her purpose in this book at all, she was just so angry all the time. Like Thea, blaming him for everything when I couldn't work out what the poor bloke had done. She treat him as if he'd cheated or murdered someone. Calm down?

And his friends, I couldn't even fathom who was who, they were all basically the same.

The Book Club was hardly in it too. And when it was, it was a little bland. The literally just chat for 5 minutes about how Gavin is failing at getting Thea and that's it. They'd move on.

The parts with the romance book in it wasn't needed either. I started to skip those.

The girls were sweet though, and I liked Gavin. I also feel bad for him because even one of his daughters is a bit off with him. He hasn't done anything wrong. I flew threw this pretty quick, the pacing was good.

Like I said, I prefer the idea of this book. It wasn't executed as well as I was expecting. There were many errors in the ebook but i can understand it's an ARC ebook.
I just wish it was more about a book club and less about Thea!

I think the concept of this is good, maybe it would work better as a movie? Although I am in the majority, people seem to have enjoyed it more than me (which I'm glad about!)

Gavin Scott is a man with everything … or so he thinks. After a triumphant night leads to the unexpected breakdown of his marriage, he is set adrift. And at his lowest is when he finds a group of men to pick him back up, and support him in regaining everything he's lost …

The Bromance Book Club is one of those easy reads that just doesn't seem long enough! I sat down with dinner to read the first chapter, and before I knew it, the book was over and it was 1am. The best bit is? I have no regrets.

A heady mix of funny, smart and sexy, this story has everything. Characters you root for and commiserate with, situations you relate to, and just enough predictability to be assured of a happy ending, I already want to pick it up and read it all over again. Now to get my hands on the sequel!

Some people could like this, but I could not cope with the female love interest. She annoyed the life out of me and her reasoning was generally idiotic and felt bad for Gavin as he really loved her and wanted to make it work. This could've all been avoided if Thea would've been honest with him and herself most of all.

Unfortunately, I loved more the idea of the book than the execution of it, and could not force myself to finish it as I could not stand Thea's viewpoint anymore.

This was great. Funny, insightful, a little bit unbelievable and great fun.

Gavin is a rich, successful professional baseball player. He is married to Thea, artistic, capable, but damaged, who is fed up of feeling as if she is failing in her attempt to fit in to the WAGs club, and losing her sense of self in her marriage to Gavin.

When he realises that Thea has been faking in bed, this destroys his confidence, and takes Gavin back to the tongue tied, stammering teenager he used to be, and he retreats from Thea in pain.

The book opens when Thea has asked for a divorce, and is coping with their twin girls, and is trying to process her feelings about it. Gavin is still hopelessly in love with her, but doesn’t know how to put it right.

Enter stage left, the lad squad, charging to the rescue. Gavin’s team mates, happily married Del, the irritatingly gorgeous and single ladies man Mack, Yan and Vlad, otherwise known as the Russian, pick Gavin up, and introduce him to their romance book club.

The men use romance novels (written for women, by women) for insight and tips on how to understand the women in their lives, and use a historical romance called Courting the Countess, as a blueprint to coach Gavin into winning Thea back.

The men and their banter were definitely the comic relief in this novel, wrapped up with lots of accurate insight into romance novels, and relationships in general. “We read them to be more comfortable expressing ourselves and to look at things from their perspective”. I loved these bits of insight. Especially the part where they say that historical romance is used as a proxy by modern authors to explore limitations placed on women, personally and professionally in contemporary society.

As Gavin slowly and painfully works his way through the courting advice with Thea, he comes to realise that he was too focused on his career at the expense of his relationship with Thea, and pulling his weight with his girls. That he has been oblivious to how badly Thea has been treated by many of the WAG’s of his team members, and how he was t paying attention to what Thea needed from him, inside or outside the bedroom.

Thea is damaged by her past. Her dad was emotionally absent throughout her childhood, and is just about to embark on his fourth marriage. Her mum was also emotionally and physically distant throughout her childhood, and Thea fears her judgement on the breakdown of her marriage, and her belief that Thea trapped Gavin into marriage by getting pregnant. What i really loved about this book, was that there was a shared responsibility for the misunderstandings and problems in their marriage, and that they both worked through the angst and finally came together for their HEA. As Gavin developed his emotional intelligence- he realised he couldn’t let Thea off the hook. She needed to face up to her past too, if they were going to be able to have a true HEA.

The relationship between Thea and her sister Liz was also nicely judged, and I am excited by the teaser of a coming relationship between the feisty Liz and the drop dead gorgeous Mack.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and all opinions are my own.

Also posted on Goodreads.

This book has a very interesting and cute premise. I really enjoyed it. It was fun and entertaining.
Well written, and I liked the characters.
Cute, rom-com when you want to have fun.

thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.