ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

TRIGGER WARNING: rape, rape culture, toxic masculinity, sexism

Ugh, I really hate it when I have to say I couldn't really get into this one.

It's a shame too since I'm such a romance and contemporary fan. Hand me a super cheesy fluffy YA and I'll be all over it with 5 star reviews flooding your Goodreads feed. Unfortunately, as much as I love YA romance, I draw the line when things get too predictable for me. When I can see something coming from the start and can already work out how it ends, a three star rating is the highest you'll be getting from me. Especially if you don't subvert my expectations with a completely original plot twist!

That's what happened in The Bro Code. I, for starters, couldn't get into it for some reason. There were pop culture references galore which I appreciated (especially when it came to Mrs Doubtfire, my favourite movie) but I couldn't get past the dialogue between the characters who said lines repetitively like "bros before hoes" which was said so many times I inwardly cringed. I just couldn't relate with the characters and I didn't really like their dialogue either. There also were mentions of things to do with rape culture, #metoo and toxic masculinity that sometimes were glazed over by the characters. The characters also seemed to be really shallow too if you couldn't tell from the aforementioned motto. At times I didn't mind the banter between Austin, Carter, Josh and Nick, but it didn't excuse their jerk-like behaviour.

With Nick, it felt super insta-lovey when he fell in love with Eliza after she returned back from a school exchange to Australia. Everything went quickly from there. Although I loved the forbidden romance trope the author interweaved in this, I couldn't appreciate it as much as I could've because of everything that happened with the other characters and the predictability of the novel.

ACTUAL RATING: 2.4 STARS

I really wanted to like this book but it just wasn't for me. The male perspective wasn't fresh or exciting, just feel directly into sexist remarks and weird outdated beliefs.

This was good, I expected more to be truth.I find the beginning slow and I couldn't get into this , it took me a lot of time, but I find it sweet and cute!

The Bro Code
Author: Elizabeth A Seibert
Genre: YA Romance/Contemporary
Rating: ⭐️ / 5
Reviewed: Maya

- PLEASE BE AWARE THAT I DID NOT FINISH THIS BOOK -
I found this an unbearable read because of the writing and robotic conversations. I only made it to 3% before I realised that I literally would not be able to contain myself from throwing my Kindle at the wall. Teenagers don’t talk like that. EVER. We don’t call each other ‘dude’ in every sentence or have codes because it’s real life, not a cheesy American movie. If an author wants to write a book about teenagers, please listen to teenagers, read some YA and then reconsider your idea. I never got far enough to read about the actual plot, but from other reviews I’ve seen that many sensitive topics were very poorly handled and some of the inexcusable behaviour was excused, which is definitely not okay with me. I do not recommend picking this book because of the “writing” and the cringey dialogue - some great YA romance/contemporaries to read would be the Henna Wars, Alma Underwood is Not a Kleptomaniac, Everything, Everything and Autoboyography.

This review will not be published on Instagram because it was unfinished, but will be posted to our Goodreads to give our fair review. The link will be added when this is available.

I am not sure if it's just because I received an uncorrected proof, but overall the layout was very confusing. I think I would much rather read this in a physical copy than an e-book review copy. It was so hard to figure out what was going on, and it jumped around a lot. Overall it wasn't a bad book. Nothing that drew me in or made me want to keep reading this story. It was a cute romance story and that's what I kind of expected.

This one was a bit of a struggle for me to get through, but I wanted it to get better so I kept going. I wanted it to show more growth for the boys as they realized how immature they were being, but instead I found it pretty repetitive and not what I was hoping it would be. That would have been fine if it was unexpected in a good way, but it was just a bit too predictable and cheesy, with some terrible “good ole boy” behavior.

I was hoping that it would bring back some fun, relatable high school vibes, but instead I just wanted to get to the end of the book. It had some light and funny parts that I enjoyed, but it wasn’t a book I loved.

The Bro Code is a story about choosing between love and friendship. Nick, Carter and Austin are best friends. They truly follow 'the bro code' and are confident that none of them will ever break it. When Carter's sister, Eliza, returns from Australia, Nick is in big trouble. Why? Because he pretty much falls in love with her and according to the bro code, a girl is forever off limits when she's either a bro's ex-girlfriend or your bro's sister.

While I was excited to read a story from a guy's POV, The Bro Code unfortunately wasn't for me. The premise of the story seemed to be fun, but turned out to be too predictable and repetitive. I also couldn't connect with any of the characters which is a huge bummer. At times I felt way too irritable by various characters misogynistic interactions. The pacing was a bit too slow and there didn't really seem to be any excitement in the story. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this story as much as I thought I would.

Debut that covers tough topics! The book covers includes a big cast of interesting characters. I really enjoy the cover as well!

Thank you netgalley for allowing me to read this early. I have never read anything by this author so i was excited when I was granted access. I loved how humorous this was, despite the slow start.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really didn't enjoy reading this book, and so did not finish the entire thing, it was incredibly sexist and misogynistic and I don't wish to read any more.

A slow build that is surprisingly full of humor and spunk. It was interesting to read from the guys POV and quite honestly I’m here for it! It provided a new type of books for me to go and hunt out. While I wasn’t in love with the book and overall flow of it, I do feel like it was run just like a guys head would be. I’m interested to see what this author brings to the table in the future.

I enjoyed reading this novel, it made me laugh numerous times! I loved the super sarcastic and funny writing. I adored the witty and funny internal dialogue of the narrator. It was interesting to read this YA romcom from the perspective of a guy since that rarely happens. I did feel like the story progression didn't feel very natural. I felt like the author was just trying to insert different storylines and hoped they would go together, but it felt a little forced to me. Overall, I enjoyed the banter and voice from this quirky read. It wouldn't be a novel I recommend for others to read since it fell a little short for me compared to other books in the genre. I would give it a 3.5 stars but will round up to 4 stars on rating scales.

It might be the first book I´ve ever read that is solely from the boys point of view, it was surprising but well written! It was better than expected, I liked the development and most of the plot. I immediately ordered it for my YA shelf at work, it´s so nice to have a romance from boys pov to recommend!

While I try not to be too critical of Wattpad books, I just found this one wasn’t for me. Usually what pulls me in when it comes to cheesier (not a bad thing) stories are the witty main characters and chemistry between them, but I found this fell flat on both fronts. I didn’t think Nick was particularly charming and I didn’t believe the romance. I might have loved it when I was 14 and reading Wattpad stories obsessively, but as a 20 year old I can’t say I’m a fan of this particular one.

To be honest I had a really hard time making it through this book. I got about 3/4 of the way through and then couldn't take it anymore. I like to put a positive spin on reviews, but I had such a struggle connecting with the characters that I just couldn't. The main character was not that interesting and I just couldn't get behind him. The storyline was semi interesting but the characters just didn't move it along well enough.

I'll be honest I really wanted to love this book but for some reason it just didn't click with me. I get the whole bro-code concept and was really hoping to love this since I love cheesy YA romances from time to time but it just fell flat, the characters annoyed me a bit & it the book just seemed to dragged to me.

The Bro Code was a fun read! Unconventional formatting that engaged me as a reader. The characters were detailed and the relationships between them really shined. There were some bro code tropes that appeared that I was unsure about but necessary to draw the whole story together in the end. The romantic elements were great, perhaps a little undeveloped. Another really great novel out of the Wattpad Books realm. One surprise element that really stood out for me, as a reader, was the use of a male protagonist in a romance genre book. I have come across this much but it was a nice change from my usual reading.

I liked this book, although the beginning started off very slow for me. It brought me back to those highschool days and made me imagine how life would have been in an American High School.

I liked how the characters changed for the better, however, I wish that he would have seen that he needed to change on his own. I think it is a good book when you start to hate a character, it means it is well-written!

Overall, this book was good, if you need a quick read between your usual reads.

This one just didn't do it for me. From the title I was expecting a bit more humour but I just didn't feel it. The whole 'bro' phrase was repeated annoyingly throughout the book and it just felt a bit childish. I get that it's set in senior year high school but it almost felt like it was about a set of stoned teenagers rather than a group of boys who are approaching adulthood and about to go off to college. The main players just felt a bit immature. Maybe it's because I've been reading alot of college romances lately that I felt this way or maybe I'm just outgrowing high school romance. Brothers best friend is one of my favourite tropes and I wanted to love it but sadly didn't

I think I am too old for this book. I am a huge fan of YA novels but I couldn’t quite connect with this one. It may have been the overuse of The Bro Code and the rules of
The Bro Code. The beginning half of the book started very slow but picked up by the end.

This is a story mainly about Nick, Austin, Carter, and Carter’s sister, Eliza. Nick’s childhood crush on Eliza seems to grow when she returns from Australia but he can’t date another “bro’s” sister. There are a few other characters, including Mackenzie, but they never quite make an impression. I did not enjoy how Mackenzie was treated by any of the characters.

It touches on some serious issues: consent, misogyny, and homophobia but doesn’t dig deep into any of these themes, it touches on them lightly but could have done more to speak about them in a more serious manner. There wasn’t enough accountability for anyone’s actions.

I think if I was younger I may have enjoyed this book more than I did. It took me quite awhile to get through this book.