One of OprahMag.com’s Best Romances of 2020 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 … 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.
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I listen to the audio version of this book. Wonderful reader an excellent story.
Another great story by Lyssa Kay Adams. The first book in the Bromance series was fantastic, and I immediately got this story.
I love the humor and heart of Adam’s stories, but what really captures my heart is the men. I adore how they lean on each other, help each other through difficult emotional issues. There is still that idea that men have to be stoic, to hold in their hurts and emotions. In Adams’s books, on the outside, the men all seem like they typical Alpha males. Professional athletes, powerful club owners, etc. On the inside, they are kind and caring to their women and friends. It makes for a refreshing read, and I also hope this attitude will shift over more into real life.
I love this book, and I’m already checking out the next story.
Fun play on enemies to lovers trope when that’s his favorite genre.
Undercover Bromance is the second book in Lyssa Kay Adams Bromance Book Club series. If you read the first book, you would’ve been introduced to this book’s main characters. I was looking forward to reading this book because I wanted to find out who Mack would end up within his book. After finding out who she was, I was even more fully invested. Liv is one female character who won’t be won over by Mack’s charms. He is the Bromance Book Club founder and supposedly knows how to win over a woman until he meets Liv.
Female Protagonist: Liv Papandreas is a successful pastry chef working at a high-end restaurant. She’s the sister of the female protagonist of the first book. She tends to stick up for her sister and all women. She also is stubborn when she needs help. She wants to take care of everything herself. She manages to hurt herself in the long run, though. I was not a fan of her character. She did certain things that drove me crazy, but I’ll go into it below in the storyline. (She also lives on a farm with two secondary characters that won me over more than Liv.)
Male Protagonist: Braden Mack is a club/bar owner. He’s also the founder of the ‘Bromance Book Club.’ He’s from a broken family, and readers will get his back story, which is a tough one. I felt for Braden. I wanted to go through the book and give him a big hug for what he’s been through in life. He’s a true Alpha male who is very protective of who he cares for, and readers will find out how he came about to reading romance books. I loved his character.
Storyline: The story starts with Mack wanting to impress the girl he’s been dating. He ends up at the restaurant that Liv works at and gets her in trouble with her boss. He feels bad. Liv, though, can handle it until she finds out her boss is harassing the hostess and gets fired when she confronts him. Mack is determined more than ever to help Liv after finding out what happened. He also will try to assist Liv in assisting the hostess that was harassed by her former boss. It’s going to be hard for these two to not fall in love with each other. They love to go back and forth and bicker with each other. There’s no doubt when these two finally get together, and it will be explosive. The story does involve sexual harassment/assault elements in it. One of the most significant issues I had with the story is how Liv handled the situation with the hostess initially and toward the end after finding out that other women have been harassed/assaulted. There was also the issue of how Liv handled finding out about Mack’s past. She couldn’t be supportive. I did like how Lyssa Kay Adams ended the book. (I won’t go into details because I don’t want to spoil it.)
Steaminess: Some steam.
Standalone or Series: Part of series, but each can be read as a standalone.
HEA: Yes
Trope: Enemies to Lovers (My favorite trope)
Would I recommend this book? Overall, this book only got 3.5-stars, but that doesn’t mean other readers won’t give it a higher rating. Even though this book wasn’t my favorite in the series, I will continue to read this series, especially after finding who is in the next book. If you are a fan of Contemporary Romance that involves a group of athletes, entrepreneurs, etc. that are in a Romance (Bromance) Book Club, then this book is for you.
My favorite scenes in the book ended with the Rooster ‘Randy’ attacking any male in the story, especially Mack. It was too funny because I have roosters/chickens myself and have witnessed Roosters being aggressive. I even had aggressive chickens. No one comes onto our property without an announcement.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher, Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I enjoyed this audio book. It was interesting to have it read by a man doing all the voices; at first it was kind of weird to hear the female lead character voiced by Andrew Eiden. I had to get used to it in order to immerse myself in the story. For me, that was the only slight drawback to the audio version of this book. It was a great story about a Celebrity chef, Royce, that’s full of himself and preys on the weak and defenseless women that work for him. One woman, Olivia “Liv” Papandreas has a different idea after catching him intimidating and harassing the newest hostess at the restaurant, where she is the pastry chef. Then Braden Mack gets into the mix when Liv accidentally drops a cupcake on his dinner date; while at the restaurant. A series of unfortunate events finds Liv getting fired from her pastry chef job. Liv decides she’s going to see Royce pay for all his harassment and intimidation. Mack figures he got Liv fired after the cupcake incident and feels responsible; so he said he’d help her anyway he can. In addition to this, Mack and his buddies are part of a book club that reads romance novels, as a way to try to figure out relationships. Together Mack and Liv try to navigate the high road in attempting to prove what Royce has done. Unfortunately, Royce has all his employees sign non-disclosure forms that keeps the women from talking. Mack calls on his “bromance” buddies in order to set-up a sting operation along with Liv. Will they be able to catch Royce red-handed or will they all go down in flames.
Great characters, seamless writing and a rich story. This book contains profanity and sex scenes; so if your a bit prudish, this may not be the story for you.
This book/series is genius! Imagine romance novels about romance novels, its different tropes, and the men who read them and live out their love lives based on them. This one is an enemies to lovers romance, which coincidentally, Mack prefers reading. His relationship with Liv follows the trope from beginning to end. The animosity. The sexual tension. The melting point. And the coming back together. And through it all, Mack’s Bromance Book Club is there to guide him along the way.
Swoon
Gahhhhhh Braden Mack is everything!!! I wasn’t a huge fan of Liv in book one but I loved her in this one. She makes so much more sense to me now. This book club is definitely a favorite! I can’t wait for the next one!
As always, there’s wit and banter, dynamic and endearing characters, great writing, AND an original, relevant plot. 🙂 It particularly love that we learn WHY and HOW Mac started the book club.
This is the story of Braden Mack, the founder of the Bromance Book Club and Olivia ‘Liv’ Papandreas, the feisty pastry chef he met in the first book of the series.
Liv doesn’t like Mack and is not fond of men in general due to her family history, but when Mack takes a date to the restaurant she works at and she ends the night getting fired, they’ll teem up to fix a lot of wrongs and this unexpected partnership will bring them closer than she’s comfortable with.
Undercover Bromance is a good, fresh read with a heavy background for both the characters and the sensitive subject the author chose to have as backdrop. The end product is the story of a man who has been carrying a damaging secret most of his life and a woman who learned not to trust men from an early age and how they come together under quite unseemly circumstances.
In all honesty, I enjoyed this book more than the first one and can’t wait for the next adventure of the BBC members and the ladies in their lives.
When I first read The Bromance Book Club, I immediately loved how brash and bold Braden Mack was. I love a hero who is confident and so full of himself and Mack is definitely all of those things. The setup/chemistry between Mack and Liv was definitely there even in Bromance Book Club and I couldn’t wait to see how Lyssa Kay Adams would show us more of these two interacting.
Liv is a pastry chef at a famous restaurant, but the owner Royce is a complete jerk. Not only does he terrorize the staff, but he also harasses the young women who work for him. After Liv catches Royce trying to put the moves on a young hostess, she makes a plan. She’s had enough, quits and decides to take him down. This is where Mack enters the scene. He kind of accidentally got Liv in trouble in the first place (super funny scene) and to make up for it he’s decided to help her with her plan to take down Royce.
Undercover Bromance was a classic enemies to lovers trope with a side of romantic suspense and I really enjoyed it! There were so many parts of this book that had me laughing out loud (talk about chickens), but also moments that had me swooning on behalf of both Liv and Mack. These two are so tough and so cocky, but underneath they are both vulnerable. When they let their guard down, it had my heart catching. I’ve highlighted so many sweet moments between Liv and Mack. Mack comes across as this macho, tough guy but he’s such a sweet softie and I loved that.
I will admit that it was a bit predictable at times and there was a bit of insta-love between Liv and Mack, but I still really enjoyed it. The book club meetings with the bros were so funny! I really loved the addition of Rosie and Hop too. I hope we’ll get to see the bromance book club guys again soon!
I read a complimentary copy of this book
I fell in love with Lyssa Kay Adam’s writing in The Bromance Book Club last year and the love is still going strong after finishing Undercover Bromance. I quickly became invested in the story, loved the dialogue, and characters (particularly the men) are so loveable! I adore hot mushy heroes who are in touch with their feelings and not afraid to show their emotions! On top of all that, there were lots of laughs along the way. I’m already looking forward to book 3 and am thrilled to know there are several more books to come in this fabulous series.
I really enjoyed and liked this book. When I started reading other reviews and realized what was different from the first (I have short term memory problems), I was slightly disappointed. I remembered what a huge part the romance novel played in the plot in the first book and wish that this one had been more like the first.
I didn’t have issues with Olivia like a lot of readers did. She obviously had a past that made it hard for her to trust and love. I think it made her coming to love Mack even sweeter. I really enjoyed the book.
How cute was this book! Lyssa Kay Adams out did her self with Undercover Bromance book two in the Bromance Book Club series.
Book one, The Bromance Book Club, was the cake but book two was the icing the toppings the drizzle and the cherries. If your into putting cherries on top of cakes.
I haven’t laughed this much since I read The Unhoneymooners back in 2019. When I mean I laughed, I laughed at every turn of the page.
If I had to describe the book with a few words or even a sentence it would be…. cheesy farts, chicken vaginas, and “undercover spies.”
Why would any one talk about chicken vaginas or even chickens having sex. I don’t know but I laughed so hard.
We all do look up what things are or what they mean when we don’t understand. so I’m going to tell you if your curious how chickens have sex don’t look up the video. its weird and its literally 30 seconds you will not get back of you life. lol
I know that Lyssa Kay Adams is coming out with book three and I’m very excited. I haven’t read whose story it is but I’m really hoping its Vlad’s aka The Russian. I would love to read his story. I can only imagine the awkwardness. Kind of like when Dracula (Adam Sandler)(Hotel Transylvania 3) eats garlic guacamole in front of Ericka and farts.
I finally finished this book and it did not disappoint!!!!! 5 stars definitely!!!!
In this sequel, we follow two main characters that appeared as secondary characters in the first book, Liv and Mack, and I couldn’t have been more excited because I adored those two. It is an enemies to lovers romance and I enjoy that troupe a lot of executed well!!!!
Liv is the most feistiest character that I’ve ever read and I love reading angry characters because I connect to them the most. She has trouble trusting men and this is when Mack comes into the picture.
Mack is just amazing!!!! He was my favorite character in the first book because he is the flirty comedic relief that I enjoy reading about. And of course, Liv is not here for it so will Mack be able to capture her heart and get her to trust him? You shall read and see because you are in for a treat!!!!!
The romance was everything I expected and even more and I was pleasantly surprised how deep both the characters and their relationship is. There were of course funny moments but there are other things going on.
Speaking of other things, this book is darker compared to the first book. It tackles the topic of sexual assault and there were deep messages on toxic masculinity and how it (of course) toxic and I loved that!!!!!
This book also featured two new characters, Alexis and Noah, which I enjoyed reading and am so excited for their story in the next book. I am wondering how this will work out since they haven’t met face to face in this book. We also got more of Vlad (aka the Russian) in this book and I NEED A BOOK WHERE HE IS A MAIN CHARACTER!!!!!!
I love the friendship group (aka the bromance book club) between the guys. It’s just so heartwarming that they have each other’s back and at the same time they make fun of each other. It’s just gold!!!!
I love the sisterly relationship between Liv and Thea. I was also glad we also get to see the twins, Ava and Amelia, in there. They are the CUTEST little beings I’ve ever read in a while!!!!!!
The best part of the book comes by the second half of the book. Not that the first half was bad but it was an amazing buildup to and outstanding payoff which I always appreciate in a book.
Overall, loved this book and will continue reading from this story because I know it won’t disappoint!!!!
This was a cute Bromance novel – the second installment. I enjoyed it and had a good time reading it. I love those kinds of fun novels that help me escape.
A great deal of fun!
Undercover Bromance
In this second book, Lyssa Kay Adams writes an addicting romcom that uncovers real life issues that tackle on the #metoo movement, sexual harassment, secrets from the past in an enemies to love trope. Despite the heavy subject matter I thought that the book stayed light and refreshing with the usual Adams style I have come to love in her writing, characters and fun dialogue.
Mack is the focus on this book, and as the unspoken leader of the Bromance Bookclub he can dish out advice like no other until it’s about Liv Papandreas who has stolen his heart. Liv worked for a superstar celebrity chef with a very nasty cover behind the cameras and Liv vows to expose him and take her revenge.
Liv and Mack activate the Bromance Book Club and just like their romantic suspense novel they are all reading, they bring on their version of art imitates life – their fiction to reality schemes in this fun and amazing read by LK Adams!
This was a fantastic, funny read with characters that resonated with more than just rom-com stereotypes. These characters are intelligently crafted to twist your expectations and I love when they not only cop-to their flaws but apologize for them without expecting instant forgiveness.
There’s been so much talk about toxic masculinity but rarely do women address or pay tribute to the men who oppose and fight the culture that has been the norm for so long. Mack is a refreshing hero who stole this book. I knew about 50 pages in that I trusted the author and would gobble up anything she dished out.
Fantastic. I listened to the audiobook and loved it even more than the first in the series, THE BROMANCE BOOK CLUB. If you haven’t read either, treat yourself to both. This series is the perfect escapism for shelter-in-place. Mac is a wonderfully tortured hero, Liv is a broken but spunky heroine, and every scene with the Russian is laugh out loud hysterical. The dark subplot–serial sexual harassment by a powerful man–brings the guys from the first book back into the spotlight in a slightly different role. Loved it!
4.5 Stars
I was so excited to get another book in the Bromance Book Club. I knew after reading the first book in the series I was going to need the second book. Undercover Bromance was just as good and such a fun quick read.
I love how we there is a mans book club instead of your traditional woman’s. We get the Braden’s story the leader of the book club. He is everything a girl could ask for, loves romance and is fun loving. He can’t figure out why he can’t seem to keep a girlfriend.
Liv was a character that was hard to figure out at first. Once we get to know her more you start to understand her more. She has trust issues. After finding her boss sexually harassing an employee she gets fired. I liked Liv’s character even more after all that went down.
This was such a good book that touched on some touchy subjects and was well written. I am really enjoying this series and all the characters. This is such fun series. If you are looking for something that will keep you entertained look no further. I can’t wait for the next book in this series.