Audiobook Review: Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

Book: 141/150

Rating: 4.5/5

Okay, this is a rare exception where the sequel is better than the first! This is one of my favourite romances I've read in a long time.

In the follow up to Bromance Book Club, Liv Papandreas is living the dream as a sous chef at one of Nashville's hottest restaurants. Too bad the celebrity chef owner is not a dream boss... after catching him harassing one of the young hostess', Liv confronts him and loses her job and finds herself blacklisted throughout Nashville.

After Braden Mack, womanizer/nightclub entrepreneur/founder of the Bromance Book Club finds out about this.. he offers to help Liv take him down (Braden is best friends with Liv's brother in law). He calls in the Bromance Book Club for reinforcements, and launch into a take down inspired from the romantic suspense novel they're reading.

I listened to the audiobook on Libro.fm after winning an e-arc of the third in the series, Crazy, Stupid, Bromance, so I prioritized this audiobook. It was so fun! The narrator was great: lively, sexy, and great at alternating between Liv and Mac's perspective without it being too gauche.

I like how this book didn't include snippets of the book they were reading for book club, and it didn't feel as unnecessarily long as the first one did. This could also be because I found Liv and Mac more exciting and was way more invested in their love story.

While I don't think you have to read the first one before reading this one (it can be read as a stand alone), I think you appreciate the characters more after seeing glimpses of them in the first and then reading (or listening) their perspectives in the sequel. Mac especially seemed unlikable to me in the first book, but has claimed the title of my new book boyfriend after this one. I am really tired of the male romantic lead trope where they're the alpha, bad boy, who gets away with being cranky and standoffish. Mac has a bit of a reputation as a womanizer, but truly loves and respects women and it is so refreshing to see a lead call out his friends or other guys for their problematic behaviours and attitudes towards women.

If you're looking for a funny, romantic, couple you can root for this is such a fun one. I can't wait for the third instalment of the series (and I hope there will be more)!