The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club, #1)

by Lyssa Kay Adams

To Grandma I definitely crapped a worm with a bell on it this time, didn’t I?

Finally, thank you to my daughter. You’re the reason I do everything. Thank you for the big hugs, for the supportive messages on my whiteboard, and for the days of eating cereal when I was on deadline. Never forget you’re the heroine of your own story. Write yourself a good one!

“He’s about one shot away from listening to Ed Sheeran.”

HAHAHA REAL

anymore, mostly because Gavin had stopped trying to fight it around them. Which was one more in a long list of things he had Thea to thank for. Before he met her, he was self-conscious, hesitant to speak even in front of people he knew. But Thea was completely unfazed the first time he stuttered in front of her. She didn’t try to finish his sentence, didn’t look away in discomfort. She just waited until he got the words out. No one else besides his family had ever made him feel like he was more than just an awkward, stammering jock.

this makes my slp heart happy

dumbfuckery

i like it

in a marriage,” Del said. “All human beings are a work in progress, and we don’t all change at the same pace. Who knows how many people have gotten divorced simply because they failed to recognize that what they thought were insurmountable problems were actually just temporary phases?”

The speakers blared an angry Taylor Swift song about burning pictures.

JUST ANOTHER PICTURE TO BURNNNNNN

“It’s important to him,” Thea said. “Isn’t that the problem?” Liv snapped. “Baseball was always more important than you.” “No, it wasn’t.” The sudden deep timbre of Gavin’s voice sent them both whipping around.

I THOUGHT YOU WERENT SUPPOSED TO SEE HER

Gavin feared it was the beginning of a permanent speech problem like his. Thea offered a soft smile. “It’s just a lisp,” she said quietly.

see an slp!!

“Good. First rule of book club?” They finished in unison. “You don’t talk about book club.”

Gavin returned to his chair. “You guys read romance novels?” “We call them manuals,”

“Men are idiots. We complain that women are so mysterious and shit, and we never know what they want. We fuck up our relationships because we convince ourselves that it’s too hard to figure them out. But the real problem is with us. We think we’re not supposed to feel things and cry and express ourselves. We expect women to do all the emotional labor in a relationship and then act confused when they give up on us.”

and they’re entirely about how they want to be treated and what they want out of life and in a relationship. We read them to be more comfortable expressing ourselves and to look at things from their perspective.”

“She have one of those e-reader things?” “Yeah. I mean, I don’t know. I think so.” “It’s full of romance novels. Trust us.”

“Modern romance novelists use the patriarchal society of old British aristocracy to explore the gender-based limitations placed on women today in both the professional and personal spheres. That shit is feminist as fuck.”

“But what does BB stand for?” The whole table spoke at once. “Book Boner.”

WHAT!?! HAHAHA

If a man wants to leave you, wave goodbye and lock the doors. You’ve got better things to do than chase a lost cause.

The backlash against the PSL is a perfect example of how toxic masculinity permeates even the most mundane things in life. If masses of women like something, our society automatically begins to mock them. Just like romance novels. If women like them, they must be a joke, right?”

Once, in the weeks after her father filed for divorce, Thea’s mother locked herself in her room for days. When Thea knocked one day to complain she was hungry, her mother screamed at her to grow up and to stop being so selfish. Thea had been ten.

oh my god

“It means that whatever happened to your wife before she met you plays a role in who she is today,” Malcolm said. “We are all the sum total of our experiences at any given time, and our reactions to things are shaped by them. Just like in romance novels. Whatever a character went through before the start of the book will eventually determine how they react to things that happen in the book.”

“But we’re talking about my real life here. Not a book.” “Same principles apply,” Malcolm said. “That’s why fiction resonates with people. It speaks to universal truths.”

“‘More than anything, she feared that she would awaken some morning and realize her entire life had passed her by,’” he read. “‘That at some point, she had become less than. Less than w-w-what she used to imagine. Less than w-wh-what she used to hope for. Nothing more than a silent accessory to a man. Nothing more than her own mother, a passive face at a glittering table.’”

her eyes doing a slow, disdainful walk up and down Thea’s outfit. “But this is a new look for you, isn’t it? I guess comfort really does trump style some days, doesn’t it?” “Absolutely. Just like class trumps beauty.”

“Christ, Thea. Can’t I even offer to help without it becoming a fight?”

he's got a point

“I get all my best outfit ideas from it.” Mack pointed at Gavin. “You should really be using it.”

live laugh love pintrest

“Now,” Del said. “Let’s talk about the book. How far are you?” “About halfway.” “Perfect,” Malcolm said. “Why is that perfect?” “Because,” Mack said, “shit’s about to get real.”

this is about half way in the book and i'm so here for it

“Be careful, my dear. Your laughter is such a welcome sound, I may be driven to homicide yet.”

whisper. “OK, you’re going to think I’m paranoid after that Pinterest conversation, but I think you might actually have a couple of crazy fans following you right now.” The hair on the back of Gavin’s neck stood on end. “What are you talking about?” “There are these two strange guys who keep showing up wherever we are in the store. They’re too obvious. I don’t know. Like they’re watching you but trying really hard to look like they’re not watching you.”

HAHHAH IS IT DEL AND MACK?

“He’s not worth it.” “You are.”

AHHHHHH