Crazy Stupid Bromance in the third book in The Bromance a Book Club series by Lyssa Kay Adams. This book follows Alexis, a cafe owner who recently came forward as a victim of sexual harassment of a famous chef. When a girl shows up in her cafe and claims they are sisters, Alexis is shocked and hurt. However, her best friend Noah Logan is always by her side… even if he won’t express her true feelings for her.
My biggest gripe with the second book in this series, Undercover Bromance, was that it tackled big issues in an ineffective way. Additionally, it lacked many of the characteristics that readers enjoyed within the first installment of this series. Unfortunately, Crazy Stupid Bromance also fell into many of these pitfalls. However, I did enjoy the third installment in this series slightly more than the second.
For me, this book started strong. I liked Alexis and Noah as main characters. The author gave each character a complex background that affected how they lived and interacted with each other. I don’t typically read friends to lovers books, but I think the author did a good transition in this book from the characters being friends to something more. However, as I continued reading, I grew less interested with the book as it seemed many plot points and conversations circled throughout the book.
One aspect of Undercover Bromance that I didn’t like, which also annoyed me in this book, was how the author tackled complex issues. Similar to Undercover Bromance, the climax and resolution of this book involves some serious situations that would greatly affect the world beyond the characters. However, I feel like this big situation is quickly glossed over and resolved with the characters making up after only one conversation. Within this book particularly, I think the author tried to target so many topics that they weren’t woven seamlessly throughout the book.
Another aspect of this book which will disappoint some readers is the limited elements of the original premise of this series. Like with Undercover Bromance, this book ties very loosely to the book club element. Out of all the main male characters, Noah doesn’t seem to really buy into the book club. As a result, the book within a book element is almost non-existent. If you enjoyed this in the first book, were disappointed by how it was included in the second book, then you most likely won’t enjoy how it is included in this book.
Another problem that I have with books in a series is when the characters from the previous books become caricatures of themselves and only adopt one personality trait. This is extremely true for Crazy Stupid Bromance concerning Liv and Mack. I already thought Mack lost a lot of his interesting qualities in Undercover Bromance, but I found this to be even more true in this installment. This proves true for other characters as well, for example Colt and Vlad, who for some reason, they can never refer to by his actual name and instead just call him “The Russian (Does that bother anyone else as much as it bothers me?). This seems to be true for many of the books in the series: the side characters are treated more as a “gag” than an important part of the story. Since the club and friends are supposed to be a big part of these stories, it is a little frustrating to see them just as props.
Overall, Crazy Stupid Bromance isn’t my favorite book in this series, but it isn’t my least favorite either. Unfortunately, I am starting to see patterns in this author’s work that aren’t really my cup of tea. While I may give the next book in this series a shot, it will not be high on my TBR list. I give this book 2.5 out of five stars.
Beauty and the Bean Boots 