Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Secret Book Club – Ein Liebesroman ist nicht genug

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Secret Book Club – Ein Liebesroman ist nicht genug by Lyssa Kay Adams

19 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I wanted to read this series because it has been all over the book community. I was dying to read this book; the Russian has been a big part of the book club and has the personality of a golden retriever and I was excited to see about him and his wife and this was NOTHING like I was expecting. It was adorable and sweet but at the same time, made me want to bawl my eyes out.

This book has two points of view. The first is Elena Konnikova and she has lived her entire adult life in the shadows. As the daughter of a Russian journalist who mysteriously disappeared after speaking out against government corruption, she escaped danger the only way she knew how. She agreed to marry her childhood friend, Vladmir and move to the United States where he is a professional hockey player in Nashville. The second point of view is Vlad, aka The Russian, thought he could be content with his marriage of convenience. But after four years, it’s become too difficult to continue in a one-sided relationship. He joined the Bromance Book Club to learn how to make his wife love him, but all he has learned is that he deserves more. He's ready to create his own sweeping romance both on and off the page. The Bros are unwilling to let Vlad forgo true love and this time they’re not operating solo. They join forces with Vlad’s senior citizen neighbours, a group of meddling widows who call themselves The Loners and The Bro’s partners. Just when things finally look promising, the dangers from Elena’s past life intrudes and the book club will face their first-ever life-or-death grand gesture as they race to a happy ever after.

I still adore these men and these characters and the friendship. I haven’t read a lot of marriage of convenience, and he falls first. I love Vlad. I love this broken man who is writing an adorable romance book and just wants to be loved. I loved that Lyssa wrote a book where a man is a virgin and was saving himself for his WIFE. And that it’s only been her. I was swooning. I loved the mystery aspect that Elena was having and I’m glad we got to know who was behind her father’s disappearance. I just love that Vlad was like don’t do it, but if you are going to do it don’t die. I love that these men were like pull your shit together Vlad and get your wife and that they knew the book was their story and knew about the roadblocks but didn’t want to push him too much.

The only thing that I didn’t like was the miscommunication throughout the book – if both of them had been honest in the beginning, the third act conflict wouldn’t happen. The third-act conflict wasn’t needed. It personally drives me nuts and it keeps happening in this series.

Overall, I liked how fast paced this book was, and I loved Vlad and I’m intrigued on whose story is next.

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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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4.75

Finished reading: July 1st 2023

"There’s a big difference between letting someone go because you have faith that they’ll come back to you and letting someone go because deep down you’re convinced they won’t. One is an act of love, the other an act of fear"

I still can't believe it took me this long to discover the Bromance Book Club books, but now that I've started reading them I can't stop. The previous book was a bit of a letdown, but I had very high hopes for Isn't It Bromantic? because I love Vlad's character. And guess what? This is without doubt my new favorite of the series! I absolutely adored this story, and it was a perfect fit for me despite the sexy time. I love a good slowburn romance, and that is exactly what this sequel delivers. We also (finally!) get another book within a book element again, and it's a WWII fiction story at that so a double bonus. Vlad (the Russian) was already such a great character in the previous books, but I've grown to love him even more in his own story. Elena made for such a great character as well, and I really enjoyed getting to know them better and watch them grow. Sure, they are both extremely stubborn, which can get a bit frustrating... But as a whole somehow it didn't bother me too much. There was so much to love in Isn't It Bromantic?, including the banter and bond between the book club members, the Cheese Man, the Loners, the mystery around the disappearance of Elena's death, the book, the Russian food... And I can go on and on. I loved every single minute of this sequel, and it's one that is going to be hard to beat for the title of favorite of the series. I'm still looking forward to Colton's book though!

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alisonreadsitall's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It’s been a couple years since I read the first three Bromance Book Club books, so it took me a minute to remember what previously happened. It all quickly came flashing back after the first chapter and I came to the following conclusions:
Maybe

1. The Russian is a precious man who should be protected at all costs.🥰
2. I love a slowwww burn when it’s done right.
3. I need a black market cheese guy 🧀🤣

Overall, this book is adorable, goofy, and delightful! I can’t want to read the next one!

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booksareoxygen's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Out of all the Bromance Bookclub books this one is my favorite. It focuses on my favorite character, Vlad (aka the Russian) and we get to see a larger part of his story that we got a glimpse of in Crazy Stupid Bromance. In this friends, to marriage of convenience, to maybe something more relationship we get to see more of a few characters and what it means to have a family and a found family. 5/5

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haley49's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I loved the humor and ensamble cast. Everyone was fun and had cute moments to shine. Unfortunately, there was a lot of not communicating as a major plot point and that combined with a narrator with an awfully fake Russian accent effected my rating a bit. It does get a bump up for having a virgin hero and the 🌶 was very nice. I still appreciate the themes of emotional intelligence and brotherhood in the series

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mbichaela's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

ENG
this was hilarious. i had sometimes problems with connecting to fmc but mmc was such a cinnamon roll hero that he saved the whole book for me.

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lotte5322's review against another edition

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4.0

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megs23's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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maryashlyn's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I did not expect Vlad's story to be my favorite of the Bromance Book Club series, but it really was. Lyssa Kay Adams wrote Vlad to have the purest heart; and even though both he and Elena were insufferable at times, the payoff in this one was worth it.

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_thelitlibrarian's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

3.75 stars
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TW; Kidnapping, Sexual Content, Death of a Parent, Trafficking, Grief, Medical Content, Murder, Car Accident.
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Going into this, I wasn't sure how I was feeling; The Russian has never been a 'fan favorite' of mine - I've always assumed that was Vlad's character was just there for humor purposes with his goofy one-liners and language-barriers communication. Down under Vlad is such a teddy bear who often is misunderstood. I really enjoyed getting to know him better; and his backstory. When Vlad joined the Bromance Book Club, it was in hopes of making his wife (Elena) fall in love with him. Their love story is a little muddled; the two childhood friends have embarked on a marriage of convenience - to provide Elena with a way out of Russia. This is supposed to fall under a: Friends to Lovers trope, it just doesn't feel like it...Other than being mentioned a lot, it felt as these two were strangers who hadn't shared a past!

I found our two lovers to be so annoyingly stubborn, their entire relationship is based on miscommunications and assumptions. I feel that had the two of them communicated better they wouldn't have been in the position they're in. In a way, I felt like their romance was a subplot, and every situation they're faced with is initiated by outside forces (Book Club, Loners Club, Elena's job), I will say, however, I love how we get to read Vlad's book and watch how the story develops over the course of what's happening in his life. I really enjoyed the addition of the Loner's Club (made up entirely by women in Vlad's neighborhood and who out of spite dislike Elena for wrecking Vlad).

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