Undercover Bromance

by Lyssa Kay Adams

March 10, 2020 · Berkley

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Content Warning: Sexual Harassment, #MeToo and the costs of reporting

Undercover Bromance is an enemies to lovers story that plays with traditional romantic tropes in some clever ways. I have very mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed reading it, and I think it was trying to do some fairly interesting and ambitious things. And it succeeded in some of them; the recurring theme of fantasy/perfection as a romantic hero versus the authenticity/respect for what the heroine actually wants was very deftly done, and an interesting take on the genre.

Unfortunately, there were a few things that bugged me even on my first read, and when I started to think about the story critically, I found that it fell apart at the seams. While I admire the attempt to tackle the #MeToo movement and the problems of sexual harrassment in the workplace, in the end it fell short for me in some critical ways, and for a book that is so eager to engage with feminist theory, I felt that its handling of feminism was a bit clumsy. And the epilogue absolutely ruined the story for me, which is a whole other problem that I will discuss under a spoiler tag.

Here’s the blurb:

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 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.

I’m going to dive right in with a quote from early in the story, because it is illustrative of both the good and the bad of this book.

Mack took a deep breath, hand on the door handle. He looked once again at the rest of the guys. “Okay. Here are the rules. Everyone has to buy at least one book for the rest of the club to consider for our next read. No hiding the covers. And if anyone asks, you are not buying it as a present. You’re buying it for yourself. Any questions?”

“What if someone recognizes us?” Gavin grumbled. Of all the guys, he was probably the most famous and recognizable right now. As a player for the Nashville Major League Baseball team, the Legends, he’d skyrocketed to national fame last year when he nailed a walk-off grand-slam homer in a playoff game.

“Who cares if we’re recognized?” said Malcolm, another famous face. He was the running back for the Nashville NFL team. “We spend a lot of time talking about the unfairness of how our toxic masculine society forces us to be ashamed of embracing romance novels. Yet we buy our books in secret. It’s time we practice what we preach.”

So on the good side, we have the fun premise of men having a book club where they read romance novels and refuse to be ashamed of this. They will buy books in public! They will talk about toxic masculinity! They will not be ashamed to embrace their emotional side!

And yet, ironically, they are subverting toxic masculinity by… daring each other into it and kind of making it a test of their courage and, dare I say it, their manliness. Which is kind of a quintessentially toxic masculinity thing to do – Mack and the others can be proud of reading romance novels, but only while embracing the other culturally-imposed attributes of masculinity. We are reminded at every opportunity that they are Manly Men – alpha heroes and millionaires and athletes. Emotional fluency is important – they know know all the right language and theory of feminism, and are Sensitive Guys Who Are In Touch With Their Feelings – but God forbid that any of them are less than quintessentially masculine and powerful.

To me, this suggests a bit of ambivalence about the whole deal, and this ambivalence and conflict between being alpha heroes and being men who are in touch with their emotions and read romance continues through the book.

Mack, our hero, is self-consciously one of the Good Guys. He understands the importance of being an ally, and of men calling out the bad behaviour of other men, and is appalled at the behaviour of Liv’s ex-boss, Royce. And yet, he has this tendency to run right over Liv’s expressed wishes when he thinks it is for her own good. He is protective and wants to be the hero who rescues damsels in distress – and as a result, it takes him a really long time to understand how important it is for Liv and the other women to take the lead in bringing down the Royces of this world, and to be the heroes of their own story.

Part of this is that his own family life was difficult. His parents’ relationship was far from ideal, and it is implied that he started reading romances to try to get some healthier models of how a relationship could work. But he is so invested in being the perfect hero that he doesn’t know how to be what Liv needs, because it feels like ‘less’ than what he should be.

In other words, he has definitely drunk the Toxic Masculinity Kool Aid. True, it’s a less misogynistic flavour (now with 95% less misogyny!) than your classic Alphahole variety (tastes like… no, let’s not go there), but it’s still a hundred pounds of unrealistic standards of masculinity in a ten pound jar.

(Also, I’ve just realised that Mack’s determination to be the perfect hero, and the way the book interrogates this, plays into the idea that romance novels give women unrealistic expectations of men, which is a bit ugh.)

Now, I really don’t want to beat up on Mack, because he is trying very hard to break out of an unhealthy pattern set by his parents, and that is laudable. He is also trying to be a good person, which is also something to be encouraged. But his alpha hero tendencies just don’t sit very comfortably with his Woke Feminism, at least for me. (In fairness, I should note that his ‘I know what’s best for you’ attitude seems to be non-gendered – he is also used to being the Wise Mentor to his bromance buddies, for example.)

Also, he has some really terrible shortcomings when it comes to boundaries. When Liv is fired after witnessing Royce sexually harassing Jessica, Jessica begs her not to tell anyone what happened. She doesn’t want to report the harassment, because she needs this job. Liv simply cannot understand this. As a strong, independent woman who is succeeding in the notoriously chauvinistic world of haute cuisine, she thrives on conflict – or at least understands conflict as intrinsic to the profession she has chosen – and she also realises that Jessica is unlikely to be the only person Royce has harassed. She therefore puts pressure on Jessica to report for the sake of these others. This is pretty egregious, and verges on victim-blaming.

To his credit, Mack points out that this isn’t a fair burden to put on Jessica – she has already been harmed and she has the right to keep herself safe. Which is fair enough, though it does verge ever so slightly on the mansplainy – I think we are meant to see Liv as someone who has never really consciously engaged with feminist theory, as Mack has. However, Mack then undoes his good work by immediately telling all his friends about the harassment, even though he has been specifically told not to share this information with anyone. His rationale is that they are good guys and he needs their help to take down Royce, but I found this absolutely inexcusable, particularly from someone who was so aware of the dynamics around sexual harassment, shame, and reporting earlier.

It’s particularly concerning because prior to this, Mack had considered Royce a friendly acquaintance, and had no idea that he was a serial harrasser of women, suggesting that his judgment of who might or might not commit sexual assault is questionable. Even setting aside the issue of confidentiality, he’s potentially putting women at risk here. And then there’s the fact that he thinks that this is his problem to solve, when Liv has made it clear that she thinks it’s hers – Royce was her boss, she witnessed the harassment, and it’s her colleagues who are at risk.

But whose problem is it really? Jessica hasn’t asked for help – she has asked, essentially, to be left alone so that she can deal with the situation as she sees fit. Neither Mack nor Liv are willing to let her do this.

I want to talk about Liv’s disclosure to Mack, because it is a classic example of what happens when you try to obey the letter of what has been asked (don’t tell anyone!) while ignoring the spirit (don’t get involved/try to fix this). Liv does not intend to tell Mack anything about Jessica’s situation – she simply asks whether he can find Jessica a job, as she needs to get out of the Savoy. But Mack demands more information.

“I’m asking you to help a young woman out of a bad situation.”

It might have just been her imagination, but Liv could’ve sworn that a vein popped along his jaw. “What kind of bad situation?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Then I can’t help you.”

She gave him a blank stare. “It’s a bad situation.”

Mack stood abruptly, walked to the door, and swung it shut. When he turned back, he adopted a bouncer’s stance and a stern expression. “How bad?”

“Really, really bad.”

“Does this have something to do with you getting fired?”
“Does that matter?”

“It does if you want me to hire this girl.”

“You have openings. I know someone who needs a job. The details shouldn’t make a difference.”

“Humor me.”

And so she does.

It really bothers me that Mack starts off by offering his help, but then demands information that is pretty clearly something Liv doesn’t want to share in exchange for it – and then Hulks out when he hears about the harassment, and starts telling all his friends.

However.

Jessica has not asked Liv to find her another job – Liv has taken that on herself. She feels that it is her duty to save Jessica, but forgets that ultimately, this is Jessica’s choice and Jessica’s problem. She is ignoring what Jessica wants in favour of what she thinks Jessica needs, and in the process, she does the one thing that Jessica has asked her not to do. And so while I’m annoyed that Mack pressures Liv into disclosing confidential information, it is undeniable that Liv would never have found herself in that position if she hadn’t waded in unasked (and, indeed, against Jessica’s clear preferences).

I’d like to go back to that discussion of fantasy versus reality in this story, because Mack is very, very into his romance novels, and what he seems to have internalised is that a hero rescues people. The fantasy is of someone swooping in to make everything right for the heroine, and this is what he wants to do here. Early in the book, he is dumped by Gretchen, who tells him that he is too perfect:

“You know how to romance a woman, Mack. But I’m not sure you know how to be with a woman.”

When he talks about Jessica to his employee, Sonya, she tells him he’s getting that “Superman look.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“That you’re about to grab a white horse and race in to save the damsel in distress.”

And later on, one of Mack’s Bromance Book Club buddies tries to break it down for him:

“Because perfection is the opposite of authenticity, Mack.”

Mack knows how to be the perfect romance novel lover, but not how to be a real-world, imperfect, boyfriend. He is desperate to be the knight in shining armour, the embodiment of every rescue fantasy. Of course he is – the knight in shining armour gets to the hero while keeping all the alpha male qualities that come so naturally to Mack. There is a lot of toxic masculinity baked into the knight in shining armour trope.

The problem is, he’s the wrong hero for this heroine. Liv doesn’t have rescue fantasies, she has power fantasies – the last thing she wants is to be swept off her feet. If there is any rescuing to be done, she wants to do it herself. So perhaps the problem is that they both share the same fantasy, which comes with an intrinsic power imbalance, and they want to be on the same end of it.

When Liv first tells Mack about the situation with Royce he is furious:

“We have to do something,” Mack rasped.

Liv gave him a look. “We aren’t going to do anything.”

“He can’t get away with this.”

“I don’t plan on letting him, but the only thing I need you to do is to hire Jessica.”

This is the first of many times that Liv tells Mack what she needs from him, but he isn’t a very good listener. As far as he is concerned, she isn’t asking for enough – he wants to give more. But the main thing Liv wants from Mack is respect for her boundaries, something she never really gets.

I found the relationship between Liv and Mack confusing. Mack seems to quite like Liv from the start, but Liv is antagonistic and seems to dislike him almost on principle. Perhaps it’s because they are too alike. For much of the book, their relationship seems to be all about snark and one-upmanship and who gets to be in charge, and it’s entertaining but also a bit exhausting. And then all of a sudden they are snuggling on Liv’s couch, and I have no idea how they got there. It’s like Liv suddenly decides, yep, Mack is OK, and also he kisses nicely (see also the statutory ‘we must snog madly in order to hide from the people who are looking for us’ scene), let’s give it a go, and they do. And after that, they seem to be quite a complementary couple and work quite well together, leading me to wonder what the issue was in the first place. I mean, yes, lack of trust, etc, but I’ve read the story twice now, and I’m still not sure where that changed.

On a more positive note, one thing I really did like was the book club breakfast meeting about halfway through the book, where the men are discussing the book they are reading and analysing it through a feminist lens. While parts of this felt like it was methodically ticking all the feminist talking point boxes, I did like the way that the other men are talking about how the heroine of the book they are reading is justified in feeling angry at the hero for lying to her and manipulating her for her protection, and Mack… starts taking it personally.

“Well, in this case, maybe it’s for her own good!” Mack blurted.

“And I still think this book is bullshit,” Gavin said. “He’s obviously still lying to her. I don’t know. I don’t like this dude.”

Mack toyed with a creamer packet. “They were both feeling some strong emotions.”

“So?”

“So strong emotions can make you do things you wouldn’t normally do.” And Mack totally, one hundred percent was not talking about himself.

“Yeah, but he’s still lying to her,” Gavin shrugged.

“Because he was trying to protect her.”

“I’m just saying that I learned the hard way that even well-intentioned lies have a way of destroying things.”

Mack slammed his mug down. “There is nothing wrong with wanting to protect someone you care about!”

I also like the bit where they explain to him that he and Liv are ‘classic enemies-to-lovers’ and that he ought to recognise this with all the novels he reads. Really, the book club parts of this book are worth the price of admission (though they do come with a dose of toilet humour that I could do without – I prefer to pretend that characters in romance novels don’t have bowels).

And I enjoyed Liv’s landlady, Rosie, a 1960s era feminist who owns a small farm and who reacts to Liv’s sacking with the disgusted remark:

“I was burning my bra forty years ago over shit like this, and it’s still happening.”

Which is depressingly true, and brings me back to that theme of fantasy versus reality.

Undercover Bromance is explicitly a #MeToo story – the author note at the start includes the line:

Lastly, thank you to survivors. I believe you. Always. #MeToo

Sexual harassment is very much a real world problem, and so often the perpetrators go unpunished, while those who report the harrassment suffer. This doesn’t happen here, and the final chapters of the book provide a reasonably satisfying, if incomplete resolution.

And then there is the epilogue.

Once again, I have really mixed feelings about this book and how to grade it. I know that most of my commentary here has been negative, but it actually was a really fun read most of the time. I liked the cheeky subversiveness of the Bromance Book Club and the way that it gently and lovingly makes fun of the genre. The bit where Mack is really depressed and his friends are going ‘it’s OK, dude, this is the Dark Moment, it will be fine’ is just delightfully hilarious. And I loved the secondary characters, especially Rosie and her man-hating rooster.

On the other hand, enjoyable as the book was, I didn’t like Mack’s alpha tendencies, and I was really uncomfortable with the way he kept telling more and more people about the sexual harassment stuff when he had been asked not to. For a man who reads romance novels and can quote chapter and verse on feminism, this was a pretty huge oversight.

And then there was the epilogue, which took all the savour and triumph out of the ending, at least for me. Without it, I’d be grading this book somewhere around a C or C plus, but the epilogue takes it straight down into D territory.

So. If you like romantic comedy, the trope of Men Reading Romances To Fix Their Relationships, and enemies-to-lovers-with-a-lot-of-bickering, and if you are willing to close the book after the last chapter and skip the epilogue, then I think you will enjoy this book a fair bit. It has its flaws, but it’s an enjoyable read with a lot of humour, and it is doing some interesting things with the genre.

But please, do skip that epilogue.