This second chance love story is so much fun—and gave me a new appreciation for the romance genre. Baseball star Gavin Scott is successful on the field, but at home? He's struggling to make his marriage work. Desperate for help, he turns to his best friends, who—unbeknownst to him—have a secret romance book club in which they read and discuss romance novels. The guys give him a historical romance to read, Courting the Countess, portions of which appear between chapters, and tell him to use it as a guide to win his wife back. Through big gestures and fumbling attempts at vulnerability, Gavin learns how to love his partner better. (Open door.)

The Bromance Book Club series continues with another meta love story packed with tropes, jokes, and … espionage. In the next chapter of The Bromance Book Club, Vlad (aka “The Russian”) finally gets his own love story. Vlad’s buddies think he has a happy marriage, but no one knows it’s truly one of convenience, entered into so Vlad’s childhood friend Elena could leave Russia after her journalist father was murdered. But after watching his friends find love, Vlad is no longer content to be a husband in name only. He wants love—and, using the romance novel he’s writing (!!) as a template, his friends are determined to help him capture his wife’s heart. This novel stands alone, but those familiar with the series will be privy to inside jokes galore and familiar characters who feel like real friends. Heads up for a few brief open door moments.

I'm a longtime fan of the Bromance Book Club series, and this new holiday romp sure goes down easy. The fifth book in the series is once again set in Nashville, this time centering country music superstar Colton Wheeler (whose job is "to make other people happy. Even if it killed him") and immigration attorney Gretchen Winthrop (who, being from the wealthy Winthrop family, "carried the toxic gene of chaos and greed that infected everyone who came in contact with them"). I loved the country music setting, and being from Kentucky, where bourbon is king, reading about the sordid dealings of a Tennessee whiskey family was a whole lot of fun. You don't have to read this entire series in order, but you may enjoy the added context (who are these guys and how did they come to form a romance book club?) that comes with reading at least the first before starting this one.