The Nora Theory

I read Five Brothers by Penelope Douglas largely on an airplane and stuck in an airport, with zero regard for the fact that what was happening on my Kindle screen was visible to all those around me. And I have no regrets. Five Brothers is a contemporary romance with, as the title suggests, five smoking hot brothers from the wrong side of the tracks and one woman who just can’t seem to escape their thrall.

Krisjen just graduated from high school. Her dad left, her mom wants her to marry rich to solve all their financial problems, and Krisjen is left caring for her two younger siblings. She turns to Trace Jaeger, her on-again off-again friend-with-benefits to blow off some steam, but his attention is too hard to keep. One night, she crashes on the Jaeger brother’s couch, and one of the brothers finds her there. And it’s not Trace.

All the Jaeger brothers are interesting, both to the readers and to Krisjen, and they all want her in their own ways. This book is less about them competing for her attention, and more about them discovering themselves and Krisjen figuring out what she truly needs. Five Brothers is not a why choose romance, she absolutely does choose in the end, and the choice will make sense.

This premise is a little iffy because I’ve never met a group of brothers where more than one, maybe two at most, are actually fuckable, but 5? I mean come on. But that’s what makes it fun. What a fun place the world would be.

It is genuinely a guessing game of who Krisjen is going to end up with for the first half of this book. I kept thinking I knew who it was going to be, or at the very least I knew who it wouldn’t be, but I wasn’t sure until the author wanted me to be. If you loved Credence, another Penelope Douglas book, then you will love this book.

Krisjen has such typical big sister energy, which is always something I love to see in a character. She’s also a bundle of competing traits that make her feel real. She’s bold but soft, completely lacking a filter but fundamentally kind, and caring but uncompromising.

We here at The Nora Theory do love a girl from the rich side of town, whose home life is much darker than it seems, and a sexy blue-collar boy from the other side of town who can be found covered in motor oil. Sometimes a privileged princess with questionable parents just needs a man who can change a tire and make her feel loved. This is the classic core of what contemporary romance is supposed to make you feel, and I am here for it.

Spice: 3.5

Writing: 4