While I'll probably never stop reading Saxon James' books, I've come to the realisation they are not really my favourite things anymore.

Just Bromantically Invested was a nice, comforting read, but it was also a mess when it came to the writing and the storyline. In the end, I felt a bit underwhelmed by this story.

This book tells the story of another Bertha Brother, Madden. I liked his character, mostly because he's so different from any other character that I've ever read about. He's a naturist, aka nudist and a big chunk of the story is dedicated to that side of him. To a point where I kinda felt like it's his only personality trait. Yes, he's kind and caring, but it wasn't really shown.
His best friend, Penn, is the love interest. His struggles felt a bit closer to me. He had to come to terms with his sexuality, his feelings for Madden, and also his slight codependency with him. However, those struggles were solved in a rush. It took him two minutes since he realized he's not straight to jumping Madden's bones. At least, that's what the story showed.

The book tells their story of realising feelings and working out how they can morph their best friendship into a functioning relationship. I like that the book takes it seriously that becoming a couple does not solve issues overnight. They have to put in the work to make things work between them.

Best-friends-to-lovers is one of my least favourite tropes because it usually includes a codependent, slightly unhealthy friendship that develops into something more. And it was the case with this one. Penn and Madden's issues came from a lack of communication. And I can't understand how two best friends, who've been friends for over a decade, struggle so much with sharing things with the other. Like, what have you been doing all this time? It was very frustrating seeing them struggle internally when all it would have taken for them to get over it is to sit down and talk honestly.

My biggest issue with the book was that the storytelling was choppy and lacked any kind of cohesion. There was literally no connection between chapters, we jumped weeks between some with only a sentence telling us what they came to terms with in that time, or it just completely lacked placing the scene in time and I had to juggle in my head when and where we were right then. Additionally, some scenes were written from the wrong POV, or at least the one that required less work.
For example: one chapter, Penn was staying with the idea of trying out a nudist lifestyle, and they had a great conversation about it. Then, stuff happened with Madden mentioning several times how much he liked that Penn was considering this, but no more conversations happened. Then Penn just simply tells, nah, he's not doing it a few chapters later with no explanation. There is no explanation at all. This is just poor writing.

I don't understand where the sudden tension in Big Boned Bertha is coming from. It felt very sudden. And while I get where it's going - breaking down the unhealthy codependency - it also feels a bit unfounded. I mean, all previous books have been saying how much the housemates mean to each other and that it's like a family, and now, we're having fights and passive-aggressive comments.
I've wanted to see Xander's story (which will be the next book) from the beginning, but right now it seems it's gonna be a hard one and I'm not sure how seriously his issues will be taken. With a track record of writing fluff and smut, writing about medical anxiety and breaking mental health issues and the consequent manipulative behaviour is something I'm not sure the author can handle with enough gravity. I'm curious, though. And I hope I'll be surprised.

Overall, it's not a bad book. It's just very average. One huge thing keeping me interested is that if I've read 50+ books from the Sadenverse already, I'm  not gonna stop now.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book to share my honest review.*