Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Rule Book

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The Rule Book by Sarah Adams

17 reviews

ella_chu's review

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? N/A

4.5

Content Warnings

turnthepages_nl's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I LOVE ITTTTTT

Nora is ADHD coded. I felt so seen!!! (Not intentionally written as ADHD, I checked with the author. But it still feels like ADHD, at least in the way how it looks in me!)

Derek has dyslexia and was diagnosed later in life. He has not been treated well as a child and has a big sense of failure. The journey he goes on was truly beautiful and I felt so seen as a neurodivergent reader. The feeling of not being enough, how you try your hardest and still you 'fail' in the eyes of society. The way this was talked about and handled was done very very well.

Nora is often seen as too much. And she is learning and growing to become fully herself and not feel sorry about it. She is super badass and very good at what she does as an agent. And I loved the relationship between her an Nicole (her boss and mentor). The way both women are going about the powerimbalance in the workplace. I loved how much of an example Nicole was to her!

But most of all I loved the emotional vulnerability between Nora & Derek. The way they are growing and learning to love and be open again. I was rooting for them from the very start. The sweet moments + the banter had me kicking my feet many times!

Also, the scenes with the other LA Shark boys were absolutely hilarious but also heartfelt.

Sarah Adams is an amazing author and truly has a gift for creating a safe and loving space for readers to feel seen and loved. To feel validated and supported. I hope she writes many many more stories! ✨️💕

Content Warnings

tamsterdam_reads's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.25

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ashs_bookshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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

*WARNING! I'm not sorry for the football puns*

~Hot Take~
I love Nora and Derek. I see myself in Nora, a little quirky & different. She does what she loves and isn't embarrassed about it. And Derek, he is a giant teddy bear with muscles.

🏈 Touch Down!
Anyone who loves sports, second chance, close proximity, Rom-Coms with a quirky, fun but determined FMMC and a take no shit, but gentle & caring beast of a MMC, this book is for you!

ExCollege sweethearts are reunited when Nora Mackenzie's career comes to rest on Derek Penders' shoulders, BIG shoulders.
Their breakup in college was not handled well, more like fumbled. But Nora has worked too hard to become a sports agent, and in a world dominated by men who don't want her there, she has to stay focused. She can't let their past get in the way of her career. After all, that blindsided her before. But Derek holds a grudge. When Nora broke it off in college, there was no real explanation. She just left, leaving him heartbroken.So! A little game of revenge is what Derek wants to play.
Nora is given Derek as her first client, and this has to work! But Derek plans to make her quit. Rules are laid out, more so to make Nora's job difficult, but when a night in Vegas sees that Rule Book thrown out the hypothetical window, a new game is put in place to save both their careers.

NOREK (my portmanteau for these cuties) are the ultimate field goal! Their witty banter is fun and a huge part of the tension growing between them. There is burn🔥, I'm not talking grass burn. It's a slow and exciting burn. But the story isn't slow by any means. It is one of those books that holds your attention completely. You WILL shut out your own family to keep reading. Responsibilities? Who has them?

Characters we know and love from The Cheat Sheet return, bringing that comfortable & nostalgic feeling. As always, Sarah Adams writing has pace and immerses you in the characters' world, and makes you wish you could score a touchdown with book boyfriend Derek Pender.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶🌶

*Thank you, @netgalley and @hachetteaus for this ARC for review consideration. These are 100% all my own opinions.*

Content Warnings

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

4.75

Finished reading: March 4th 2024

"We all make choices in life and some of them are necessarily more gray than others. This is one of those times."

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Headline Eternal in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Sarah Adams' writing, so you can imagine that I was shocked when I discovered that my first Netgalley wish granted in years turned out to be for her newest story The Rule Book. I enjoyed the first book The Cheat Sheet back when I read it in 2021, although I admit it wasn't my absolute favorite among her books... Still, I was VERY excited to receive the opportunity to read The Rule Book early. And WHAT a read it turned out to be! I loved every single minute of this enemy-to-lover slash second chance romance, and it's probably one of my top favorites by her.

While set in the same world as The Cheat Sheet and futuring a lot of the same characters, The Rule Book can easily be read as a stand-alone without missing out on too much. This is because this very much Derek and Nora's story, which is completely new. I can't deny that I loved seeing the rest of the characters again though, and their banter and friendship brought back great memories of the first book. The banter in general is one of the things that makes this story stand out; the interactions between Derek and Nora are simply brilliant and especially Nora uses some extremely hilarious phrases.

The Rule Book is part enemy-to-lover and part second chance romance; while the enemy part was shorter than I hoped it would be, there were plenty of funny moments to be found along the way. The story does feel more like a second chance romance during most of the plot, as it is pretty obvious how the two main characters still feel. The building up of tension is really well done though, and I especially loved the whole fake honeymoon and scenes set in Mexico. The whole story seems like an Easter hunt for romance tropes!

Part of the reason this story works so well (and her books in general for that matter) has a lot to do with its characters. Sarah Adams has a way of creating the most fantastic, relatable, flawed and likeable characters, and it was SO easy to start rooting for both Derek and Nora. True, certain aspects of their appearance and personality are quite cliche, but I personally didn't mind as I was having too much fun getting to know them better. The secondary characters are great as well, and already knowing most of them only made me enjoy meeting up with them even more.

The writing is flawless, and I literally couldn't stop reading. The Rule Book isn't just about the romance though, as there are quite a few more serious topics incorporated along the way. I especially appreciated how the story shone a light on dyslexia, parental pressure and gender inequality in the workspace, although they aren't the only topics discussed. The more serious topics helped balance out the lighter moments and resulted in a richer and dynamic plot. The sports/injury recovery angle also made for a great addition.

I might be biased, but I consider Sarah Adams to be one of my favorite romance authors and The Rule Book is one of her best stories to date. There is so much to love in this book, and I cannot recommend it enough if you enjoy the genre!

Content Warnings

spellbindingtomes's review

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘕𝘰 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺. 𝘕𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘨𝘴. 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘢. 𝘔𝘺 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘢.

•

𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥.

•

Sarah Adams has officially become an auto-read author for me. When I pick up one of her books, I know I'm in for a lighthearted and adorable love story.

Second chance romances aren't usually my must-read trope, but the way Sarah wrote this story was well done! Nora and Derek are incredibly cute. I loved their witty banter and the bickering rivalry going on between the two.

Nora reminded me a bit of Annie Walker and so I automatically loved her - her optimism, her quirkiness, her cheesy jokes and catchphrases were so endearing. Her cluelessness could sometimes be frustrating, but it didn't bother me too much. Derek is the sweetest. I totally understood and felt his anger and initial resentment towards Nora (while also still understanding Nora's side!). Seeing him come to terms with his dyslexia diagnosis and figuring out his identity outside of football tugged on my heartstrings.

Derek's friends were hilarious and goofy. They gave me sisterhood of the traveling pants friendship vibes 😂 I also loved Nora's relationship with her mom and Nicole.

If you want a fun, feel-good second chance romance that has you smiling the entire time, then check out The Rule Book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine/Dell for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝟰/𝟮!

𝘓𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘋𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘬 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳.

🌴second chance
🌴dual pov
🌴fake marriage
🌴football romance
🌴workplace romance
🌴forced proximity

Content Warnings

dianaschmidty's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.75

I honestly feel lucky to have gotten to read this so early.

𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘫𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘛𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴.

Dear Sarah Adams, thank you! I have been wanting more of this friend group since devouring The Cheat Sheet and I needed this.

This book was amazing. Sarah Adam’s witty banter is always amazing, but it also worked so well for this second chance romance! I believe this is her first second chance romance and I really need her to write another one. It really was the perfect second chance, with plenty of hurt feelings, but also a lot of fixing of miscommunication, healing, and forgiveness. Derek and Nora really felt like real people finding their way back to each other.

I loved Derek. All of his aspects! Heartbroken Derek was simultaneously devastating and heartwarming, Conniving Derek was simply funny, and Lovesick Derek was sweet. The many stages he goes through made him feel so real.

I related a lot to Nora. Her feelings of never thinking she’s enough while also being “too much” and refusing to change is something I can say I completely understand. It made her feel so real, because I think characters deemed “too much” often try to change and I love that she was unapologetically herself. I also love that Derek loved her for those things, not in spite. I think she grew so much in the book, especially in learning to accept Derek’s love.

Also, I loved this as Sarah Adams’ first open-door. I feel like it made so much sense for this book and these specific characters.

During this entire book, I couldn’t stop thinking of different Taylor Swift songs that fit Derek and Nora so well, so I decided to explain their character arcs in terms of Taylor Swift songs, because why not:

Nora - 𝙈𝙞𝙙𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙍𝙖𝙞𝙣 to 𝙄 𝙒𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙒𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙒𝙚 𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠 to 𝙃𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝘿𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙎𝙪𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙗𝙖𝙣 𝙇𝙚𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 to 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬 to 𝙊𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨 to 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧

Derek - 𝙋𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙍𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 to 𝙄𝙨 𝙄𝙩 𝙊𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙉𝙤𝙬? to 𝙎𝙖𝙮 𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙂𝙤 to 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙏𝙤𝙤 𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡 to 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙒𝙚 𝘾𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙉𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨/𝘽𝙖𝙙 𝘽𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 to 𝘾𝙧𝙪𝙚𝙡 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧 to 𝙏𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨 back to 𝙋𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙍𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨

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