Reviews

Unwritten Rules by KD Casey

Only show reviews with written explanations

brianklaas's review

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

Started as a bit of a slog but the characters became likable as the story progressed. A few moving moments, ended in just the right place.

30something_reads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I love them, your honor. 🥹♥️

This was everything I needed it to be- swoony, angsty, tender.

-Gay, Jewish MC with a hearing impairment
-Bi, Venezuelan LI (I don't think it explicitly mentions it, but Eugenio reads as Demisexua/ Bi Romantic to me)
-Second Chance Romance told in Single POV through two timelines
-Discussions of homophobia, biphobia, coming out

Content Warnings

jessvk's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

beachykeen's review

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4.0

I am shocked at how much I enjoyed this!! Had to skim over the baseball specific talk. But I loved the stakes of the relationship and the reality of it and I loved the way Casey kept us in Zach’s POV. I wanted and I think the characters deserved a little bit more toward the end though.

lbarsk's review

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4.0

Okay so first of all, HELL YEAH JEWISH ROMANCE CHARACTERS! And an especial hell yeah for Jewish GAY romance characters!

As my friend Irene's review of the book says, we LOVE to see sports romances that actually have sports in them. And K.D. Casey has clearly immersed themself in the world of baseball - it felt realistic, and true to how stressful and uncertain being an MLB player must be! - which helps ground the book.

I'm usually fine with romances that jump back and forth between past and present day, especially second-chance romances like this one! But it felt like we spent SO much time in the past, watching Zach and Eugenio fall in love, and so their path back to each other in the present day felt a little rushed on my end. The development of their relationship in the past was GREAT, and Zach's growth that we *did* get to see in the present day was solidly executed, so as usual with me I just wanted more for some balance.

I'm going to read the rest of the books because I like Casey's alternate world where it is okay for baseball players to be gay -- would that this world were the same! And I know that a major thrust of the book is Zach's unwillingness to come out, but it doesn't feel... toxic in the same way that real-world Major League Sports still do feel. Like, once he *does* come out it seems like the team will support him going forward. Which, again, can't exactly say for our universe. Anyway, a good read, 10/10 pitch perfect Maryland Judaism voice, great sports content and a compelling relationship.

becksgoesbookish's review

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4.0

Audio narration - 5 stars
Story - 3 stars

This had so much potential, and there were many things I did enjoy. Overall it was very well written, especially the baseball portions and bits about life being from Maryland (which is the area where I grew up so could definitely relate to those chapters). But for a romance novel, there were many things that just weren’t quite fully fleshed out in terms of telling the story of their second chance romance.

For example, if we are going to spend so much time in the “past” timeline I really expected the breakup to be a lot *bigger* and more emotional than it actually was.

And on the flip, they kind of just fall back to being together without Eugenio really having any trepidations.

Maybe this is because it was a single POV told from only Zach’s POV? Or because we don’t actually get much on page of them being a couple and having cute moments (though their are a few, which are great!)

Idk it’s hard to explain but basically I felt like the groundwork was there, but it didn’t quite stick the landing and the HFN ending was super rushed and definitely could’ve benefitted from an epilogue set in the future or something.

But will I still be listening to book 2? Absolutely!