Take a photo of a barcode or cover
story_stone 's review for:
The Rule Book
by Sarah Adams
The Rule Book was a real disappointment after reading The Cheat Sheet two years ago, which I gave 4.5/5. This started as a 4/5 read but descended to 2/5 by the end.
It felt like the book was trying to cram in every possible trope – sports romance, second chance, marriage of convenience, fake dating, forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers, miscommunication, only one bed – and instead of being fun, it just came across as trying too hard. My biggest issues, though, were with the characters and the dialogue. Nora started off strong – she was quirky, determined in her career, and unapologetically herself but her “sunshine manic pixie dream girl” energy quickly became extremely irritating. Meanwhile, the endless reminders of how huge and muscled Derek was got repetitive fast, and so much of the dialogue felt cheesy or unrealistic.
The biggest problem for me was the romance itself. I never felt the spark between Derek and Nora, and their relationship ended up feeling flat and unconvincing. By the time I hit 90%, I was hovering on DNF territory.
Overall, The Rule Book had a cute setup, but between the forced tropes, over-the-top quirks, and lack of chemistry, it just wasn’t for me.
It felt like the book was trying to cram in every possible trope – sports romance, second chance, marriage of convenience, fake dating, forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers, miscommunication, only one bed – and instead of being fun, it just came across as trying too hard. My biggest issues, though, were with the characters and the dialogue. Nora started off strong – she was quirky, determined in her career, and unapologetically herself but her “sunshine manic pixie dream girl” energy quickly became extremely irritating. Meanwhile, the endless reminders of how huge and muscled Derek was got repetitive fast, and so much of the dialogue felt cheesy or unrealistic.
The biggest problem for me was the romance itself. I never felt the spark between Derek and Nora, and their relationship ended up feeling flat and unconvincing. By the time I hit 90%, I was hovering on DNF territory.
Overall, The Rule Book had a cute setup, but between the forced tropes, over-the-top quirks, and lack of chemistry, it just wasn’t for me.