Romcom is the new chicklit, or chicklit was the old romcom: chicken-egg, does it really matter when entertaining, light-hearted, heartfelt romance is being written? Because that’s certainly what you’ll get in Amy Andrews’s standalone, Breaking All the Rules. Andrews loves a life-restart-romance, especially on her heroines’ parts: Beatrice Archer has burned bridges big-time and docked her life-shambles in small-town Credence, Colorado with resolve to burn even more by “breaking all the rules” which held her rigid and controlled in the past. No more of that, baby, is her ‘tude! The publisher’s blurb will fill in some further details:

Sometimes you gotta toss your whole life into a burning dumpster to find what’s most important…

Beatrice Archer has always done everything she’s supposed to ―worked her ass off, ignored her non-existent personal life, and kept her mouth shut. Now she’s over it. The rat race, respectability…the underwire bras. She’s taking her life back. Starting with moving to Nowhere, Colorado to live life on her own terms.

Now Bea gives exactly zero forks. Beer for breakfast. Sugar for everything else. Baggy sweats and soft cotton undies FTW. Then a much younger and delightfully attractive cop is called to deal with her flagrant disregard for appropriate clothing outside the local diner (some folks just don’t appreciate bunny slippers) and Bea realizes there’s something missing from her little decathlon of decadence…and he might be the guy to help her out.

When it comes to breaking rules, Officer Austin Cooper is surprisingly eager to assist. He’s charming, a little bit cowboy, and a whole lot sexy. But Bea’s about to discover that breaking the rules has consequences. And all of the cherry pies in Colorado can’t save her from what’s coming…

It’s easy to overlook a romance’s flaws when the protagonists are as likeable and root-worthy as Austin and Bea, when the humour flows, and the conflict is more inner than outer Big Mis, when obstacles are overcome by taking emotional chances and being honest, making mistakes, taking wrong turns and righting them. All of which one can lay at Bea’s feet: refreshing. Austin, at 25, is gorgeous and has his head on so straight, he’s a teensy bit not to be believed. As Bea reassesses everything she’s missed: sleeping in, eating pie, living free, dancing, riding a horse, Austin is there to help her “live a little”, nothing so major that anyone with an undergrad life would find unusual. And Bea, with humour and humility, embraces it all. She and Austin burn up the sheets with healthy, open-hearted lust. And this carries the com in the rom for quite a long while. Bea also discovers or rather re-discovers that her advertising exec life took everything away from what she’s always loved but thought too unattainably impractical: being a visual artist.

Then Breaking All the Rules takes some serious turns, which made it all the better. To start, Bea’s good girl, straight career path, please dad and grandmother comes from a sad family background: her mother, an artist, suffered a mental illness even while she was a talented artist. When her mother died, her father and grandmother raised her with a constant cautionary litany of advice to not be like her mother, to aim high career-wise and ensure her financial stability. But Bea, no matter her successes, comes smack up against the “glass ceiling” and is overlooked for a promotion she well-deserved: this is what induces the post-bridge-burning arrival in Colorado, the bunny slippers, binge-watching, and pie eating wallowing. And the taking on of younger lover Austin.

But I liked how Andrews embroils Bea in more than indulgence: Austin is a wonderful person, funny and engaging, supportive and affectionate. Credence is fun and filled with warm-hearted people. Austin’s family offers Bea a glimpse of family life unfamiliar to her. When troubles come for Austin and Bea, they come not from an excess of drama, or misunderstandings, but the natural progression of Bea’s existential crisis: what does Bea want and what does Bea deserve? A subtle difference that Andrews navigates beautifully via Bea’s own conflicted feelings. Andrews doesn’t make Austin’s 25 years to Bea’s 35 too much of an issue, but Bea’s dismissiveness (I’ll stop here not to spoil) of Austin’s feelings is understandable, cynical but understandable. I liked that the younger man is the put-together one and the older woman is the one who has to learn to read her own heart, to know the difference between what she deserves and what she wants. It’s great that Bea eats pie, but it’s humble pie that makes the romance’s HEA.

As for those flaws, they’re pretty minor. Breaking All the Rules doesn’t break any rom-com ground, but it sure does well what it sets out to do and I enjoyed every minute of listening to it. I could have done with fewer Austin’s sexual prowess scenes, but there’s enough tenderness there to make up for them. I could have also done with fewer pie-eating scenes: if anyone were to eat as much confectionary as Austin and Bea seem to, it would be a sure-fire way to some kind of sugar-induced illness. I wish Andrews had balanced their diet with the occasional burger, grilled cheese? fries? My teeth hurt by the end of this novel and I have quite the sweet tooth.

The narration by Mia Barron was terrific. She has a lovely timbre to her voice and just the right shifts in tone between light and weighty to make it a pleasure to listen. I also thought she pulled off the love scenes with a casual flare that are too often, by too many narrators, too intensely emoted. She managed to convey Austin and Bea’s keep-it-light-keep-it-fun-but-feel-deeply. Thanks to Miss Austen, we can say Breaking All the Rules offers “real comfort,” Emma.

Amy Andrews’s audiobook of Breaking All the Rules is recorded by RB Media and has been on offer since January 24th. I received an audio-book file from RB Media for the purpose of writing this review, which does not affect my opinion, via Netgalley.

Well WELCOME go Credence 🔥

I really enjoyed my first trip to Credence and following Bea & Austin’s romance! I love Bea’s carefree, rebel attitude during her time in Credence, she had me cringing during her short trip back to LA. I found myself LOLing during Austin & Bea’s first interaction when she demanded being taken to the POKEY 😂

OHHH - the third curtain breakup, i was not a fan. & what Bea said to Austin i was like girl 😐 I could have done without that emotional curveball but was happen to see she came to her senses.

It’s giving: small town romance & reverse age gap.

It was a quick, funny, STEAMY read that I definitely enjoyed!

Breaking All the Rules by Amy Andrews (audio version)

4/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media, and Amy Andrews for allowing me to listen to this audiobook!

My Thoughts:

Breaking All the Rules was such a fun read! It had me cracking up throughout the whole book. It was a great story of a busy, successful woman (Bea) who finds out there is more to life than a 9-5 job. She finds this out by up and moving from LA to a small town. She rents an apartment and decides not to leave until she finishes all the seasons of Supernatural. She ends up having to leave for food and that’s when everything gets interesting. She find out that everyone in her new town is a little nosey and not a fan of women who go out in their pajamas. This is when she is confronted by Officer Austin Cooper who is called to make sure Bea is okay. This is the beginning of everything and when Bea decides to “break all of the rules”😉

I loved the body positivity that was promoted throughout the book, so A+ for that! There was the perfect amount of spice in this book as well! Let’s have a moment for Officer Cooper😉

The audiobook was great, I loved the narrator, Mia Barron. Breaking All the Rules is out now😊

This book needs to come with a warning label! I literally laughed out loud while listening to this book in my local coffeehouse and now everyone thinks that I have lost my mind....and I don't care one bit, but you might! The humor is especially on point for me as I see how true it is. Women have spent their lives trying to look just right, act just right, work harder, dress better and all so they can get the job, promotion or even the guy. When in reality, we need to find better jobs and better men, who accept us as we are. Ok, the job thing is definitely harder as there is an image to meet in order to prosper, but when picking a mate if we aren't ourselves then we aren't going to attract someone who best suits us. This book brings all of these issues to light and flips them over with a lot of humor, a few tears and some seriously great cowboy riding. The characters are well thought out and fleshed out to be realistic and relatable. I absolutely can't wait to listen to more books by this author and the narration was fantastic too. Now excuse me, but I think it is time for some pie!

This book is about Bea who has a job she has given her life to in LA when she pretty much has a breakdown and picks somewhere to run away to by throwing a dart. That is when the fun starts, this book will have you laughing so hard all the way through but you will also get sad and mad. I had been waiting for the book and the wait was worth it! The narration for the audio was fantastic

As I was reading for the description of the book, I just admit that I was hooked! I had to learn how Beatrice was going to tackle these issues within her career and how the small-town life was going to fit into the LA girl's life. I really enjoyed the scene setting that took place in the book, and enjoyed the banter that took place within. I found myself anxious to return to the audiobook to learn what happened. There were some times I felt the plot drug on a little, but overall found myself really enjoying the book! I thought the characters were great and were developed well. I liked that they felt like they could stand up on their own - like they weren't overly dependent on the other characters to have a good story themselves. Looking forward to reading more from Amy Andrews.

I tried with this book, but the heroine was way too “mental breakdown” point for me and the infatuation between the two characters was SO Insta I couldn’t even deal.

First, the cover sold me from the get-go. I loved the cover of a woman who has just given the last of her F*@%$ and has decided to live in her own skin and do what makes her happy.

Honestly I wish i could be more like Bea and her no nonsense rebirth in Colorado. Also.... I think I want a cowboy now and want to read more cowboy romance.

This book captured me from the start and I loved that we begin in CO and get a backstory of what led her there in snips and memories. Also, where can I get Annie's pies?

I laughed and swooned and loved this character!

Run, don't walk, and go read this one!

I absolutely adore this book. She did make me mad at the end. but i've never related more than going on a rant while being elbow deep in ice cream drips.

When Beatrice Archer decides to go off the rails and revolt against everything she's ever known, she goes all in.
After walking away from her dream job with no work life balance, Beatrice ends up in a small town, holed up with Netflix, sweats, beer, and some food rations. The small town has no idea what to make their new resident, especially after she comes out of hiding still in her pajamas, slippers, uncombed hair, hunger for pie and an insistence on getting into trouble. Lucky for her, the person she finds to make trouble with happens to be local deputy Austin.
For Austin's part, even in all of her disheveled state, he Falls hard. And only harder when she starts coming back to herself, and into herself, shucking some family baggage and working through more.

A sweet rom-com about learning what is important, overcoming obstacles, sticking up for oneself and figuring out when to hold on and when to let go.

#arc
#netgalley
#breakingalltherules

Cute romance! I liked the character development and the themes of age gap, career transitions, and growth were well done. Some elements felt overdone and unneeded like FMC's hinted traumatic background. I liked the book much better than the narration which didn't always suit.

Como describir este libro...? O como describir la lectura? Fue rara, más que nada porque fue un audiolibro y la que leía estaba en el mood todo el tiempo, asi que rara.
Tenemos a Bea, que tiene 35 años y se muda a un pueblito. Ahí encuentra a Austin, un policía de unos 25 años que le gusta romper las reglas (irónico). La diferencia de edad... me hizo un poquito de cosa ya que se resalta en todo momento por la protagonista. La familia esta sumamente conforme???
Obviamente el conflicto está ligado al tema de la edad ya que es una inseguridad por parte de Bea, y se engancha con el tema de ex que es un tóxico.
El final fue super rápido y se resolvió todo ahí. Me hizo acordar a Harry Potter.

“Breaking All the Rules” is a small town romance novel, chock full of cheesy dialogue and accompanying characters, that will leave you ready to pack your bags for Credence, Colorado.

I just finished listening to this audiobook and the story’s transformation from beginning to end was a success! The first chapter had little dialogue, so the narration felt a bit stilted at times, but once the story picked up, it was well done.

“Breaking All the Rules” follows Beatrice, a 35 year old, trying to decide what to do with her life after quitting her job. Austin finds Beatrice on a particularly interesting day for her, but instead of being taken aback by her unkempt edges, he is drawn to them. Austin is a “perfect” book boyfriend. Though fair warning, if “panties” is an ick word for you, then you may have a hard time with this story. The word comes up so much that I (almost) found it humorous by the end.

Amy Andrew’s writing in the book manages to be comforting, and also surprising. It makes me want to go buy pie, lots of pie, and reflect on the notion that we can’t allow those who have hurt us, to have dominion over our decisions, and our ability to be happy. It’s a great message!

I hope Amy Andrews gets to continue with her cast of characters in Credence, Colorado. I would love to see a story for Arlo and Winona-their chemistry was jumping off the page!

Thank you to RB Media, and NetGalley for an early audiobook review copy of this book!

“Breaking All the Rules” is out now. Go check it out!

**Posted to Goodreads on 1/29/2023
**Posted to Amazon on 1/30/2023

This is my first read by Amy Andrews and I'm hooked. Not only does she weave an intriguing story, her writing style offers a unique rom-com style that had me literally laughing out loud more times than not. I've definitely found a new go to author when I need a feel good, fun read with some fun and flirty spiciness.

The main character, Beatrice (Bea) has moved to Credence, CO in an attempt to escape her crumbling life in Los Angeles. She escapes by eating junk food, drinking beer and binge watching the Winchester brothers on Supernatural. She simply wants to hide out for a while and lick her wounds. What she doesn't count on is a decadent deputy named Austin who is about ten years younger and solidly built from helping out on his family's ranch. As he slowly lures her out of her self imposed exile, Bea discovers there may be more to life than the advertising world she's just left. Maybe new friends, line dancing, day of the week underwear, watching tv and enjoying a hot younger man can be worthwhile parts of her life too....oh and pie....lots of wonderful pie from Annie's.

This book provided the perfect little escape and kept me thoroughly entertained. I not only read the ebook, I also listened to the audiobook. The narration in the audio was spot on. With the quick one-liners that the author throws out, I think the narration made it even more funny because the listener could hear the inflection and more easily catch the author's intent. I'm rating both versions with 5 stars because I found them both extremely enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley for both the ARC and the early listening copy. I voluntarily chose to review both of these and the opinions contained within are my own.

I really enjoyed this book, actually I devoured it. Breaking all the rules had every little thing you could want in a feel-good romance book. It was fast paced, had witty banter and a great plot line and a lot of sensual, sexy and mischievous spicy stuff. All of the characters were lovable, even the side characters.

Bea, an ad executive and LA native is miserable after getting turned down for her corner office executive job of her dreams.... or was that her dream? She is over the rat race and wants to pursue her life on her own terms, even if that means breaking the rules.

Enter officer Austin Cooper, 10 years younger than Bea, and hotter than a two-dollar pistol. He awakens Bea's fun and playful side. He is all the things we want from our MMC #bookboyfriend, sexy, sweet, thoughtful, wise beyond his years and lets you lick pie from his sculpted chest.... Did I just say that out loud? YES PLEASE!

In the spirit of breaking her rules Bea allows herself to entertain Austin, despite the #agegap and he helps her check off her list of things she wants to do with her time. They both had instant attraction and chemistry and had me laughing straight out of the gate. Which is probably why I hated Bea for a split second in a scene I won't ruin, but you will understand when you read. She was so stubborn and cold that I wanted to smack her right out of the pages. Metaphorically speaking of course, because I listed via audiobook.

The audiobook was narrated by Mia Baron, which I enjoyed, but for the dual POV I prefer to have Male and Female vocalists. There were also parts of the book, after the 80% mark that there were some weird background noises or vibrations which sounded super weird in my earbuds,
Overall, I really enjoyed this story and this book, and I would recommend if you like:
**3rd party dual POV
**Steamy open-door scenes
**Age Gap (her 35 him 35)
**Small Town
**Sherrif- person of authority
**No Strings turned love
**He Falls First
**Starting Over
**Cats
**Pies

Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media and Amy Andrews for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Breaking All The Rules was a little hard to get into. I think the talk about sugar really threw me off and I almost didn’t continue the story. But after getting past the first chapter, I was hooked. I thought it was super funny and it was an easy listen. It kept my attention the entire time and if you’re looking for a book to listen to to switch things up, this is it. The narrator did a FANTASTIC job. I would really like to find other novels they narrate because they were animated.

Thanks Netgalley for the early Audio book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook ARC! This book was so cute. Austin is the perfect cinnamon roll hero and Beatrice is a perfect compliment to him. This book offer some of my favorite trips, including small town, romance and age gap love interest. The beginning was a little bit slower for me, but it picked up and I really got invested in Austin and Beatrice’s romance. I’m curious if there will be more books in the series or if this is a standalone. I would definitely read more about the romances in Credence!

Rating 4.75⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Spice 🔥🔥🔥

I Finished listening to the audiobook not long ago and I just can't stop smiling.

Small Town romance ✔️
Age Gap ✔️
Steamy ✔️

First of all, Bea’s first meeting with Austin was hilarious omg 😂😂... and their banter and instant connection was everything. Love it.
I fell in love with them instantly.

This book has so much depth.
I'm happy Bea was able to rediscover herself, connect with other people, come into terms with her past and re-invents her life.

📖 Beatrice Archer has always done everything she’s supposed to.....
She’s taking her life back. Starting with moving to Nowhere, Colorado to live life on her own terms.
...When it comes to breaking rules, Officer Austin Cooper is surprisingly eager to assist. He’s charming, a little bit cowboy, and a whole lot sexy. But Bea’s about to discover that breaking the rules has consequences. And all of the cherry pies in Colorado can’t save her from what’s coming…

Get this book. Get this book. Get this book. And you'll have so much fun reading/listening to it.

Thank you Amy Andrews, RB Media and NetGalley for my audio copy.
Mia Barron you did really good with the narration

A age gap romance in a small town.
Narrated by Mia Barron, who does a wonderful job portraying Bea and Austin. Mia is amazing in her narration that I felt like she portrayed Bea to the T.

Unfortunately for me, this story wasn’t for me. Bea and her love for sweets was a bit over the top for me. While I see some may find it hilarious and Austin’s reaction to seeing Bea eat and her sweets.

5 stars narration
Not rating story

This is an age gap romance where the FMC is about 10 years older than the MMC. At times, however, it felt like Austen was the one giving advice and being the worldly wise person. So although the author keeps pressing the age gap issue, it didn’t feel like they were that far apart in maturity. This wouldn’t be an issue, except the age gap is one of the major reasons the FMC resists the relationships.

Pros: This was one of the spicier books I’ve read in a while. The steamy scenes were well done and not overtly graphic. I thought there was a good balance of on page versus fade to black. The characters were well-developed and I was rooting for the couple to get together.

Cons (for me): The narrator really put me off. I had to listen at 2x in order to not want to rip my EarPods off. Something about the way she drew out the endings of her words/sentences just irked me. Admittedly, I have misophonia, so weird sounds trigger me. Secondly, I found a lot of the writing very cliche even for a romance. It leaned into tropes and descriptions that I’ve read a million times. The premise of the FMC not wanting to be with the MMC because of some mommy issues seemed a bit of a stretch.

Overall, it was a quick, easy, steamy, but not very memorable read. I enjoyed it while I was reading, but didn’t feel compelled to pick it up to see what was going to happen next.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the author, and the publishers for providing this ARC copy to read and review. All the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading the book.