Sarah Adams has done it again. The Rule Book is a great follow up to The Cheat Sheet (another 5 star read), and this particular gem had me laughing, crying and feeling so many emotions. It was great to see beloved characters return to continue their stories. You don't see that often enough, and if you do it's not to the level achieved in The Rule Book.

I love the way Adams writes support systems within relationships. It was genuinely heartwarming to read these sweet scenes within The Rule Book, coming from both friends and family. I also loved that I knew what the premise was, but with Adams' storytelling ability I was so lost in the story that the twist (which again, you know will happen) took me by surprise.

The plot was great, I loved Adams' take on beloved tropes and her descriptions of both characters and scenes. My only complaint: I wish it was longer.

Sarah‘s books are always light and charming with variations on a romantic fairytale, and this is all that - but there’s much more here too. Derek is the king of pining and yearning - I ached for him and his unresolved feelings for Nora, his late diagnosis of dyslexia and his insecurity. I just wanted to hug him and tell him it will all be okay. Nora’s relentless sunshine is wonderful but also hard to read because we know it’s masking so much pain. She's done all the work to build her career, but she’s also had unsuccessful relationships because people don’t get her, and find her too much. It's obvious her eccentricities and relentless optimism are too hard to manage, even as she's just being herself.

What so clever is that it’s also very funny, Derek's hazing is a riot, and the way they fall back into the banter from when they were a couple is so joyful!

Something new - Sarah opens the closed door, just a little, maybe one 🌶, and it’s beautifully done. Steamy yes, but the care and the love they share threads through every encounter. This really such a wonderful novel - up there with The Cheat Sheet and Practice Makes Perfect, but a little bit deeper, a little bit more angst and such thoughtful observations around neurodiversity - so even more satisfying. Love love love it!

Thank you so much NetGalley, Sarah Adams and the publisher for the ARC 🥰

THE RULE BOOK is my first foray into the work of Sarah Adams and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it.

This story goes from zero to hundred very quickly, it’s super fast paced (though slightly repetitive) and felt like it had every trope under the sun: swim chance romance, fake marriage, enemies to lover, forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, only one bed - you name it, it’s there.

It’s a real whirlwind of a romance, could have been a little bit more steamy but I liked the focus on learning difficulties and OCD represented.

I really like this book, it was the perfect continuation of the first in the series. I loved Nora and Derek individually and their second chance romance was so fun. It was fast paced, and kept me hooked. Is it going to change your life, probably not. But you’ll have a hell of a good few hours reading it!

Such an enjoyable read. It’s light, it’s funny, it’s romantic, and I just ate up every page. Nora is all kinds of funny and Derek is all kinds of sweetness and swoony.

Sensational!! One of my favourite novels so far this year.
A heart warming and joyful read.
Nora Mackenzie's career lies in the hands of famous NFL player, Derek Pender, who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend from college. Nora ended things abruptly and Derek, being her first real client, plans on getting a little revenge. But Nora doesn't give up easily and a fun and entertaining story unfolds.
The totally flawed characters with intriguing backstories and supporting characters reappearing from her previous novel, this was brilliant!! There were serious moments but also so much fun. Yes, there was a little spice, it had me smiling throughout and was just so full of Hope and Joy. Highly recommend.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hachette Australia New Zealand for this gifted review copy. I read it in an afternoon/evening and could not stop.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Cute!

You can expect:
▪️Sports romance (athlete x agent)
▪️Second chance romance
▪️Forced proximity
▪️One bed
▪️Marriage of convenience
▪️Dual POV
▪️’Touch her and you die’ & ‘that’s my wife’ exclamations
▪️Dyslexia representation
▪️He falls first

Some of my thoughts:
📍This book was cute, easy to read, well paced, sweet and romantic. The characters were built with depth, each faced their own relatable struggles and had believe chemistry. The tension between them was palpable and as the story went on, the moments where each revealed how they still loved the other resonated (the tattoo, the ring, the box of jerseys).

📍My main issue with this book was the FMC. I personally found her annoying. She gave off ‘manic pixie dream girl’ vibes and I do not connect with such characters. Her quirky way of speaking was over the top and she grated on my nerves. It is also mentioned on many occasions that she is a fantastic sports agent but what that was based on, I couldn’t say.

📍I was also mildly disappointed that the MMC gave up on his football career so easily at the end, after a fantastic return to the game (post crippling injury). I found that quite unbelievable given what his career meant to him. I really would have preferred he had a long, wonderful career then retired to coaching in the epilogue.

✨ I received an ARC of this book for free through NetGalley. All comments here are my own, are my honest thoughts and I am leaving this review voluntarily for free. Thank you to Sarah Adams, the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

“You’re a gemstone. Rare and unique and vibrant. And anyone who can’t see that doesn’t deserve to have you in their life.”

Release Date: Audiobook released 2nd April

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

Thank you so much @hachetteaus and @authorsarahadams for sharing the ARC of The Rule Book. I was gifted this ARC in exchange for my honest review, so here it goes.

While I was excited to get my hot little hands on this book I am so pleasantly surprised with how incredible this book is. It is so fun, witty and truly helped me get over a massive reading hangover!

Sarah Adams does a wonderful job of making an almost fairytale love and spontaneous Vegas wedding feel so real while every interaction and comment is so relatable and quirky. I found myself giggling throughout these pages and wishing I could meet Nora Mackenzie in real life. I loved reading a perspective from a strong woman in a male dominated industry, one who kept a firm grip on her colourful, bold and cutesy attitude, using this to her advantage.

I had so much fun reading this book and couldn’t recommend this book more! Now please excuse me while I go devour all of Sarah’s previous books!

Reading Nora & Derek’s story was like eating a love heart candy with the words Soulmates printed on it 🥹 Extremely cute and cushy 🫶🏼

Nora’s energy and spark of life kept her character so fun and interesting whilst Derek is every girls Football-superstar-Golden-Retriever dream. Seriously who doesn’t love a rekindling of an old college love!? (And a sneaky drunken trip to Vegas!)

Also a great follow on from The Cheat Sheet which I LOVED with appearances from Nathan and Bree and the whole team in there.
Sarah’s writing is beautiful and I love the fact she is a closed door romance author. When recommending Romance novels to young teens in store who don’t want to read explicit scenes, Sarah’s books are always my first recommendation.

Thank you Netgalley, Hachette Australia & New Zealand, Headline Eternal for this ARC.

Ok, I want to start by saying that I absolutely loved The Cheat Sheet. It was one of my favourite books and I absolutely could not wait to read this one. But unfortunately it was not what I was hoping.

I ended up very much disliking Bree, Nathan and other characters I loved in the first one because they were all incredibly annoying about Derek not dating. I also struggled to like Derek and Nora. Within the first 50% there were countless times I wanted to DNF and while they did get slightly less frequent in the second half, they didn’t stop.

If you didn’t like the “quirky” nature of Bree in book one or loved it because of the friends to lovers tension, you may not like this one. My favourite things about The Cheat Sheet were Bree and Nathan’s relationship and the positive relationship between the team. I didn’t hate Bree’s quirky nature but it definitely wasn’t a bonus by any means. I do enjoy Noras colourful clothing but she just comes across as stupid a lot of the time. Derek is also an ass with little to no justification. Some of the ‘tasks’ he comes up with for his agent are just annoying.

This kind of made me never want to reread The Cheat Sheet again and that is what makes me more mad than anything. How could a sequel ruin one of my favourite books??

3.5 ⭐️
This was a fluffy, light and enjoyable sports romance that I’d recommend as a bookseller. I don’t find that there’s a lot of sports romance traditionally published, so this is an easy pick to go with—and I can certainly see how this steers away from the formulaic indie sports romances that I love.

I’ve never read a Sarah Adams book, and as embarrassing as it is to say, the reason is because I’m often told that she writes closed door romance. I can confidently say that in this latest offering I’d argue that it wasn’t strictly closed door, which I enjoyed!

The start of this book had me giggling and kicking my feet, however it went downhill as I got to know the FMC more. I can see how people would love her personality, but personally she was a little too immature for her age, overly happy and wouldn’t stop telling unfunny jokes. The same goes with the romance storyline. Loved it at the start, the tension, angst and hatred between the characters was phenomenal however once they started opening up and realised they still loved each other the believability of their romantic connection completely lost me. As a result, the last 20-30% of this book was a slog and I wish it was over with.

At the end of the day a sports romance like this is easily marketable within the Australian book scene in comparison to somewhat darker and smuttier indie sports romance—so I can totally see why this would be a hit!

Despite my issues with this novel I do think I will try a different Sarah Adams book, since my main dislike was the FMC’s personality…

Thank you so much to Hachette Australia for providing me with an e-arc of The Rule Book by Sarah Adams, this one is out 9 April!

4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Sarah Adams for providing me with an ARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

The queen, Sarah Adams never misses. This second-chance romance was adorably sweet and very hard to put down! The characters are all so loveable and it was so nice to have Bree and Nathan back in our books!

Thank you for releasing this on my birthday as well… what a gift!

Read this!! You won’t regret it

A huge thankyou to Netgally, publisher and author Sarah for letting me read the ARC of the Rule Book.
I loved every moment of this story.
Loved both the characters and it was wonderful that dyslexia was apart of one of the characters traits.
The author writes in a very creative, engaging, entertaining manner. Love the style.
I highly recommend this book to all readers as I believe they will enjoy it as much as I did.
I will look forward to future books by Sarah.

This books gets a 4.5 star!!!

I love the main characters Nora and Derek. They were funny and so loveable.

Derek, OMG!!!!! Where can I get one of my own??!!! He was so sweet (and sexy - might I add).

This book had me giggling and squealing and kicking my little feet. I enjoyed every single moment of it, and 100% have already reccomened it to my friends for when it releases.

Absolutely ADORED this book! Sarah Adams is a queen in the romance genre constantly making me swoon and laugh and this book was no exception! Plus the addition of spice made this the easiest 5 stars for me! I love Derek and Nora so much and was rooting for them to get back together the whole time.

I loved being back in this NFL world and seeing my fave characters and I'm praying she finds a way to write another book with these characters again because they have my heart!!

This was a fun read! I enjoyed diving back into this world to follow Nora and Derek’s story. They were lovable characters and they had me rooting for them pretty quickly. The past hurts/insecurities from their previous relationship felt very real and were well written. I particularly loved Nora’s independence, her sense of self, her relationship with her body and the way she stands up for herself and other women. And I absolutely loved Derek for the love and support he provided Nora throughout the book, even if he started off as a stubborn grump.

The regular appearances of Bree and Nathan and the other guys from Derek and Nathan’s team were fun. And I loved that the infamous whiteboard made a return.

I hadn’t read the synopsis before diving into this one (I’ll read literally anything Sarah writes), so I did not see the accidental marriage coming and I absolutely loved the surprise.

The book lost my interest for a little bit around the 90% mark, but I still enjoyed the very end and the cute epilogue. Overall, a fun read!

Thank you to Hachette Australia & New Zealand and NetGalley for the chance to read this advanced copy.

I had the best time reading this book - cute, funny, perfect!

The banter was legit laught out loud! Which is the best in a rom com!

I just wanted to keep picking up this book and falling in love with these characters and everything about this book!

After reading The Rule Book I have determined Sarah Adams cannot write a word I won’t like. She has been an auto-buy author for me from my first encounter with her writing and getting an ARC of The Rule Book was a dream come true! Each of her stories follow unique characters with interesting quirks and I think Nora and Derek have quickly become my new favourites (sorry Will and Annie)! The Rule Book is a fantastic read that I finished in one sitting, following Derek who some may recall from The Cheat Sheet and his college ex-girlfriend, sport agent Nora. This story has all the good qualities of Sarah Adams’ novels, interesting characters, a great storyline, and an uplifting ending. Unlike some of the other Sarah Adams novels I’ve read The Rule Book is open door, however, the scene is not graphic and flowed naturally in the story line. Overall, I cannot recommend this book enough and I can’t wait until it is published so I can get my hands on a hard copy!

#TheRuleBook #NetGalley

'The Rule Book' by Sarah Adams.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

This is a sports romance book that follows both perspectives of Nora (FMC) and Derek (MMC), who are ex's that find themselves reunited. There are many tropes in this book that I really enjoyed such as (accidental) marriage of convenience, second chance romance, and many more.

I want people to know that a three star rating for me is good, I'm a very harsh rater but a 3 star means I enjoyed myself all throughout. I am predominantly a fantasy/romantasy reader, so rating straight romances a 5 star is almost impossible.

I read 'The Cheat Sheet' (the first instalment to this inter-connected series) when I was getting back into reading and I thoroughly enjoyed myself reading that. I think that one was slightly better than this because it really revolved around the actual cheat sheet itself, whereas in this novel, the rule book was relevant only at the very start and the very end.

In terms of characters, I surprisingly had a like/hate relationship with Nora. sometimes I found myself giggling and other times I found myself cringing because of the overuse of jokes, which I get is a character trait of hers but Im just not a fan of that. I liked Derek, he was a pretty average MMC. nothing too special about him- except for dyslexia rep.

I would recommend this to any fans of sports romance and to fantasy readers who need a quick and easy read as a palate cleanser.

Big, big thank you to Hachette ANZ, as well as NetGalley for sending me a copy of this ARC.

Nora and Derrick were college sweethearts until Nora ended things. Six years later, Derrick is a professional football player recovering from an injury…and Nora is his new agent. Derrick and Nora are eventually forced to confront their true feelings. It’s a case of lovers to enemies, to accidental marriage and second chance romance? With a sprinkle of forced proximity and grumpy sunshine for good measure.

This was such a sunshine happy story. The main characters really felt authentically like their own people. I loved Nora’s self confidence and her oft misquoted idioms. Derrick was the perfect mix of vulnerability, sensitivity and assertiveness. The dual POV worked really well, and I think their banter would be great in audiobook form. I also really loved Nora’s relationship with her mother and boss, and the role they played in guiding and supporting Nora.

I highly recommend The Rule Book for anyone looking for a fun and cheery comfort read.

Thank you Hachette and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.