This is by far my favorite book by Sarah Adams! I was hooked from the get go. I always enjoy the back and forth of the perspectives with her characters. Derek is by far my favorite guy that she has created. I enjoyed the take on a disability, because a disability does not define how far one can go. I enjoyed the relationship between the characters and how when they met again years later, they picked back up where they left off in a sense. I do not normally buy books because I am an avid library reader, but when I do purchase a book it is because I want to keep it in my personal library. I do plan to add this one to my library so that I can read it again!

I find that some books that are considered romance have very surface level issues that the characters must overcome but I loved how each character in this book had something a little deeper to learn before they were able to have a better relationship. If you are a person who does not enjoy a book with a lot of spice, this is the book for you. The spicey scene was very tastefully written and didn't make me cringe. I love a book that gives the perspective from both love interests. I think Sarah Adams always does such a good job with that, but I LOVED reading Derek's point of view so much!

I 10/10 recommend this book!

The Rule Book by Sarah Adams 💫

DROP EVERYTHING AND READ THIS BOOK! I absolutely love this book! It is definitely a new comfort read for me! Everything about this book made me fall in love. I loved Nora’s fun and goofy personality, and Derek’s loving not-so-grumpy personality so so much! All the characters, really. Derek’s friend group and their wives were all so lovable and fun!

Nora and Derek dated in college for a year, and when it ended ugly, they never thought they’d see each other again. Until, Derek’s agent quits and Nora ends up being his new agent. Derek decides that he is going to give Nora a hard time because of the breakup, and makes her job extremely difficult. Eventually, she gets tired of him being an overgrown baby and the end up going to Vegas, even though Derek had said he didn’t want to go. They go to a bar while there, and end up extremely drunk. They end up getting married and posting a picture on Derek’s Instagram page. And when they agree to stay married and make it look like they actually wanted to get married, Derek and Nora are stuck battling feelings they realize never actually went away when they broke up.

If you love:

🔹Second Chance
🔹College Sweethearts
🔹Sports Romance
🔹NFL Star x Agent
🔹Only One Bed
🔹Not-So-Fake Marriage

Genre/Type: Romance
APK: Ebook ARC
Pages: 368
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️
Series or Stand Alone:
Tropes or Themes: Second Chance, Not-So-Fake Marriage, Only One Bed, Forced Proximity, NFL Star x Agent, Sports Romance, Grumpy x Sunshine, College Sweethearts, Right Person Wrong Time, Dual POV, Found Family

Nora has one goal: to be the best sports agent in the country. The only problem? Her new client is also her ex, the one that got away.

This is my first Sarah Adams book and I really enjoyed it!

Nora was great. She was goofy but really funny. I connected with her cute one-liners and found myself wanting to be her friend. Derek was great as well. He's tough and sexy but you can see him melt so quickly for Nora. I love a MMC who is obsessed with the FMC, and Derek fits right into that.

The female positivity is high in this one too, which is great. There is just so much in here to like. Second chance, enemies to lovers, football, tropical location, forced proximity. And the list goes on!

All in all, this was a great sports romcom!

Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy!

I will say this - Sarah Adams knows how to write dreamy men. Derek is swoony and devoted. It's worth reading for Derek!

Nora is intense. But that's the point right? for the right person - you are never too much. I loved watching her accept herself.

If you liked the Cheat Sheet, you'll like this one!

3.75 rounded to 4.

This is not a review, it’s a love letter to Sarah Adams for writing this book.

“The Rule Book” follows Nora Mackenzie, a sports agent whose first client is famous NFL tight end Derek Pender. He also happens to be her ex-boyfriend and he’s still holding a grudge. He’s determined to make her life difficult, but when a wild night in Vegas leads to an accidental marriage, they have to rekindle their relationship to save their careers.

Reading this book was like getting a warm hug and its all because I really adored the characters. Nora is my favorite of Sarah’s female main characters because she is so inspiring, unapologetically herself, and hardworking. Adams gives her so much personality and I found myself relating to her organization skills (specifically color-coding), can-do attitude, and love of sweet treats. I also saw a lot of myself in Derek. Though I do not have a shared experience with a learning disability diagnosis, I’ve felt inadequate before and I resonated with his internal struggle. Both Nora and Derek really moved me and I now consider them my comfort characters.

Nora and Derek’s second chance romance had me feeling so giddy! Adams does a great job establishing what their relationship was like in college and why it eventually fell apart. She executes the “right person, wrong time” narrative so well and weaves in some of my other favorite tropes like accidental marriage/marriage of convenience, only one bed, and “that’s my wife” flawlessly without overwhelming the reader. The inclusion of such tropes push Nora and Derek to face their lingering feelings for each other and act on them to give their relationship another shot. I couldn’t get enough of the mutual pining, the tension, and the way they continuously uplift each other. Thank you Sarah for this masterpiece! I’m so obsessed with this book that it hurts.

I am a new reader to Sarah Adams, and I am ready to dive into them all. I loved this one! I read it pretty quickly after The Cheat Sheet, and was happy to see the Sharks return. I hope that there are more books in this LA Sharks team! I liked how Adams chose Nora as a sports agent and showed us the insight into that world. I love a second chance romance, and really enjoyed the connection between Derek & Nora. My two favorite quotes from the book are "regardless of how it ended, I needed a way to prove it existed" & "Maybe Derek was always the right person, just at the wrong time"

This was a fun, cute book. I will always love the family dynamic between all of the football stars, and while I enjoyed Nora and Derek's relationship growth, I wasn't fully convinced of their chemistry. I loved Nora's bubbly personality, but the more she supplied one-liner after one-liner, I felt myself getting a little bit annoyed and bored. The dialogue felt a bit too forced and slightly cheesy, and I think that really didn't work for me.

Overall, it is still a cute romance, and you will enjoy this if you enjoy:

-second-chance
-he falls first
-marriage of convenience
-sports romance
-dual POV

Star Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 / ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating:
🌶/🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

i have to admit that i struggle a little with second chance romance, but i lay at the feet of miss sarah adams so of course i had to read this book. it started out a little iffy for me, but i was hooked for the second half. watching nora and derek re-fall in love was so beautiful. i don’t even think re-fall is the right word since i never think they fell out, but more of finally giving their feelings the recognition they needed. i love how this book acknowledged that even when you’re in a relationship, individual needs still deserve priority too. and of course, i loved getting to see updates on my babies bree and nathan (they own me forever). go sharks 4 life!

ahhhhh I loved this book! The Rule Book is such a cute second chance, fake marriage, sports romance. I was so refreshing to see our FMC Nora, have such a fun corky personality. I loved how she embraced the weird side of herself but always stayed true to herself no matter what. I love the background story on her family and the way her mom raised her to understand feminism and understand the way a woman should be treated. Our MMC Derek is our grumpy golden retriever football player. I love that we got a MMC with a learning disability, it's something you don't get often in books. My only thing is that I wish we got more into Dereks family history. We know he didn't grow up with the best parents and they never knew about his learning disability, I just wish we got more insight on that. I'm normally not a fan of second chance romances but this one was written so well. I actually liked that we didn't get too many flash backs of their romance in college. I think that it was just enough to understand the kind of relationship they had in college. I know Sarah Adam's typically writes in a closed-door style which I did enjoy in When in Rome. There is a warning page that lets you know when the not closed-door scene happens, but I personally loved that The Rule Book was more open door. I think it gave it something to look for after the slow burn romance. Overall, I gave it 4 stars! Thank you for allowing me to read this early!

It took me a while to figure out a rating for this one. I am notoriously a fan of Sarah's books, as I think they are refreshing, light, and fun to read. This book was all of these things, however, I am unfortunately, not in love with this one in the same way as some of her others.

I think one of the main things that took away from the story for me was how unserious Nora was,, even in times when seriousness was needed. I am kind of tired of the quintessential, quirky FMC. Her constant (and I mean constant) one-liners drew me out of the story, and at some points had me feeling a bit annoyed. I think her unserious-ness contributed to how surface level I felt parts of the story was. While she did end up opening up and gaining a bit more confidence, I wish she was a little less quirky.

One thing I loved about this was the disability representation with both Derek (dyslexia) and Nora (vasovagal syncope). I loved seeing them open up to each other about their struggles and help each other through the hard times, Derek especially. He was accommodating and thoughtful of her, even when he was still pretending to hate her.

Overall, although I wasn't absolutely in love with this book, I think that most fans of Sarah Adams's books will be. It is funny, cute, and refreshing.

Read if you like:
- Sports romance
- Marriage of convenience
- Second chance
- A boy obsessed
- Pining

I adored this second chance, dual POV, enemies to lovers, marriage of convenience sports romance featuring college exes, Derek and Nora. Derek is a recently injured pro-football player with dyslexia who hasn't gotten over his new sports agent Nora. When the two are forced to work together sparks fly and a business trip to Vegas results in an embarrassing drunken wedding the two have to pretend was real in order to save face.

With great disability rep (dyslexia him, and vasovagal syndrome, her), supportive male friendship and cameos from all the guys in The cheat sheet. This was really good on audio narrated by Hathaway Lee and Will Damron and highly recommended for fans of authors like Alexa Martin or Lyssa Kay Andrews. Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and @prhaudio for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Steam level: mostly PG with one open door scene

this is more of like in the 3.5-3.8 rage in rating but sarah adams really does know how to write a fun book.

this book has, mostly, great hits for me! the biggest hits:

i loved the romance aspect of this book. the pacing was perfect and i love a second chance romance.
i love the strong-women push this book gives. the single mom, the two women dominating in a literal all-man environment and also the downfalls and reality of what it means to work in environment like that when men more often than not care more to stick up for each other/their comradery than whether their actions are right or wrong.
i love the inclusion of the other characters. sarah adams does a really great job of having these large cast ensembles in her books but not letting their presence overshadow the main characters. they almost seem like even though they're physically there, they're actually there in spirit.
i love that there isn't anything that needs to be sacrificed. no career that's given up or life altering decisions are made to favor the other. the communication is great between the two characters (even when it feels like it isn't, the love interest always break down the walls and demands a conversation be had), which means no third-act break up that doesn't make any sense).

the only "problem" i had was that i wish that there had been more insight to their past relationship. i feel like eight years of hurt between them needed more than the couple of conversations they had to resolve it. i also wished we got more of the dynamic between derek and his parents. maybe even the conversation of his diagnosis and derek being able to heal a little bit more from his childhood. we got a lot of insihgt about nora and her family dynamic, even in the end when she gets that dreaded call from her dad and in that we see there has been exponential character growth. while we see growth in derek, it has a lot to do with his career, mostly, and not much to do with healing from his past.

other than that, i think the main aspects of the book were handled very well and i will absolutely devour any and everything sarah adams has to offer me.

Sarah Adams does it again! She’s the queen of rom-coms. Her newest novel The Rule Book from Random House Publishing Group hits shelves April 2nd. We meet Nora who is an up and coming sports agent. She signs her first client, Derek, who plays tight end for the LA Sharks, but also happens to be Nora’s ex-boyfriend. The antics soon ensue. Derek sets out to make Nora’s life miserable in hopes of her quitting or giving him grounds to fire her, but Nora rises to the challenge. She beats him at his own game and reminds him that he’s not over her afterall. This second chance romance gives all the feel good vibes. Nora is this zany ray of sunshine whose catchphrases are bewildering yet so endearing! This book was laugh out loud funny and there were several plot twists I did not see coming! One of the best parts of this book was the return of two characters from Adam’s’ previous book The Cheat Sheet. Nathan and Bree makes their return with witty banter that make this already hilarious dynamic set of characters even better! This was Sarah Adams best book to date!

This was exactly what I was looking for- a super fun sportsy rom-com with Sarah Adams’ clever and delightful writing. I love her books and this new one did not disappoint.
It’s so nice how she gives a content alert in the beginning so that readers could decide if they wanted to read a particular chapter or not.
Sarah isn’t afraid to embrace romance tropes head on and make them just as fun and swoony as they can be. There’s a great supporting cast in this as well (including some old friends of course), and I do mean “supporting”— the friends in this book are deeply supportive.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was so cute! It had so many tropes that I loved—second chance, fake marriage, one bed—what more could I ask for. I really liked how this was set in the sports agency world. It gave me Taylor/Travis vibes which everything haha! I loved Nora and Derek's dynamic. They had great banter which I know I can alway count on in Sarah's books. I reread The Cheat Sheet in preparation for reading this one, and it was so fun to see the cast of characters brought back for this book. It was also such a nice change to see Sarah venture into the open-door romance world. I have loved all of her previous works, but it was great to see her expand into this new realm of romance. This book felt like the right opportunity to explore that and I'm so happy that she did! Overall, I loved this one and can't wait to recommend it to my followers.

This is my first official Sarah Adams book, and I'm so happy to say this was an easy five stars! This book was so fun, quirky (in a good way I promise), and had characters that I kept wanting to go back to when I was sitting in the middle of a lecture hall wishing I had time to read right then and there. I have never been one to care much about football (ignoring recent growth in NFL knowledge due to Miss. Taylor Swift), but I think Sarah Adams was able to weave the sports aspect of the book so well into the characters themselves that I cared so much about the LA Sharks and about Nora's future clients. Overall, this book was so sweet and filled with pining and yearning, funny little one-liners, and perfect twists and lovey-dovey scenes that I can't wait to get the finished copy next month. Highly recommend even if you haven't read The Cheat Sheet (which I now desperately want to read!)

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Dell for sharing this amazing book's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest feedback!

The Rule Book by Sarah Adams is a second-chance romance that finds Nora Mackenzie and her college ex-boyfriend (turned pro football player) Derek Pender forced to work together for the sake of their careers. Nora is an up-and-coming sports agent who just signed her first big client - a reluctant, just coming back from a near-career-ending injury Derek. They each have about a million things to prove in order to sustain their careers, but where Nora is excited to show how competent of an agent she is, Derek is defensive and angry about the prospect of a professional relationship given their heavy past.

This is a dual-POV novel where we learned early on exactly what went wrong between these two way back when and get to watch them slowly (and then all at once) find their ways back to each other.

While I still think Adams’ last two efforts were stronger - the When in Rome duology featuring the series’ namesake as its opener and ending with one of my favorite rom-coms of 2023, Practice Makes Perfect - this is a cute if not cheesy novel about getting another go-around at your soulmate.

Die-hard fans of Sarah Adams were disappointed that she dipped her toe (barely, let’s be real) into writing an open-door romance with Practice Makes Perfect. So with this book also being (again, barely) more open door, Adams included a disclaimer at the beginning of this book with the chapter non-sex-positive folks can skip if they wish to leave the door well and fully closed with this romp. I get why she did it but it’s also disappointing that an author exploring the bounds of her writing chops potentially feels like she has to tiptoe around her more pearl-clutching fans.

Either way, this was certainly cute, as all Adams’ novels are but the dialog felt a bit forced-whimsical and a little over the top at times. I kept waiting for one or two really solid, beautifully written declarations of love and passion and was disappointed with remarks that made me internally groan a bit.

Maybe my expectations were too high after the When in Rome duology. That’s certainly possible. Either way, I’ll keep reading what Adams writes and can still confidently recommend her work if comfort romances are your things.

3.75 stars.

Thank you to NetGallery and Random House for this ARC.

Tropes found in this book: second-chance romance, drunken elopement, lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, single bed.

Sarah Adams, you are a goddess! Last year I had the pleasure of reading all of Sarah Adams's backlist. Practice Makes Perfect was what really solidified her fas an auto-buy author for me. And The Rule Book may have outdone Practice Makes Perfect.

When I read the Cheat Sheet last year, I read it very quickly. Like many of Sarah Adams's books it sucks you in quickly with the longing and angstiest that as a romance reader I just love. The Rule Book is exactly like that. When I found out this was going to be an exes-forced proximity-accidental marriage with a hint of enemies to lovers I knew I was going to be sucked in. I plowed through this book!

Nora is such a wonderful character. I love that this book focused on how women in sports are treated especially on the side of sports agents. In a lot of cases I struggle with FMC that have what I dub the "Romance Book Job" like a fashion designer or a blogger, etc. It's always super refreshing to see our FMC in a role that isn't considered common for not only the genre, but sometimes in the real world too. But I loved that Nora's drive and brilliance is why she is a good agent. I felt like there were so many character pieces that added up to how her actions in the story played out. And honestly, the deeper we got into the story and understood why she broke up with Derek in the first place I felt like I was seeing these long hidden pieces of myself. Nora is definitely up there as one of my favorite characters, and I absolutely love the fact that while I was getting sunburnt by the pool while reading this book, Nora was getting sunburnt on the beach.

I could probably write a diseration on why I love Derek Pender. It would like be at least 100 pages long and I still don't think it would do him justice. Derek is such a great male lead. I'm a sucker for a broken hearted man, and one that adds some much tension by being a jerk, even for a short period of time, is always going to be a favorite of mine. Right from the jump, Derek is seen as this nice guy. But I loved that the second he realizes Nora is going to be his new agent, he allows his darker parts to pop out. Does he go a bit far? Yes, but I loved that his friends (who are arguably the best) really try to bring him down to earth. His soft side though is even better. I thoroughly couldn't stop swooning over him especially as soon as he takes over with making sure Nora's career is okay. Like every little moment from that point forward had me actually wanting to cry.

Derek and Nora's relationship was brilliant. Even though I would have loved a third-act break up, I felt that the growth both characters had to go through, and the original break up at the start of the book, makes up for the lack of a third-act break up. I think overall, Sarah Adams knows how to write incredibly delicious romance novels and I will forever want to read them from her. Thank you so much for sending me not only a digital copy but a physical copy. It will be very much treasured in my book shelf!

The expression "Rules are meant to be broken" is the perfect thematic summation for Sarah Adams' latest romcom. Set in the same world as The Cheat Sheet, we have sideline passes to the games Sharks' tight end, Derek, and hotshot sports agent, Nora, play as they learn the importance of timing.

Such a fun page turner! I enjoyed being back in Bree and Nathan's world and meeting new friends, and I appreciated the close door modification that were provided. I don't feel like I missed out on anything by passing the one chapter. I'm ready for Sarah's next one...I hear we're going back to Rome! 🧡🩷

Thanks Net Galley and Random House Publishing for the ARC!

review 🏈 The Rule Book by @authorsarahadams

If you all don't know, I have been a HUGE Sarah Adams fan for forever. I was so lucky to be on her arc team forever ago with The Off Limits Rule (which, if you haven't read that one, please do because Cooper is 🫠😍) so it has been so unbelievably amazing to watch her career just take off (like it should, because have you ever interacted with her?! She's pure sunshine & rainbows & this all couldn't happen to a sweeter person ever) and as always, just such an honor to read anything & everything she writes - - and The Rule Book is no exception.

tl/dr: Derek Pender. That's it. That's the review.

Read this if you like: 
• bright sneakers + pink lips 
• tattooed men 
• "that's my wife" 🫠

Ohk. Now I gush for a long time over this book.

Ahhhhh this book. I adored The Cheat Sheet & didn't think it was possible to top that one, but somehow, she did. This book is something special & I adored so many things about it, including but not limited to, the following:

• the sweetest of second chance romances
• a strong empowered FMC
• a sweet but tough & protect MMC
• the tattoos 🫠
• accidental marriage / marriage or convenience
• sports agent + football player
• like a spicier Sarah Adams & I adoredddddd it (don't worry, she offers very easy modifications to leave the door completely closed, but if you don't mind it open a little, give it a try because she does it so dang well)
• pretty much my new favorite Sarah Adams book boyfriend ever - Derek is just so stinking sweet & endearing & I couldn't get enough of him
• the playfulness ("Your pants have looked weird." - iykyk but the way I laughed about this for sooooo long - it was so dang funny)

I loved it. 5 stars easy ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. Put it on your list. It comes out 04.02.2024 & I legit can't wait for everyone to read it so I can gush about it with all of them too (or if anyone wants to start a Derek Pender fan club with me, I'm game).

Huge thanks to @netgalley for the e-arc. All opinions & thoughts are my own.