I was a little intimidated with how many kindle pages this book is. BUT!!! I devoured this. It did not feel as long as it is! The dialogue was perfect. The banter was there. And these MCs were not afraid of the deep conversations to grow their relationship! There was tension build up. The chemistry was there. There was spice. So much spice. Welcome home has a new meaning.

One thing I appreciated was I really felt like I got to know not just the MCs and the friend group, but I got to know the MCs families which I normally feel like I miss out on! I think it really added to the character development and this story would not be the same without it!

Onto the MCs!

King - I really loved how hard he was trying to break away from his past and create a version of himself he could be proud of for his future. His patience with Willow was amazing, especially once they stopped going back and forth about their feelings. I love love loved that he never pushed her in the bedroom or made her feel less than and was only supportive. Although I’m still salty about that closet scene. But dude redeemed himself. While King is the star football player on campus and has a rough edge to him, he is soft and gooey on the inside. Like a brownie. Hard on the outside, sweet and soft on the inside.
I love that we got to see his relationship with his mom and sister, and how hard he worked to build a relationship with Willows dad.

Willow - I love how strong this FMC is. She is fierce. She is understanding. Forever in pursuit of the things in life that bring her joy. Ain’t nobody stopping her from an open mic night! She took King for who he is and didn’t judge him for past actions. And she wasn’t afraid to stick up for herself and stand her ground. I also loved that we got to see her relationship with her mom and step dad grow.

Again. I really enjoyed this book. Character development, dialogue, dual pov, all helped bring these characters to life! I did read this as a standalone, and I did NOT feel like I was missing anything.

I have mixed feeling about this book. While I really liked the main characters and the chemistry between them, the actual plot of this story made little to no sense. And a lot of the drama, like the affair, seemed like it was only there for appearance sake because it wasn't needed at all. But this book was a quick read, and the writing was good. This is the type of book you read on the beach or after a long day when you just need to relax.

Against the Rules starts with King and willow meeting at an open mic night. Willow and King have an insant connection but willow is only town for a limited time until she has to move. King and Willow keep in touch during their time apart by messaging each other. Unknown to the both of them that they will share a common thread, Willow's stepdad. Willow's stepdad is King's football coach and is very protective of Willow. Coach basically assigns King with the task of looking out for King. King at this point does not know who the coach's stepdaughter is. Once king and willow realize what is going, they try to avoid each other at all costs but keep getting pulled back to each other. I enjoyed the story and loved the extra epilogues at the end.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Oh. Boy, was this fun.
I think there's a certain excellence in getting me to finish a book in two days. This is yet another one that hooked me throughout and didn't let me put the book down.

PLOT:
Willow and King have their meet cute at a bar, where Willow secretly performs her songs under a pseudonym. They hit it off right away, keeping in touch with each other not knowing the drama that's about to unfold. Ah, you see... Willow is King's football coach's step daughter. While our boy is obsessed, and I MEAN, Obsessed with a capital O, he's forced to maintain his distance because his future depends on not pissing his coach off (King might've hurt Willow's feelings once or twice)
As fate and attraction would have it, they can't stay away from each other, which can only be problematic.

LIKED:
I absolutely loved Willow and King's characters. They were generous, interesting and totally in love with each other. Reading their separate POVs kept things intriguing throughout, and their character motivations are well laid out. Willow's journey as a musician and King's journey as an athlete are well incorporated and I found myself very much invested in their journey.
The tension in this story is absolutely chef's kiss. I spent my time holding onto dear life, because there are multiple moments where I was like, OH NO, IT'S GOING TO END! It's like having jumpscares for their relationship that kept me wanting more and more.

THE LOST ONE STAR:
So, for me, there are a few issues with how their romance developed. In this very first chapter, we see Willow and King hit it off, and unfortunately, while Willow's feelings for King develop slowly, King's are almost instantaneous. While I did love seeing the man pine, it felt just a little bit unrealistic and I hoped there was some more emphasis on the growth in some places.

Sometimes, I found it hard to tell whose POV I was reading from their character voices. I think this was most evident in the sex scenes and the dramatic scenes where the POV jumps quickly. But, these were only issues that popped up in small places and didn't take away too much from the reading experience.

Bottomline: A very fun, spicy, sports romance that is super enjoyable!

When you miss the whole “don’t read this book while at work” memo and end up doing just that. Thankfully working from home you can react to all the spice and ALL the banter. I love me some good banter between love interests which truly made me want to keep reading this book all in one sitting. The minor characters (mostly the friends group) truly give readers the ability to connect with at least one person. This book is given a solid 4/5 stars. I enjoyed the characters as a whole and the plot of the book. The comedic relief through the book actually made me chuckle out loud. The start of hearing the main character Willow’s song choices and how she spoke vs how she truly is as a person threw me off a little bit. Then as I read I gained a better understanding. This book was an easy read based on the writing style of the author. While I’ve never read from this author I look forward to more books she writes in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!!

Wow!! What a great book!! This one was a page turner! Had me hooked from the first page! This was a first for me by this author but will not be my last. I enjoyed the plot, characters and the writing style!!

This a a great college sports romance read.
Easy to read
Fake dating
One bed
Ex bad boy
Troubled past
Spicy 🌶️

The writing is easy to follow and the story line is interesting. The characters were loveable.
This is book 4 in a series. For most enjoyable reading experience reading the first three is recommended however it can be read on its own.

All in all it was an enjoyable read.

Thank you for my early copy of Against the Rules. It was a sexy and hot story; I giggled at the spicy scene. Thank you again

Thank you to the author for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review! Perfect for sports romance lovers, this book is a sweet and spicy coming of age college romance. While this is part of a series, it can be read as a standalone.

Loved:
- The found family aspects of the story
- Vaginismus represented in a way that doesn’t result in lack of any/all sexual drive
- For that matter, spice that went beyond just sex was fantastic to read!
- Bad boy dealing with his past
- Mixed/divorced family representation

Meh:
- The initial premise of conflict because King didn’t tell Willow about playing sports bothered me. I get that it set up the rest of the book, but it made no sense
- (SLIGHT SPOILER) The affair parent storyline was confusing for me. Even if her dad was the one to ask for a divorce, I still got the impression that her mom had been with her stepdad for years before that happened
- Just a lot of manufactured conflict which kind of pulled me out of the story

Disliked:
- (SLIGHT SPOILER) Lawson completely flipping from being an advocate for King to his enemy when he found out about King and Willow dating. It just felt like such a dramatic shift. I could understand anger, but not the calling him out on his past after being so supportive for years

DNF @ 30%. I really wanted to like this book but I struggled. I found the writing style immature for the genre and couldn’t push past some of the language used that made me cringe. I can understand why some would enjoy this book but it wasn’t for me

Unfortunately this one just was not for me. This reads as more of a YA book and those are really hit or miss for me, I guess because I’m above the age bracket. I found a lot of the writing almost cringe. (The word blowjobology is used on the second page). And the fact that he says his name is K and she decides to call him Tattoos pretty much after every other word. I just couldn’t get into it. I found myself wanting to skip through it to get to the end.