Last year I got introduced to Sarah Adams by reading The Cheat Sheet. I needed a light romance, and many people were raving about this book. I ended up enjoying it as well, but it took me over a year to pick up the companion novel to this one, The Rule Book. Romance has some (unwritten) rules which are different for everybody. But with a title like this, it’s evident to check whether this book applies to my rules for romances.

About the book

The Rule Book by Sarah Adams
Series: The Cheat Sheet #2
Published by Dell on April 2, 2024
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9780593723678
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

College exes break all the rules when they reunite years later in this enemies to lovers, second-chance romance, the highly anticipated companion novel to the TikTok sensation The Cheat Sheet—from the New York Times bestselling author of Practice Makes Perfect.

Nora Mackenzie’s entire career lies in the hands of famous NFL tight end Derek Pender, who also happens to be her extremely hot college ex-boyfriend. Nora didn’t end things as gracefully as she could have back then, and now it has come back to haunt her. Derek is her first client as an official full-time sports agent and he’s holding a grudge.
 
Derek has set his sights on a little friendly revenge. If Nora Mackenzie, the first girl to ever break his heart, wants to be his agent, oh, he’ll let her be his agent. The plan is simple: make Nora’s life absolutely miserable. But if Derek knows anything about the woman he once loved—she won’t quit easily.
 
Instead of giving in, Nora starts a scheme of her own. But then a wild night in Vegas leads to Nora and Derek in bed the next morning married. With their rule book out the window, could this new relationship save their careers or spark the romance of a lifetime?

My review

There is a dual point of view narration

The best part for me when reading romances is the dual POV narration. Both male and female character having their own voice is ideal, but also important to me. This novel sticks to this rule as both main characters Nora and Derrick have their own Pov and Adams switches between them every chapter.

We get to know the characters well and witness character growth

This is a bit of a fifty-fifty for this book. We get to know Nora and Derrick pretty well, but the character growth is not significant. There definitely is growth, of course, but not so much on individual level. If I have to pinpoint one particular example, I definitely would choose Nora’s reflection on herself. She is a real people pleaser, but along the way she learns to stand up for herself. Finally. Derrick also shows growth in the end, but it seems less visible to me which makes it feel pretty rapid as a result.

There is chemistry between the main characters which makes the romance believable

Yes, this rule has been followed as well. There definitely is chemistry between Nora and Derrick, especially as they have history together. They are still drawn to each other, they just don’t want to acknowledge and admit it. However, this is more visible for Derrick than for Nora as Derrick seems to have never gotten over their breakup. Okay, it was a messy one, but still.

Romances should be character driven and the plot should be subordinate to the characters and their growth

Oh definitely! The plot itself is quite thin and predictable but serves as a great setting for their romance. It supports the main characters and shifts the focus to them and their growth.

Romances are trope-heavy

Again, this rule applies to this particular book. Most romances are pretty heavy on tropes, which is not inherently bad. In fact, it’s unavoidable. This novvel is also pretty tropey, with forced proximity as main one as there is a drunken marriage in Vegas involved. Also, this is a bit of an employer/employee situation as Derrick is an athlete and Nora is his agent. So yes, two tropes here. Alas, they still manage to make this plot intriguing, because I wanted to keep reading.

The writing is accessible, which makes this book a fast read

Again, this is also true here. Adams’ writing is easy to follow and because of the relatively short chapters, it was pretty easy to continue reading this book. It was hard to put it down, even if I had to do this sometimes.

Final thoughts

As you can see, The Rule Book by Sarah Adams was again a pleasant read. It sticks to all the rules of my romance rule book, which was expected, but it’s always nice to see this confirmed. The characters show growth, there is chemistry, and the romance is trope heavy. This is not inherently bad, it keeps the plot engaging. Even though it’s predictable. It was also lovely to see the main characters of The Cheat Sheet returning as side characters now. I wonder whether there will be more companion novels about this friend group, but I highly doubt it to be honest.