What are your thoughts when reading the title “The Rule Book”? Of course, one must follow some rules, but what kind of rules? *Shrugs*
Like you, I was also intrigued to know what rules are in “The Rule Book”. It is a rom-com narrating the story of two people, from being friends to being haters to being friends again. It is a second-chance love story with elements of humour and sentiments. This book is recommended for mature readers due to some explicit material which might not be appropriate for young readers.
Main Characters:
Nora Mackenzie: A sports agent
Derek Pender: Nora’s college fellow, A football player, Nora’s client
Summary:
This story is about a woman, Nora, who has worked hard for 2 years as an underling and finally becomes a sports agent. Nora’s boss gave her a contract to prove herself, and she was given a client, Derek Pender, a football player. Nora is shocked to find out that this client is her college’s ex-boyfriend whom Nora dumped during college. Nora liked Derek, but she had reasons for breaking up with him. Nora made a rule book where she wrote guidelines for different situations and followed those rules. Nora was entirely organized in her life, while Derek had a rule-breaking personality, making both of them opposite to each other.
Derek’s heart was broken when Nora broke up with him without explaining. Both have met each other after a decade. When Derek meets Nora, he thinks he will take revenge on Nora for what she did to him. As he was his sports client, he had a plan to make Nora’s life miserable and make her repent her action of dumping him. Derek made Nora do all her work, including writing emails and running his errands.
Nora tries to explain to Derek why she broke up with him, but Derek refuses to listen to any of Nora’s reasons and explanations. Nora is frustrated by fulfilling all the demands made by Derek as she does not want to lose her dream job that she has worked really hard for. Nora keeps listening to Derek’s orders, hoping his heart might melt and they might become friends one day. However, Derek keeps misbehaving to hide the fact that he still has feelings for her after all these years. Derek does this because he knows from college that Nora is consistent with whatever she does and won’t give up easily on things.
| Publisher | Dell |
| Publishing Date | First published April 2, 2024 |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 368Pages |
| Title | The Rule Book |
| Author | Sarah Adams |
| ISBN-10 | 0593723678 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0593723678 |
As time passed, Nora and Derek became friends again. They planned to go to a wedding in Vegas and spend time together. Nora finally starts breaking the rules from “The Rule Book” and realizes that she is having internal conflicts with those rules, which are holding her back from doing many things. Nora finally stopped following the rules and found freedom in letting go of those rules. Nora and Derek are united again and begin their relationship, saying that now is the right time to stay together, as when they first met, it was the ‘wrong time’.
Pros and Cons:
- The protagonist Nora’s journey from rigid to openness is motivating.
- Both the story and character development are fast-paced.
- Although there were plot twists, they were pretty predictable.
- The rules made by Nora sometimes felt useless and annoying.
Review:
I found Nora’s character quite inspiring, and they had worked hard to earn a position as a sports agent. She seems organized, but I find her silly in breaking up with Derek without explaining. It is perfectly all right if Nora doesn’t find Derek compatible, but her way of breaking up is too weird. I liked Derek’s character, who was pretending to be rude and cruel to Nora as if he was teaching her a lesson for dumping her previously, but deep down, he still liked her and didn’t mean to hurt her.
Nora’s rules might be good, but sometimes I find them impeding, stopping them from living her life witfreelynce she stopped following “The Rule Book”, her life became more accessible, and she had the pleasure of violating those rules. This book was about letting go of past experiences, forgiving, and starting things over again. It also depicted that sometimes it is not about the right or wrong person but the correct and bad times. Nora and Derek were right for each other but met at the wrong time.
Books to Read if you Loved The Rule Book:
- Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
- Happily Never After by Lynn Painter
- Wild Love by Elsie Silver
- FanGirl Down by Tessa Bailey
Conclusion:
Nora has been promoted to full-time sports agent and is shocked to see her first client, Derek. Derek is his college ex, whom she dumped without giving any excuse. Derek is heartbroken, and after meeting Nora, he thinks this is the perfect time to take revenge on her. He orders Nora to do all his work, like replying to emails run,ning his errands, and even making dinner for him. Nora cannot refuse to obey him as this may threaten her job as an agent, for which she has worked day and night. Although Derek annoys her by making her do all this, he also tries to conceal that he is still in love with Nora.
Nora has a book, “The Rule Book”, which has guidelines about living life. Nora follows them, and it might be one of the book’s rules to dump Derek. Nora and Derek started getting close again and went to Vegas for a wedding. They spent time together, and Nora broke a rule from her book. She realized that following these rules was making her life difficult, and there were a lot of limitations. Finally, Nora and Derek become friends again and then become more than friends, saying both are the right people, but they previously met at the wrong time. Now is the right time to live and enjoy life together while excelling in their careers. I will rate this book 4.7 stars. How about you?