Reviews with content warning for Ableism - The Rule Book

Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

The Rule Book by Sarah Adams

5 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Read this one right after The Cheat Sheet, thinking it was a sequel to Bree and Nathan's lives. While they were featured, they weren't the main characters. Instead, we got Nora and Derek. Their characters were fine and so was their relationship. I enjoyed her relationship with Nicole too. That's how women need to be for and with each other. And the men were just as great in this one as they were in the Cheat Sheet. The reason it only gets three stars instead of the five that the Cheat Sheet got is that everything was only ok. I enjoyed it well enough, but there was a whole lot less smiling on my part. I think I would probably have rated this higher if I hadn't immediately read The Cheat Sheet just before it and had nothing to compare it with.

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frantically's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Sad to say this was a miss for me! The characters felt so caricature-ish and I couldn't find it in myself to care for them at all. The MMC was particularly infuriating – he says outright he's ready to make the FMC's career hell just so she'll be forced to quit as his assistant. The fuck??? Not the way to make me even want to give him a second-chance.

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greatestheights's review

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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turnthepages_nl's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I LOVE ITTTTTT

Nora is ADHD coded. I felt so seen!!! (Not intentionally written as ADHD, I checked with the author. But it still feels like ADHD, at least in the way how it looks in me!)

Derek has dyslexia and was diagnosed later in life. He has not been treated well as a child and has a big sense of failure. The journey he goes on was truly beautiful and I felt so seen as a neurodivergent reader. The feeling of not being enough, how you try your hardest and still you 'fail' in the eyes of society. The way this was talked about and handled was done very very well.

Nora is often seen as too much. And she is learning and growing to become fully herself and not feel sorry about it. She is super badass and very good at what she does as an agent. And I loved the relationship between her an Nicole (her boss and mentor). The way both women are going about the powerimbalance in the workplace. I loved how much of an example Nicole was to her!

But most of all I loved the emotional vulnerability between Nora & Derek. The way they are growing and learning to love and be open again. I was rooting for them from the very start. The sweet moments + the banter had me kicking my feet many times!

Also, the scenes with the other LA Shark boys were absolutely hilarious but also heartfelt.

Sarah Adams is an amazing author and truly has a gift for creating a safe and loving space for readers to feel seen and loved. To feel validated and supported. I hope she writes many many more stories! ✨️💕

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dianaschmidty's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I honestly feel lucky to have gotten to read this so early.

𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘫𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘛𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴.

Dear Sarah Adams, thank you! I have been wanting more of this friend group since devouring The Cheat Sheet and I needed this.

This book was amazing. Sarah Adam’s witty banter is always amazing, but it also worked so well for this second chance romance! I believe this is her first second chance romance and I really need her to write another one. It really was the perfect second chance, with plenty of hurt feelings, but also a lot of fixing of miscommunication, healing, and forgiveness. Derek and Nora really felt like real people finding their way back to each other.

I loved Derek. All of his aspects! Heartbroken Derek was simultaneously devastating and heartwarming, Conniving Derek was simply funny, and Lovesick Derek was sweet. The many stages he goes through made him feel so real.

I related a lot to Nora. Her feelings of never thinking she’s enough while also being “too much” and refusing to change is something I can say I completely understand. It made her feel so real, because I think characters deemed “too much” often try to change and I love that she was unapologetically herself. I also love that Derek loved her for those things, not in spite. I think she grew so much in the book, especially in learning to accept Derek’s love.

Also, I loved this as Sarah Adams’ first open-door. I feel like it made so much sense for this book and these specific characters.

During this entire book, I couldn’t stop thinking of different Taylor Swift songs that fit Derek and Nora so well, so I decided to explain their character arcs in terms of Taylor Swift songs, because why not:

Nora - 𝙈𝙞𝙙𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙍𝙖𝙞𝙣 to 𝙄 𝙒𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙒𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙒𝙚 𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠 to 𝙃𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝘿𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙎𝙪𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙗𝙖𝙣 𝙇𝙚𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 to 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬 to 𝙊𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨 to 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧

Derek - 𝙋𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙍𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 to 𝙄𝙨 𝙄𝙩 𝙊𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙉𝙤𝙬? to 𝙎𝙖𝙮 𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙂𝙤 to 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙏𝙤𝙤 𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡 to 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙒𝙚 𝘾𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙉𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨/𝘽𝙖𝙙 𝘽𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 to 𝘾𝙧𝙪𝙚𝙡 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧 to 𝙏𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨 back to 𝙋𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙍𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨

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