Rules of Engagement

An M/M Hockey Romance (Rules of the Game, Book 5)

By: Brigham Vaughn

Narrated by: James Edward Jones

Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Rule #1: Don't fall in love with your best friend's brother

After Anders Lindholm lost his wife and baby daughter in a car accident, he knew he’d never find love like that again.

Hockey, routines, and his team are all that have kept him going since.

But as he approaches 40, an injury makes him consider what life after retirement will be like.

And when his teammate, who just so happens to be his best friend’s brother, offers him a helping hand—in more ways than one—it reawakens something in Anders he can’t deny.

Rule #2: Don’t let anyone know the real you

Kelly O’Shea has been in love with Anders since he was 15. He’s been hiding the fact that he’s gay for just as long.

He loves his family, but their overprotective meddling is what made him move halfway across the country and hide who he was.

Although Kelly and Anders both agreed it would stay casual, Kelly begins to hope that maybe they’ll eventually be more than just friends with benefits.

And the more time they spend together, the faster the ice around Anders’ heart melts.

But with a playoff spot to clinch, fractures within the team, and overprotective brothers to worry about, Anders’ fear of letting go of the past isn’t the only challenge they’ll have to overcome.

Trigger warning:

Non-graphic mentions of death of secondary characters, including a child. Grief. Brief and non-graphic mention of suicidal ideation. Talk of homophobia and homophobic slurs.

Non-graphic mentions of sexual harassment and sexual assault.

©2022 Brigham Vaughn (P)2023 Brigham Vaughn

Even better than the E-read

Audible Update:

Because I loved this book so much, I really enjoyed the audible version! The narrator James Edward Jones is wonderful. He brings Anders and Kelly to life brilliantly and it is definitely worth listening to. Take time to share the world created by Brigham Vaughn, you will be happy you did!

Great addition

This was a great addition to the series. I have wanted this story since the start and I wasn’t disappointed I was glad we didn’t get a long drawn out conflict after the slow build up and I really liked the family interactions. Narrations was done well.

Great hockey world... Kelly and Anders❤️

What happens when best friends finally figure out they're in love? Listen to Kelly and Anders as they claim the love they've buried for too long. How will their families and team react? Here's a clue... it will be better than fine... it will be amazing!

Age-Gap Sports Romance Builds On Series

This age-gap romance between hockey teammates Kelly and Anders has a sort of friends-to-lovers meets brother's friend vibe with a delicious dose of longing and first times. I enjoyed that there's also some on-page hockey scenes.

There is some heaviness to this story as well, particularly involving Anders's backstory, which enhances the love story more than makes it angsty. (I wouldn't call this an angsty book.) It added depth to the characters, and made me root harder for Anders and Kelly as a couple.

Even though this is Book 5 in the series, it does stand on its own. That said, I've listened to most of the audio books in this series - narrator James Edward Jones is fantastic, love his voice - and would suggest giving them a go first. This story builds on an ongoing secondary storyline with a h0m0ph0bic teammate, and I think his getting some comeuppance here is more satisfying having seen that play out in full.

Love the story

I love this story, Kelly & Lindy are such great characters with a fantastic connection. Narration was great and a very enjoyable listen.

love after loss is possible

Anders is only just starting to come out of a mountain of grief years after losing his wife and daughter in a tragic accident and finds himself looking at his teammate, and best friend’s younger brother in a new way. He feels confused and guilty not only because he’s still grieving his wife, but because of the significant age gap between him and Kelly.

Kelly is the baby of his huge hockey loving, super overprotective family and has been crushing on his older brother’s best friend ever since he was 15 years old. He watched from afar as he fell in love with and married his wife, when they started a family, and when he lost them. He has never been able to get over him and when they became teammates his feelings only deepened. Despite his feelings and the amount of time they now spend together, Kelly never really believed they would end up together so he is hesitant but happy, and terrified to dream of more, when a physical relationship starts between them.

Kelly and Anders were a story well done. The push and pull of their friendship vs sexual relationship and the happiness/guilt/confusion that Anders goes through as he feels his heart starting to feel things for Kelly while still deeply loving his late wife. Kelly had so much patience and understanding for Anders and what he was going through to where I really wanted to hug him for always putting his feelings last.

The side story of the disgusting snake that is Jack Malone continues, and things get worse. I can’t wait to finally (hopefully) see him get what is coming to him in the next book.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this audiobook.

Hockey Love with All the Feels!

This book was phenomenal. I know Brigham was worried about this book, about how people would feel about Kelly and Anders but she has absolutely nothing to worry about! Best friend’s brother/brother’s best friend with a second chance at love feel to it is a weakness of mine and I adored every second with these two.

Kelly has been half in love with Anders since he was fifteen and his brother brought him home. Anders was never interested in Kelly like that and soon met and married the love of his life, Astrid and they had a precious baby girl named Elia. Tragedy struck and Anders lost his wife and baby girl in a horrible car accident. This information was revealed in a previous book. Kelly was there for Anders through it all. He never pushed for anything other than friendship because that’s all he thought he could ever have with Anders, until Anders casually stepped out of the closet as bi.

The roller coaster of events that happens after this and the budding relationship between these two is so incredible to watch unfold. Kelly wants nothing more than for Anders to be happy and healthy and is enjoying the new physical side to their friendship. Anders has a lot of soul searching to do and a lot of guilt related to his feelings for Kelly.

Along with some more team drama centered around Jack Malone, there is a playoff hockey series to win and some incredible chemistry that explodes off the pages. Brigham sure knows how to pull on a girl’s heartstrings and I spent a good chunk of the end of the book in tears, but in the best way possible and man can she write an ending that makes you smile with so much love.

I highly, highly recommend this one (along with the whole series because who doesn’t love some sexy hockey boys??

The narration is very, very good, my only complaint is that Kelly’s accent isn’t always consistent, he’s from Boston and so he should always have the accent, and sometimes JEJ starts talking as Kelly and there’s no accent at first and it takes me a second to realize it’s actually Kelly and not Lindy talking! Also I feel like Lindy had a slight/light Swedish accent in the other audios that was lacking in this one but that’s minor and did not stop my enjoyment of this amazing book!! Can’t wait for Trevor and Wade’s audio to be out!!

A new love after a tragic loss

After losing his wife and baby in a car accident, Anders is determined to never fall in love again.

But Kelly has loved him forever, as a crush and now as a man on the same team. Things shift when Anders needs help after an injury, and though they agree to keep things casual, they can’t deny the intensity of their emotions.

It leads to Anders tackling his fear of losing a new love in his life and Kelly coming out to his family. But it’s all worth it as they approach the playoffs and make plans for their future together.

I love Anders, his losses are treated with respect and keep a place as he moves forward, more realistic than him ‘getting over’ his grief. Kelly is fun and sweet, but ready to be free of his family’s expectations and criticisms, and they vow to do better by him too.

Looking forward to the last book in this series. I received this book for free from the author through a review site, and voluntarily provide my honest review.

I received an Audiobook ARC for free, and am adding this to my review in appreciation. James Earl Jones does a great job, as always, love this story of a new love after loss.

Anders and Kelly

Rules of Engagement is Book 4 in the Rules of the Game series. This is a wonderfully written age gap, best friend's brother, friends to lovers story about Anders and Kelly and might just be my favorite in the series. Kelly has been in love with Anders, his teammate and brother's best friend, since he was fifteen. When Anders gets injured and in need of someone to stay with him and help out, Kelly volunteers. I loved watching Anders and Kelly break through each others walls and enjoy each other. They really are better together and it was great to see Kelly interact with his family. It was great to know he had their support. I definitely recommend this book and series.
Narrator James Edward Jones does another enjoyable job.

So happy for Anders and Kelly!

I have just recently discovered this author Brigham Vaughn and the performer James Edward Jones and so far I've really enjoyed the books I've listened to. "Rules of Engagement" is the 5th book in the series but it's the 2nd one I've got into. I can tell this is a series worth getting into; each book can stand alone but there is definite advantages and probably a more rewarding experience if you did read/listen to each book in order. Anders and Kelly are a wonderful couple; they each brought each other what they were missing...and those sexy times were senually 🔥...

4 stars - worthy of a repeat listen