The Fifteen-Minute Rule

De: Max Monroe

Narrado por: Savannah Peachwood, Edward Black

Dickson University’s reigning social king can get any girl on campus to fall for him…except the one he’s been silently falling for his whole life.

Campus legend. Life of the party. The guy everyone wants to know.
That’s me—Ace Kelly.

But the one person who truly knows me? Julia Brooks.

My best friend since we were kids.

Julia’s the kind of girl everyone loves. Sweet, painfully beautiful, and steady, she’s always been my constant.

Somewhere between childhood and college at Dickson University, I fell for her. Hard. And I’ve been running an incognito mission ever since.

Operation: Make Julia fall in love with me...without ruining the friendship.

Flawless plan, right? Wrong.
One catastrophically stupid moment—fine, several—might’ve blown everything apart.

We’ve always had our fifteen-minute rule: get mad, shout, hate each other all we want, but when the time is up, we're back to best buddies.

But this time, fifteen minutes might not be enough.

Not when Julia’s trust and our entire lifetime of “us” is suddenly on the line.

I’m in love with my best friend.

And come hell or high water, I’m not giving up my girl without a fight.

©2025 Max Monroe, LLC (P)2026 Max Monroe, LLC

Fun new authors find

Great storyline - fun and sexy. Outstanding female voice portrayal. While I hate to add a negative the male portrayal detracted from the overall experience - chock full of awkward and ill-timed assertions of emotion/exclamations.

Ace & Julia Forever

I love these two.

Tears and tears and tears.
Miscommunication, yearning, angst.
What a ride.

Ace’s Turn at love!

Let me start by saying that I discovered Max Monroe with "Call Me Anytime" last month (My first five star read of the year) and I was ecstatic to be offered an ARC of "The Fifteen Minute Rule" by Monroe & Hambright PR!

"The Fifteen Minute Rule" by Max Monroe was book 3 in the Dickson University Series and it was the perfect balance of humor and emotional depth. After reading books 1 & 2, you are already just obsessed with Ace and enter this book knowing there are going to be so many theatrics. As expected from this duo, the banter was sharp, witty, and laugh-out-loud funny, but what really stood out to me was the vulnerability layered underneath all that charm.

I am so grateful that I decided to start at the beginning of the series before diving into this ARC I received. Seeing all the other relationships unfold first and then watching how moments overlap in each book was truly special. Even when revisiting events like the Fourth of July, the authors gave us new insight that made everything feel richer. For example, learning that Ace actually knew about Blake and Lexi sneaking out added such a layered perspective to a scene we thought we fully understood. It made the entire world feel interconnected and intentional.

I am an absolute sucker for friends-to-lovers, and this one felt SO earned. The slow burn, the history shared between the two as best friends, the moment that Ace finally comes to the realization that it is more than just friendship...all pure gold. I was literally depressed on Ace’s behalf when he saw Julia accept Drew's GF proposal. Your heart just drops in that moment. You feel the weight of everything he hasn’t said, everything he’s been holding in. That emotional punch was so well done.

The only real reason this wasn’t a five star read for me is that I am just not a fan of the miscommunication/lack of communication trope. The entire time I wanted to grab Ace by the shoulders and yell, JUST TELL HER YOU LOVE HER. The tension worked, but it definitely tested my patience. Also, moments like when Ace set his own apartment on fire to force proximity between him and Julia and the alligator part just were a little too crazy/unrealistic for me lol. (It works given the family he was raised in but WHAT lol!)

That said, the emotional payoff was there. The chemistry was undeniable. The humor balanced the heavier moments beautifully. If you love friends to lovers, overlapping series moments, and characters whose history makes every confession feel monumental, this one absolutely delivers.

Also - HECK YES SCOTTIE! Take those Christmas morning steps!!!

Just Kiss Already!!

💋 Just Kiss Already Ace and Julia!!

❤️ Whether you read this as a standalone or make your way through the series first, everyone (and I mean everyone) has known these two were destined to be each other’s forever. Once Ace finally recognizes his true feelings for Julia, watching him pine while desperately trying not to ruin their friendship is funny, swoony, sweet, and surprisingly thoughtful.

❤️ Ace and Julia are lifelong besties—each other’s ride-or-die—with years of shared history, inside jokes, and a perfectly simple rule they created as kids: no more than fifteen minutes to be mad before everything goes back to normal. Of course, once Ace realizes he’s in love with his best friend, that rule gets tested a lot. Ace is such a strong character—confident and charismatic on the outside, yet full of internal turmoil as he tries to figure out how to show Julia his true feelings and hope she feels the same.

❤️ The audiobook takes that best-friend energy and turns it all the way up. Savannah Peachwood brings warmth and ease to Julia, perfectly capturing her steady, lovable presence, while Edward Black absolutely nails Ace. He embodies Ace’s goofy, fun-loving, social-king persona, and he handled Ace’s internal spiral once those feelings for Julia hit. You can hear the shift—from confident charm to emotional unravelling. Peachwood and Black have a back-and-forth that sounds exactly like two people who’ve known each other forever.

❤️ I loved every moment of this story. It’s playful, heartfelt, and full of best-friend chaos, packed with laughs, good vibes, and a friendship that’s both rock-solid and genuinely tested. I honestly don’t know how Max Monroe manages to write these books—if I’m laughing to the point of tears, how do they keep going? Either way, this one is an absolute joy, and you’ll definitely enjoy it.

True Kelly!

This best friends to lovers romance was the best yet! I don't read a lot of college romance but decided I had to hear all about Ace Kelly, Thatcher and Cassie's son if he was going to fall with Julia.
Did not disappoint.