Rules of the Game

By: Sandy James

Narrated by: Cynthia Barrett

Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Kathyrn West has it all - she's a confident, best-selling author living it up in New York City. Too bad she doesn't actually exist, and is only timid Maddie Sawyer's pseudonym. Determined to attend her high school reunion with a man right out of one of her racy romance novels, she plots to find a sexy bad boy who's up to Kathryn's standards.

She finds Mr. Perfect shooting pool in a biker bar. He's a blue-collar hunk who just happens to look great in leather. But the mysterious Scott Brady has some rules of his own: He won't agree to her deal unless she poses as his girlfriend in front of his family and friends first.

As the reunion nears, Maddie tries to maintain her carefree facade, knowing she'll soon face some old ghosts. She's torn between her growing attraction to Scott and the nagging feeling that he's hiding something important. Will she still want him when she finds out his secret? What about when he discovers hers?

©2012 Harlequin Enterprises (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Maddie and Scott finally got each other

Married almost blew it with her deep prejudice against defense attorneys. She didn't know that Scott was a defense attorney and that it was actually an honorable profession. Maddie came to her senses and Scott was still in logo a with her and forgive her. They got married and are going to live happily ever after just like her romance novels.

Predictable

Any additional comments?

The entire story was pretty predictable including the truth behind the hero's occupation. There really were no twists or turns so the story in itself was somewhat boring to me. The potential was there the author just did not execute it to its fullest.

Better that expected

Would you try another book from Sandy James and/or Cynthia Barrett?

Yes I would. I enjoyed this story. I got it expecting a fluffy light Harlequin romance but I got a complex drama with very good romance who reminded me ofmy favorite Susan Mallery books. The reason I gave this book three stars is because I believe that both the author and the narrator are good and have potential but still need a little more experience to make and amazing story.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The premise of the book is just a cliche: girl seeks bad boy to "escort" her to her 15 year high school reunion. Read that and seen that before. About half way to the story the book goes exactly as I predicted. But once the reunion happens its OMG very unexpected things happen and it became quite intense. I don't like to give spoilers on reviews so I'll just say that I disagreed intensly on how Maddie handled her "situation" back in high school and back again once she was an adult. I felt like there were unresolved secrets all the way throughout the story and some relationships were not completely resolved, especially between Maddie and her mother. Also, no explanation as to how Eli found Maddie.

What three words best describe Cynthia Barrett’s voice?

Pleasant, appropriate, good.

Ms. Cynthia Barrett did a good job but there was not much difference between male and female voices.

What would have made this romance irresistible?

The romance part was very very good. That aspect does not need changes. My issues were with the background story. The male hero was sooooo good!!!

Any additional comments?

If you like Susan Mallery books, then you should definitely give this author a try. Very good potential and I look forward for more books from her in the future.

Not as good as I thought it began.

This book started up good and slowly got me irritated and sometimes bored but it still had good parts I guess. It did get a little better at times though. The narrator did a great job though.

Pretty Good

This was better than I expected. High School reunions can be poison if you weren't part of the in crowd, but to have to come back and face the one person who had hurt you the most, and to have a painful secret resurface during that reunion would send most people into a dizzying whirl of turmoil. Our heroine with help from her make believe boyfriend have their hands full. This was a very surprising story with a doubly sweet ending.

Winner!

This book felt long, but in a very good way. It ended and I felt like I had been through so much with these people. As if I had spent a lifetime with them. I think, in the end, that that is a very good thing. If we feel as if we’ve lived the story with them, and there was enough depth to the story to have that actually amount to something, well, that has to say something.

Excellent narration.

Enough steam to keep it real.

Well worth a credit! Or the price of this months romance package....

The heroine is literally too stupid to live

No one, and I mean no one would try to go to Indiana and accidentally end up in Virginia.
Had to stop listening to the book at this point.
Also, way too many stereotypes being used.