A Review: The Off-Limits Rule by Sarah Adams

It’s been a while since I posted a book review to the blog, but when I finished this book, I wanted to write a complete book review. The Off-Limits Rule by Sarah Adams was a cute rom-com with the brother’s best friend trope and it was a great romance to read at the end of summer and transition into fall.

Synopsis:

Breaking a rule has never been so enticing.

I have found rock bottom. It's here, moving in with my older brother because I'm too broke to afford to live on my own. It's okay though, because we've always been close and I think I'm going to have fun living with him again.

That is until I meet Cooper...

Turns out, my brother has very strong opinions on the idea of me dating his best friend and is dead set against it. According to him, Cooper is everything I should stay away from: flirtatious, adventurous, non-committal, and freaking hot. (I added that last part because I feel like you need the whole picture.) My brother is right-I should stay away from Cooper James and his pretty blue eyes. He's the opposite of what I need right now.

Nah-who am I kidding? I'm going for it.

The Off Limits Rule is a laugh-out-loud, closed-door romance with implied intimacy, mild language, and sexual innuendo.

My Review:

This took a while for me to get into, but once I made it about 30 percent in, I was hooked. The entire book just gave me butterflies, specifically the male lead, Cooper. When I first started the book, I thought I wasn’t going to like him or the female lead, Lucy. I thought Cooper was going to be this controlling guy who keeps asking Lucy out, and Lucy was whiny … and that’s how the characters were set up for me! But it didn’t really turn out like that. Lucy turned out to be really cool and relatable and I liked her realistic portrayal as a single mother dealing with rejection in relationships. Cooper also surprised me as a man in touch with his feelings.

The book follows the brother’s best friend trope, which actually is one of my favorite tropes to read (but still doesn’t come close to enemies to lovers). There is a little fake dating in the book but that’s all I’ll say about that without giving away too many spoilers. I heard this book has a sequel, called The Temporary Roomie starring Lucy’s brother, Drew, and her friend, Jessie, and that book follows a more enemies-to-lovers considering Jessie hated Drew in the first book. That book is definitely going on my list but it’s not the first on my list.

I do like Sarah Adams’s writing. She has another book that’s been devoured by #BookTok recently called The Cheat Sheet which is a sport romance. To be honest, I don’t know what that’s about so I don’t know if I’m adding it to my list anytime soon, but if it’s anything like The Off-Limits Rule, then I’ll look into it.

I also don’t know how I feel about the ending, so I’ll probably think about that for a time to come. I don’t want to give a lot away, but I thought the ending was rushed and we could have a lot of that in the last 75 percent of the book instead of the last 10 percent of the book.

Overall, I would recommend this book. It definitely gave me butterflies throughout the entire book. Cooper is one of those male leads that you fall in love with. And I can’t resist a good brother’s best friend trope.

Rating: 3.5/5

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