#DFRAT Guest Review: Rules of the Game by Sandy James

Posted June 6, 2012 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 2 Comments

Judith’s review of Rules of the Game by Sandy James

Kathryn West has it all – she’s a confident, bestselling 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 façade, 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?

I have read a number of Ms James’ books–her Damaged Heroes series is a definite “over the top” winner–and I continue to be blown away by her splendid talent and her storytelling abilities that make her tales literally jump off the page for me. This latest book is no exception. We have all read stories about women looking for the perfect date to a family affair, wedding, or class reunion. I think there was a movie with that premise in recent years. But Sandy James has taken this schtick and taken it in a different direction and the reader will be more than captivated with the twists and turns and story surprises that emerge as the tale moves forward.

The main characters are delightful people–real, imperfect, busy and living their lives as best they can, yet they both have hidden lives that they are loathe to share for a number of different reasons. Both are successful people but Maddie, especially, decides some aspects of Scott that she bases on very little that is real. Just what she hopes and would love to have be true about Scott. Finding out the truth nearly undoes her in some serious ways. Class reunions are often not happy occasions. For most of us we are upset that everyone else looks older–and then we wonder if we are looking as old to them as they are to us. But Maddie has some serious baggage and not only that, but she encounters some challenges to her inner tranquility–she doesn’t have much of that to begin with–that could very well upend her life in some serious fashion.

This book is filled with real people but mostly it is Maddie and Scott’s story. Scott is one of those guys we love to know in real life–genuine and authentically caring, not a people user, and most especially refuses to “use” Maddie for his own gratification although she just might be open to that. It appears he places more value on her than she does herself and it is that strength that she values and which makes facing some of her past that potentially could hurt her more as well as some other important people in her life. Scott is an “anchor” kind of guy, yet Maddie’s past wounds have the potential of pushing Scott all the way out of her life.

There is no way you can read this book without getting drawn personally into Maddie and Scott’s story, into their joy and pain, into their humanness and their wholehearted attempts to be really good people. It is a story about the ability of past choices to hurt far in the future, about the power of love to redeem people as well as situations. And most of all, it is about forgiveness, and mostly Maddie learning to forgive herself. True romance fiction fans need to read this story. It is just that good. It’s on my “to be read again” pile as well as on my favorites list.

I give it a 5 out of 5 and would give it more if I could.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

book is available from Carina Press. You can buy it here or here in e-format.