Playing by Her Rules (Sydney Smoke Rugby, #1)

by Amy Andrews

• ISBN10: 1633757072
• ISBN13: 9781633757073
• Publish Date: 11 July 2016 (first published 24 June 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Entangled: Brazen
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

It's a fact that I am trash for second chance romances, and not only did I get that, but it was also a sports romance. For me, this was a twofer, which I greatly enjoyed.

Tanner and Tilly were high school sweethearts. Tilly thought she had found her forever, until Tanner betrayed her. Fast forward eight years. Tanner was now the star of the Sydney Smoke rugby team and Tilly was the reporter assigned to write a series on him.

I loved the way these two were thrust back into each other's lives. I could immediately see, that the years had not extinguished those flames. There was great banter and back and forth between these two, but what I really loved, was Tilly getting to see the man that Tanner had become. She was the one, who had been wronged, and was the one, who had many preconceived ideas about who Tanner was not. But, she was wrong. As she spent more time with him, Tilly saw that Tanner had so many beautiful layers. I liked how he was written, because he surprised me, and when he revealed something he had done for Tilly waaaay before she was back in his life, my heart melted.

I would have changed one thing about the ending, but it was minor and probably something that only bugs me. I really don't like books ending with a sex scene, but I am sure other people are ok with it. Other than that, I had great time listening to this book, and absolutely loved Tilly and Tanner's story.

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[llamareads]

Adorable slow-burn second-chance romance. This is the first book in the Sydney Smoke Rugby series, and the team name is very apt – these books are HOT! I’m rereading this in preparation for reviewing the fifth book in the series, and I liked it just as much the second time around!

“Tanner freaking Stone. A close-up of him shirtless, bending and stretching, his perfect, tight ass in the air, almost made her forget there were pearls in places they had no right to be.
And the fact he was a lying, cheating scumbag who’d stomped on her heart, turned her into a romantic cynic at the tender age of eighteen, and caused her to sabotage every relationship she’d ever had with a man.
He was the reason her grandmother kept bitching at her about the lack of great-grandbabies.
Matilda would have liked to think she was mature enough now to be over him. Sadly, she wasn’t that evolved. The wound may have healed, but it wasn’t all neat and perfect. It was jagged and messy and if you poked it, it still hurt from time to time.”

Matilda – Tilly – is a journalist, currently writing the style column but with high hopes to move to features. After all, she didn’t go to Stanford for journalism so she could writ about crotchless lingerie with strings of pearls in interesting places. When her boss finds out that she used to date star rugby player Tanner Stone in high school, she’s given the assignment of writing a six-part feature on him, or she’ll be knocked down to obituaries. She decides to make the best of it and get revenge on the man who broke her heart when she caught him kissing the high school mean girl. Tanner’s given an equally stern ultimatum from the rugby higher-ups – cooperate with the journalist (and take the spotlight off the drunken antics of some other rugby players) – and then he finds out the journalist is Tilly. He broke her heart – for good, if very teenager-ish reasons – but never got over her, and he’s anxious to see her again. When they finally meet – in the locker room after a rugby practice, no less – he’s shocked to realize she’s a completely different, joyless woman, not the happy, funny girl he remembers from eight years ago. Tanner decides to coax out the old Tilly – not to necessarily get a second chance with her – but just because he feels responsible for breaking her.

“It was her dress that had done it. He’d come here tonight determined to cooperate. To set her at ease and by doing so, draw her out, make her laugh a little. But then he’d laid eyes on her in that dress and it had taken him one second to realise he wanted her back.
Yes, he’d screwed up. Big time. Yes, he had a lot of making up to do. But he hadn’t realised how much he’d missed her. Until now.
And he was determined to win her back.”

Despite this featuring one of the tropes I don’t usually care for – the “one conversation would’ve resolved this!” – I really enjoyed the tension between the Tanner and Tilly. He kissed that girl to force a breakup, so that she’s take the scholarship to Stanford instead of following him around the rugby circuit, figuring she’d get over him quickly. While Tanner’s eager to pick things back up, Tilly’s much more invested in keeping him at arm’s length. While she still wants him, she realizes that sex isn’t love, and he hurt her so badly before that she hasn’t been able to have a relationship with anyone else since. Rather than fixing things, their enforced proximity only makes things worse. Tilly realizes that Tanner is a really great guy – he fixes her grandmother’s porch railing, for goodness sakes – and starts to believe that she must’ve done something to make him cheat on her. I especially enjoyed that once they finally have that conversation where Tanner’s motives were revealed, rather than make everything hunky dory, it makes Tilly even more opposed to a relationship with him.

The secondary characters are great. Obviously, the other hockey players are being set up for later books, but my favorite was Tilly’s grandmother, Hannah. She was an absolute hoot – for one thing, she says that Tanner could dress up in drag and not be emasculated – but she also is there for Tilly when’s she down and needs sense talked into her. I also loved the silly Twitter conversations and tags, like #mightbelove.

Overall, this is a great start to a series. This was my first rugby romance, and it was a great one to start with. Very enjoyable, and very much recommended! Four Captain Cunnilingus stars!

[stacey_is_sassy]

Her Rules were meant to be played with.

Oh my lordy…this book brought back some very fond memories. Way, way back in the day, before I had even laid eyes on hubby, I liked watching Rugby. One of my favourite things to do on a Sunday afternoon was to sit on the hill at Ballymore and watch either Queensland or Australia play. Now, anyone who really knows me may be a wee bit surprised at this. I’m not really known for my love of sports unless it’s to watch a family member play. Back then, my obsession had a little bit more to do with Jason Little and David Wilson…two rugby players that I had a mighty big crush on. Reading Playing By Her Rules brought back all the old memories. It’s all about hot guys with muscles, dripping blood, sweating buckets and playing footy with a footy on the footy field. Aussie’s love their footy.

I’m ashamed to say that this Aussie (me) had never even heard of the FANTABULOUS Aussie author Amy Andrews until recently. What makes it even more shameful…we live about 20 minutes away from each other. THE SHAME!! That’s OK, now that I’ve experienced her talent, there is no way I’ll be able to stop myself from going back and checking out her other stuff.

Playing By Her Rules was bloody good. If you want to read a story with real Aussies, then this is it. It’s not OTT – “Crikey, get another shrimp on the barbie” (THANK GOD!!), but there are a few terms that may stump you. Have no fear…Sassy to the rescue. Here’s a link to a very comprehensive Australian Slang Dictionary - http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html.

Now, onto the story… Matilda and Tanner were high school sweethearts. Things did not end well and they parted ways. Matilda went on to study at Stanford and Tanner became a Rugby Union player. Both of them had followed their dreams but only one of them had managed to move on…somewhat.

Matilda had been devastated by the breakup and never managed to have a successful relationship after her first love. She tried, but she wasn’t willing to risk her heart again and the blokes she did meet, didn’t really compare to her first love. Matilda has been content to focus her energies on work in the hopes she can move on from writing her fashion articles to a becoming a features writer. When her boss puts her in charge of a 6-week feature interviewing her first love, she’s hardly jumping for joy.

Tanner’s life is all about Rugby. He works really hard at it and has managed to have a successful career playing the sport he loves. Tanner does not like doing interviews and doesn't like being in the spotlight unless it's on the footy field. When he finds out that the big bosses are ordering him to do a 6 part interview he is less than happy…until he finds out who will be interviewing him.

Matilda was Tanner’s first and only love. When he sees her for the first time in eight years, all of the feelings he had for her resurface. He wants her back and decides that he’ll do whatever it takes to succeed. Unfortunately, his Tilly is not so keen and makes him work really hard to get past the brick wall around her heart.

I absolutely loved Tanner. At first, he comes across pretty arrogant, but the more you get to know him you realise he is not at all as he seems. Tanner is sweet, generous and thoughtful. Yes, he made a big mistake when he was 18 but he owns up to it and apologises. Matilda is a little bit prickly and very weary of Tanner which I could definitely not blame her for. When Matilda finally lets Tanner past her walls the chemistry between them was extremely hot. It’s pretty obvious that this couple were meant to be together and I loved that both of them needed to make allowances and learn to forgive each other.

If you’re an Aussie, you’ll feel right at home reading Playing By Her Rules. If you have a desire to take a quick trip down under, then this is a great way to see how we really live. This story is sweet, funny and steamy. It made my heart flutter and left me with a big goofy smile on my face. I’m definitely going to be reading more of this series in the future.

To buy Playing By Her Rules from Amazon - http://amzn.to/2c9Efsi

I’m an Aussie chick who loves to read and review romance, drink coffee, be a Style Setter and stalk David Gandy. To see more of my reviews, fashion, food and pervathons -

[Eve1972]

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was a bit afraid going into this one because me and sports heroes don't always get along. A lot of times I find the OTT man-whore gig to be a tad bit much with groupies and OW always in the face of the heroine. Luckly this was NOT the case with Tanner AT ALL. No groupies, no OW, not really any mention of Tanner's or Tilly's sex life after they broke up 8 years previously. Both moved on and had others, but it's just a fleeting mention here and there.

I ADORED this book. A total 5 star read for me. This is the gold standard of what I LOVE in a second chance romance. Hero does something disckish with misguided but honorable intentions causing the end of his and the heroine's relationship. Some time passes and circumstances bring them back together. Heroine is angry and bitter. Hero realizes that he never stopped loving the heroine and sets about winning her back.

I LOVED Tanner. He was super sweet and such a nice guy. Sexy as hell, and just a great hero. Tilly was also a really well written character. She was funny and snarky, and I felt for her. I understood her anger and her reluctance to let Tanner in again. That said, there were a few times I just wanted to shake both of them and tell them to TALK already.

I also enjoyed the side characters. Tanner's teammates all seemed like great guys and there seems to be some good potential for future storylines involving them. The plot flowed nicely and kept me turning the pages. If I had to complain about something, it would be the lack of epilogue. I'm an epilogue girl and I want to see years into the future with marriage and babies. Perhaps though we will see some of that in upcoming books.

Overall this was a fantastic read and it's a definite recommendation from yours truly.