Investment analyst Dylan MacDonald has been away from Cape Cod so long it no longer feels like home, despite deep roots and a large extended family. After a routine assignment in Africa becomes life or death, the former workaholic is back on the Cape and unemployed. Getting entangled with his high school crush is definitely not in his plans… Even if she was the one woman who made him think … outside the spreadsheet.
Co-owner of a successful Chatham boutique, friendly and popular Bella Costa seems to have it all… except a real relationship. She has a rule against dating local boys, keeping her love life limited to summer flings. The only guy she truly cared about left the Cape and never looked back. Until this summer. Now he’s re-igniting all kinds of unresolved feelings.
Will the past stand in their way, or can they bend some rules to find a future together?
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BENDING THE RULES opens with investment analyst Dylan MacDonald facing insurmountable danger when he’s detained in South Sudan by a hostile militia. (That’s enough to give me goosebumps.)
The author quickly introduces Bella Costa, Dylan’s high school crush. Smooth flashbacks layer the couple’s complicated emotions and define the moments that challenge their wishful romance.
I read this gem in a couple of hours. The pacey action kept me absorbed in the story. Written with wit and humor, Ms. O’Sullivan also shows heart and sensitivity. Love a story with second chances!
When I started reading this story, I could not put it down. I read the book in one day. This author is an awesome writer. I can not wait to read more of their books. Keep up the great work. You should definitely read this book.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
An emotional second chance romance.
Bella and Dylan have had deep feelings for each other since they were kids but when neither one is strong enough to say how they feel about each other, things don’t work out the way they plan. Now that Dylan has come home to recover from a tragic event, he has the chance to try again with Bella. However, until they can trust each other, it’s never going to work for them. Especially since Dylan doesn’t know the truth about Bella like he thought he did.
This book is so well written and it will take you on an emotional rollercoaster of a ride. So be sure to have tissues handy… maybe a whole box.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
He was living the high life until it all ended in a life or death. He is now home broke and jobless. She has everything but a relationship and she will not date local boys. He is the one she had wanted but what will happen. Can they find each other? Will it work? See if it can
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
We are introduced to a range of characters, which is usual for the start of a series but sometimes overwhelming to the reader. It was a bit ridiculous that one kiss, over 10yrs ago, could lead to these two having unresolved feelings. Seriously Dylan believed the rumours about Belle & didn’t even give her the benefit of the doubt or question her about them all thoseyears ago.
This really didn’t come together for me.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
What a delightful way to spend an afternoon! I just finished BENDING THE RULES ( CAPRE COD RULE #2) by Katie O’Sullivan.
There’s nothing I like more to read than a second chances romance, and this story had everything I love about the trope and genre. Told in present time and flashbacks, the love story of Bella Costa and Dylan MacDonald was over 10 years in the making. From the time in high school when she was a sophomore and he was her senior math tutor, these two were in serious “like” with one another, but circumstances prevented them from ever telling the other their feelings.
We can all remember and relate to how horrible high school could be, especially when bullying came into play. A poplar cheerleader, Bella is the victim of jealousy and rumors that follow her through school and into her current life. And unfortunately, Dylan believed the rumors, causing him to walk away from her just when it looked like they could be together.
When they meet again a decade after she graduates high school, they still realize the attraction they have for one another, but both have let the past intrude on the their present lives and effect how they see their futures.
Dylan comes back to his hometown after a horrific incident leaves him feeling lost and vulnerable, unable to reconcile the life he’s chosen for himself. For her part, Bella has vowed never to let a man – especially a local, hometown man- get too close to her emotionally.
But the attraction is undeniable and try those he does to fight it, Dylan falls more in love with Bella than he could ever believe he could.
Will they be able to put their past thoughts and beliefs behind them to find their HEA together? It’s a good question and one Katie O’Sullivan answers in a way that made me smile and cheer.
I simply love the way Ms. O’Sullivan writes. She has an easy-to-read prose style that just makes you keep turning the pages – or in my case flipping the pages on my kindle! I started this book while I was on the treadmill and after 90 minutes realized I hadn’t stopped once- reading or walking. The story is so well told, and so carefully constructed I simply didn’t want to put it down, and didn’t. Not until I finished it.
5 very well deserved stars for a story that hit all the high points for me I like in romance novel.