Rule #7: You Can't Fake Date Your Brother's Best Friend

The Rules of Love #7

by Anne-Marie Meyer

I wasn’t supposed to fall for my fake boyfriend.
I failed at that.

Mom’s sick. Desperate to get some sunshine and relaxation, my parents packed up my brother and I and moved us to a small ranch in Montana. I’m not really interested in making friends. Not when my time with my mother might be cut short.

That is, until Blake shows up. He’s been best friends with my brother since they were kids and when I first meet him, I realize that the last thing his is, is a kid anymore. If he had a dating profile, it would write itself.

Blake Marshall. Six foot two. Ridiculously good looking.

And apparently, newly single. When Mom hears this, she concocts a plan. I should pretend to be Blake’s girlfriend to make his ex jealous and win her back. As much as I want to say no, I just want to make Mom happy, so I agree.

Until, feelings start to change and suddenly, the last thing I want to do is be Blake’s fake-anything.

I just hope he feels the same because I’ve come so close to losing Mom, I couldn’t handle another heartbreak.

Some Rules are Meant to Be Broken

Grab Rule #7 You Can't Fake Date your Brother's Best Friend and fall in love today!

Genres: Romance, Fake Dating, Young Adult, Clean Romance, High School, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary

218 pages, Paperback

First published December 9, 2021

About the author

Anne-Marie Meyer is a USA Today Bestselling author who lives south of the Twin Cities in MN. She spends her days with her knight in shining armor, four princes, and a baby princess.

When she's not running after her kids, she's dreaming up romantic stories. She loves to take her favorite moments in the books and movies she loves and tries to figure out a way to make them new and fresh.

Join her newsletter at anne-mariemeyer.com

Reviews

[୨୧ carissa ୨୧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐️

[Chicken · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute romance story that had wonderfully written events and was just a fun read. I would say that the heroine annoyed me at times but overall, the characters were exciting.

[Melynda Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it!!

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

👏👏👏

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel from the first page until the very last. It has been a very rare occurrence that I could just pick up a book and read it in one day; but, I was captivated by these characters and their amazing love story instantaneously.

[Samantha Shy · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is so much more that could have been done with this story. A mom who’s I’ll, a brother who is avoiding everyone (apparently over a girl that was mentioned 3 times in the book, but didn’t play a huge role) and a guy that the girl is in love with who lives with an abusive parent. There’s so much room to run!

Overall, it felt rushed and almost as if the author didn’t really want to write this book. There wasn’t much of a plot.

[Makayla Senecaut · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐️.5 stars rounded up

Susie’s mom has stage 4 cancer, so when her dad gets offered a new job in Montana her family jumps at the chance for a change of scenery. Susie is spending her junior year hanging out with her mom as much time making as many memories with her as she can, because she is not sure how much time she has left with her mom. Susie’s mom though, wants her kids to live a regular high schoolers life. So when Susie’s brothers best friend Blake (who moved to Montana a few years earlier) tells Susie’s mom that his girlfriend broke up with him, Susie’s mom comes up with a plan. Susie and Blake will pretend they are dating to make Blake’s ex jealous so she will want to get back together. Susie though starts to get feelings for Blake. Can she get through this fake dating without getting her heart broke?

I revived this book as a blind date with a. Book. This book was not bad, just not my style. I think it would be good for a preteen/young teenage girl. Personally for me it felt like nothing ever happened. If I did not sit down and read it in one 2 hour sitting then I would have definitely DNF it.

[Saphira Reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed. I think the story could’ve been really great but it felt really rushed like the whole thing looks like it happened within days, which doesn’t make sense. Paul and Blake are supposed to be best friends, you don’t really feel it. I couldn’t stand Susan at all the whole book. Literally from beginning to end she annoyed me to no end, she was literally blind and oblivious and not in a cute way. I really liked Blake’s character but I think he could’ve been looked at more deeply. Paul’s behavior the whole book is ridiculous. I don’t know. I liked the overall story and I like the author’s style for sure, but this wasn’t her best I think. Especially the end was suuuuper rushed.

[Bookie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but a bit bland

So this was a solid YA fake dating book, but it lacked conflict and I never felt that the characters grew any. Also, by having the h continue to push for "boundaries" made it hard to feel like they had a connection or chemistry. Overall, they just needed some type of flavor to their story to help establish the emotions more for me.

Also, this is a silly thing but found it super annoying that each chapter was labelled as "Susie" but the POV never changed to the hero. I prefer dual POV books and I kept waiting for Blake's portion but that never came. So it was a bit of a let down.

[noora ✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

mid is a perfect way to describe this book.

there’s some scenes that are really nice and interesting but then most of it is just like no plot or i get pissed off at the length. honestly, there’s so many good scenes this author writes, so only if she just channeled all the focus on those and added more, i think these books could be a lot better.

i love the name blake. i don’t really know why but i just have a mental list of names that are nice and blake is one of them. again, no idea why that is but 🤷‍♀️.

i don’t think i’ll be reading much of this author’s work anymore. maybe the one with the billionaires cause i’m curious about it but otherwise we’re done 😌.

[Vivi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ⭐

Honestly it feels like all of these books are the same just with a different font. It starts with a few chapters where they get to know each other or gets reacquainted, then a chapter or two of basically dating or really dating, then they have a breakup for some idiotic reason that stems from miscommunication often it's even a lack of communication and then essentially nothing changes but everything magically works and then they're happy for the last two pages.. oh and don't forget how there always has to be at minimum one bad/absent parent.. literally every book, just slightly differently made

[Susannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a pure fluff piece and chose this thinking that’s what it was. Sadly, I was incorrect. I think why I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as others was because of that fact.

However, with a shorter book like this, details for the characters and story aren’t as fully developed as they could be. I wish we could have dived in a bit deeper into Blake’s life.

It wasn’t amazing, it wasn’t horrible. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the chemistry that the characters had, but it was such a predictable book like most fake dating ones, but there was no challenge no real issue preventing them from being together. I guess I wish it had some more drama and keep you on your toes about whether or not they were gonna end up together.

[Pascale’s*ARC,Unwind,Read,Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute. I love it when this author writes YA. To me, this is her strength and, once again, I really enjoyed her story. I am looking forward to reading #8 in the series when it comes out. I definitely recommend this one for a clean teen read.

[L. Hoareau · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story line was good. A good quick read but the heroine did piss me off like why not just admit everything like damn! She just had to bring up Hannah all the time smh. But overall the story was cute

[Annika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh.
I was looking for something fluffy in the midst of readings for school, and I got something fluffy. In that sense, I can't complain too much. This book was too short for much development to happen; the characters could have had more depth, I think.

[Eduarda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um romance simples que retrata o desenrolar de uma amor jovem apoiado no desenvolvimento familiar das personagens. Apesar do desenrolar da história acontecer de uma forma gradual o final parece apressado.

[Amanda Davanzati · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sweet high school romance that was cute and an enjoyable read. I listen to this on audio and enjoyed the narration. This book was definitely back and forth between the two characters. I enjoyed this fake dating, brothers best friend read and would recommend it for others.

[Rina ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is so good! It hit me right in the feels. I went on a rollercoaster of emotions while reading, and it was definitely worth the ride. This story is very heartwarming. Susie and Blake are amazing together. I highly recommend this book!

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid clean YA fake dating romance, having read most of these to see if they are ok for my teen to read (they are all clean) I have come to conclusion that these are definitely for teens, and not adults who also like so YA stuff.

[Elizabeth Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good book kinda cheese but love 💕 the cheese. Could have been expanded more on thing. But overall I liked it.

[Kristen McVay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good clean

I like the fact it's clean teenage love story something I can have my daughters read without all the smut

[Sandy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh!

Very young romance,more teen appropriate,the story lines for confusing at times
The title does say high school romance,not for me unfortunately

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was so cute!!

[Kirsty Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in one sitting, this is good but It would of been nice to hear Blake's side aswell

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this story and it very relatable to those of us who have brothers with hot friends.

[Lindsay Owens · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Carolina Moncayo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yup I’m done with this series.

The last ones that I’ve read have not been as good as the first but it was a great ride 👍🏽

[Harlee Frazee · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was really cute book I loved it!

[Emily L · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was fine. No character is that clueless though and there was too much going on?

[Annaliese Marsiglio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Are Anne Marie Meyer’s books literary genius? No. But they are sweet and simple. Sometimes I feel like there were some jumps in the story to get to certain points, but I’m not mad about reading them.