The Rules

by M.J. Masucci

Be careful what you wish for…

Marriage shouldn’t be this hard.
But when you’re no longer in love with your husband – what’s the solution?
The rules were designed to bring us together. This experiment wasn’t my idea – well, maybe it was.
Our best friends were doing it and it was working for them.
They’re the ones who pushed for it, telling us it would make our marriage stronger.
Cooper jumped in with both feet, I was still unsure.
We could end it at any time. Little did I know it would end us. And that’s not all.
This experiment would expose the deceit, lies and secrets of those closest to me.

314 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 18, 2022

About the author

MJ Masucci is a steamy romance and romantic suspense author. She lives in Southern New York with her husband and two precocious Siamese cats. She began writing short stories in college and putting ideas down on paper for full length novels. She enjoys all types of sports especially football.

Reviews

[Grisette · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

The start of this book had me on the fence. The writing was very decent (save a few typos and editing issues, but I will live!) and had a good pace. However, the h, Madelyn at first seemed a bit shallow what with her wishy-washiness about her slowly crumbling marriage. I was even questioning myself where the romance was in all this. However, the plot then went into unexpected avenues and surprise, surprise, I really enjoyed the last two thirds of the book.

TWs: cheating, open marriages turned into disasters, manipulation

Fair warning, it is not a book for everyone. Not because the themes are heavy but because what the characters do in the book might not be to the moral taste of everyone. That said, it is fiction. Though, I do not doubt that RL can get as messy as the book's plot. Personally, I would not have made the choices they did but I understand how for some people this might work, or how they might think it will work for them.

I am normally not attracted with marriages-in-peril books, more so when the element of 'open marriages to save existing marriages' is introduced. But this one had an appeal of its own. Because these tropes were only part of the plot, almost a small part in hindsight. The majority of the book was the romance twist between Madelyn and Kane. I did not expect it and I was agreeably surprised by it. They smelled of the forbidden (even if they did not cheat because their respective marriages were already ended) and they were a hot mess that were only waiting to crash. Although there is an element of insta love/lust on the part of Maddy (not Kane), I did believe in the intensity of their feelings. And honestly, I did not expect the last twist in the last quarter of the book. I found the grovel part original and the separation period realistic. I would definitely have forgiven Kane because even if what he did was twisted and hardly acceptable in RL, as a book boyfriend I am swooning 😁🥰!

For me, there were some inner thoughts and rationalisation missing for the book to be a 5 star read. Esp. from Maddy - the reasons she easily slid into a relationship so fast with him lacked some psychological clarity, same with her relationship with her ex-bff (we did not see how she announced being with Kane to her, or whether she angsted over telling her). I understood why she would act like she did, but only from inference and not from the story explaining it. Also, while I saw the dramatic angst that separated Maddy and Kane and I intellectually empathize, yet I did not have the emotionality to feel gutted and teary about it. That said, the light tone of the writing helped with my enjoying the story no matter how chaotic the characters were. I could not hate any of them, even Celeste! Solid 4 stars worth!

P.S.1 I don't know why but the author made Maddy obsessed with room temperatures 😅😆

P.S.2 Since I have been carefully reading and reviewing books on GR, I found that one of my personal pet peeves is when books insist on misspelling parents' as parent's! This book is certainly not alone in this sin (it happened 6 times!), but for once I wanted to point it out 😅!

[Barbara Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a Great Book!

I really enjoyed reading this book 📕. It had me so interested in
The Characters and the changes in their lives.