{"id":70003,"date":"2023-04-22T09:51:20","date_gmt":"2023-04-22T13:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=70003"},"modified":"2023-09-06T21:42:32","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T01:42:32","slug":"review-release-blitz-the-rules-of-dating-my-best-friends-sister-the-law-of-opposites-attract-2-by-vi-keeland-penelope-ward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=70003","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Rules of Dating My Best Friend’s Sister (The Law of Opposites Attract, #2) by Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0<\/b>Amazon US<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon UK<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon CA<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon AU<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Audio<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Review<\/strong><\/h4>\n

3 stars<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, this book! The second in the The Law of Opposites Attract<\/i> series, it\u2019s a brother\u2019s-best-friend, friends-to-lovers romance that is angsty and dramatic, and it\u2019s a rollercoaster of a read!<\/p>\n

This series is centred around a group of four best friends who own and run an apartment building in New York City, left to them by the fifth member of their group who passed away. Ryan\u2019s death shook the boys, but bought them closer together, so when Ryan\u2019s little sister Laney (aka \u2018Lala\u2019) moves to the city for six months for work, the protective boys offer her an apartment to live in for her stay, moving her in right in next door to Holden.<\/p>\n

Holden is the player of the group. A sweetheart, but a well-established man-whore, he\u2019s never really had a relationship, preferring no-strings hook ups and easy nights with his friends. He is the drummer in a local band, and also works as the super in the building that he and his friends own, and though he has dreams of finding success with his music, he is content with his life. But Lala\u2019s arrival upends his existence. He\u2019s always had a thing for her, but he kept his hands off out of respect to Ryan. Now, she\u2019s so tantalisingly within reach, but she\u2019s engaged to another man.<\/p>\n

Lala grew up with her brother friends, but it was always Holden to who she was closest. She also had a gigantic crush on him. Now, he\u2019s her neighbour, and he\u2019s inserting himself into her life \u2013 there for her whenever she needs help, keeping her company with quiet nights in, and even with deep and meaningful chats while sitting on their fire escapes at night. It\u2019s making her question everything.<\/p>\n

I was so very on board with the set-up for this book, and was loving the early chemistry we see between Holden and Lala. They\u2019ve both had feelings for the other for such a long time, but there\u2019s always been a safe distance between them. Now they\u2019re living right next door to each other and actually starting to share their lives, and everything is changing. They know they can\u2019t act on it. They know that Lala is promised to somebody else. But they can\u2019t stop feeling strongly for each other all the same, and oh, the angst!<\/p>\n

I could feel the longing between these two, I could feel the chemistry, the sexual tension, and all of the long-held emotion that they have for each other. The build-up is fabulous, and I SO wanted something to happen between them. And while I would usually revel in this kind of situation, in this case, it pissed me off because the whole time they\u2019re feeling all of this, Lala is planning to marry another man!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a complicated situation. Lala is in a stable and committed relationship, and while it may not exactly be the epic love with fiery, sizzling passion that she wishes it was, her fianc\u00e9 is a good man, they have a lot in common, and they will have a good and stable life together. Holden, on the other hand, is a wild player who she knows will rock her world, but he\u2019s never been in a relationship, and is full of red flags where her heart is concerned. What is she willing to risk to be happy?<\/p>\n

Though I could understand how torn Lala was, it\u2019s the fact that she wrestled with it for so long that bothered me, and in the meantime, she\u2019s being all kinds of inappropriate with Holden. If you\u2019re wondering about cheating\u2026

<\/span>Spoiler<\/div>
Sadly, yes, there is cheating. Though they don\u2019t actually get physical, they definitely cross the line. Holden and Lala are attracted to each other, they openly admit it, and they do nothing to try and stop the way they feel \u2013 talking about sex, sleeping in the same bed, flirting, admitting their jealousy of anybody who gets too close to the other, openly checking each other out in their underwear (with a timer and everything), and they even have filthy phone sex!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an epic build-up to their own love story, BUT SHE IS ENGAGED TO SOMEBODY ELSE!!! It\u2019s pretty clear that Lala doesn\u2019t have a great relationship with her fianc\u00e9, and though he\u2019s a good guy, I didn\u2019t feel any love between them at all. So why, why, why didn\u2019t she end the relationship sooner? Uuuugghhhhhh.<\/div><\/div>\n

The inevitable happens, and feelings are revealed, and the moment where Holden pours his heart out had my heart pounding. Lala does end her engagement, and they finally get to explore all of that chemistry, and it\u2019s every bit as explosive as they both knew it would be. It\u2019s hot and intense, and they\u2019re all very open and eager to explore their mad lust for each other in all the ways. But is that enough to reform a manwhore? And with their completely opposite lives, can they actually make it work?<\/p>\n

And so begins the second part of this story, which just brings more drama. While I was happy they got together, and enjoyed their sexy playfulness, having already gotten through one hot mess, they just go diving headfirst right into another. They\u2019ve been through a lot to get to where they are, and they are feeling strongly for each other, they just have a problem talking about it and communicating about what they really want. And after the angst we had already been through, I was instantly annoyed that were plunged in to even more.<\/p>\n

Even putting the first half of the book behind me and starting fresh with these two, Lala makes a lot of really dumb decisions, and I was disappointed at how she handled things through the majority of the story. Holden is an absolute sweetheart who is figuring himself out and finding his way. Everything he experiences is new to him, and though he makes some mistakes as well, he\u2019s always the one taking the leap, making the declarations and putting in the effort to move things forward and make things work, while Lala just coasts along, not really taking responsibility for anything.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, I liked them together, it\u2019s clear they belong together, and their love story is actually really gorgeous, with a beautiful happy ending that left me smiling. I just wish it had happened differently for them \u2013 less cheating, and more communication for the win!<\/p>\n

I loved the first book in this series, and had high hopes for this one, but the relationship was a hot mess, and I felt more frustrated than engaged with the love story.<\/p>\n

So yeah, a bunch of mixed feelings for this one. 3 stars.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

The Law of Opposites Attract<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Rules of Dating<\/strong> (Colby & Billie)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Buy: \u00a0Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0Paperback<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Audio<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rules of Dating My Best Friend’s Sister <\/strong>(Holden & Laney)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Audio<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rules of Dating My One-Night Stand <\/strong>(Owen & Devyn)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Audio<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rules of Dating a Younger Man (#4)<\/strong>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 Paperback\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Audio<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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About the Authors<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Check out our\u00a0Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward Author Spotlight<\/a>\u00a0f<\/strong>or more co-writes from this duo<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0Amazon US\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon UK\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon CA\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon AU\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback\u00a0 |\u00a0 Audio Review 3 stars Oh, this book! The second in the The Law of Opposites Attract series, it\u2019s a brother\u2019s-best-friend, friends-to-lovers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":3,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[297,443,52,25,9,29],"tags":[132,48,1473,349],"class_list":["post-70003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-angsty","category-brotherbest-friend","category-drama","category-friends-to-lovers","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-penelope-ward","tag-review","tag-the-law-of-opposites-attract","tag-vi-keeland"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/The-Rules-of-Dating-My-Best-Friends-Sister.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-id5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/68610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}