Review - - Breaking All The Rules

Breaking All The Rules

by Amy Andrews

Publisher: Entangled Amara

Release Date: January 24, 2023

Reviewed by PJ

Sometimes you gotta toss your whole life into a burning dumpster to find what’s most important...

Beatrice Archer has always done everything she’s supposed to —worked her ass off, ignored her non-existent personal life, and kept her mouth shut. Now she’s over it. The rat race, respectability…the underwire bras. She’s taking her life back. Starting with moving to Nowhere, Colorado to live life on her own terms.

Now Bea gives exactly zero forks. Beer for breakfast. Sugar for everything else. Baggy sweats and soft cotton undies FTW. Then a much younger and delightfully attractive cop is called to deal with her flagrant disregard for appropriate clothing outside the local diner (some folks just don’t appreciate bunny slippers) and Bea realizes there’s something missing from her little decathlon of decadence…and he might be the guy to help her out.

When it comes to breaking rules, Officer Austin Cooper is surprisingly eager to assist. He’s charming, a little bit cowboy, and a whole lot sexy. But Bea’s about to discover that breaking the rules has consequences. And all of the cherry pies in Colorado can’t save her from what’s coming…

PJ's Thoughts:

Do you have a special shelf for comfort reads? I do. It doesn't have a lot of books on it but I know that the stories that reside there are guaranteed to lift me out of the doldrums, make me laugh, make me sigh, generate a little steam, remind me why I love to read, warm my heart and, basically, chase all my blues away. Which is exactly what happened while reading Breaking All The Rules, the newest member of my comfort reads collection. 

Bea and Austin hit the ground running with snarky banter, unexpected sizzle, and a whole lot of laughter...not to mention orgasm-inducing ice cream and the best pie west of the Mississippi. By the end of chapter one I was completely hooked, buckled in and ready for a rollicking ride. Which I got. But, there was also much, much more. Andrews combined laugh-out-loud humor with sweetness, sizzle, and a depth of emotion I wasn't expecting then wrapped it all up with romance, uncertainty, emotional growth, and a well-deserved grovel (I do love a good grovel) to create a feel-good happy ending that had me sighing with delight. 

The cast of characters in this book were so well developed it felt like they were going to leap from the pages right into reality, with Bea and Austin leading the way. Andrews took her time with these two, slowly peeling away their layers and giving us necessary insight into their feelings, fears, frustrations, and hopes. At the same time she allowed Bea to rebel against past injustices in the best possible ways with Austin as the more-than-willing partner and safe landing place she had no idea she needed...or wanted. I loved them both. Okay, I loved Austin more but, come on. He's such a good hero! I understood Bea though and fully supported her rule-breaking rebellion. Any woman who has worked in a male-dominated environment is going to be right there with her. Mostly, I loved these two together. They balanced one another, were hot for each other (so hot), had fun together, and were sweet together. This was one couple that had me cheering for them from start to finish.

After reading the book, I discovered that this is the fourth book in Andrews' Credence, Colorado series. I didn't feel like I was missing anything by reading Breaking all The Rules first. However, after meeting some of the characters from the earlier books, I will definitely be reading their stories too. And, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a romance between a certain grumpy, by-the-book chief of police and a local erotic romance writer! 

Have you read any Amy Andrews books? Do you have a favorite?

How do you feel about younger men? Does a younger man influence your enjoyment of a romance? (In this book, Bea is 35 and Austin is 25 but, honestly, much of the time it feels like he's the more mature of the two.)

Amy Andrews Winner

The winner of an e-copy of Risky Business by Amy Andrews is:

Texas Book Lover

Congratulations!  

Please send your email address to us at

 theromancedish (at) gmail (dot) com 

and let us know what e-book format you would like.

Today's Special - - Amy Andrews' Risky Business Blog Tour

I'm tickled pink to welcome best-selling Australian author Amy Andrews to the Romance Dish today! Quite the prolific writer, Amy has forty contemporary romances to her credit, selling more than 1.6 million books and having those books translated into more than twelve different languages. According to her website, "Amy loves good books, fab food, great wine and frequent travel - preferably all four together.  She lives on acreage on the outskirts of Brisbane with a gorgeous mountain view but secretly wishes it was the hillsides of Tuscany."  (I can totally relate to that wish!)

Amy's book, Holding Out for a Hero is a finalist for Romantic Book of the Year in the Romance Writers of Australia's prestigious RuBY awards.  The winners will be announced in August.  



Welcome to our humble abode, Amy!  It’s a delight to have you visit with us today.  

Thank you so much. It is a delight to be here!

Please tell our readers a bit about your new book, Risky Business.

Risky Business is an urban-family romcom with an extreme sports star hero and a buttoned-up accountant heroine whose eggs have started talking to her. It’s set in a second-hand romance bookshop and is a mash up of When Harry Met Sally and Look Who’s Talking. There’s a bunch of hilarious blind dates, a load of silent lusting and gratuitous lamington scoffing!

Some of those dates had me laughing out loud and I adored Sam's talking eggs!

Samantha and Nick could be poster models for opposites attracting.  What is it about these two characters that convinced you they belong together?

You know, I’m not sure. I’ve always adored the whole opposites attract thing and when my muse threw them at me I knew there was something special about these two!

What most surprised you in the writing of this book?

How it mushroomed. It started out as just a story about Nick and Sam and then a whole bunch of other characters and plot threads joined the fray and I had this huge story I felt very inadequate (at the time) to write.

Believe me, no inadequacy whatsoever came through in the reading.  This book's a winner! 

What would readers be most surprised to learn about you?

Oh dear. I’m so very middle-class, suburban, boring I doubt anything in my life would be a surprise. Let me see…..I can still do the splits at 44 – how’s that? It does help to be well lubricated with grape juice first. And, let’s just say, that going down is easy. It’s the getting up again that’s getting harder and harder!

Doing the splits at 44 is a skill many of us would envy.  ;-)

Nick is an extreme sports star who looks like Hugh Jackman.  (You do realize that women the world over will be buying this book from that description alone, don’t you?)  Oh I *do* hope so  J Are you an athlete?  A sports enthusiast?  What – or who - inspired the creation of Nick?

Excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor from laughing my ass off. Whilst I am an accomplished drunken splits performer (I really think you need to add this to your bio) there is nothing else remotely athletic about me. If anyone’s ever read my Ruby nominated book Holding Out For A Hero they’ll see a lot of Ella in me – I too detest sport as much as she does! But I don’t know what it says about me that the 2 big books I’ve written have had sport star heroes. I think it's because my heroines are a lot like me so it gives the couples a point of friction.

There wasn’t any one person who inspired the character of Nick. I think I just wanted him to be the exact opposite of Sam – daring and carefree and not around very much.  And of course I have a serious case of the hots for Hugh Jackman so why not him??

Why not, indeed? *grin*

As I’m a dessert first kind of person, I could totally relate to Sam’s love of lamingtons.  (I had to Google that one.  I’m now searching out recipes to create some in my own kitchen!) Just for fun, if you were hosting a dessert buffet for six people (living or dead) who would you invite and what desserts would be served?

Oh now, that part of Sam is definitely me J and lamingtons are to die for! A dessert buffet for six sounds like my ideal life!

Let me see. Well Hugh obviously. And because I totally dig his wife and how in lurve they are I’d have to invite Deborah Lee too. I’d invite my Mum because it’s been almost 3 years since she’s been gone and I still miss her like crazy and she was THE best cook! From history I’d like to invite Florence Nightingale and Emmeline Pankhurst because I’d think they’d be fascinating. And, just because we need to even up the numbers a little and I can’t let Hugh hog all the limelight I’ll throw in Joe Manganiello. I promise to hand feed him lamingtons for you because that’s just the kind of hostess I am. Oh the sacrifice!

Man….I may never want to leave that table!

What a fascinating mix of people!  I'd love a seat at that table!

What – or who – inspired you to begin writing romance?

I wrote my first book at 21 because I was temporarily out of work and looking for something to do that allowed me to stay in my bed with my electric blanket one cold English winter. But the person who truly inspired me to write a different kind of book was Jennifer Crusie. Getting Rid Of Bradley opened my eyes to a different kind of romance and I’ve never looked back! 

What are you working on now?

I'm currently working on several projects. One is a novel for Escape that involves a country-music-chick cum cadaver make-up artist who sees dead people and a down-and-out PI who helps her with a case. It's Stefanie Plum meets Six Feet Under and not like ANYTHING I've done before. Another is a colab for Tule Publishing with Heidi Rice, Kelly Hunter and Lucy King. It's a fresh modern twist on some old fairy tales and is set in New York and we're all very excited!

Ooh, I'll definitely be checking those out!

Would you like to share an excerpt from Risky Business?

Thank you – I’d be delighted! This excerpt comes from a part in the book where Sam actually lands a date she thinks might end in her eggs being very happy indeed. But in the mean time she needs to be responsible so that means condom shopping……

Samantha stopped at the chemist on her way home. Nick was right about women taking responsibility for their own protection. Okay. She probably wouldn't need them tonight but...what if?

She located the condom stand a minute later and stood in front of it staring, completely nonplussed. There were seriously this many choices? And she'd thought tampon selections were getting ridiculous. No wonder men didn't want to be bothered if they faced this choice every time.

Coloured, ribbed, lubricated, flavoured, vibrating. Vibrating? Extra-large.

What if she chose the wrong one?

Was she supposed to buy extra-large? Would Paul be insulted if she didn't? Would his dick strangulate and suffer permanent damage because it was too restrictive? Suddenly she wished she'd brought Nick with her. On this she really needed a man's perspective.

She looked at her watch and realised she'd been dithering for fifteen minutes. Reading the back of the boxes didn't really help her either. They were fabulously descriptive of the amazing powers of the particular brand and one even had a nutritional panel.

Oh god. She had to count calories whilst having sex? Wasn't it supposed to burn them?

Another five minutes passed and after two offers of help from staff she thought, screw it, and got a basket and put one of each packet inside and took them to the counter.

The assistant looked at her dubiously. ‘Are you sure?’ she asked politely and Samantha just smiled and asked her to hurry.

Another assistant whose eyes had visibly widened at Samantha's purchase dragged her gaze away and asked the person behind her if she could help him.

‘I'll have what she's having,’ an amused male voice said. Samantha turned to find a middle-aged cowboy waiting patiently while they tallied her purchase. He was wearing an Akubra and a friendly smile. ‘If you need a hand using any of those little lady, just holler.’

He reminded Samantha of an ageing Stretch Valentine and she smiled despite herself. Don’t laugh, she wanted to say, if you were twenty years younger I may just take you up on that.

Instead she paid the money, stashed the condoms in her large DKNY holdall, thankful that she'd brought a roomy bag to work this morning, and hurried out of the store.

Thank you for visiting with us today, Amy.  Would you like to ask our readers a question?

Thank you so much for having me. I’d like to ask the readers what’s their favourite baked goody?

Okay, readers!  What's your favorite baked goody?  If you have recipes, please feel free to share! One person leaving a comment on today's post will win an e-copy of Risky Business. (open world-wide)

Find more information about Amy and her books at her website and connect with her online at her Facebook page.

• RISKY BUSINESS on Goodreads
• Purchase links:
• Amazon US
• Amazon AU
• Amazon UK
• iBooks
• Google Play
• Kobo Books
• 
  

Here's the rest of Amy's tour schedule:

Monday, July 7th: A Buckeye Girl Reads - guest post

Tuesday, July 8th: The Romance Dish - Q&A

Wednesday, July 9th: Cruising Susan Reviews

Thursday, July 10th: Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance - spotlight

Saturday, July 12th: Romancing the Book

Monday, July 14th: Harlie’s Books

Tuesday, July 15th: Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Wednesday, July 16th: Babbling About Books, and More! - guest post

Thursday, July 17th: The Reading Date - guest post

Tuesday, July 22nd: Girl meets Books - guest post

Wednesday, July 23rd: Reading in Black & White - review and guest post

Thursday, July 24th: Schmexy Girl Book Blog

Harlequin Round-up! Yee-ha!

by Anna Campbell

Hello, everyone! It's been quite a while since I've done a Harlequin roundup (checked and seems to be way back in June last year). So I thought I'd do a quick swing around some short contemporaries that I've recently really enjoyed, and either share some favorites of yours or introduce you to some new authors and lines you may not have previously considered. All of these books are still available from online retailers and as e-books so they shouldn't be too hard to find.

So buckle your seatbelts!

First up is one of the best Harlequins I can remember reading for ages. I grew up reading the equivalent of Harlequin Presents. Oh, how my heart would beat faster at the thought of a new Anne Mather or Violet Winspear. Sarah Morgan's books have that same classic feeling of alpha male meeting his match in the strong, clever woman he falls in love with. In DOUKAKIS'S APPRENTICE, mega-millionaire and all round bossy boots, Damon Doukakis, thinks he's inherited an absolute airhead assistant in Polly Prince with her new age ideas of staff creativity and plants and pets in the office. But Polly is a woman of hidden depths and Damon finds himself completely at sea with this brilliant, unconventional dynamo who teaches him a breathtaking lesson in love. Seriously, even if you generally don't like Harlequin Presents because of the occasionally overbearing heroes, you'll love this book. It's a real hoot and the chemistry between Damon and Polly sizzles like a goldfish in a frypan. I can't recommend this one highly enough!

While I'm on the subject of Presents, have you read Annie West's books? Annie and I work together as critique partners, but when a book's as good as GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT (isn't that a gorgeous cover?), I don't feel I'm doing any special pleading for a friend. Innocent Australian traveler Cassie Denison and dashing Prince Amir find themselves trapped in dangerous proximity in the wild desert. Annie does some of the best Sheikh books around and this is one of my favorites of hers. There's the thrill of forbidden love about the relationship between these two proud, wary people, and the sexual tension when they're trapped in a tent together with no escape on the horizon is heart-stopping. Really great stuff! GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT is out in America in March.

While I'm on the subject of great Aussie writers, do you know Bronwyn Jameson's work? A couple of years ago, three of Bronwyn's exquisitely crafted Silhouette Desires were up together for the RITA. Now that's some serious kudos. Bronwyn writes so beautifully, I find myself just stopping to re-read her sentences and glory in her prose. And nobody does that delicate advance and retreat of sexual tension better than she does. It's wonderful watching her characters fall in love, usually against their better judgment. But they just can't help it! In MAGNATE'S MAKE-BELIEVE MISTRESS, Isabelle Brown works as a freelance housekeeper to the rich and famous, but finds herself entangled in a dangerous game of mistaken identities when she takes a job for intriguing, sexy Argentinean playboy Cristo Veron. You'll have great fun with this one. Cristo and Isabelle are great characters who will linger in your mind.

Sarah Mayberry is one of my favorite authors and her latest SuperRomance ALL THEY NEED is one of her best, I think. There's such depth of emotion in this story. Melanie Porter was once a vivid, vibrant woman but years with a bullying husband have sapped her spirit. She decides to abandon the high society where she's never felt at home and set up a bed and breakfast on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne. Rich boy Flynn Randall belongs to that luxurious world Melanie has fought so hard to escape and his arrival in her life threatens all her dreams of independence and finding herself again. Or does it? Perhaps Flynn is deeper and more worthy than she believes. Perhaps he offers Melanie the chance of personal fulfilment that she came so close to losing. A beautiful story of two people who have to take dangerous emotional risks to achieve their happiness.

Liz Fielding is another of my favorite authors and she's never let me down yet. But even a favorite author occasionally writes a book that slams that ball out of the park and into the next suburb. TEMPTED BY TROUBLE is longer than most Harlequin Romances as it was originally written to launch the new Riva line in the U.K. There's a definite Cinderella touch to this story of Elle Amery who has put her life on hold to raise her sisters. But what's nice about this story is that it never quite goes where you think it's going to - for example, Elle's sisters really aren't ugly either inside or out, and in fact emerge as wonderful characters in their own right. Into Elle's life rides Prince Charming Sean McElroy. And seriously, girls, he is CHARMING with a capital 'ch'! One of the nicest heroes I've ever read - I wish he lived next door to me! Sean's gallant steed isn't a white charger but a pink ice-cream van called Rosie who also becomes a character in her own right. This book is such a charmer. You won't be able to resist it! It's as delicious as Rosie's ice-cream!

I don't read a lot of Mills and Boon Medical Romances and I know they can be difficult to find in America, but there are a couple of authors who are auto-buys for me. Strangely they're all Aussies! Don't know what it is about Australians and sexy doctors!

Sharon Archer writes heartfelt romances set in Australian country towns. A large part of the pleasure of reading one of her books is getting to know the bush community where the story is set. One of my favorites of hers is BACHELOR DAD, GIRL NEXT DOOR which is a story about second chances and forgiveness and finding your place in the world. After his wife's death, Dr. Luke Daniels brings his young daughter back to the beautiful seaside town of Port Cavil while he wonders how to rebuild his life. He doesn't count on meeting the girl who enchanted him as a young man. Even more troubling, he finds himself still attracted to her. Terri Mitchell is now an A&E doctor and she's far from sure she wants to risk her heart again with her teenage crush, Luke. Especially as it's perfectly clear that Luke never wants to fall in love again after losing his wife so tragically. You'll close this one with a happy sigh and a smile.

Amy Andrews, another Aussie, is a practicing nurse who writes dramatic and very sexy books that buck the stereotype of Medicals being all sweetness and light. So please don't be fooled by the rather corny title of this book (seriously, Harlequin, this has to be one of the WORST titles ever!). ALESSANDRO AND THE CHEERY NANNY is the first in a two-parter with VALENTINO'S PREGNANCY BOMBSHELL (which isn't much better as a title, frankly!). It's another story about a father bringing up his child, in this case a four-year-old son, after the death of his wife. When brooding Italian A&E doctor Alessandro Lombardi encounters vibrant nurse Natalie Davies, he doesn't realize just how profoundly Nat will change his life and that of his withdrawn son Julian. Another one you'll close with a smile and a sigh of pleasure.

So do you read Harlequins? What are your favorite lines? Why? Have you read any good category romances lately?