Playing By Her Rules (Sydney Smoke Rugby Series Book 1) Kindle Edition

Loved this second chance romance between Tilly and Tanner. Sad about the years between their breakup and now - this is a problem I often have with second chance romances, and in this story this was definitely the case. Loved Tilly and her grandmother and Tanner and his teammates and how the team is like a family. Looking forward to reading more of the series.

Oh my lordy…this book brought back some very fond memories. Way, way back in the day, before I had even laid eyes on hubby, I liked watching Rugby. One of my favourite things to do on a Sunday afternoon was to sit on the hill at Ballymore and watch either Queensland or Australia play. Now, anyone who really knows me may be a wee bit surprised at this. I’m not really known for my love of sports unless it’s to watch a family member play. Back then, my obsession had a little bit more to do with Jason Little and David Wilson…two rugby players that I had a mighty big crush on. Reading Playing By Her Rules brought back all the old memories. It’s all about hot guys with muscles, dripping blood, sweating buckets and playing footy with a footy on the footy field. Aussie’s love their footy.I’m ashamed to say that this Aussie had never even heard of the FANTABULOUS Aussie author Amy Andrews until recently. What makes it even more shameful…we live about 20 minutes away from each other. THE SHAME!! That’s OK, now that I’ve experienced her talent, there is no way I’ll be able to stop myself from going back and checking out her other stuff.Playing By Her Rules was bloody good. If you want to read a story with real Aussies, then this is it. It’s not OTT – “Crikey, get another shrimp on the barbie” (THANK GOD!!), but there are a few terms that may stump you. Have no fear…Sassy to the rescue. Here’s a link to a very comprehensive Australian Slang Dictionary - [...]Now, onto the story… Matilda and Tanner were high school sweethearts. Things did not end well and they parted ways. Matilda went on to study at Stanford and Tanner became a Rugby Union player. Both of them had followed their dreams but only one of them had managed to move on…somewhat.Matilda had been devastated by the breakup and never managed to have a successful relationship after her first love. She tried, but she wasn’t willing to risk her heart again and the blokes she did meet, didn’t really compare to her first love. Matilda has been content to focus her energies on work in the hopes she can move on from writing her fashion articles to a becoming a features writer. When her boss puts her in charge of a 6-week feature interviewing her first love, she’s hardly jumping for joy.Tanner’s life is all about Rugby. He works really hard at it and has managed to have a successful career playing the sport he loves. Tanner does not like doing interviews and doesn't like being in the spotlight unless it's on the footy field. When he finds out that the big bosses are ordering him to do a 6 part interview he is less than happy…until he finds out who will be interviewing him.Matilda was Tanner’s first and only love. When he sees her for the first time in eight years, all of the feelings he had for her resurface. He wants her back and decides that he’ll do whatever it takes to succeed. Unfortunately, his Tilly is not so keen and makes him work really hard to get past the brick wall around her heart.I absolutely loved Tanner. At first, he comes across pretty arrogant, but the more you get to know him you realise he is not at all as he seems. Tanner is sweet, generous and thoughtful. Yes, he made a big mistake when he was 18 but he owns up to it and apologises. Matilda is a little bit prickly and very weary of Tanner which I could definitely not blame her for. When Matilda finally lets Tanner past her walls the chemistry between them was extremely hot. It’s pretty obvious that this couple were meant to be together and I loved that both of them needed to make allowances and learn to forgive each other.If you’re an Aussie, you’ll feel right at home reading Playing By Her Rules. If you have a desire to take a quick trip down under, then this is a great way to see how we really live. This story is sweet, funny and steamy. It made my heart flutter and left me with a big goofy smile on my face. I’m definitely going to be reading more of this series in the future.

Score!!!! Amy Andrews has scored major points in her newest release Playing By Her Rules. Hot Australian Rugby hero. Check! A sassy heroine.Check! A swoonworthy hero. Check! Hot chemistry.Check! A fun and sweet second chance love story!Check! Twitter Hashtags. Check! Rugby players.Check! Check!Eight years ago, Matilda Kent got her heart broken from her first and only love, Tanner Stone. The once carefree and smart mouth Matilda is now guarded when it comes to dating and love. And so when she was assigned to do an six-serial feature editorial, Matilda should be ecstatic as this would be her big break but the feature was on Tanner Stone, Australian Rugby Captain of the Sydney Smoke.“That old Tilly was still in there, he was sure of it. She was just hiding, buried beneath a sh*t-ton of hurt, and he hated knowing he was, at least partially, responsible. The thought needled like prickles on sunburn. He had to try and make amends somehow. If he’d broken her, wasn’t it his responsibility to fix her? To coax her out from behind that wall so she could smile again— could be happy within herself and shine bright for the whole damn world to see?”Tanner Stone let Matilda Kent walk away from him eight years ago because he didn’t want her to give up on her dreams. This was the secret he kept to himself all these years because he would rather be brokenhearted than see the girl he loves throw away her dreams so she could follow him in his dreams to play rugby. Tanner made a choice to let her go so she can go to Stanford and doesn’t regret that one bit but it seems Matilda thinks he let her go because he didn’t love her enough. Now that he finally has a chance to make things right with Matilda, she doesn’t want anything to do with him but just get this interview over with. And so Tanner will go out of his way to show his Tilly that he is the right and only man for her. Will Tanner be able to prove to Tilly that this is #definitelylove?“That’s what he wanted. To love her again. But she didn’t look in any kind of mood to be throwing that out there. He had some more making up to do.”Seriously, Tanner Stone is book boyfriend material. He was sweet, kind, humble and has a big heart especially when it comes to Tilly. Tanner reminds us all that love is not easy. Sometimes love entails sacrifices and letting go. And for Tanner, he wouldn’t change a thing because he didn’t want to be the reason for Tilly to give up her dreams in writing and going to Stanford. Like I said earlier, Amy Andrews has scored major points in my book for writing a lovable hero who has won reader’s hearts for his humility, sacrifice, and sweet personality. #TannerStoneForTheWin.“Her mouth devoured his. Or maybe his devoured hers. Matilda wasn’t keeping score. She just hung on to those big shoulders, opened her mouth, and gave him everything she had, demanding the same in return.”As sweet and amazing Tanner is, I loved the banter and Twitter status updates that was incorporated into the story line. I loved that Amy Andrews was able to weave a second chance romance via Twitter and #Hashtags. The hashtags were cute, fresh and added a modern touch which allowed readers to feel Tanner’s celebrity status as we get to see the friendly banter exchanges between Matilda and Tanner.I think it’s best that I end this review with a personal tweet.#MustRead #PlayingByHerRules by #AmyAndrews and meet #TannerStone & fall for his #KryptoniteCharm. #ItsDefinitelyLove #SydneySmokeRugby

Would I bend to read a sports romance. Don’t get me wrong when I was younger I found them gripping, but as I have gotten older they just fell off my interest list. With that being said I kept skipping this series but eventually decided I was going to risk it because I love the characters this author brings to life. I am not sorry I did. She has a splendid way of making the sports part be present without it feeling cliche or overpowering having a good and even possibly believable story line. In this book she not only gives you likable main characters, but you get supporting characters like Matilda’s grandma that shine. Plus she sets the scene for several of the other upcoming main characters in a way that makes you want to go look up their stories. Give it a go even if you aren’t a sports ball person.

A revenge story with a happy ending. When the boyfriend does the wrong thing for a good (he thinks) reason.

I dunno how to feel about this. Because this sports star and journo trope usually does it for me. but this one was an exercise in anger management for sure. I didn't HATE it. But I thought a lot of the actions of Matilda (don't call her Tilly whatever you do) were very frustrating. The amount of hot and cold she gives Tanner was borderline cruel and if the side characters hadn't been witty as hell there's a chance I would have DNF'd this. i think as my journey with this genre continues, I've decided that second chance romances just aren't my favourite. Especially when there was this much animosity between the characters. I'm willing to give this author another chance, but her first outing with me did not sparkle like I hoped it would.

Matilda Kent will do just about anything to step ahead in her career, including wearing pearl strung thongs, crotchless panties, and other exciting items intended for the bedroom during the day job for her style column. But she turns down the opportunity of her dream as a features journalist - and her first feature - when she's asked to write a six part story about rugby star Tanner Stone. The Sydney Smokes captain broke Tilly's heart eight years ago and she's in no hurry to open old wounds.Tanner knows he screwed up badly when he cut their relationship short. Rather bluntly. But the moment Tilly comes back into his life, he also knows he wants her back and therefore sets out to showing her what he's achieved, then what he does, then who he truly is and when all that fails, he tells her how he feels. Tilly's damaged and she knows it. But once she starts seeing the man Tanner has grown up to be, for Tilly, its all about protecting her heart and avoiding falling for the guy who did all that damage in the first place. But Tanner makes it hard, so very, very hard, not to love himAs Matilda and Tanner dance around the elephant in the room, creating all kinds of friction and getting all hot and bothered, we as readers are treated to what is the best romance I read this year! I loved Tilly and Tanner, he's hot with an enormously large heart, and its only ever been in the right place, no matter what he's done in the past. And she's determined and witty and if she's got to write about her ex, then she's taking the opportunity for some subtle revenge. This leads to some amazing conversations and fantastic one liners. I laughed out loud quite a few times. I was so enthralled by the characters and their journey that I was rather sad when it came to an end. And what an ending!It seems to me that with each new title Amy Andrews out does herself. Her stories and their characters get better, more engaging and are becoming drop-everything-else-to-read kind of addictive.

This was a fun book with some cute ideas in it and I enjoyed reading it. I just wish the ending had been a bit tighter, it was a little bit blunt. I would recommend it if you want a fun, second chance rugby romance.

Great start to a new series loved it from start to finish Amy never disappoints with her writing read quite a lot of her books 📚 through the years, loved the characters and there personal story loved there chemistry too, can't wait to read the next book which is ready and waiting on my kindle,

Had to cut back on the stars because of how normalised and romanticised cheating is in this book... Im sorry but there never has been and never will be a reason good enough to cheat. Tilly's grandma actually reprimands her for not forgiving Tanners previous infidelity because he was a teenage *boy* ... are you kidding me?