Review: The Casual Rule by AC Netzel

When I read the blurb for THE CASUAL RULE, I figured this would be a fun book to read over the holiday weekend.  I didn’t expect to fall for a storyline that brought freshness to the “friends with benefits”~ish trope or to love the hero and heroine as much as I did.  AC Netzel completely won me over.

Julia Conti has declared that she’s done with men, after dumping her longtime boyfriend for his inability to remain faithful to her.  But her best friend Allie challenges her declaration in the form of a dare, which Julia can’t ignore.  It’s that dare (and a spectacular set of abs) that introduce Julia to Ben Martin.

Ben doesn’t do commitment.  Julia’s convinced herself she doesn’t want commitment.  So the two of them enter into an arrangement of just sex until they don’t want sex any longer and then they’ll be just friends.  As hot as these two were with each other, you just knew their relationship wasn’t going to go like either of them planned on it going.

There was much to love about both of these characters.  They were both very down to earth and were written in a way that made me want to run out and find them so we could be friends.  No matter what they said or did, I find myself forgiving whatever their transgression was.  Their chemistry was such a tangible thing that you wanted them to have a HEA and stop with their stupid arrangement.

THE CASUAL RULE doesn’t end with a cliffhanger, but definitely sets up the next book in the series (which is out now).  I was so in love with these characters (the secondary characters were just awesome) that I immediately one-clicked the next book.  If you’re looking for something fun, with a couple that is hard not to love, definitely pick this one up.  I highly recommend it.