Road Rules by Brigham Vaughn (Rules of the Game Book 1 - Expanded)

I'm sometimes skeptical when an author 'expands' a novella, but Road Rules was transformed from a really good novella into a fantastic novel!

From the blurb:

Rule #1: Hockey Comes First

As NHL team captain, Zane Murphy’s goal for the upcoming season is simple: take the Evanston River Otters all the way to the Stanley Cup.

Rule #2: Only On the Road

But an unexpectedly hot night with his best friend and teammate Ryan Hartinger throws Zane’s carefully laid plans and his sexuality into disarray.

Rule #3: Don’t Fall in Love with Your Best Friend

When feelings begin to creep in, Zane will have to decide if he’s willing to throw out the rules and risk his career and his friendship for a chance at winning it all.

Note: Road Rules was previously published as a 45k word novella on Prolific Works and has since been expanded into a full length 87k word novel.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Homophobic and gendered slurs. Mentions of cheating (not between MCs).

Heather's Review:

Zane and Ryan's story was good as a novella, but now that it's been expanded, we get to see more depth, more fun and more steam!  It flows really well and kept me in the story with the guys!  Having already read the rest of the series, going back to the beginning was fun and seeing some of the characters who haven't yet found love, but are on their way... well, it was nice to have that inside track....

If you haven't started The Rules of The Game series, you'll really enjoy getting to know Zane, Ryan and the others before tackling the rest of the series - and I'm a little jealous that you'll get to binge them in order!

Rating: 5 Stars

Road Rules is currently available in paperback and e-book format and can be read as part of your kindle unlimited subscription.