ROOMMATE WANTED to share a gorgeous sun-filled apartment in Central Harlem. Must love cats. No ex-husbands or wives need apply.
Seventeen years ago, different dreams pulled Simon Mizrahi and Lana Kai apart. But when Lana takes a position as a chef back in Manhattan, her apartment search puts her right in her ex-husband’s path. Music teacher Simon is also hunting for a new place to live, and when Lana proposes they be platonic roomies, well…it’s not the worst idea he’s ever heard.
A sunny uptown two-bedroom sounds far more appealing than the cramped, noisy space where he’s currently struggling to work. Still, Simon has seen firsthand that Lana’s a flight risk, so he agrees on a trial basis.
Three months. With strict boundaries.
Living together again feels wonderfully nostalgic, but when the ex-couple’s lingering feelings rise to the surface, the rules go out the window.
Of course, chemistry was never their problem. But while Simon’s career feels back on solid footing, Lana is still sorting out what she wants. With their trial period soon coming to an end, they’ll have to decide if their living arrangement was merely a sexy trip down memory lane or a reunion meant to last.
Buy Links
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WN6KWC3B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/house-rules-ruby-lang/1133009437iTunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/house-rules/id1476929013Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/house-rules-45Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Ruby_Lang_House_Rules?id=3tOpDwAAQBAJ
Excerpt:
She kissed him as they traveled uptown, under the too-bright lights of the rattling, rumbling 2 train, her hands stealing up past the thick collar of this coat, to his warm neck, to his hair.
“We’re disgracing ourselves,” Simon murmured, even as he nipped her earlobe and his fingers found the zip of her jacket and pulled it down. “Making out on the train, like teenagers.”
He watched the progress of the zipper avidly, as if it would reveal more than her scarf, her sweater, more layers and layers of clothing, as if he could see down to her skin. Then he tipped his tongue up to catch her again in a lush kiss.
She pushed her breast, or the area of her clothing that covered it, shamelessly into his hand, and he gave a muffled gasp that only made her wilder. The train seat felt too smooth and unsatisfying against her restless thighs.
Every stop on the walk home was marked by where they paused to kiss, where Simon pushed her up against a wall, and she ground her hips against his. A car slowed once and honked while they were pressed on the brick beside a beauty salon. Its headlights illuminated their desperate bodies, causing Lana to bury her head in the front of Simon’s coat. Simon laughed softly, an edge of incredulity in the sound.
“We should get back.”
“Yes.”
They hurried now, swinging around the corner and down the block, through the gate and up, up the stairs, the thumping of their footsteps loud and urgent. Lana couldn’t help blushing at how impatient their running sounded. She and Simon burst in the door and into their dark hallway. Before the door fully closed, they’d fallen on each other, tripping in their haste to kick off shoes and unzip and unbutton each other, to unwind. It was as if they expected someone would stop them, someone wise and mature who’d tell them to think this through. But of course, they were the adults here, they were the ones in charge.
The fact that this was a bad idea only made Lana want it more.
Copyright © 2020 by Mindy Hung
Review:
This was wonderful!
Ruby Lang is a new-to-me author, and though this is the third in her Uptown series. it worked just fine as a standalone.
Though of course now I have to read the first two books ASAP. But I digress…
Ms Lang immediately drew me into Simon and Lana’s story. I loved that they are both in their forties, which IMO increased the possibility that their second chance romance could actually work. It’s been seventeen years since their divorce, after all–who isn’t going to change in seventeen years?–and they’re not the same people whose misunderstandings and miscommunications made them choose to be apart then.
Of course they’re going to have new misunderstandings and miscommunications now–it’s a romance novel, and we need conflict!–but now that they both now what they were missing when they were apart and how good they can be together again, they’ll work even harder to stay together…right?
You’ll have to read House Rules to find out for sure. Except spoiler alert: the publisher tells you right in the blurb that they guarantee an HEA or HFN, so yeah, this time these crazy kids are going to make it. Which means you’re going to have to read House Rules instead for the loveliness that is their second chance romance, to see the pleasure that Simon takes in his concerts and his teaching, and to witness the strength that Lana hadn’t realized she had in her, to meet Muffin the cat, and to confirm that no, smoking hot sex scenes aren’t just for the twenty- and thirty-year olds in romancelandia.
(Thank god.)
Rating: 4 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
About the author:
Ruby Lang is the author of the acclaimed Practice Perfect series. She is pint-sized, prim, and bespectacled. Her alter ego, Mindy Hung, wrote about romance novels (among other things) for The Toast. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Walrus, Bitch, and other fine venues. She enjoys running (slowly), reading (quickly), and ice cream (at any speed). She lives in New York with a small child and a medium-sized husband.
Social Media Links:
Website: http://rubylangwrites.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RubeLang
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruby.lang/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13495728.Ruby_Lang