Rules Of The Game (2012) 5 out of 5. I would give it a 6 or a 7 if I could. Ms James has "hit it out of the park" with this contemporary story about a writer, of all people, who wants so badly to move beyond the baggage in her life by getting a biker bad ass guy to be her date to her high school reunion. Now we have a number of stories who have used this as their basic story premise, but Ms James takes this and runs with it in an altogether different direction. Maddie really wants to live like her alter-ego--Kathryn West--her pen name and the successful romance writer. It's a story of deep pain and fear of the past, deep anger and loss, secrets with great ability to hurt, and prejudice that could possibly kill a viable and redemptive relationship. When I finished this book my thought was: "This is just another wonderful book from an author who never ceases to amaze me with her stories." I guess that says it all! The first i notice about this book is the plot which is slightly different from the normal plot from its genre. It is about a girl who is desperate enough to went after an adventure to pick a stranger to be her instant boyfriend in order for her to bring home for her reunion dinner. I like the main character; Maddie alot. She went thru alot during her teenage year and i would understand the reason for her lack of confidence and low self esteem that she is now having. I like reading about her and her supposedly beau; Scott, snippets of their time together after Maddie found him. I got to admit that the story of picking up such a stranger in Scott does not seems to be realistic, it rather good indeed to read it here ;)