This review may contain a few spoilers.
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my blogWhen I think of New Adult a book like Rule generally comes to mind. I expect romance, chemistry and buckets of angst. I expect to be taken on a journey that sometimes hurts and I expect to find it a little too overwhelming. All of that I got with Rule. It was good, I liked it, but there were some things that annoyed me.
Rule is one of those books where barriers seem to pop up everywhere for the main characters. The parents were an issue, the exes were an issue, the past, the siblings, the friends, themselves, everything was an issue. Normally this annoys me but I felt like the author kept a lid on in it and the drama never went too far.
The writing was good and I felt the story had great pace. I was never bored and I found it easy to get through. But there was something missing for me some spark and I think that had something to do with the characters.
I do not think I have ever been as conflicted over a character as I am with Rule. I liked him but he seemed to go out of his way to do annoying things. Most of it I could deal with, he was under a lot of strain after losing his brother, his family is falling apart and I did feel terrible about the way his mother treated him. I understood his anger, I understood his reasons for doing some of the things he did but when it came to Shaw I understood nothing about him. He honestly could be a royal prat where she was concerned. Most of it I could handle but there was one thing that really annoyed me.
Shaw is being stalked by an ex-boyfriend, not just stalked, threatened. He has even gotten physical with her. Rule knows this so he sets about to protect his girlfriend. He picks her up from work, gets her mace, helps her handle the situation but when the going gets a little tough in their relationship he completely and utterly deserts her. No picking her up from work. No phone calls. No nothing. And then something terrible happens. I am not saying that she couldn’t look after herself, that he had to protect her it’s just that it didn’t even cross his mind that she was in danger, he was so busy throwing a pity party that he just forgot about it and he never seemed particularly sorry about it either. If I loved someone, even if I broke up with them I would still care especially if I knew they were in danger. He just left her and she paid for it and I really hated him for forgetting her so easily. He had messed things up before that so many times that I really wasn’t sure why Shaw got back with him.
Shaw was another issue. I quite liked her, I thought she could be strong and independent. I liked how she stood up for herself where most people were concerned but with Rule she just seemed to wither and constantly doubt herself. By the end of the book she was doing stuff that was completely out of characters and I didn’t really understand why. She had spent most the book proving to Rule that despite their differences they belonged together but by the end she had changed herself to be more his type of person which is fine if she did it because she wanted it but I wasn’t sure she did.
I know I sound like I am moaning a lot and maybe that is not fair because I did enjoy this book. The chemistry between the characters was great and there were some awesome secondary characters as well. The writing was strong and there are plenty of good places for this series to go so I will be checking out more of it in the future.
The publisher provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review