Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Review & Giveaway: Breaking the Rules




Breaking the Rules by Cat Lavoie
Genre: Chick-Lit
Pages: 208 (ebook)
Source:  ABG Reads Book Tours
Author's Website | Twitter
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle

Description:
When twenty-seven year old Roxy Rule’s best friend and roommate accepts a glamorous new job overseas, she expects their relationship to continue as it’s always been—carefree and easy—until they share a heart-stopping kiss moments before his departure. Overcome with mixed emotions, she fights the urge to over analyze the situation and resumes back to her normal life in New York City, working for an intolerable boss at a dead end job, creeping further and further away from her own dreams of becoming a professional chef.
While things become more complicated between her and Ollie, Roxy is sure that nothing can come between two lifelong best friends—not even mild jealousy over a thriving career or a silly little kiss that meant nothing. In fact, it was such a meaningless and forgettable kiss that she convinces herself that it’s not even worth mentioning to her fiancĂ©, although it is all she can think about.
Roxy’s already topsy-turvy life only gets more complicated when her sisters Steffi and Izzie suddenly become her roommates. Steffi is six months into a pregnancy she refuses to discuss and Izzie is in the throes of a premature midlife crisis. Roxy tries to take control of her career, her love life and her sisters – but can she really handle it all? And can the Rule family keep it together – or break under the pressure?
My Rating:


My Review:
The description above is a very solid one though I'll add just a little bit.  Roxy's life isn't quite where she wants it to be.  Her boss overworks and under-appreciates her, her relationship was going better before they had to agree on wedding details, and her best friend and roommate, Ollie, is moving across the world.  As if her life couldn't get more complicated, her sisters move in with her but neither want to explain why.  Now Roxy must navigate her own problems while helping her sisters with theirs.

I absolutely adored this book.  I really don't want to give anything away.  I connected with Roxy though I have nothing in common with her.  She has middle-child syndrome and wants to be the peace-maker but at times this is detrimental to her own life.  Just when I started to get a little upset with Roxy, she really came through for me.  I was rooting for her the entire time.  I expected the plot to be somewhat predictable but was pleasantly surprised.  This isn't a quirky character situation where you find yourself both shocked and amused throughout the book.  This is more of a cute realistic character in a plot that has surprising twists and turns.  It isn't as heavy on the romance as you'd expect but the romance still warmed my heart.  Ollie was simply adorable.  I loved that many of the side characters were well-developed and interesting rather than predictable stock characters. I enjoyed the appearance of Roxy's sister but wish Izzie's storyline had been fleshed out a little more.  I never quite understood her relationship situation.

Overall, I wanted more Ollie but I loved how balanced the entire plot turned out.  Ms. Lavoie created realistic characters that will be hard to forget.  If you are looking for a light cute read, I'd start here.

On the giveaway...



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17 comments:

  1. Glad you enjoyed it, and you have me wanting to read it now! :) Thanks for being a part of the tour.

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  2. Thank you so much for the lovely review! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! :)

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  3. Such a cute site - glad you enjoyed the book!

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  4. Sounds cute. And I love love the cover. So cutie.

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  5. Breaking the Rules is on my Kindle and I'm looking forward to getting to know Roxy! Oh, and Ollie, of course...

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  6. This does look like fun! I love Chick-Lit.

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  7. Sounds like a really sweet read!!
    And that cover is so totally adorable.

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  8. Loving the sound of this one. The potential friends to lovers bit and the middle child syndrome (which I can identify with because I am in fact a middle kid), and the unpredictable plot has me intrigued!

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