A review by tsubramaniam
Rules of Arrangement by Maren Mackenzie

if you told me this had started out as Fifth Shades of Gray New Adult fan fic, I’d have believed you in a heartbeat. Or maybe that’s just where my mind goes when older rich businessmen present college seniors with relationship contracts and then they end up falling for each other but they each have someone in their life who complicates things so that they can’t be together easily at first. That being said, I feel like many books have tried to do what Rules of Arrangement achieved: a fast-paced scandalous little peek behind the scenes of the glitzy art world. If Kat from Heist Society had stayed at her boarding school from the first book I imagine this is what that alternative universe might have looked like: still grifting, trying to figure herself out and determine what family looks like, just in a slightly different milieu. A heist story without a theft. A hardened protagonist you can’t help but root for. Every time Addie wrestled control of her narrative from the men in her life, even if it was just a fraction of choice, I cheered internally.