A review by magicalreads
Rules for Rule Breaking by Talia Tucker

4.0

read on my blog

rep: Korean-American protagonists and side characters, queer Black side character, Chinese-American side character; (biracial (Jamaican, Korean) author)

**I received an ARC from the publisher (thank you, Penguin Teen!). These are my honest opinions, and in no way was I compensated for this review.**

Winter Park‘s and Bobby Bae‘s families have been trying to become best friends ever since they were in pre-school. That only fuels their dislike of each other, and ever since then, they’ve made a set of rules to adhere to since they’re forced to interact. When both of their parents strong-arm them into taking a joint road trip to visit colleges, they begrudgingly agree, only to realize over the trip that they’re more similar than they’ve thought.

Honestly, I didn’t much like the first fifty or so pages of the book, just because I feel like they really dragged with the constant “I hate Winter/Bobby so much” monologues. However, once they actually set off on the road trip, I started having more fun with this book. Both Winter and Bobby have distinctive voices and their own issues to work throughout the book. Once they put aside their differences, they’re able to help each other out and grow closer.

In terms of the rule breaking, I liked how it wasn’t like anything super out-there for their characters. Some of it is as silly as breaking a weird law in whatever state they’re in. The rule breaking also applies to them breaking the rules they’ve enforced for their forced interactions.

Winter just found out that her best friend Emmy isn’t going to college, which bothers her more in the aspect that she was looking forward to finally living in the same city again. After Bobby points out that their friendship always centered more around Winter’s comfort zone, she has to grapple with the fact that she hasn’t always been the best friend. I really liked her scenes with Emmy; they were so comforting.

Meanwhile, Bobby is dealing with the fact that he doesn’t really know what he wants to do with his life and his parents’ estrangement from their families. I also liked reading his scenes with his best friend Kai, and how Kai gets him out of his shell and his overthinking.

The romance itself was really cute! Once the two of them get over their deeply embedded dislike of each other, they have a lot of really heartwarming moments. I just also really liked the writing at these points, so I’m excited to read more from Talia Tucker. If you’re in the market for a cute YA contemporary, you should definitely pick up Rules for Rule Breaking!

original review:

ngl the first 50 pages or so were kinda boring but the book really picked up once they actually go on the trip. the romance was really cute and I ended up having a lot of fun!