The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott Review and Giveaway

Published: March 16th 2010 by Simon Pulse
Hardcover, 224 pages

ISBN: 1416978917
ISBN13: 9781416978916

Everyone knows the unwritten rule: You don't like your best friend's boyfriend.

Sarah has had a crush on Ryan for years. He's easy to talk to, supersmart, and totally gets her. Lately it even seems like he's paying extra attention to her. Everything would be perfect except for two things: Ryan is Brianna's boyfriend, and Brianna is Sarah's best friend.

Sarah forces herself to avoid Ryan and tries to convince herself not to like him. She feels so guilty for wanting him, and the last thing she wants is to hurt her best friend. But when she's thrown together with Ryan one night, something happens. It's wonderful...and awful.

Sarah is torn apart by guilt, but what she feels is nothing short of addiction, and she can't stop herself from wanting more...

Review:

All her life Sarah has felt the co-dependence in their friendship to be the way life was always meant to be between her and Brianna. Ever since the party during the end of summer/transitioning into high school, Brianna has made it her mission to be with Ryan. The boy that Sarah likes, the boy that had asked her to the dance, the boy that was going to be hers until Brianna swooped in. Like she always does. The relationship between Brianna's parents has always affected toward the way they treat her; without affection and no semblance of love. She's always been scared of being left behind, and that is why Sarah feels so guilty. Because she knows that if she somehow told her best/only friend in the world that she was crushing on her boyfriend, her friendship would be lost forever. And that's all Sarah ever really had.

Reading through the agonizing repetitiveness of Sarah and Ryan's strained relationship was not an easy task. Going through the memories and regrets of Sarah's throughout the novel was like sniffing a Sharpie for an extended amount of time (I actually thought of this at one point while reading The Unwritten Rule) lethal but somehow irresistible. It was like that when reading the stiffness in not only Sarah's relationship with Brianna but with Brianna and Ryan's.

When one night sets off the rest of the books tone between Sarah and Ryan, it was a whirlwind to find out what exactly the characters were going to do next. I have to say that my favorite character was Sarah's father, an ex-lawyer with arthritis. He just seemed like the rock with comforting vibes spreading out from him. Anyway, The Unwritten Rule definitely had Scott's touch of reality that she slips into all her novels. Making her characters like your next door neighbors seems to be a real talent for this other. I read The Unwritten Rule entirely the same day it was sent to me, and wrote the review for it as well! That's a record, even for me. Just had to lol, it was to intriguing not to. I found The Unwritten Rule not up to Scott's best standards, however I recommend buying it for yourself and have your own opinion because Sarah's story of self-discovering is an impeccable one that wants to be heard.

I definitely recommend all to check out all of Elizabeth Scott's works, especially my favorite, Something, Maybe.

Grade: B-

This ARC was sent to me by the publishers at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for review.

LiLi


Giveaway:

  Once again, thanks to the trusty publishers at Simon & Schuster, I'm able to giveaway 5 copies of The Unwritten Rule to US participants only. If you live outside of the US but have someone here that can ship it to you, that'd be fine as well. This giveaway will last through April 8th. All you have to do is fill out the form below.

Giveaway is now closed.