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A review by opalmars
Rules for Rule Breaking by Talia Tucker
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This was a fun book! I’m really excited to see what this author writes next. I think she has a lot of potential!
In this book we are following Winter and Bobby, who don’t really like each other, but whose parents are basically bffs, so they kind of have to put up with each other. Their parents basically force them to take a road trip together to visit colleges, so Winter and Bobby spend a week travelling and breaking rules and stupid laws (because they’ve always been really straight edge and Winter’s grandma convinces them to rebel a little).
Their reason to end up in this forced-proximity situation was a bit dumb, and so was grandma’s advice to rebel, and Winter and Bobby accepted it really quickly (especially for such straight edge teens), but it was mostly fine. You just have to suspend your disbelief a little bit. 😅
Their road-trip only starts at 25%, but I liked the way the author set everything up in that first part of the book: their family lives, Bobby’s struggle with not knowing enough about Korea or his family, Winter’s grandma, Winter’s falling out with her best friend, etc.
During their road-trip Winter and Bobby break stupid laws and do things they’d never done, which is kinda fun to read about, but would probably be even better if this was a movie (please somebody turn this into a movie, thank you very much!!!). My favourite moment was when Bobby took Winter to that Nasa place to cheer her up and then played phone-chess with her (because earlier she said she wanted to play chess in a park). Super sweet! 🥹
Their friendship progressed quite naturally. They didn’t like each other very much, but had a lot in common (like both having Korean family members, both being nerds, etc.), so it made sense that they’d grow closer and realize they could have a lot of fun together. I do think that their shift from friends to lovers felt a bit sudden. Out of nowhere, Bobby confessed he liked Winter and she just accepted it, and then they spent the rest of the day being lovey-dovey. I would’ve liked to see them come to the realization that they like each other, and maybe panic a bit before accepting their feelings and confessing. And I wish Winter didn’t immediately accept Bobby’s feelings (I think it would’ve made sense for her to doubt it a bit at first, given her character).
There’s unfortunately a stupid 3rd act breakup. 🙄 They had a really bizarre argument where they both brought up valid points, but they went from point A to point B in ways that made no sense, which made their whole breakup feel quite irrational. This, in addition to the fact that 3rd act breakups are already annoying, made the last section of the book kind of irritating. They then didn’t see each other for weeks, and got together in the end because their friends and families basically convinced them (mostly Winter) to give it a shot.
The author tried to pull some weird thing at the very end with the nursing home Winter’s grandma lived at. Winter basically talked about how she was gonna live her life to the fullest for the elders at the nursing home, which was strange, because they weren’t even in the story lmfao. 🤔 Idk why the author chose that conclusion to Winter’s arc, but whatever. Bobby and Winter end up kissing surrounded by all the elders we never saw or bonded with, and then there’s an anticlimactic ending that made me feel like the book was missing a scene. I could’ve done with 1 more scene, or maybe an epilogue. It’s also worth noting that, if you look at the entire timeline, you realize that Bobby got over his gf and started dating Winter in just a couple of days lol. 💀 Kinda hard to ignore, but okay. They were cute anyways.
Regarding the characters: I really liked Bobby and Winter, and I enjoyed having a dual POV in this book. I appreciate that they’re both nerdy “good kids” who are close to their families, and that the families were actually a part of the book (despite still obviously being secondary characters). Winter was funny, and I enjoyed her relationship with her grandma and her falling out with her bestie. Her fear of change was also very realistic. Bobby was a really sweet character, and I enjoyed seeing him struggle with his family, Korean ancestry and choices for his future.
There was a bit of telling-instead-of-showing with their personalities/interests at the very end (like how Winter apparently built a robot out of an electric toothbrush, and Bobby fixes Wikipedia pages and has a safe word for when his bestie starts talking too much about Star Wars politics), but the characters were already properly built-up throughout the book, so it didn’t bother me too much.
Some other things I didn’t love:
✘ Too many pop culture references
✘ A handful of sexual/inappropriate jokes (not for me)
✘ A lot of substance consumption (weed and alcohol), which I personally didn’t mind, but it happened often enough that it became a little annoying (especially when it happened during their “important moments”)
✘ Waaaay too many moments where they saw each other half naked and got flustered 😑🙄
✘ Everyone kept telling Winter and Bobby they should date, or assuming they’re already dating (her mum, her bestie, his bestie, his uncle, the elders, random people who literally didn’t know them…)… it was TOO MUCH. It felt like a joke.
Despite these negatives, I still enjoyed this book, and I’m actually really excited to see what this author writes next! I definitely recommend it if it sounds like something you’d enjoy!
In this book we are following Winter and Bobby, who don’t really like each other, but whose parents are basically bffs, so they kind of have to put up with each other. Their parents basically force them to take a road trip together to visit colleges, so Winter and Bobby spend a week travelling and breaking rules and stupid laws (because they’ve always been really straight edge and Winter’s grandma convinces them to rebel a little).
Their reason to end up in this forced-proximity situation was a bit dumb, and so was grandma’s advice to rebel, and Winter and Bobby accepted it really quickly (especially for such straight edge teens), but it was mostly fine. You just have to suspend your disbelief a little bit. 😅
Their road-trip only starts at 25%, but I liked the way the author set everything up in that first part of the book: their family lives, Bobby’s struggle with not knowing enough about Korea or his family, Winter’s grandma, Winter’s falling out with her best friend, etc.
During their road-trip Winter and Bobby break stupid laws and do things they’d never done, which is kinda fun to read about, but would probably be even better if this was a movie (please somebody turn this into a movie, thank you very much!!!). My favourite moment was when Bobby took Winter to that Nasa place to cheer her up and then played phone-chess with her (because earlier she said she wanted to play chess in a park). Super sweet! 🥹
Their friendship progressed quite naturally. They didn’t like each other very much, but had a lot in common (like both having Korean family members, both being nerds, etc.), so it made sense that they’d grow closer and realize they could have a lot of fun together. I do think that their shift from friends to lovers felt a bit sudden. Out of nowhere, Bobby confessed he liked Winter and she just accepted it, and then they spent the rest of the day being lovey-dovey. I would’ve liked to see them come to the realization that they like each other, and maybe panic a bit before accepting their feelings and confessing. And I wish Winter didn’t immediately accept Bobby’s feelings (I think it would’ve made sense for her to doubt it a bit at first, given her character).
There’s unfortunately a stupid 3rd act breakup. 🙄 They had a really bizarre argument where they both brought up valid points, but they went from point A to point B in ways that made no sense, which made their whole breakup feel quite irrational. This, in addition to the fact that 3rd act breakups are already annoying, made the last section of the book kind of irritating. They then didn’t see each other for weeks, and got together in the end because their friends and families basically convinced them (mostly Winter) to give it a shot.
The author tried to pull some weird thing at the very end with the nursing home Winter’s grandma lived at. Winter basically talked about how she was gonna live her life to the fullest for the elders at the nursing home, which was strange, because they weren’t even in the story lmfao. 🤔 Idk why the author chose that conclusion to Winter’s arc, but whatever. Bobby and Winter end up kissing surrounded by all the elders we never saw or bonded with, and then there’s an anticlimactic ending that made me feel like the book was missing a scene. I could’ve done with 1 more scene, or maybe an epilogue. It’s also worth noting that, if you look at the entire timeline, you realize that Bobby got over his gf and started dating Winter in just a couple of days lol. 💀 Kinda hard to ignore, but okay. They were cute anyways.
Regarding the characters: I really liked Bobby and Winter, and I enjoyed having a dual POV in this book. I appreciate that they’re both nerdy “good kids” who are close to their families, and that the families were actually a part of the book (despite still obviously being secondary characters). Winter was funny, and I enjoyed her relationship with her grandma and her falling out with her bestie. Her fear of change was also very realistic. Bobby was a really sweet character, and I enjoyed seeing him struggle with his family, Korean ancestry and choices for his future.
There was a bit of telling-instead-of-showing with their personalities/interests at the very end (like how Winter apparently built a robot out of an electric toothbrush, and Bobby fixes Wikipedia pages and has a safe word for when his bestie starts talking too much about Star Wars politics), but the characters were already properly built-up throughout the book, so it didn’t bother me too much.
Some other things I didn’t love:
✘ Too many pop culture references
✘ A handful of sexual/inappropriate jokes (not for me)
✘ A lot of substance consumption (weed and alcohol), which I personally didn’t mind, but it happened often enough that it became a little annoying (especially when it happened during their “important moments”)
✘ Waaaay too many moments where they saw each other half naked and got flustered 😑🙄
✘ Everyone kept telling Winter and Bobby they should date, or assuming they’re already dating (her mum, her bestie, his bestie, his uncle, the elders, random people who literally didn’t know them…)… it was TOO MUCH. It felt like a joke.
Despite these negatives, I still enjoyed this book, and I’m actually really excited to see what this author writes next! I definitely recommend it if it sounds like something you’d enjoy!