Rowena’s review of The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott.

Main Character: Sara
Love Interest: Ryan
Series: None
Author: Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads

He’s looking at me like—well, like he wants to look at me.
Like he likes what hes sees, and he’s smiling and hiw eyes are so blue, even in the faint flow of the porch light they shine, and I nod dumbly, blindly, and then grope for the door handle, telling myself to look away and yet not able to do it.

“Sara,” he says, softly, almost hesitantly, and my heart slam-bangs, beating hard, and this is what it’s like to want someone you can’t have. To want someone you shouldn’t even be looking at.

This book has been in my TBR pile for a long while now, for almost a year. It’s actually my first book read in this year’s TBR Challenge. Ames reviewed this book here a long time ago (you can read her review here) and just like Ames, this book came onto my radar when Mollie reviewed it on her blog (you can read her review here).

Both Mollie and Ames loved this book so I knew that I would enjoy it as well and enjoy it, I did. This book follows Sara as she tries to move on from having a massive crush on her best friend’s boyfriend, Ryan.

All of this young love in the air going on in this book had me sighing all over the dang place. Not only was I sighing all over the place but my heart hurt for Sara and for Ryan. Right from the jump, you’re thrown into Sara’s world. She’s in love with her best friend’s boyfriend and being around them hurts her but she can’t not be around them. Especially when her best friend Brianna insists that Sara play third wheel to them everywhere they go.

Scott does a fantastic job of making the reader sympathize with Sara’s plight. In this book, Sara’s been in love with Ryan since the eighth grade but because she’s the under dog best friend, she bows out when Brianna (the super star best friend) goes after Ryan. So she likes Ryan from afar and does everything she can to keep her feelings for him masked from everyone.

This book is a pretty short story, I read it all in one sitting and enjoyed the story as it progressed. Sara feels bad for having these feelings for Ryan but the heart wants what the heart wants and even Ryan’s heart wants Sara. You won’t be able to stop yourself from cheering Sara on because Brianna wasn’t the best of friends. With all of the constant put downs and the backward compliments she threw Sara’s way, I wanted Sara to speak up long before she did.

Ryan was a cutie patootie and I totally got why everyone liked him. He was cute and sweet and I liked that he regretted not saying anything about his feelings for Sara. I loved the way that he tried to shield Sara from the fallout that came when Brianna found out and I loved the way that he stood up to Brianna for Sara even though I would have liked Sara to do that herself, to know that Ryan had her back was just too cute for words.

The characters in this story were easy to connect with and I enjoyed getting to know all of them. From Sara’s parents to Sara and Ryan, hell even Brianna were all great characters with problems that leaped right off the pages and into my heart. It was a great story to be drawn into and my heart went out to everyone involved, even Brianna. I was really happy with the way that things turned out for everyone and I loved Sara’s parents. They were adorable and I would totally recommend this book to anyone who is in the mood for a great contemporary YA story with characters with real problems and a cast of characters that are too cute for words.

…and that’s your scoop!

Main Characters: Lauren, Evan, Dave, Katie
Series: None (that I know of)

There’s a difference between falling and letting go.

Lauren has a good life: decent grades, great friends, and a boyfriend every girl lusts after. So why is she so unhappy?

It takes the arrival of Evan Kirkland for Lauren to figure out the answer: She’s been holding back. She’s been denying herself a bunch of things (like sex) because staying with her loyal and gorgeous boyfriend, Dave, is the “right” thing to do. After all, who would give up the perfect boyfriend?

But as Dave starts talking more and more about their life together, planning a future Lauren simply can’t see herself in — and as Lauren’s craving for Evan, and moreover, who she is with Evan becomes all the more fierce — Lauren realizes she needs to make a choice…before one is made for her.

This was another book that gifted to me by my favorite book fairy in all the land. It’s a fast read, one that could be read in a couple of hours and the story is one that is easy to fall into without as well.

Anyway, this book follows Lauren as she maneuvers around high school. She’s an average, everyday girl who is from a broken family. Her mother left her when she was very young so it’s been Lauren and her neglectful father since. Her Dad has had girlfriend after girlfriend move in with them until Lauren has had enough and tells him that he can’t have any more women move into the house until after she moves away to college.

The emotional gap between Lauren and her father is great. Her father is a workaholic and she spends most of her home time alone. Being alone at that age isn’t good because it’s lonely and she’s too young to be lonely. I can’t imagine living the kind of solitary life Lauren lived at that age. There’s no one to tell her when she’s being a butthead and she has to live her life as a great big giant bowl of trial and error. She needs someone older that can show her the ropes and give her the kind of guidance that only adults can give so with that in mind, a lot of the crap that she went through in this book, I let her slide because in my head, she didn’t know any better.

The whole thing with staying with Dave even though she wanted to be with Evan bothered me but I had to keep reminding myself that Lauren was all alone and she had no one to show her how to do things. Yeah, she knew that what she was doing is wrong but she couldn’t help it. Look at the examples she had in her life? She had a father who was never around and even when he was there in person, his mind was on other things and he never bothered with her, he was also a serial dater who brought home women and then took them away from her so really, where was she supposed to learn that not everyone is good for you and not everyone will leave you just because your Mom did.

It was like she wanted to be with Evan but she didn’t want to keep losing people in her life so she tried to hold on to everyone, please everyone so that she could keep the people around her…around her.

Lauren did the best that she could with the hand that she was dealt and I admired her. I admired her for wanting to make things right with both Dave and then with Evan. I will say that I was horribly disappointed in her whenever she would go out with Dave because I knew that she didn’t want to be with him but alls well that ends well and I appreciated Lauren’s struggles and I rejoiced in her triumphs.

This book was a little slow going at times and I kept getting angry at the lack of adult supervision in Laurens life and then her friend Katie got on my nerves (even though her intentions were good) and then when Mary (Evan’s Mom) comes back into the picture and she starts mouthing off to Lauren, I got defensive of her as well. All in all, Lauren wasn’t the best heroine but she wasn’t a bad person. She lived and she learned and that’s what mattered to me in the end.

Evan, Evan, Evan. I loved him. I thought he was a good guy and one of my gripes in this story was that we didn’t get nearly enough of him. I loved him with Lauren and I loved the way that he loved her. The romance between Lauren and Evan was my favorite part about this book, I totally ate it up.

I’ll be honest and say that when I first finished the book, I didn’t like it all that much. I hated the things that Lauren got herself into, I hate the things that she knowingly did but when I sat back and thought about Lauren’s character, her lifestyle and her home life, I couldn’t be mad at her anymore because she didn’t know any better so I had to re-read this book again to better appreciate it and I’m glad that I did because I did enjoy it a lot more. So instead of the low C, I was going to give this book, I’m giving it a high C and high C’s are good dangit!

..and that’s your scoop!