Book Review: The Rules by Stacey Kade

Goodreads summary:

1. Never trust anyone.

2. Remember they are always searching.

3. Don’t get involved.

4. Keep your head down.

5. Don’t fall in love.

Five simple rules. Ariane Tucker has followed them since the night she escaped from the genetics lab where she was created, the result of combining human and extraterrestrial DNA. Ariane’s survival—and that of her adoptive father—depends on her ability to blend in among the full-blooded humans in a small Wisconsin town, to hide in plain sight at her high school from those who seek to recover their lost (and expensive) “project.”

But when a cruel prank at school goes awry, it puts her in the path of Zane Bradshaw, the police chief’s son and someone who sees too much. Someone who really sees her. After years of trying to be invisible, Ariane finds the attention frightening—and utterly intoxicating. Suddenly, nothing is simple anymore, especially not the rules…

My review:

The Rules, while not quite what I expected it to be, was still a very entertaining read.  It reminded me a bit of Mila 2.0 in that both book summaries promise lots of sci-fi awesomeness, but in reality have more contemporary aspects than sci-fi.  Fortunately for me, I thought The Rules was much more well-written than Mila 2.0

What I liked:

I quite enjoyed the fact that the story is from both Ariane and Zane's POVs.  It was unexpected, but worked well for the story.  Both Ariane and Zane have separate issues and character arcs, yet their storylines interact and come together perfectly.  And I really liked the way Ariane and Zane quickly judge each other during the first third of the story, then slowly learn that there's more to each other than meets the eye.  Great character development.

The plot...the contemporary part was excellent, and the sci-fi part was good, but not great.  (The author's talents especially lie in the contemporary genre - a little similar to Katie McGarry's books, actually.)  However, there is one absolutely amazing twist that I loved.  It was so out of the blue, I just sat there and stared at the page.  Talk about well-done!

What I didn't like:

Nothing too huge.  Like, the misleading summary that led me to expect more action.  With a little more sci-fi, the plot could've been tighter and more balanced.

Also, some of the high school drama was irritating.  For example, the mean girl Rachel who's out to steal Zane from Ariane.  She actually played a great role in the plot and wasn't as clichéd as I'd been afraid she would be, but it was still slightly overkill at times.  Less drama and more action, please!

Is this book perfect?  No, but it is fun-filled and sure to keep you turning the pages.  Now I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope that the author writes the sequel soon.

My rating:  3.5 out of 5 stars

~ Kaitlyn