Breaking the Rules by Cat Lavoie Review

Breaking the Rules by Cat Lavoie- Chick Lit

Kindle format given by publisher for review/ARC

Summary:

When twenty-seven year old Roxy Rule’s best friend and roommate accepts a glamorous new job overseas, she expects their relationship to continue as it’s always been—carefree and easy—until they share a heart-stopping kiss moments before his departure. Overcome with mixed emotions, she fights the urge to over analyze the situation and resumes back to her normal life in New York City, working for an intolerable boss at a dead end job, creeping further and further away from her own dreams of becoming a professional chef.
While things become more complicated between her and Ollie, Roxy is sure that nothing can come between two lifelong best friends—not even mild jealousy over a thriving career or a silly little kiss that meant nothing. In fact, it was such a meaningless and forgettable kiss that she convinces herself that it’s not even worth mentioning to her fiancé, although it is all she can think about.
Roxy’s already topsy-turvy life only gets more complicated when her sisters Steffi and Izzie suddenly become her roommates. Steffi is six months into a pregnancy she refuses to discuss and Izzie is in the throes of a premature midlife crisis. Roxy tries to take control of her career, her love life and her sisters – but can she really handle it all? And can the Rule family keep it together – or break under the pressure?

My Take:

When I first read the synopsis of this book, I thought it sounded really cute. What I wasn't expecting was to stay up until 2am reading it. Once I started, I didn't want to put it down. 

I felt like I connected with Roxy pretty quickly. Not because we have similar personalities, but because of her friendship with Ollie. I had a guy best friend like that. We shared everything and there was always something that was silently underneath the friendship. In my case, our timing never worked out. For Roxy and Ollie, it takes Ollie moving for those feelings to come to the surface. Roxy feels like she's a bit lost and frustrated. She begins doubting her career and her relationship with her fiance (who I couldn't stand). I found that I was really pulling for Roxy to make the right choice and end up, not only with Ollie, but make a break in her career and follow her dreams. And Ollie....I loved Ollie. He truly was a gem of a guy. There was only ONE part that upset me about him and it was something I wasn't expecting AT ALL. That said, he does redeem himself in my eyes.  I was pulling for him to win Roxy's heart. 

Then to make things more hectic for Roxy, both of her sister's move in. One sister is unexpectedly pregnant and the other has just broken up with her long-term boyfriend. The family dynamic cracked me up. 

This was a really great story about a woman trying to find her way. She has career choices to make, family issues to deal with, and she needs to be true to her heart. These issues are things we can all relate too. Cat Lavoie makes a great debut. I look forward to reading more from this new author!

Available on Barnes & Noble – Nook/Amazon – Kindle/Kobo/Amazon – Print

Cat Lavoie was born in the small town of Jonquière in Québec, Canada. At the age of nineteen, she packed up her things (mostly books) and moved to the big city of Montreal where she currently lives with her tempestuous cat Abbie—who is both adorable and quite possibly evil.

An incurable Anglophile since her university days where she studied English Literature, she can often be found daydreaming about her next trip to London. Since she’s an expert at the art of procrastination, Cat is easily distracted by cooking and home improvement shows—even though she’s not particularly good at either.

Cat grew up watching soap operas and legal dramas and—had she not decided to be a claims analyst by day and write chick lit by night—she would have probably become a designer suit-wearing lawyer. Or a character on All My Children (which is what she really wanted to be when she was twelve).

Cat is not sure whether she’s a geek or a nerd—and is afraid she might be both. Breaking the Rules is her first novel.

Cat blogs about the writing life and posts adorable pictures of Abbie over at the Catenabi Chronicles. Come say hello at: www.CatLavoie.com and follow @Catenabi on Twitter.

Links:
www.CatLavoie.com
http://www.facebook.com/CatLavoieAuthor?ref=stream
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6440914.Cat_Lavoie
https://twitter.com/Catenabi

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