Friday, May 21, 2010

The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott

Age: Young Adult (YA)
Release date: March 16th, 2010
Pages: 244
Source: Borrowed
Summary: 
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 Bianna 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: This book was my first attempt at reading an Elizabeth Scott novel, and it was almost my last.

The characters in this story are kind of blah, boring. The writing is great, it's easy to see that her writing is wonderful and engaging, but I couldn't connect with or even like the characters. Ryan? I didn't like the guy. I thought he was too weak to do the right thing, and a complete moron to top it off. Sarah is quiet, loyal and soft spoken...which is why I'm surprised I was having a hard time connecting with her. Briana is a lot like a girl I knew in high school, so I cannot deny that she was definitely a realistic character. It seemed like Scott attempted to make us sympathize with her by giving us reasons for why she is the way she is, but I could hardly care less. 

The story, however, was slow. Sarah spends the whole novel going "Oh, I feel so bad" or "I really like Ryan" or "I wonder when Ryan is going to tell Brianna that they're over and he likes me instead" (I'm paraphrasing, since I'm too lazy to double check). It took too long. The only thing that kept me reading was the insistance that Scott was a fabulous writer, but the plot/characters dragged the story down.

Highlights: While I wasn't fond of the characters, some of them are realistic. I could easily go to any place in my city and find a Brianna. Plus, Scott's writing is wonderful. Even when I didn't want to continue, I couldn't stop. Her writing is just my style, and it's weird that I even liked it when I disliked the novel. 

Lowlights: Plot. Slowness. Annoying characters who can't seem to be honest or discuss anything. Boring. In the end, I felt like I wasted my time with reading The Unwritten Rule. My biggest complaint is just that the idea wasn't strong enough to carry the entire story, and the characters were completely frustrating. 

Rating:   








Lea

14 comments:

  1. Sorry you didn't enjoy this one. :( This really isn't her best book. Maybe you'd prefer her non-romantic stories such as Love You Hate You Miss You or Living Dead Girl?

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  2. I keep wavering as to read this book or not. I'm still not sure but thanks for the honest review - I was wondering if I was the only one who hasn't like the books I'm reading lately :-))

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  3. I've been truly wanting to read this book, but have also been reading not so positive reviews. Hope to like it. Congrats for the honest review! :)

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  4. Sorry you didn't enjoy this one! I'm addicted to Elizabeth Scott's writing! I personally LOVED Stealing Heaven the most of out the 3 I've read.

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  5. Aww sorry you didn't like this one. Thanks for the honest review. I agree with Michelle, try Love You Hate You Miss You or Living Dead Girl -both are two of her best :D

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  6. I haven't read anything by this author, and I definitely won't be picking this one up. It's not something I'd enjoy, anyway. Sorry you didn't like it!

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  7. I keep reading not so positive reviews for this book, so I think I will wait till it's translated or when it hit the discount shelfs. I haven't read any of the books this author has written, so when I do this won't be the first. :) Honest review!

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  8. Thank you for the honest review!! I've read a couple of slow ones lately, too!

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  9. Your mention of how her writing is wonderful makes me want to read it but I might pick up one of her other books since this sounds a bit draggy. Thanks for the review ;]

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  10. I'm sorry this book was a disapponitment, the characters does sound a bit annoying!

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  11. Eek I love Elizabeth Scott, especially LIVING DEAD GIRL, but the Unwritten Rule just does not sound like her best work. Oh well. Every author has her weak point.

    Thanks for the review!

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  12. I haven't read this one. I did read Perfect You by her and enjoyed it.

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  13. I really want to read this book!! Great review..

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  14. I just read it and I agree with you, it was a little bit slow, and it wasnt actually what I expected. Is the first I read of Elizabeth´s books, so I guess Im gonna try with another one. Great Review :)

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