Rule by Jay Crownover

Rule by Jay Crownover
Series: Marked Men #1
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: May 7th 2013
Source: Bought

Opposites in every way . . . except the one that matters

Shaw Landon loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule is everything a straight--A pre-med student like Shaw shouldn’t want--and the only person she’s never tried to please. She isn’t afraid of his scary piercings and tattoos or his wild attitude. Though she knows that Rule is wrong for her, her heart just won’t listen.

To a rebel like Rule Archer, Shaw Landon is a stuck-up, perfect princess-and his dead twin brother’s girl. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. He doesn’t have time for a good girl like Shaw-even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is.

But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule have to figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love . . . or each other.

Ever since I started reading New Adult last year, I've had my eye on this series. So when I got into a bit of a slump in the middle of January, I just decided to finally pick up Rule. I'm so glad I did because I completely fell in love with this book. It just had that pull for me and I honestly didn't even want to put this book down to go to sleep (but I had to since I could barely read a word on my kindle after a while).

Rule focuses on our two main characters: Shaw Landon and Rule Archer. Shaw and Rule are complete opposites. Shaw comes for a rich family, and it's a straight-A goody-two shoes. Rule is everything she isn't, but that didn't stop Shaw from falling for him the moment she met him. Rule has no idea of Shaw's feelings and would never even consider her since she was his dead twin brothers girlfriend. But, on Shaw's birthday after way too many cocktails,  it leads to a night neither Shaw nor Rule can forget. Shaw and Rule must figure out how to be together without destroying each other.

I adored both of the main characters in this book and there were a lot of secondary characters that I loved also (and that I'll get to know more in the rest of the series). 

Shaw comes from a rich family and is pressured by her parents to be perfect and do everything she can to make them happy. Shaw's family has never cared about her and all they want is for her to give off the right image for their family. Shaw is an extremely intelligent character. She's caring, feisty, strong and very determined. But she's also slightly broken because all she's ever wanted is for her parents to love her, but they never have. Shaw is completely in love with Rule and it's so obvious right from the start. I really felt for her because Rule had no idea how she felt and she had to see him with tons of different girls. It must have killed her. 

Rule is a serial shagger - and that's no exaggeration. Anything with boobs and pretty face gets to come home with Rule at night. He's covered in tattoo's and piercings, is a complete bad boy and has a terrible attitude most of the time - but it's hard not to love Rule. Rule is hurting because his parents (mainly his mother) blame him for his brother's death. Rule has been dealing with their criticisms and their anger towards him for years which has made him put up a front to stop people getting close to him. I really did feel for Rule and I honestly couldn't believe his parents were blaming him for Remy's death when it was just a terrible accident.

Shaw and Rule burned so bright when they were together. That one drunken night led to a lot of feelings being revealed and the start of something awesome. Shaw and Rule had their ups and downs, but they were perfect for each other. They went through a hell of a lot in this book, but they both came out stronger at the end. 

Other than dealing with romance, this book also dealt with family issues, grief and death. I loved that this wasn't just a straight forward romance book and I enjoyed what all of the added issues brought to the story and how they changed the characters. Even though it was tough to watch Rule go through all of that with his family, it was also great seeing how everything changed throughout the book. We also had stalker ex's and controlling parents. That part of the storyline was interesting, and also completely shocking, but it was needed and I did enjoy seeing how everything turned out.

Nash, Cora, Rome and Ayden were my favourite secondary characters and I'm super excited to see them all again in their own stories!

Overall, Rule is such a fantastic book. It's a great love story, but it's also full of deeper storylines and amazing characters. Rule is definitely one I recommend to everything who is a fan of New Adult - you won't be disappointed.