Blog Tour and Review: Breaking the Rules by Cat Lavoie

SUMMARY FROM PUBLISHER:

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.
While Ollie escapes to jolly ole England to live out his dream and save the planet with green architecture, Roxy is stuck in New York City working for a boss who makes her want to stab herself with a letter opener. She can’t bear to think about her own big-city dream of being a chef anymore. Over the years, her passion for food has only resulted in extra pounds and a staggering credit card balance for fancy kitchen equipment that she barely has time to use. Still, Roxy’s 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 it’s not worth mentioning to her fiancé, not that he would even listen—all they do these days is argue about their upcoming wedding.
Roxy is faced with an unexpected family reunion when her younger sister Steffi arrives on her doorstep, six months into a pregnancy she refuses to discuss. When older sister Izzie—in the throes of a premature midlife crisis—joins them, she’s determined to crack the case of Steffi’s impending motherhood. With the Rule sisters living under the same roof again, Roxy’s quiet little apartment in the city is about to be anything but peaceful.
Roxy soon discovers that her seemingly idyllic relationship with Ollie started getting complicated way before he left for London. She must come to terms with her feelings for him, learn to stand up for herself and go after what she really wants.
Breaking the Rules is the story of what happens when you have to redefine the rules of love, friendship and family in order to find yourself.

MY TAKE:

I enjoy most chick lit books so I was eager to read this one.

In Breaking the Rules, Roxy's best friend Ollie is headed to England but before he leaves, he kisses her. It wouldn't be a problem, if it weren't for the fact that he has a girlfriend and she has a fiance. To top it all off, her sisters are in town for an impromptu visit to run away from their own crises,

If I hadn't read the comments in the ARC I received, I'm sure the plot twist would have come as a surprise to me. Most of the story is easy to guess and the ending is more or less happy, which is typical of chick lit books, there is at least one plot twist that while it seems a little bit weird and dysfunctional, keeps this from being too cliche.

Roxy is a realistic heroine, although she does a few things in this book that are not okay in my book so that made me dislike her a bit. Surprisingly, my favorite character in the book is Tali. She's a strong character but she didn't annoy me in the least.

THE GOOD:

1. A lot of people can probably relate to this.
2. The heroine isn't stick thin.
3. It's a fluffy read.

THE BAD:

1. It's predictable in some parts.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

Ravioli with prosciutto and a tomato-basil puree.

READ IT IF:

1. You like chick lit.
2. You like characters who aren't stereotypically thin and gorgeous.
3. You like romance stories with a little bit of family drama thrown in.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

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.

SOUNDS INTERESTING?