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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.



"Remy was my other half, both figuratively and literally. He was my identical twin, the light to my dark, the easy to my hard, the joy to my angst, the perfect to my oh-so-totally fucked up, and without him I was only half the person I would ever be. Remy was everything I wasn't."

Meet Rule our resident pierced tatted bad ass who is so far from "the norm" it isn't funny. Our hero was a complicated mess of contradiction. Rule doesn't make apologies or excuses for his "my way or the highway" attitude, with him what you see is what you get. Rule lives life his way and doesn't care who gets trampled in the process.

"Rule was complicated; he was brash, mouthy, careless, thoughtless, often cranky, and generally an insufferable pain in the ass. But when he chose to be, he was charming and funny, artistically brilliant, and more often than not, the most interesting person in the room. I have been head over heels in love with both sides of him since I was fourteen years old."

Next up is Shaw, our sweet sophisticated leading lady, who wants nothing more in life than to be accepted and loved for who she is and not for the person her rich overbearing parents are molding her to be. On the surface, Shaw portrays the perfect fabricated "good girl" persona, but underneath that carefully constructed facade lays a girl dying to live life the way she wants. She doesn't want to date the man her parents think would be the perfect match for her and their stature. There is only one thing Shaw wants in life for herself and it just happens to be the exact opposite of what mommy and daddy expect of her...Rule Archer.

Now that you have met them individually, let's introduce them as a couple. Shaw has only ever had eyes for Rule and in typical male fashion, Rule has absolutely no idea she exists outside being his brother Remy's girl and his buffer for those dreaded Sunday brunches with his family. He is oblivious to her growing attraction, until Shaw's 20th birthday when she decides to take things to the next level changing the dimensions of their relationship, as they knew it forever.

“You have to promise not to bail on me when I get lost, Shaw. You have to promise to just wait it out until I can find my way back. I need to know you’re at the end of the tunnel when everything goes black.”

I instantly fell hard for Rule with his devil may care outlook (his tats and piercings didn't have anything to do with it, oh hell who am I kidding...they had everything to do with it). I love that he is so flawed, hmm, maybe flawed isn't a strong enough word to describe him. Damaged and broken maybe more like it.  He is determined to screw things up while trying his hardest to navigate that untraveled road called relationships. Girls are interchangeable play toys to him; their sole purpose equals pleasure and a means of escape...that is until Shaw makes an unexpected appearance in a killer hot work uniform snagging Rule's complete and utter attention to the one girl he has always been oblivious too. My favorite personality trait about this bad boy is his ability to own up to his mistakes; he doesn't try to hide them from his girl or make deny them. Rule told her straight out when he fucked up and begged Shaw for her forgiveness, with the promise of more mistakes in the future while he learned what it was like to think of another and not just himself.

"I'll always take care of you, Rule. In fact, I like doing it because it makes me happy and it feels good, but I'm not ever going to let you use me to work out your demons like you did with all those girls who came before me, so you better learn the difference."

Shaw is the perfect girl for Rule. Her sweet go with the flow temperament balanced out his crazy out of control one.  I adored how strong and loyal she is. Her patience and love when it came to that man knew no bounds. Rule was in need of love (although this proved hard to do) and worthy in her eyes. She took a lot of abuse (no physical) from Rule with his behavior and reactions as she stood by his side over the years defending him, however, she didn't accept his crap. Shaw was forgiving but she most definitely was not a pushover. Didn't matter how crazy his behavior got; Shaw refused to live with Rule's BS, and our girl called him out! This is one heroine who definitely sits high on my favorites list!
  
“Opposites don't just attract they freaking catch fire and burn the entire city down.”

Rule Archer and Shaw Landon definitely fit that descriptive quote. No other two people filled the role of sinner and saint as well as they did, in my humble opinion. Rule is the epitome of bad boy; Shaw adored that about him. Rule is Rule; he doesn’t feel the need to be pretentious, nor will he explain away his attitude/personality  with justification . His take the world by the horns, fuck the consequences, mentality was a major seduction for a fourteen-year-old girl  surrounded by artifice. Rule was exactly what Shaw wasn’t or couldn’t allow herself to be. He was in your face with his realness, you never had to worry about where you stood with him. Whereas, Shaw pushed her own happiness and needs in the background at the expense of others. She played the part as she hid within herself in order to keep peace amongst those she loved.  Shaw always accepted Rule for who he was without expectations of change and he turned out to be the one person Shaw could always feel safe and confident with as she found the strength and direction in her own personal growth.

I loved watching the main characters level each other out on so many different levels; there was no sense of masquerade between them. Shaw and Rule stumbled and matured both in their personal lives and with their relationship. It was a roller coaster of a ride that left you wanting to bang your head against the wall. There was absolutely nothing instant or easy about these two. Their journey was emotional trial of give and take.  

Jay Crownover is one hell of an author. She has made a permanent fan of this girl. Rule's book contained rich developed characters, delicious chemistry, and an emotional journey that left me clamoring for more. I know that prior to the author becoming published there were issues with editing; rest assured that the author has fully taken care of this. So please don't pass this book up any longer, I insist that you one click and settle in for one hell of a ride!

Thank you Avon Original and edelweiss for the opportunity to read and review Rule in exchange for my honest opinion.