Book Review: Rules Are For Breaking by Imelda Evans

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Blurb

“Jo is a smart and determined young woman with a clear-eyed view of men and what she expects of them. Put simply, she is 'over' finding the right one. She already has a 'three strikes and you're out' policy. When challenged by a friend who thinks she can't do it, Jo goes one step further and vows not to date, sleep with or even kiss a man for six weeks. 

Enter Declan, Jo's gorgeous yet unwelcome houseguest. Convinced he can win her over, Declan views Jo and her vow as an irresistible challenge. 

An infuriated Jo declares that Declan is like all the others - attracted to her for all the wrong reasons. She insists that he devote time to getting to know the real her and to doing the things she loves. Will Declan survive the test? Or will a major misunderstanding spoil everything? 

Rules Are For Breaking is a witty, entertaining romance certain to have even the most disenchanted believing in love again.”

Summary and Thoughts

Commitment-phobic Jo has a tendency to eat men and spit them out – they bore her at times and she’s yet to find a man who can keep her interested for more than 3 months. She’s tired of them not seeing beneath her beautiful package.

The book opens with Jo and her sister-in-law Kate having a discussion about Jo’s bad luck with men and the fact that Jo has offered a friend of her brother a room in her apartment whilst the finishing touches are put on his new apartment. By the end of the conversation, she’s made a deal with Kate that she’ll abstain from all things men for the next six weeks.

Unfortunately, Declan O’Leary, her guest, arrives on the scene shortly thereafter and in the ensuing weeks, attempts to back her into a corner and test her “bliss” finding plans.

Determined not to let him get under her skin, Jo strives to get him to dislike her and we see her trying her damndest to shock him. From karaoke-singing songs of lost love to rock-climbing mayhem – will this new Jo show him that she is not the one for him?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book which was a quick read and doesn’t demand very much from the reader, but provides a tummy-tingling escape for a few hours. It is extremely well-written with Imelda Evans certainly knowing how to set a scene. Light-hearted and funny, it had me enchanted from the very first page.

A Little About the Author (Taken from the author's website)

Imelda Evans is an Australian writer who likes books, baths and baking, coffee, cocktails and craft, family, friends and food… and a good lie in the hammock when the alliteration fails her!

She writes contemporary novels about women’s lives – the dramas, the challenges, the joys and the occasional loaded gun – and how they get through them with a sense of humour and a little help from their friends.

Or, put another way, she writes fun fiction about fabulous women (and the men they get mixed up with).

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