Broken rules
Updated: Oct 2, 2019
I've found an incredibly underrated Young Adult novel! This one is called The Rules by Stacey Kade. For those of you who like a splash of sci-fi in your YA romance, this is for you.
The story revolves around Ariane Tucker, a seemingly normal girl who is actually an escaped top-secret government project that involved combining human and extraterrestrial DNA. There are five simple rules that Ariane is supposed to follow to stay safe. Obviously, she's going to break them all!
Ariane reminds me a lot of Eleven from Stranger Things because they both are part-human part-something else, they both weild kick-butt telekinetic powers, and they're both on the run from a crazy powerful scientist who they have weird daddy issues with.
Of course no young adult novel is complete without a boy. Zane Bradshaw. Zane, a fellow student at Ariane's smalltown high school, sees her for who she really is. Despite Ariane's best efforts to blend in, Zane notices the things that make her different. As far as YA fiction goes, this is a far better love story than Katniss and Peeta or Bella and Edward will ever be. Honestly, I don't know why this book hasn't been turned into a movie.
I'm about 3/4 done with the story and I just know that some big epic conclusion is underway. Hiding in plain sight is a trope we've seen before. However, I've never seen this unique approach to aliens. Overall, I am enjoying the rising action and the adorable ying-yang relationship between Ariane and Zane.
The Rules is actually first in a trilogy, the subsequent novels being The Hunt and The Trials. Depending on the ending of this story, we'll see if I decide to read those too.