Breaking The Rules by Katie McGarry

“I wish life could be like this forever,” I say. “We’d be okay then. We’d forever be okay.”

For Echo Emerson, a road trip with her boyfriend is the perfect way to spend the last summer between school and college. It’s a chance forget all the things that make her so different at home. But most of all, it means almost three months alone with gorgeous Noah Hutchins, the only boy who’s never judged her.

Echo and Noah share everything. But as their pasts come crashing back into their lives, its harder to hide that they come from two very different worlds. And as the summer fades, Echo faces her toughest decision – struggle to face the future together or let her first love go…

This takes place right after Pushing The Limits, we go back to see the rest of Echo and Noah's journey over the summer. I loved Echo and Noah's story so I couldn't wait to hear more from them, even knowing what happens afterward. We see them as they make their way across the country, selling Echo's art and trying to make a name for herself. Unfortunately, her mother's reputation precedes her and many curators don't want anything to do with her. 

Along with a dwindling self-esteem, Echo is also dealing with the growing intimacy between her and Noah. She is understandably terrified of letting Noah too close and of getting hurt; after all, Aries left her, her parents left her, why would Noah, a guy with a bad reputation be any different? Lucky for her, Noah - despite his communication problems - really does love her and would do anything to make her happy, even ignore his own hormones. When things finally did happen, I loved how realistically it was portrayed: awkward yet loving. And, the one big thing I really loved was that it didn't change their relationship. Sure, Noah screwed up but it came back around and it wasn't just all sex, all the time. It was about the intimacy and the closeness between them, no more lies and all that. 

There were plenty of other things to be dealt with too; like Echo's mother, Noah's family, his bad-boy reputation catching up with him, to name but a few. All of these things came between them, some pretty close to breaking them, and even though both of them really need to work on their "talking things through" means of communication, in the end, their relationship got stronger. And that's what I really love about McGarry's stories; there's no happily-ever-after, there is always work to be done as well as sacrifices to be made, but the relationships are always real and worth it. Echo and Noah came through some really tough stuff with a better understanding of each other and themselves.

Published 1st January 2015 by Mira Ink. Thank you to the publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.