Sunday, September 30, 2012

Review: Breaking The Rules by Cat Lavoie



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 moments before his departure. Overcome with mixed emotions, she fights the urge to over analyze the situation and resumes back to her normal life in New York City, working for an intolerable boss at a dead end job, creeping further and further away from her own dreams of becoming a professional chef.

While things become more complicated between her and Ollie, Roxy is 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 she convinces herself that it’s not even worth mentioning to her fiancé, although it is all she can think about.

Roxy’s already topsy-turvy life only gets more complicated when her sisters Steffi and Izzie suddenly become her roommates. Steffi is six months into a pregnancy she refuses to discuss and Izzie is in the throes of a premature midlife crisis. Roxy tries to take control of her career, her love life and her sisters – but can she really handle it all? And can the Rule family keep it together – or break under the pressure?


Cat Lavoie has arrived on the chick lit scene!  Her debut novel, Breaking The Rules, kept me up late at night (and on a “work night”, no less!) as I couldn’t put it down.  When I was first approached by Samantha to review, I took one look at the cover and said yes.  I have a habit of reading anything with cute covers.  It doesn’t always work out well, but in this case it was a home run.  Charming cover, interesting characters combined with witty storytelling. I loved the friendship between Roxy and Ollie and how their story unfolds with the added twists to keep the reader on their toes.  Icky significant others, crazy family members, and wild friends complete the picture.  I loved the relationship between the sisters, Roxy, Steffi, and Izzie, and how their relationship with each other grew and became a more solid unit, even through the fights and the secrets being revealed. If you want to believe in happy endings then Roxy is the perfect heroine for you as she searches for what makes her happy.  She falls down and messes up, but she picks herself back up with the help of her friends and family and she moves on towards her happiness.

I cannot wait to see what Cat has in store for us next because clearly this lady has the talent to stick around for a long time to come!

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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.
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