Meredith Fox has been going to Martha’s Vineyard for the summer as long as she can remember. But this summer is the first one back since the death of Meredith’s sister. It will all be overwhelming, but even more since since the entire extended family will be together for her cousin’s big wedding.
Unfortunately, Meredith’s longtime boyfriend unexpectedly dumped her two weeks before the wedding, leaving her dateless. Luckily, she has the perfect distraction. Her family has a tradition of playing the ultimate game of Assassin every summer, and this year it will take place during the week of wedding festivities.
But her target just happens to be a very cute groomsman. She’s determined to not let herself get distracted, not let herself be lost in another doomed relationship. But as the week progresses, she can’t help falling for him, which may cost her not only the game, but also her heart.
The Summer of Broken Rules, by K.L. Walther
This book had such a strong premise.
I absolutely adored the giant-game-of-Assassin at a wedding setting. Meredith and Wit (the love interest) are both very determined to win, so they form an alliance, and reading about them taking the game so seriously made me take it seriously as well. The wedding was also very cute, though it definitely took the background to the other plots going on.
Additionally, the farm and Martha’s Vineyard settings are written in such an immersive way that one could almost feel Meredith’s nostalgia for her years of having come there with her sister and entire family. It never seems as if the author is infodumping about the various family traditions; instead, everything is introduced to the reader very naturally, almost as if they too had been there in those years prior to the events of the story.
I absolutely loved the giant family dynamic!
My favorite contemporary books are always the ones that feature family relationships prominently (such as Far From the Tree or 10 Blind Dates), so I absolutely loves that they were a central feature of this book. I adored reading about all of the interactions between different family members in this. I’m amazed that Walther was able to keep track of the large amounts of characters involved in creating that chaotic family dynamic, but I never felt confused about who a given character was, or whether I had read them before, as each was at least somewhat distinct and memorable, even if they were only present for a short scene or two.
The book dealt with a lot of the effects that Meredith’s grief over her sister affected her relationships and approach to life.
Meredith is still grappling with the death of her sister, Claire, 18 months prior throughout this book. Although one gets the sense that she has done a lot of healing, since her initial reactions to the tragedy, she is still obviously coming to terms with the loss of her sister. It is hitting her especially hard as this is her first time back at Martha’s Vineyard since Claire’s death, and because the cousin who is getting married was very close to her Claire and was also in in the car during the accident that killed her. The novel also deals with the impacts that Meredith’s grief had on her friendships, both with her cousins and family friends at the wedding and with her friends back home.
Because Claire had been the champion of the family Assassin game every year, Meredith decides that she wants to win the game to honor her sister, which helps to drive a lot of her other decisions throughout the book. Overall, I think that Meredith’s grieving process was definitely one of the strongest aspects of the book; it pervades the entirety of the story, and helps to tie together the different elements in a way that makes it feel much stronger compositionally than one’s average beach read.
The weakest part of the book is definitely the central romance.
The romantic plot line in this isn’t bad, necessarily. I like Wit, and I think that his relationship with Meredith was for the most part really cute. The main issue I have with it is the instalove aspect. The pair meet at the start of the book, and it takes place over only a few days, so I just find it really difficult to take how strong Meredith proclaims her feelings to be at the end at all seriously. If anything, Wit just feels like a rebound, since, at the start of the book, Meredith is definitely still very hung up on her ex-boyfriend, who had recently broke up with her. Basically, the romance is still cute, but it was definitely my least favorite part of the story, particularly since I enjoyed every other aspect of the book so much.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Aside from the romance plotline (which, granted, is one of the main parts of the book), I absolutely adore everything about this story. Meredith’s struggle with coping with her sister’s death a year and a half prior is definitely the most well-written aspect of it, and adds an aspect of emotional depth to the story that isn’t often found in comparable YA contemporary books. The setting is very compelling and immersive, and the large family added a fun and chaotic cast of characters to the narrative. Although I have issues with the instalove trope involved, I still did enjoy the romance, so it doesn’t affect my rating that much. Overall, I give The Summer of Broken Rules 4.5/5 stars.
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