ARC Review: The Rules by Stacey Kade

The Rules by Stacey Kade
Expected publication: April 23rd, 2013 by Disney-Hyperion

 My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Blurb: 1. Never trust anyone.

2. Remember they are always searching.

3. Don’t get involved.

4. Keep your head down.

5. Don’t fall in love.Five simple rules. 

Ariane Tucker has followed them since the night she escaped from the genetics lab where she was created, the result of combining human and extraterrestrial DNA. Ariane’s survival—and that of her adoptive father—depends on her ability to blend in among the full-blooded humans in a small Wisconsin town, to hide in plain sight at her high school from those who seek to recover their lost (and expensive) “project.”

But when a cruel prank at school goes awry, it puts her in the path of Zane Bradshaw, the police chief’s son and someone who sees too much. Someone who really sees her. After years of trying to be invisible, Ariane finds the attention frightening—and utterly intoxicating. Suddenly, nothing is simple anymore, especially not the rules…

 An e-ARC of this book has been provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Okay,I'll be honest. I had some major expectations from this book, and maybe that's why I didn't find it as awesome as I hoped I would. However, I loved the concept. The Roswell incident has always been something I've been curious and intrigued about, so imagine my surprise when this book turned out to be based on that only. That was one reason I got immediately attracted to this book.

The concept was compelling and the way the story started off was awesome. I could feel myself connecting with the female protagonist, Ariane and it broke my heart to see her leading such a sad and lonely life to protect herself. Her character was sweet, helpful and protective of people she cared about and I really liked her for that. However, somewhere in the middle, it was like she suddenly started jumping into explosive situations. The risk that she was taking was always on her mind, no doubt but nonetheless, it made the story a little less believable when she spent more than half of her life hiding so carefully and suddenly becoming so....daring. I get the fact that paranormal fiction isn't exactly written for being believable but still.

The middle part of the book became boring after a while. There was too much mental banter from Ariane and the story just wasn't moving forward. And then, when Ariane started with her I-will-put-Rachel-in-her-place mode, it was clear this wasn't gonna go well and I just wanted to scream and throttle her for being so stupid. Some of the things she did just didn't match up with her initial personality and that made my interest waver a bit from the story.

The last part of the book, however, made my breath hitch. Ms. Kade executed the final part brilliantly and flawlessly. It was a total OMG moment because I seriously didn't expect that THIS was how she was gonna go down. I actually cried after reading the betrayal. It was too damn sad. Just for that awesome ending, I'm giving an extra star to this book.

Zane's POV was always interesting to read. For some reason, I found him more captivating than Ariane as he spent less time thinking of the past and actually seemed to live in the present more. Ariane, on the other hand, kept going back to her past and sometimes it was super annoying to read her continuous mental banter. Not that I blame her. Someone going through that kind of torture and actually coming back with their humanity intact is something to be admired.
Still, I think Zane was my favourite character in the story. He was non-judgmental and accepted Ariane like she was from the beginning. He was totally adorable throughout the story and very, very charming.

Overall, the concept was intriguing and the story was good but I can't say the same about the execution. It kept fluctuating between interesting and boring. But the good thing is, the interesting parts were amazing. Like, can't-stop-reading amazing. I'm pretty sure I would've liked this book more if I already didn't have so many expectations from it, but oh, well. I'm still gonna continue with the series because I'm super curious about what happens next!