Customer Reviews

The Rules for Hearts

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sara Ryan is back with her second novel, a sequal to Empress of the World. Battle hall Davies has graduated and heading off to college, her somewhat estranged brother lives in Portland Oregon and Battle has moved in with him and the various other roommates that inhabit the house.

Ryan's writing is more assured and stronger in this book and it was an enjoyable read. I loved the theatre bits and the various character's, while some are cliches, they are good cliches and really round out the parts making the scenes fuller and realistic.

My favorite part is the wedding scene and I must give Ryan props for having one of the character's wear a kilt and not present it as a man in drag or the source of drunks attempts at humor.

The relation between Battle and her brother is the main focus of the book though Battle's attempts to have a lesbian relationship are explored as well, it is the family story, blood family and adopted family, that is the true heart of the book.

Ryan has shown herself to be a writer that improves with each work and I look forward to reading more of her prose work as well as her comic book writings. The Rules for Heart's is definately going on my growing shelf of YA books.

I thought the book would tell more about what happened with Battle and Nic after the summer of the first book. It seemed like it really wasn't a sequel. Just another book with the same character. Overall, the book wasn't that great. It was not the most captivating book. I'm not really a fan of the author's style of writing, but I read this one to see what had happened from the previous book.

The companion, and first book, to this book is better. This book tells Battle's story after camp (Empress of the World). It had its moments, but I wasn't nearly as interested in this book as i was in Empress of the World.

If you read Empress of the World it is worth the read because it give you and interesting perspective. It makes you think about how other people view situations because it gives a drastically different image of Nic than Empress gave.

This was a pretty good sequel to Empress of the World. I thought it would have had more of the original characters but it was based around Battle. Still though, I enjoyed it.

good second book... would have like to see more at the end of the book though

A quirky story, filled with unconventional characters, all of whom are actors who live together in a boarding house owned by a small theater director. The mix of old(er) and young people balances nicely, particularly for the narrator, the youngest character in the mix. The young explore everything from sexuality (predominantly gay) to morality (honor and integrity). The author has done a fine job of writing, playing out interesting dialog and a story that has many situations, yet nothing seems extraneous or out of place. Reading this as a non-sequel to the author's book, Empress of the World, is intriguing in that glimpses of the main character's (Battle Hall's) past float into the present. It's quite well-done actually-- rather than having a layout, bits and pieces of data from Battle's past are incorporated into the present by little triggers in Battle's life and thoughts. Want more from this author!