Review: The Unwritten Rule

The Unwritten Rule

By Elizabeth Scott

Publication date: March 16, 2010

My rating: *****

My review:

At a party, Sarah's dream nearly comes true when her long time crush Ryan hangs out with her. Things are going well but unfortunately the moment is interrupted when Sarah's beautiful friend Brianna shows up. By the next day, Brianna and Ryan are a couple. Sarah and Brianna have been best friends since kindergarten and she's always been fine living in Brianna's shadows and being there for her when Brianna's parents reject her. Now she has to stand by and watch Brianna get the one thing she's wanted-a relationship with Ryan. One night everything changes when Sarah and Ryan realize they are both attracted to each other and share a kiss.

The Unwritten Rule is a story about unhealthy friendships and relationships. Sarah is caring, smart, artistic, and a loyal friend to Brianna for most of her life. She puts aside her own wants to cater to Brianna's need for love and attention. Brianna has a terrible relationship with her divorced parents. Her mother is incredibly critical of her and Brianna unknowingly mirrors that criticism with Sarah, constantly putting her down. Because Brianna does not have that love and support at home she looks to Sarah to fill that void as well as a long string of boys she dates. She has a tendency to leave them before they can leave her, which is really sad. I didn't really like Brianna's character but at the same time I felt for her. I also became angry towards Sarah sometimes for the way she became a doormat around Brianna. She felt that Brianna rescued her when they were little and she recalls the times that Brianna has shown her kindness and in a way it is because of Brianna that Sarah feels she has a place to belong at school so she puts up with the negative aspects of their friendship. Ryan is a really sweet guy and he does care about Brianna but he comes to have feelings for Sarah. I found myself hoping for their relationship to work out even though Brianna would be devastated.

The Unwritten Rule could have been just a light fluffy YA romance but it was not. The friendship between Brianna and Sarah was really well written. The novel is not very long but the characters are given depth. I liked how we got to see both Sarah and Brianna's home life because the girls come from very different places and that affects how they behave. Sarah's parents are fantastic and so supportive of her. It is nice to see positive portrayals of parents in YA literature and they served as a major contrast to Brianna's parents. I also liked how the story played out in the end-it felt very believable to me. Elizabeth Scott has written another fantastic YA novel. If you've never read one of her books before, give The Unwritten Rule a try. I would recommend this book to fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Maureen Johnson.