Book Review / Rules of Summer by Joanna Philbin

There are two sides…to every summer.

When seventeen-year-old Rory McShane steps off the bus in East Hampton, it’s as if she’s entered another universe, one populated by impossibly beautiful people wearing pressed khakis and driving expensive cars. She’s signed on to be a summer errand girl for the Rules—a wealthy family with an enormous beachfront mansion. Upon arrival, she’s warned by other staff members to avoid socializing with the family, but Rory soon learns that may be easier said than done.

Stifled by her friends and her family’s country club scene, seventeen-year-old Isabel Rule, the youngest of the family, embarks on a breathless romance with a guy whom her parents would never approve of. It’s the summer for taking chances, and Isabel is bringing Rory along for the ride.

But will Rory’s own summer romance jeopardize her friendship with Isabel? And, after long-hidden family secrets surface, will the Rules’ picture-perfect world ever be the same?

Published:     23rd May  2013
Publisher:  Atom
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 1, Rules of Summer
Source: Owned

MY REVIEW

This was a re-read for me.  I had not realised that there was a follow up second book to this and can't believe that I hadn't picked it up already.  It had been a while since I had read the first book, so I thought I should start there first.   I had first read this back in 2018 and loved it back then, so I was intrigued to find out what I thought about it now.

We follow Rory in this story when, wanting to escape from her mother who was not the best of influences, she gets a job working in a house in the Hamptons.  Soon enough, she realises that there may be far more family at this house than back home.  

This was a fun read.  It was so great to be revisting this world again.  For me, the best part of this story was the relationship between Rory and Isabel.  You can see they might not be characters that get on at the start but circumstances change that.  Yes, this is very cliche and nothing was a surprise but it was still fun to read.   I am intrigued to find out where the second book takes me.