Book Review — Beautiful Broken Rules by Kimberly Lauren

• Buy BEAUTIFUL BROKEN RULES (Kindle)
• Buy BEAUTIFUL BROKEN RULES (Paperback)

SQUEEE!!!

Bad boy fans, you’re going to love this book!!

I had been in such a reading funk the last few days. I’d started and stopped so many books that I was starting to wonder if it was ‘me’, y’know? But THIS BOOK pulled me right back into happy reader land!

Beautiful Broken Rules was a wonderfully addictive and romantic read with a bad boy hero who I promise you will fall for! There was heaps of swoon, awesome banter, and a delicious kind of angst that made my heart race and kept me flipping pages. Once I started, I could not put it down!

Fans of Beautiful Disaster should definitely check this book out! Although the plot lines are very different, this one gave me many of those same wonderful ‘feelings’.

This book also pretty much defied one of the norms because instead of having a manwhore hero, we had a heroine who pretty much was the female equivalent. Kinda weird to think of it when the roles are reversed, huh? But it totally worked for this character. Emerson was a strong heroine and I loved that she didn’t make any excuses for the way she was and the things she did.

Ok, I’m getting ahead of myself here…

The book is about Emerson, a college student who has three rules that she never breaks: 1) Never sleep with someone a friend has feelings for, 2) Never sleep with someone in a known relationship, 3) Never sleep with the same person more than three times. These rules keep her ‘safe’ within her comfort zone. She was deeply scarred by events in her past that basically left her terrified of relationships and so these rules are her coping mechanism that both allow her to have fun and keep her clear of being bogged down in any relationship drama or heart break.

Until Jaxon Riley showed up.

With his gorgeous tattoos, his cocky but endearing attitude, and his naturally protectiveness, this bad boy sweetheart spun her world right around and for the first time in her life, she found herself actually wanting more than just a fling. He didn’t care about her past, he just wanted her future and was determined to win her heart.

*swoons*

“I don’t need a protector, okay?” I breathed.
“I’m trying my fucking hardest here, Beautiful.”

Only a few pages into this book and I knew it was going to be a winner! I was smiling and chuckling and swooning and it just kept on getting better. I really honestly loved pretty much everything about it.

I fell hard for Jax. Everything about him was either alluring, intriguing, or downright hot! And Emerson was a surprising and fun heroine. She certainly had her share of issues but I felt like I could understand them and better yet, Jax understood them and I seriously just loved the way he was with. So sweet and tender but yet totally possessive and protective. The perfect combination! He knew about her issues and yet he was willing to be patient with her.

“I love you… Relax, I won’t say it again for a while. I just want you to get used to the fact that one day, when you’re comfortable with it, I’ll tell you every day, multiple times a day. I want you to know how much I love you every single damn day, but for now, I’ll just let you soak it in.” 

I loved that this was more than just a romance. The core group of friends and family were just as awesome to read about. Some of their scenes were seriously just priceless!

“Ew, guys, stop it. Not on the couch.” Quinn was right next to us, batting me off of Jaxon.

“Oh, like we haven’t gotten plenty of fluids on this couch already, sweetheart,” Cole laughed from behind her.

“All of you are disgusting, shut up, push play and keep your fluids to yourselves,” Jace complained.

There were definite undercurrents of tension though through the story because of how Emerson clearly shied away from all relationships and there were some moments of full on angst and drama but at the same time, all of it was the delicious kind. I revelled in it even though there were times when I just wanted to shove her and Jax into a room together and not let them out until they’d worked through their issues.

One thing that I did really like was that throughout the drama, I never once doubted their feelings for each other and despite being a tad frustrated at how long it took them to get through their last issue, because I could tell they were still just crazy about each other, it allowed me to ride it all out with a good feeling instead of being worried sick. They both made mistakes but I also *knew* they’d work things out and was excited to see it all come together.

“You’re my heart. You don’t walk away from your heart.”

Beautiful Broken Rules was exactly what I’d been looking for. A fun, delicious blend of swoon and angst with a possessive but sweet bad boy and a strong but damaged heroine. It just pushed all the right buttons for me and is definitely one of my new favorite New Adult romance reads.

Highly recommended!

4.5 stars

PS – This reads as a standalone but the next book, Beautiful Broken Mess, is about Jax’s brother Jace!!

• Buy BEAUTIFUL BROKEN RULES (Kindle)
• Buy BEAUTIFUL BROKEN RULES (Paperback)

Casting

• Jaxon
• Emerson

Standalones