{YA Review} The Rules for Disappearing (The Rules for Disappearing #1) by Ashley Elston

{YA Review} The Rules for Disappearing (The Rules for Disappearing #1) by Ashley Elston

She’s been six different people in six different places: Madeline in Ohio, Isabelle in Missouri, Olivia in Kentucky . . . But now that she’s been transplanted to rural Louisiana, she has decided that this fake identity will be her last.

Witness Protection has taken nearly everything from her. But for now, they’ve given her a new name, Megan Rose Jones, and a horrible hair color. For the past eight months, Meg has begged her father to answer one question: What on earth did he do – or see – that landed them in this god-awful mess? Meg has just about had it with all the Suits’ rules — and her dad’s silence. If he won’t help, it’s time she got some answers for herself.

But Meg isn’t counting on Ethan Landry, an adorable Louisiana farm boy who’s too smart for his own good. He knows Meg is hiding something big. And it just might get both of them killed. As they embark on a perilous journey to free her family once and for all, Meg discovers that there’s only one rule that really matters — survival.(Blurb via Goodreads)

{Details} Hardcover, 320 pages. Published May 14th 2013 by Disney-Hyperion. Source: library

{Rating} 4/5

{Review} Meg's a great character. Elston really put me in her head, how Meg felt as she once again started over but this time with a new appearance. I felt how Meg did, the feeling of being erased, that everything that made her her, was gone. Meg is a survivor. Things are horrible but trying to keep it together for her family, deal with her father who's keeping secrets, her traumatized baby sister, her mother who is falling apart.

For this placement Meg has decided no guys, no attachments, but Ethan makes that hard. Ethan is the perfect guy. He's sweet and caring and slowly but steadily demolishing all of Meg's defenses. He never gives up on her and he's sweet, even going so far as to learn and then download some of her favorite music to play in the car when they're together. Really, how sweet is that?

The story had many twists and turns and kept my attention from page one to the very last sentence. And the ending? Pretty excellent. And haunting. I hadn't realized this was a series, the next book is still untitled and doesn't have a description yet but I'm hoping for answers to some of my lingering questions!