{ARC YA Review} The Rules for Breaking (The Rules for Disappearing #2) by Ashley Elston

{ARC YA Review} The Rules for Breaking (The Rules for Disappearing #2)  by Ashley Elston

Anna Boyd almost lost her life to get what she wanted most in the world: freedom.

But just when it seems that her family has finally escaped Witness Protection, the illusion that Anna could resume a normal life comes crashing down.

The deadly man Anna knows as Thomas is still on the loose, and now he's using her as a pawn in a dangerous game with the drug cartel determined to silence her forever. When Thomas and a mysterious masked man capture not only Anna but also her fragile younger sister and her boyfriend, Anna decides it's time to break all the rules-even if it means teaming up with the lesser of two evils.

Anna will do whatever it takes to protect the people she loves and win her life back once and for all. But her true enemies are hidden in plain sight. Before long, Anna will learn that putting her trust in anyone may be the last mistake she ever makes. (Blub via Goodreads)

{Details} ebook, 320 pages. Expected publication: May 20th 2014 by Disney Hyperion. Source: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to Disney Hyperion and Ashley Elston.

{Rating} 4/5 -- I really liked it!

{Review}

"Can you teach me how to shoot a gun?" (page 1, line 1)

I liked the The Rules for Disappearing, book one in The Rules for Disappearing series, my review is here, but I enjoyed this book even more. There were so many twists and turns, characters full of doubts, doubts of who to trust, of where loyalties lie. I could not put The Rules for Breaking down.

Elston recaps the first book in a brief but comprehensive manner, laying out the characters, their relationships, their faults, their fears. It was enough to remind me what had happened but not so much that I felt bogged down.

I loved the way Elston brings back the 'Rules for Disappearing' but this time counters it with Anna Boyd's new rules, showing how much she'd grown from her experience - and her sense of humor:

"Rules for Disappearing by Witness Protection Prisoner #18A7R04M:
Be paranoid. The best way for the bad guys not to get you is to think the bad guys are always just about the get you.

New rule by Anna Boyd:
Paranoia isn't enough." (location 707)

I liked Anna more in this book. She acts more, reacts less. She's so determined. Brave. Selfless. I felt for her as she doubted all her decisions knowing that the price for wrong choices would be the death of someone she loves.

I still adore Ethan. He's just as protective, supportive, comforting, and empowering as ever. And sweet. Though there's not much opportunity for romantic moments Elston definitely makes you aware of how much they care for each other.

And Teeny gets a personality! In The Rules for Disappearing she was terrified, silent, more of an obligation for Anna than a character in her own right but now she's loud and assertive and curious.

I'm very pleased with how the book ended and I'm definitely looking forward to future releases from Ashley Elston.

{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!