Review: Breaking the Rules by Cat Lavoie

Breaking the Rules
by Cat Lavoie

Genre: Chick Lit, Friendship, Humor, Romance
Publication: August 2012
Format: ebooks
Author: Twitter, Website, Goodreads

When twenty-seven year old Roxy Rule’s best friend and roommate accepts a glamorous new job overseas, she expects their relationship to continue as it’s always been—carefree and easy—until they share a heart-stopping kiss moments before his departure. Overcome with mixed emotions, she fights the urge to over analyze the situation and resumes back to her normal life in New York City, working for an intolerable boss at a dead end job, creeping further and further away from her own dreams of becoming a professional chef.

While things become more complicated between her and Ollie, Roxy is sure that nothing can come between two lifelong best friends—not even mild jealousy over a thriving career or a silly little kiss that meant nothing. In fact, it was such a meaningless and forgettable kiss that she convinces herself that it’s not even worth mentioning to her fiancé, although it is all she can think about.

Roxy’s already topsy-turvy life only gets more complicated when her sisters Steffi and Izzie suddenly become her roommates. Steffi is six months into a pregnancy she refuses to discuss and Izzie is in the throes of a premature midlife crisis. Roxy tries to take control of her career, her love life and her sisters – but can she really handle it all? And can the Rule family keep it together – or break under the pressure?

I received a copy of Breaking the Rules by Cat Lavoie from ABG Reads Book Tours as part of the blog tour.

Roxy Rule’s world turned upside down when her best friend, Ollie move overseas to accept a new, glamorous job. Roxy hoped that they would continue to stay as best friends even though they are going to live miles apart. But things got complicated between them when Ollie kissed her before his departure—and that she was kissing him back. Roxy decided that the kiss meant nothing and refused to think about it. Things gotten much more complicated when Roxy’s sister, Steffi and Izzie moved in with her. Steffi was six months into her pregnancy and Izzie was having her premature midlife crisis.

Roxy was one of the likeable and very relatable characters. What I love most about Roxy is how she loved cooking since I am a fan of books with foodie lover characters! There are times when I wanted to cheer for her and there are times when I wanted to smack her for doing something stupid and senseless. But Roxy just wanted to be happy and she wanted everyone around her to be happy just like the rest of us.  

I love Cat Lavoie writing. I really like how she portrayed Roxy and the other characters—there’s the annoying sister who loves to pry into your life, the best friends who constantly worry about Roxy, the fiancé who is a bit of a control freak, the boss who loves to well, bosses around, the handsome best friend who Roxy couldn’t stop thinking about after that kiss and much more.

Breaking the Rules by Cat Lavoie is one of the books that I know I’m going to enjoy even before I started. It is a light hearted story with a mix of humor, drama and romance. The pace of the story is just perfect for me. I love how Cat Lavoie adds in a little bit of twist in the story. It makes the story much more interesting. I just couldn’t stop myself from flipping the pages till the end to know how Roxy and the others going to achieve their happy ending.

Blog Tour: Breaking The Rules By Cat Lavoie - Interview

Hey there! Cat Lavoie is now on tour with ABG Reads Book Tours with her book, Breaking The Rules. I am pleased to welcome Cat Lavoie to Ai Love Books for an author interview. I am still in the middle of reading this book, but I can tell that this  is one will be one of my favorite chick-lit read. Please visit her tour page on ABG Reads Book Tours for more blog stop.

1. Tell me about yourself

 My name is Cat and I live in Montreal, Canada with my cat, Abbie. I'm a claims analyst by day and when I switch into writer mode, I write chick lit. My debut novel, Breaking the Rules, was released in August 2012 by Marching Ink. I'm addicted to cooking and home renovation TV shows and I never leave the house without my Kindle.

2. How and why did you become a writer?

When I was growing up, my nose was always stuck in a book and I knew that, someday, I wanted to create stories of my own. I went through a poetry phase when I was in high school and wrote the most horrible poems--they have since been destroyed, thank goodness. I was in my early twenties when I discovered chick lit and instantly knew it was what I wanted to write. I started a few stories that never went anywhere and—when I decided to really focus on writing a book from beginning to end—Breaking the Rules was born.

 3. Describe your book, Breaking The Rules.

 Breaking the Rules is the story of two lifelong best friends, Roxy and Ollie, and how their relationship changes when a goodbye hug turns into a passionate kiss. Roxy has to decide if she's going to go on with her life pretending that the kiss never happened—or if she's going to risk everything for Ollie. The novel also deals with Roxy's complicated relationship with her two sisters, her demanding boss and her fiancé. It's a story about standing up for yourself and going after what you really want.

4. What inspires you in writing Breaking The Rules?

 I'm inspired by real life. Since I spend a lot of time commuting to and from work, I overhear a lot of conversations on the bus and subway. (Not on purpose. Okay, maybe a little on purpose.) I'm fascinated by people in general and, although Breaking the Rules is completely fictional, it was inspired by things I've gone through or witnessed—or imagined while daydreaming during those long commutes!

5. How do you create your characters, Roxy and the others?

I often joke that there are tiny people living in my head and—when they have animated conversations with each other—I learn a lot about them. With every character, I begin with basic details and, as I'm writing, the rest of that person's story will start to emerge and sometimes take me in a completely different direction. That's what happened with Roxy—in my early drafts, her name was Rosalee and she was actually a teacher, not a personal assistant.

6. What are you working on right now?

I'm currently working on my second novel called Zoey & the Moment of Zen. It's the story of a woman who gets sent to a tropical resort by her friends and family to get over an ex-boyfriend.

7. Anything you would like to say to your readers?

Thank you, readers! I always thought that the best part of publishing a novel would be to see it for sale on Amazon. And although that's pretty darn cool, I'd have to say that the best part of being a writer is having complete strangers contact me to say they enjoyed my novel. I'll never get tired of that and I'll always be grateful that people are choosing to spend a few hours with my characters.

Breaking The Rules
by Cat Lavoie

Genre: Chick Lit
Pages: 380
Publisher: Marching Ink

When twenty-seven year old Roxy Rule’s best friend and roommate accepts a glamorous new job overseas, she expects their relationship to continue as it’s always been—carefree and easy—until they share a heart-stopping kiss moments before his departure. Overcome with mixed emotions, she fights the urge to over analyze the situation and resumes back to her normal life in New York City, working for an intolerable boss at a dead end job, creeping further and further away from her own dreams of becoming a professional chef.

While things become more complicated between her and Ollie, Roxy is sure that nothing can come between two lifelong best friends—not even mild jealousy over a thriving career or a silly little kiss that meant nothing. In fact, it was such a meaningless and forgettable kiss that she convinces herself that it’s not even worth mentioning to her fiancé, although it is all she can think about.

Roxy’s already topsy-turvy life only gets more complicated when her sisters Steffi and Izzie suddenly become her roommates. Steffi is six months into a pregnancy she refuses to discuss and Izzie is in the throes of a premature midlife crisis. Roxy tries to take control of her career, her love life and her sisters – but can she really handle it all? And can the Rule family keep it together – or break under the pressure?