By Mattie Lugar
As the weather changes and the days start to get warmer, to me it feels only fitting to recommend one of my all-time favorite books. The Summer of Broken Rules by K. L. Walther is a Young Adult romance that follows Meredith Fox as she tries to navigate life without her sister. While I have slowly moved away from reading Young Adult books as I’ve gotten older, there’s just something about this book that has cemented itself in my mind.
Meredith and her family have been going to Martha’s Vineyard every summer for as long as she can remember, but this year is different. This is the first year she’s been back since the death of her sister Claire and with her entire family gathering to celebrate her cousin’s wedding, emotions are slightly high.
The only thing that can really help to distract her is her family’s yearly tradition of playing Assassin, and this year it’s happening during the week of wedding festivities. Meredith is playing to honor her sister, who was the undisputed Assassin champion, but the only thing standing in her way is a very cute groomsman by the name of Wit.
She told herself she wasn’t going to get close, having just broken up with her long-term boyfriend, but Meredith and Wit grow ever closer as the week progresses. When the two form an unlikely alliance, Meredith finds herself falling for Wit with the game on the line.
To me, this is the quintessential summer book that I read every year on vacation. It has the perfect summer vibes and feels like everything good about summer was bottled up and injected into the book. While still dealing with themes of grief, this book shows that you don’t have to be perfect while healing from a loss.
While I do love the romance in this book, for me the game of Assassin fully took the spotlight. I don’t think I’ve ever been more envious of a book in my life, because this seems like such a fun thing to do, especially with a large family or group of friends. I thoroughly enjoyed reading how Meredith planned on taking everyone out to get to the end along with all of the strategy her and Wit concocted throughout the week.
Something I also appreciated in this book was how the characters each had depth to them and were not surface level like you tend to find in romance books. Everyone felt real and tangible, and you felt like you were in the story with them.
If you are looking for books to read this summer, this is one I highly recommend!