Lane Meckler is a well known advice columnist with a troubled past and a stressful present. After her husband dies in a car accident, her six-year-old son stops speaking. Lane decides to move him to a new town, hoping to help him with his grief. Moving is something Lane is all to familiar with - her family moved every few years when she was young. As Lane and Henry begin their move, Lane thinks back to her childhood. In order to help her son deal with his trauma and grief, she must first deal with her own.

I loved the themes of trauma, grief and parenting, and growth in this story. However, there were parts that just felt drawn out for no particular reason. I think this book would have been much more enjoyable if it had be shorter and gotten to the point. All the times when conversations were avoided or deflected were not necessary and for me, those took away from my enjoyment of the overall story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Nancy Star and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC of Rules for Moving in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC

I really liked this story. I loved how the book truly captured the emotions and reactions of a child and why they reaction as they do.

This story is a eye opener as to how events can change an entire life in a moment.

Such a great book that deals with heartache, and family

Lane Meckler, aka advice columnist 'Ask Roxie,' has all the answers for her readers, but readers would be surprised to know her own home life and family don't function well. With a philandering husband who drinks a lot, parents who are secretive and a past full of frequent moves, Lane wonders how she can give such popular advice.

After the unexpected death of her husband, she moves her son to a new home where he has difficulty making friends, particularly because he no longer speaks. The house has problems so she moves again. Her family, parents and sister, all join her and Lane decides to get to the bottom of all the family secrets.

Lane Meckler AKA Roxie is an advice columnist whose life has become a little but of a mess itself. Her husband is killed in a car accident while on his way to a work party with his "work wife.". Lane has mixed feelings about his death since they hadn't been getting along recently. Her son Henry is devastated and stops talking to everyone except Lane.

As Lane tries to navigate her new normal she reflects back on her own childhood and how it has shaped the person she has become. Her relationship with her parents is strained and after a visit with them she decides she needs a fresh start. Growing up her family was constantly moving and h Lane is starting to figure out that may not have been the best thing. With the help of new friends and old family Lane finally starts to get her life together and attempts to find her true self.

This was an okay read for me. I liked a lot of the characters, however some of them needed more background to them. The relationship between Lane and Shelley was never fully explained and I also think her parents could have had more detail written about them. Her Uncle Albie obviously went through something traumatic and I don't know why her parents were so secretive about that, when everyone went through it together. The beginning chapter with the realtor was unnecessary and slightly confusing. I would recommend the book, it didn't blow me away but it held my interest.

This story follows Lane aka Roxie (agony aunt), who has to come to terms with life after her husband’s sudden death, a matter complicated by the fact she wanted to leave him.

Following his death, their six year old son, Henry, stops talking to anyone other than her, and Lane must find a way to become a single parent, support her child, and handle the fact her job might be at risk. With a family history of moving when things get tricky, Lane packs her bags and finds herself starting again.

I really struggled with pretty much everything to do with this book. I found Lane impossible to connect with, I didn’t understand the issue with her sister, I couldn’t force myself to care about her parents or reclusive Uncle Albie. Nathan, the would-be new man on the scene was far too bland, yet I felt he had great potential. In short, I was left feeling like I just didn’t get something about this – am I missing something?

The way Henry is portrayed is fantastic, and actually, had this been a book far more about a child struggling with anxiety and grief (and possibly even a hint of ASD) then this would have been a wonderfully heart-warming and thought provoking read. However, it wasn’t, and therefore it just did nothing for me at all.

The Stars
This just didn’t work for me on many levels, but that is entirely personal preference: 3 stars. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in return for an honest review.

In regards to Henry's perspective, the writing was wonderful. His inner voice was honest and pure. I found Lane difficult to relate to, especially with her general aversion toward the entire human race. She was severe, intractable, and cloaked in misery long before Aaron's death. It was difficult to fathom how she could have so many uncharitable thoughts about everyone (Aaron, Sylvie, Marshall, etc) save Henry. After my third attempt, I finally put the book down for good. Lane was not a sympathetic character which made it difficult to make an emotional investment in the story. DNF'd at about 25%.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and Nancy Star for an ARC of 'Rules for Moving' in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

I’m so furious to myself because this amazing read wait for me at least three months at my shelf and I waited too much to grab my hands into it. But finally I did and I truly enjoyed this heartfelt story.

This is one of the saddest and most realistic stories about moving on your life when you’re struggling with your past and experiencing so many traumatic setups prevents you to evolve and start a new beginning.
Lane Meckler is a columnist advising people how to gather the pieces their lives as she fails and loses the control of everything. She is a train-wreck and as her husband decides to leave her, he drunk drives and dies at the traffic accident with a mysterious woman next to him. And their sweet six years old Henry ( I want to sing him “Sweet Child of Mine” and adopt him so bad. He is one of the amazing characters of the book) stops talking.

Lane needs to take a break. She needs a fresh start. She needs to find a new house. So she takes her son and finds a new house in New Jersey but the place is money pit, needs too much repairs and re-construction. Landlord Nathan feels ashamed about inconvenience and as soon as Lane’s mother comes to her house without noticing, he offers them to rent another property at Martha’s Vineyard spending their summer till the construction finalizes.

As they spend the summer, Lane slowly becomes stronger and faces her troubles, inner demons, finds her own voice. This is an emotional finding and rediscovering yourself, second chances, grief, healing your past, enjoying your present and being brave about your future book. We also find out the real reasons behind Lane’s failed marriage. But the reason about Henry’s silence warmed my heart and felt for him so deeply.

This book is heartwarming, poignantly written, emotional, tear jerking ( prepare lots of tissues and bring out your wine glasses) If you enjoy family dramas, effective, intense women’s fictions about grief and questioning your life, catching the second chances of your life, this is great fit for you.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for sharing this emotional ARC in exchange for my honest review. And congrats to Nancy Star to write this powerful, heart wrenching story.

Interesting novel about the love of a mother and navigating through grief. I couldn't connect much with the story line and characters, I think that is why I wasn't a huge fan of the book but very well written.

I enjoyed this book. The main character, Lane Meckler is flawed but extremely relatable. Lane's self-discovery and journey as she tries to understand herself and her surroundings is beautiful. Nancy Star captures intense self-reflection very well in "Rules for Moving".
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"To the outside world, beloved advice columnist Lane Meckler has all the answers. What no one knows is that she also has a secret: her life is a disaster, and it’s just gotten worse. Her husband, whom she was planning to leave, has died in a freak accident. Her six-year-old son, Henry, has stopped speaking to everyone but her. Lane’s solution? Move. Growing up, that was what her family did best.

But when she and Henry pack up and leave, Lane realizes that their next home is no better, and she finally begins to ask herself some hard questions. What made her family move so often? Why has she always felt like an outsider? How can she get Henry to speak?

On a journey to help her son find his voice, Lane discovers that somewhere along the way she lost her own. If she wants to help him, she’ll need to find the courage to face the past and to speak the truth she’s been hiding from for years." - Amazon summary.

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

I thought the premise of this book was great. However, it did not all come together for me. It seemed as though all of the issues were glossed over, and swept under a rug. The explanations given quickly at the end seemed thrown together without any substance. It just all seemed very strange to me, but I am looking forward to reading other books from this author.

I want to start off by saying thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book, it was a very good read easy to follow along with storyline and characters. This was a new author for me but I very much enjoyed it, thank you for the opportunity and I look forward to reading more by this author again. I highly recommend this book to everybody.

There are parts of this book that are very interesting. I enjoyed Lane the columnist providing advice to others. I found this story to be slow and at times hard to get through. The thoughts and plot of the story were good and interesting. The execution of the story seem to be long and drawn-out. I don’t think it took as long as it did to get the substance of the matter.
Lane was a likable character. Her ability to provide advice to others yet struggled when it came to her own life rang true to me. Henry was an adorable little boy who was struggling with the loss of his father and with being uncomfortable in social settings. Henry was a bright little boy would mastered all of Lane’s family rules about moving. It is in his repeating of these rules to Lane that I believe causes her to take a deeper look at the situation.
This is Lane’s journey to find a path forward after husband unexpected death. It is compounded that Lane was planning to leave him is really unsure how to feel. Her focus is on her son Henry who has stopped talking to everyone but her. When things get tough Lane reverts back to her childhood and how her parents handled things, so she packs up to move. When the change does not provide any relief to the situation, Lane has to ask herself the very hard questions about her childhood. It is only through this journey with her sister and parents that Lane remembers her past and from an adult point of view is able to see the truth.

Adult fiction isn’t usually my thing, but I felt like trying it out this time, with the story of Lane and her son Henry, while they go through grief, moving and self-discovery after Lane’s husband died.

While I was not captivated by the beginning of the book, the way Nancy Star writes the grieving process and all the psychology behind all the events in the story ended up getting to me. I feel like this is a simple plot, involving the death of a loved one, that got interesting with a few turning points involving Lane’s family. Unfortunately, those turning points, and plot twists come waaaaaaaay too late in the book, and I had grown a little bored by then. I didn’t DNF it though, because the writing style touched me, and I could feel the emotion injected in the story. Also I felt bad for Lane and I wanted to see how far it would go.

Although the main narrator is Lane, Henry is the reason I ended up enjoying the book. That kid makes the whole thing better, brighter. Including chapters from Henry’s point of view regarding the events was the best idea, and it made me truly like the story. Until the first of Henry’s POV, I msut admit I was pretty bored. Lane is kind of a random woman. I guess that’s the point, since it makes it easier for readers to identify to her, but I thought she was simply bland. The accent should be more on Henry. Lane talks about him, but I want more Henry as himself.

In the end, I have mixed feelings about Rules for moving… I enjoyed it towards the end, but it took me so long to get invested in the story ! I’m pretty sure it’s because I still am in my younger years, and can’t relate to Lane’s situation yet though.

I think it really falls in the adult fiction genre, and since I’m not a full adult yet, I have trouble enjoying this genre. However, if you’re more mature than me, or have a particular interest towards psychological journeys and self introspection, it could be a nice read for you !

I read an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

I found it a lot more moving than I expected! The conceit of the advice columnist needing advice in her own life could have been clunky, but it was actually really tenderly done, and the plot was interesting. Some subplots seemed to have got a bit lost along the way, and I was expecting certain characters to play far more of a role than they actually did. But in general, it was quite a sensitively written book.

Rules for Moving follows Lane, advice columnist by day, unhappily wedded mother by night. When her husband dies in a sudden and tragic accident, Lane’s son, six year old Henry, inexplicably stops speaking to everyone but her. In the aftermath of the funeral, Lane must juggle her grieving son, a job on rocky ground, and a flood of memories dredged up by her complicated family. With only her sister as an ally (and a sporadic one at that), Lane struggles to be seen while drowning under the weight of this challenging reality. With a few helping hands from surprising sources, Lane and Henry try to navigate their normal normal.

In the beginning, this book was giving me Evvie Drake Starts Over vibes. But it quickly diverged, and at over four hundred pages, Rules for Moving ultimately dragged on for longer than I had hoped. I had difficulty connecting with Lane or Henry, and the slow reveal of family secrets and relational developments was poorly buttressed by a supporting cast that was equally lackluster. The hard hitting moments of grief and hopelessness didn’t land with quite as much impact as I imagine Star was hoping.

“You want to know who a person really is, watch how they treat someone who’s different.”

Still, I found the handling of Henry’s anxiety - his inability to speak - compassionate and raw. Being the parent of a special child is always a challenge, but I thought the entire book acted as something of a guidebook to parents encountering similar hurdles with their children. Lane’s ability to love her son and accept him despite her frustration with his silence is a welcome reminder that so much of parenting is patience and perspective.

In the end, while my interest was piqued by the plot, I was let down by how fully formed the characters weren’t, especially Lane’s landlord come friend Nathan, and the neighbors she meets while coming to grips with her family secrets. I thought the placement and purpose of these particular characters was a bit heavy-handed and detracted from the nuance the book had established in previous chapters.

I tend to rate my books by my likelihood to read them again. There are the books you keep for rereads, books you loan out and want back, books you loan out and don’t care about seeing again, and books you which get donated. This would be donation book for me!

Trigger warning for PTSD, childhood trauma, drowning, and domestic violence.

Lane Meckler, aka advice columnist 'Ask Roxie,' has all the answers for her readers, but readers would be surprised to know her own home life and family don't function well. With a philandering husband who drinks a lot, parents who are secretive and a past full of frequent moves, Lane wonders how she can give such popular advice.

After the unexpected death of her husband, she moves her son to a new home where he has difficulty making friends, particularly because he no longer speaks. The house has problems so she moves again. Her family, parents and sister, all join her and Lane decides to get to the bottom of all the family secrets.

"The Rules for Moving" was a wonderful, sad, sometimes funny read.

"Here's what I love. A blank slate. Waiting to be transformed. You see bare walls. I see a magical playroom."

Lane Meckler is Roxie, a professional advice columnist. She grew up moving around alot and is really antisocial.
Lane's husband is killed in a car accident and their son stops talking to everyone but her. She thinks a change will be good for them all.
You won't put this book down until the last page. Not anything like thought! I look forward to reading more from this wonderful author!

Thank you to publisher and NetGalley for the eARC

Thank you to the publisher and author for providing me with a digital ARC of this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I found this title to be mediocre. Nothing to really complain about, but neither can I really think about anything that I really liked about it. It was a nice story, with some interesting characters. I did like the background of the main character writing an advice column and how that plays in to her own life and feelings. I was confused by the relationship with her parents and this silent, helpless seeming uncle that lived with them. It was distracting to to the story- even though it does all wrap up and make sense in the end. I also was bothered by the treatment her young son received at school. It seemed harsh to have a teacher and principal act so harshly and uncaring towards a student. especially an innocent 6 year old. It was frustrating to me. Ok, I guess I do have a couple complaints but I did also think of a positive aspect of the story. I did like the friendship/romance between Lane and her landlord. I liked the move to the lake and the relationships formed there. The book was easy to read, but I found myself feeling underwhelmed at the end. ,

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC

I really liked this story. I loved how the book truly captured the emotions and reactions of a child and why they reaction as they do.

This story is a eye opener as to how events can change an entire life in a moment.

Such a great book that deals with heartache, and family

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! Oh my heart just broke so many times reading this gem. I could relate to this mother who is very antisocial. So misunderstood all the time. Her sweet son is one of those rare sensitive children who understands things that most kids don’t. I kept picturing him as the child from the movie The Switch! This is an author I will be watching.