This is one of those books where silence fills the air when you put it down because your brain is saturated with the characters voice while reading. I loved it. Beautifully written with tons of interesting tidbits about art, literature, New York, and life. Did you know you can’t lick your elbow? The characters were so well developed and I loved following both of their journeys. The tension that typically comes wasn’t overly dramatic though it was gut-wrenching. I was totally rooting for these too and would be so happy to have just kept on reading about them.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Short summary: when Cara sees Lauren at their 10 year reunion, her high school crush feelings come flooding back. Lauren doesn’t remember Cara as well but has a crush of her own now. But Lauren has a tortured past and the women are on opposite sides of the wealth divide. Can they overcome their differences or will the crush remain unrequited?

I can’t begin to say how much I enjoyed The Rules of Forever. The story feels so in-depth, with well developed characters who both have their own issues and insecurities. Cara Talarico is a Princeton grad teaching high school English in Harlem. She is putting her personal goals in life on hold until she can rid herself of student debt. At her 10 year class reunion she meets her school crush Lauren Havemayer. The school was a private boarding school and Cara attended as a day student because her mother was an employee. Lauren has little to no memory of Cara but offers her a ride back to NYC. Lauren, has my in another lifetime fantasy dream job, of being a new curator at the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art). She’s been living in London finishing her PhD and hasn’t made friends in the city yet.

The book takes extra time to show activities and conversations between the pair. Cara has real issues with Lauren’s money. At times it felt repetitive but some of the rules alluded to in the title are to make Cara more comfortable with the time they spend together. Lauren’s money has been an issue in her past relationships too. I love art so having that be instrumental to the story was a big bonus to me. It was a way for the pair to work together to help Cara’s students. It also was another example of money or class differences between the two. But Lauren’s passion for it was a constant in her character. Cara’s mom and Lauren’s family, especially her aunts enrich the story. I didn’t feel as much of a connection to the school friends for either character.

The book felt longer but I enjoyed every conversation and gestures big and small. I really didn’t want it to end other than wanting them to be together. This is seemingly a debut novel and I can’t wait to see what the author will write next. Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.


Cara is a teacher who loves her job but struggles to get her students more invested. When Cara and her friend Lisa goes to their school reunion she get to see her unrequited crush Lauren who didn’t really look her way. Cara and Lauren get a chance to know each other as a friendship forms they decide to have friends with benefits because Cara want to focus on being debt free and Lauren who been burn doesn’t trust herself to be in a relationship. This was good read but I’ll never get friends with benefits you want the benefits but not a relationship that doesn’t seem right to me because you windup getting feelings it’ll been better if just have benefits without a friendship called each other up if you want that itch scratch because as you spend time together you are going windup getting feelings.

This story deals with the subject of a rather extreme class difference quite subtly and without much drama. Although sometimes everything has seemed perfect when real life surely would not have been so.

Cara is a girl who studied at a boarding school thanks to her mother working there. In that boarding school there were girls from the upper social class and others from the middle class like her. The book does not deal much with the time in which they studied there, but from what little is mentioned, there was a kind of differentiation between classes, apparently unwanted but caused because those from the upper social class were boarding there day and night and those from the middle class only went during school hours.

Cara was a day student and Lauren, the other protagonist, a boarder. And Cara had a total crush on Lauren then, but her shyness and lack of opportunity meant she didn't act on it then. Besides, Lauren was totally straight and out of her league, right? But now that their 10th graduation anniversary is coming up, they're going to have to see each other again, and Cara might dare to talk to Lauren now.

But at the school reunion the one who notices Cara is Lauren, who to Cara's surprise is not so straight now nor was she then. But despite this circumstance that can unite them in some way, there are still many things that separate them, starting with Cara's pride and her stubbornness in not receiving help from anyone and getting ahead on her own.

So for Lauren and Cara to overcome so many barriers that separate them, the two of them will have to put a lot on their part, honesty, empathy and a lot of respect.

The story contains quite a few cliches, it was to be expected, it also has interesting secondary characters that complement the two protagonists.

So in short it has been an interesting story, somewhat repetitive, but acceptable.

The Rules of Forever brings us in New York/New jersey where Cara and Lauren share a ride home after their high school 10 years reunion. Cara had a massive crush on Lauren in school and her friends still tease her about it while Lauren barely remembers Cara. They start with friendship and move into the benefits area shortly after. While Lauren comes from money and lives in a luxurious penthouse, Cara is a former scholarship owner, public school teacher who has a well established plan to keep her life on hold until she pays her student loans in 7 or so year. Oh, and she has a massive chip on her shoulder when it comes to money.
There’s friendship, there’s banter, there’s confusion, there’s chemistry, there’s love and angst and I recommend you read this book. I loved it.

Free ARC via NetGalley