Craves The Angst: NEW ARC REVIEW - RULE BREAKER (Unbreakable #2) by Kat and Stone Bastion:

"... an enchanting, romantic, steamy-hot story with amazing characters ..." - Craves the Angst

TITLE: Rule Breaker
SERIES: Unbreakable
SERIES PLACEMENT: #2
AUTHOR: Kat & Stone Bastion
AGE GROUP: New Adult
GENRE: Romance
RELEASE DATE: November 7, 2016
PUBLISHER: Self-Publish
PAGES: Approx. 400

COPY PROVIDED BY: Author
MY GOODREADS REVIEW LINK
RATING: 4 Stars

BOOK BLURB:
Racial Tensions Flare as Hot as the Passion in RULE BREAKER, a Modern-day Romeo and Juliet Story

Leilani Kealoha wants to be set free. Of family expectations. Of generations of prejudice.

Chafing at rules made by the proud Hawaiian men in her family, she yearns to discover herself and hungers to explore the world. Her adventuresome heart? Longs for something even greater, deeper.

The last thing she expects is an East Coast haole surfer to hold the key to everything.

Mason Price is done walking his parents’ path. Done with social acceptance—with cold politics.

On a surfing quest to reinvent himself, Mase finds an exotic beauty standing on his towel. But it’s her feisty bargaining that catches him off guard. When he challenges her with a “Truth or Shots” drinking game, she unwittingly reveals more than she’d intended about herself…and him.

The raw truth stuns him: She’s suffered like he has, is lost like he is—keeps secrets like he does.

But will young love and shared situations be enough to conquer racial and cultural divides?

Lines in the sand…were meant to be crossed.

***RULE BREAKER is a standalone, full-length new adult romance told in dual POV. Due to mature themes and adult language, this book is for those 18 and older.***

REVIEWER'S NOTE: I received this eARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

4 “Mahalo” Stars!

The Review:

What a great read! Filled with powerful writing that conjured up majestic views of Hawai’i, the authors take us on a fun filled journey of conquering dreams, overcoming family expectations and prejudices, forgiveness and living in the now, all the while spinning an enchanting, romantic, steamy-hot story with amazing characters who find it in themselves to risk it all for love! I very much enjoyed this book!

Story/Characters...

Leilani Kealoha is an islander. She’s lived in Hawaii her whole life but dreams of exploring the world, away from her cultural dictatorial family. She’s a bit of a wild child, acting without thinking and it usually ends with her in trouble. She has a lot of spark and she wanted to be free from the stifling traditions her family placed on her so when her brother, someone who has always had her back, asks for her assistance in landing a popular surfer, a haole - a white man/stranger, she was reluctant, but owed him, so said yes. She never thought she’d find more than she bargained for. I loved her resistance. It was fun to watch her struggle between obligations and what her heart wanted. And then ultimately melt when hot-boy Mase was around. She was such a strong, admirable character.

Mase was level headed, had a need to be honest, loyal and honorable. He tried to give as much as he got and wanted fairness and peace in his life. I enjoyed his character so much. He was strong and solid and knew what he wanted and went after it. He was complicated though. His wasn’t running so much as trying to leave behind a shaky and tragic past. He longed to find a place to “belong” and when he decides to settle amongst the locals in Lanie’s village, not everyone is willing to give the haole a chance. But I loved his determination. He was willing to fight the prejudices to keep the life, the place and the woman he finally felt he belonged to.

These two together were so sweet! There was a gentle, slow-build to passion, but the in between was intense and wonderful. I couldn’t wait for these two to finally come together and when they did, it was fantastic!

The Wrap Up:

This was a great story with fun dialogue as the characters bantered back and forth and touched on some serious issues within our society. It also had some thrilling surfing action and a lot of intense character moments. And it was a real eye opener as to the struggle of island life and how they live there, how they think and ultimately, how wonderful a people they are.

I’d never really read a surfing book before, or one that included such scene view of Hawaii and I’ve never been interested in visiting that part of the world, but now ... it’s firmly on my bucket list. This was such a great read!