Review: Breaking the Rules by Jennifer Lewis

Book Description: 

A fortune teller predicted Joe Figueroa would meet the love of his life that very night, so he took fate by the horns and chose his wife. Now his marriage and his naval career are in ruins and he’s got a bone to pick with that psychic. When he tracks her down the haunting gypsy beauty doesn’t look a day older, just more entrancing than ever.

Did Joe choose the wrong woman to marry that night?

Susana Cigan barely recognizes the man whose fate she’d once seen linked with hers. Yet Joe awakens something inside her that stirs her body and threatens her psychic gift. She’s tired of her gypsy heritage confining her in a narrow world of tradition and superstition and knows she could lead this wounded and hostile stranger on a journey to redemption. Will she dare to follow her heart and venture into unfamiliar—and sensual—territory with this man who threatens to break all her rules?

Even though I'm giving this 4 stars, it's more like 4 for the first half and 3 for the second half. But, I'm feeling generous so I'll round the 3.5 up to 4.

I enjoyed this book. It started off really great but somewhere in the middle, it lagged and lost some steam. The book was approximately 150 pages but somehow felt shorter, like some of the story was missing.

The beginning was really good. I loved seeing the first meeting between Joe and Susana. Hearing her prediction for him…and seeing them 10 years later. I loved how everything until the morning after the spent the night together. It was the scene with her cousins that the book took a wrong turn for me. It wasn’t bad but I felt like part of the story was missing. I guess I wish that the confrontation with the cousins happened after they had spent more time together instead of one night.

I felt bad for Susana. She was quite literally trapped in her life. Her gifts, while strong, kept life very constricted. She did what was expected of her. She gave up things normal people take for granted because it was deemed appropriate by her grandmother. And as long as her grandmother was alive, she was ok with that. Until she meets Joe again. For the first time, she’s willing to entertain of a new life with a different job…even without her gifts.

I liked Joe and Susana together. I thought they had great chemistry. I liked how they interacted with each other and would have liked to see more relationship time for them. 

This was my first Jennifer Lewis book but it won’t be my last. Even with my issues regarding the second half, the author kept me hooked in the story to see if Joe and Susana would work things out and get their HEA. 

I received this copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can be found on Goodreads.