ARC Review ~ Rules of Survival by Jus Accardo

eARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: June 2nd 2014

Publisher: Entangled Embrace

Description:
If you want to survive, you have to follow the rules…

Mikayla Morgan is wanted for her mother's murder. She's been on the run for almost a year now, avoiding not only the police but the real killer. Tired of running and desperate to clear her name, she breaks one of the most sacred rules: never return to the scene of the crime.

Every bounty hunter on the Eastern Seaboard is after the Morgan girl—but Shaun Denver and his partner snagged her. She's a piece of work, and Shaun can't decide if he wants to kiss her or kill her. When things take a sharp turn south, Shaun does the only thing he can think of to keep her close—he handcuffs them together.

As the danger mounts and the killer closes in, the chemistry between them threatens to explode. Shaun and Kayla will need to break all the rules if they hope to get out of this alive.

My Opinion

Wow, where to begin... I have never read anything by this author so I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I requested Rules of Survival. However, the bounty hunter aspect intrigued me and I couldn't wait to get started when the acceptance finally came. The book seemed to have a different angle with the concept and the fact the characters were going to be chained together was already creating interesting situations in my head before I started reading.

It is safe to say that this book didn't disappoint at all. Right from the start it was full of action and I got a great sense of the danger Kayla was in and how she had been living. Of course everything isn't revealed and things come together in the final section f the book but it was clear that Kayla's mum got into a sticky situation and Kayla was paying the price with not only the bad guy after her but bounty hunters.

I will admit that I was a bit worried that this was going to turn into a spin off of the movie "bounty hunter" what with the hand cuffs and promise of romance but as the book developed it became its own and just kept on getting better and better with every page. I liked how it became just Shaun and Kayla for most of the book and the emotions created were believable. I enjoyed how they grew together and slowly became drawn to one another while the tension at that the fact Shaun had cuffed them together still lingered. I was also surprised that this aspect didn't become boring and overused. There was a presence of it in the background but the author didn't keep making a big deal out of it until necessary.

Because of this it also led Kayla to become a strong female lead. She was not whiny at all, she held herself together and although living by her mother's rules and the repetition of them did become slightly too much she had a clear sense of purpose and characterisation. Likewise, I liked how Shaun managed to bring out a more reckless side to her whereby she would take risks. He had an uncontrollable temper but when his jovial side shone through his jokes or charm made me smile.

The plot in Rules of Survival was brilliant and I think it's been one of my favourite books so far this year. I seriously had problem stopping and just kept turning pages as it only got better as it went. It was action-packed, filled with drama (the good kind), had a high intensity and well written. As well as this the elements of romance were executed brilliantly and when things got hot--believe me they got hot. They were a great contrast to the action but also the ferocity involved added to the danger aspect so it all linked nicely.

There is only one minor complaints I have with this book. And that was, that although it has a satisfying ending, I would have liked more. It tied up everything and gives the reader hope but I would have liked maybe one more chapter or and epilogue that skipped ahead a bit to give a less abrupt feel and satisfy me a bit more. It left me wanting more and I don't know if this is a standalone but I feel one more chapter was needed.

Overall though, I loved this book. The characters were great, it was full of action and I couldn't put it down. This is definitely one I'm going to have to get in paperback when it's released and I'm glad I got it in advance (so thank you to the publisher). I would highly recommend giving this book a go when it's released as I'm off to check out this author's other work!