Unfortunately, you have to slog through a lot of the fluff to get there.

Something about the writing style read as pnr-grade fluffy at the start, but it did breach the realm of sci-fi the further into the book we got. Since we as readers are plopped down into the middle of high school drama right off the bat, I can see how some people might want to possibly bail out early on. I wasn't a big fan of the first half of this story and had to settle in for a while before it started to grow on me. I can see why the sell might be a little difficult. For a moment, I thought I was in the middle of campaign season and watching one of those 'Campaign Opponent X is teh debil' ads. Hey, I'm all for everyone having the right to agree/disagree with whatever's going on out in the 'real world,' but I'd rather not read about what's distasteful to an author in my books. Just a hunch on my part, but it would appear that this author has an axe to grind with conservatives after reading some of the snide commentary in The Rules. Readers who like their sci-fi spiced with intrigue, romance, and high-school drama will find this solid action adventure quite satisfying.Eats Babiesģ.25 stars. Both Ariane's strangeness and her powers will fulfill every introverted reader's most cherished fantasies about social revenge, while the relationship between her and Zack (each appealingly vulnerable for different reasons) blooms with an irresistible doomed sweetness. A surprising twist ends with Ariane questioning everything her 'father' has taught her and realigning her ideas about enemies and allies and about what she is and is not willing to give up to stay safe. Rachel tries to set Ariane up for public humiliation by getting her friend Zack to date and dump her, but Zack can't help finding Ariane intriguing, and Ariane can't help setting off little explosions whenever Rachel gets her angry. Jacobs' granddaughter, Rachel, who is as adept at social torture as her grandfather is at the physical side. Now, ten years later, Ariane has come to the attention of Dr. Jacobs resort to torturing her, and a guard at the facility took pity on her, helped her escape, and took her into his life as a de facto-and, as far as the public is concerned, legal and custodial-daughter. That barrier, and her inability to control it, made Dr. The problem was her human side, which won't allow her to kill or harm a living creature without a good reason. Jacobs, her creator, was determined to weaponize.

Ariane was a valuable government experiment-a successful human/alien hybrid with mental powers that Dr.

The Rules by Stacey Kade