Another excellent title, which will challenge readers and writers alike. Excellent choice of protagonists and plot line that will engage all.

I really struggled to read this unfortunately.
It was just felt too YA for me - i love a YA but this felt almost a bit below YA.

Story felt fast paced which I enjoyed!

Thanks for the opportunity to review this and apologies it took so long - I found Netgalley during COVID and then lost access.

This is a YA thriller book.
The storyline was fast paced and told in a diary format.
I did struggle to connect with the characters on occasions.

The Rules is one of those books you find hard to put down. This is a very quick read as we follow Amber who is on the run from her abusive, controlling father. The Rules her father has in place are simple, if you follow them. It quickly becomes clear that Amber’s father (as well as being abusive) is quite unwell. Amber is well versed in how to be on the run, how to keep a low profile and everything needed to survive. I enjoyed the pace of this novel and I liked Amber and Josh. The conclusion was kind of expected but still well done.

I tried reading this in physical when I found the book instore and didnt like the writing style. I found it very dry and very young adult which I should have figured that out myself.

I loved this book it was intriguing and I couldn’t put it down. I absolutely loved the main character. Very gripping. Highly recommended.

First of all a big thank you to netgalley, the author and the publishers for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

Secondly I am so sorry that it took me so damn long to read it!

This book was phenomenal. It was a solid 4 star throughout and then that last chapter hits and wow. 5 stars without a doubt. The end of a thriller, as I've said so many times before, can make or break the entire book. This ending definitely made the entire book. I was enjoying it before that but just wow.

I'm not going to go too into detail because I believe you should go into thrillers either completely blind or just knowing the blurb. But I can say with all my heart that if you pick this thriller up you will not be disappointed.

Absolute masterpiece.

I really enjoyed this book. It was gripping from the start and kept me guessing until the very end. Would definitely recommend.

I struggled with what to rate this book. I didn't dislike it but I didn't love it either...so think 3 stars is fair.

I enjoyed how the chapters had titles of rules and then that chapter was about that rule.

I found Amber and Josh hard to like.

The story seemed to present Josh as a nomad rather than homeless and I wasn't sure about that. Would have liked some more background on Josh and his reasons. Why would he choose to be homeless? And if it wasn't by choice...then this story didn't seem like a fair representation of homeless people...and don't think his behaviour will help increase visibility as homeless people as human beings...which some people fail to see them as...which is shocking.

Amber was difficult. I understand why she was the way she was...but made her a hard character to view everything through and as such the story was difficult all round. I thought she was fairly consistent though...except her decision to take Josh with her which made absolutely no sense with the rest of the story and no sense with her rules and that really bugged me.

There were build up to big revelations but none came...they were either obvious or just forgotten and not mentioned again.

I liked the idea of preppers and how they operate but this didn't seem to properly delve into that as we saw everything through Amber...who was going off the learnings of just one person...there was talk of a wider community but unfortunately we didn't get to see it at all...which I would have found interesting.

Overall the story was interesting but I needed a bit more to be invested fully in the story.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this a lot. There was a lot of the book that annoyed me though, I think that we could have done with some flashbacks or something to show why Amber was running from her Dad, it didn't really make sense until the end. The ending did shock me, but it also felt in character for Ambers Dad so although it was shocking, it wasn't as shocking as it could have been.
I think it needed more character building and more development, however it is still a solid 4 star and I enjoyed it!

I very nearly DNF'd this, not because it was necessarily bad - I just think it personally wasn't for me. The story itself was interesting and I really felt for Amber as she had to give up the small amount of a normal life she had once again to get away from her dad. The way the rules she had learnt were intertwined with the story was done well but I just didn't really care about anything that happened? I don't even know why, I just didn't care about the story and just kinda wanted it to be over with. Again I think that's more my personal preference as the writing was good and I can see why others would love it it just wasn't for me.

This story has twists and turns that keeps the reader wanting more.
A story about a teenager told in the present, with flashbacks to her past. Ambers upbringing has been one of misery, troubles and grief. When she finally breaks free of her fathers rules, is she ever really free?
An enjoyable teen thriller.

I love the main character - she's resourceful, determined and a skilled survivalist. Up with girls who can save themselves!
An absolutely gripping thriller, full of twists and dark secrets.

It didn’t do it for me. I struggled to connect or even relate to the main characters which meant I didn’t enjoy it all that much really

The Rules is an absolutely ok book. It's nothing special, it's nothing awful, it's just fine. I was expecting the ~secrets~ alluded to throughout the book to be something more, even more content in the secret(s). There was unnecessary fat-shaming that added nothing to the story and just made the main character seem like an awful person so why should I want to care about her? She's bland and boring, and brought no life to the story. I liked Josh for the most part, and found the ending mostly satisfying.

I found this book to be a tough read 😕, I just couldn’t get into it at all and found it read more like non fiction In parts rather than fiction. I didn’t think it had much of a storyline And ended up skipping pages. Sorry this one just wasn’t for me 😬

Only read if you are not triggered by abuse stories.

Finding out what happened to Amber was the main reason why I continued with this book. However, her character is a bit of a contradiction - she says she doesn't trust anyone but does a lot of trusting of people she has only just met.

The characters aren't particularly likeable but they are compelling and I was drawn into the story simply because I wanted to know what happened next. The book is rather dark and contains triggers for abuse among other things. I think Amber will linger with me for a while because of the strong way the author portrayed her.

What a page-turner! The Truth About Lies was fantastic, but I think this might even be better.

Amber's dad is a 'prepper' - he is getting ready for any number of end-of-days scenarios where survivors (and he intends to be one of them) will be ready for anything. He's been out of Amber's life, but now it seems he's coming back for her, and Amber, well-trained, goes on the run - no way does she want to be found by her dad. Not what after happened before.

Pacy, nerve-jangling, reading - and with such a clever ending. I can't wait for more from Tracy Darnton.

The Rules started as the ‘The Letter’, a short story that appeared in ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’. A story that I had read and reviewed as:
“This doesn’t feel like a short story and more like the start-up of a novel as the eventful stuff has either happened or about to happen. There’s an interesting story there, but this glimpse into Amber’s life is a small catalyst that hints at several possibilities.”

Yeah, I rated it 4 stars but I think I was in a generous mood then or my standards have changed in 4 years. The short story is basically the first chapter now with a few changes, removing and adding things.

This book is also randomly set during the run-up to Christmas. The story starts on the 1st of December and has an Advent calendar which is fun, but this book came out in July. Usually, Christmas specific books come out in September. It's fine and makes sense since Christmas was part of the original story. I don’t personally want Christmas till November.

I never really liked Amber in this book. She body shames her social worker in the first moments when we meet her, which makes me confused as to why I rated the story so highly. She’s okay and clearly has no good role model.

I give this book this, there is no romance. I love a book that doesn’t force in a romance sub-plot for no reason. Instead, we have friendship, a found family thing. It’s not that great though. Amber doesn’t like Josh, I don’t like Josh and even though half the book is building up this friendship, it feels more out of ob than anything. There’s never a true turning point of fondness for each other, at least on Amber’s point.

The book is a first-person point of view. Amber is a okay narrator. She is a harden. traumatized character and there’s a shield around her. Characters don’t have to be likable, but since she not I feel like 50 pages could have been taken out and added to time with the main conflict of the book.

The timeline of this story is odd and confusing. I think she 15 because she constantly called underage, and in the eyes of the law, you’re an adult at 16 in the UK. She also seems to be 15 in past moments, a lot of stuff has to have happened when she was 15.

Overall, I give this book 3/5 stars for Scavenged Mushrooms. I’m not sure what genre this book belongs to. It’s too slow-paced to be a thriller. even at the height of the action that does happen. It's technically a mystery. but I would never recommend it as so. I guess it’s a Dark Contemporary. It is another book that sort of deals with forester care, which YA needs more of but I also wouldn’t rec it for that. This just an okay book. I might read Darton again. I do own her debut novel, so I’ll probably read that one day.