Rating: 2.5 stars

This book was coasting at a steady 2.5 stars for me for most of it, to be honest, but for some reason I just couldn't put it down. I bumped it up to a 3 stars on Goodreads for the ending though, which I really liked. I liked the premise of the book and I've always enjoyed books with a split timeline, in this case split between the current timeline where Amber is on the run from her father and the past where she is trying to escape him. It kept me reading, because there were little hints dropped throughout of stress-tests and Amber's other secrets, and I was keen to find out exactly how they unravelled. I wasn't totally blown away by the secrets that were revealed. I guess I kind of expected something more intense or for it to be covered in a more detailed memory section, but that might be my own preference for dark and horrible books showing through!

The plot was interesting, with Amber's estranged father finally finding her after she'd run away to safety with her mother, a well-intended but ultimately unhelpful attempt by local foster services to reconnect them - with no idea of the truth about her father. I actually really enjoyed the 'prepper' aspects of this book, because I love watching tv shows about preppers and while I'm not an expert it felt like Tracy Darnton put in the research on this book. It was also easy to see how Amber's father fell from regular prepper to a little too far. It was especially on the nose in the current climate!

I think my only real issue was a problem with connecting to the characters. I liked Amber just fine, but felt like she was constantly going against her own rules and thought processes. For someone who 'trusts no one', she sure did trust a lot of people! And Josh was kind of, the worst? He tricked her into going to see the father she was running away from. Which like, don't do that? But I concede that it probably would have been much less interesting if Amber had been sprinting around completely alone in the Brecon Beacons for the entire book or something. And I'm glad that it wasn't a romance between Amber and Josh. The ending was excellent, and the kind of resolution I was hoping for for Amber, with twists that I didn't predict. So overall, a shaky three stars for a fairly quick read.

A heart-gripping story that had me turning page after page. It's fast-paced, suspenseful and the characters are well rounded. The protagonist, Amber, is smart, quirky and determined to put as much distance as she can between her and her troubled father. The storyline alternates between the present and flashbacks from Ambers past. She had a traumatic upbringing, growing up under her dad's strict rules (he is a prepper). But one good thing he thought her is how to survive the worst and those skills come in handy when she was is on the run. This book was definitely a rollercoaster, with twists and turns, angst and thrilling moments that kept me on the edge of my seat. I am looking forward to reading more books by Tracy Darnton.

I know a little bit about prepping, in an academic sense - I don't fool myself that I'd last any length of time in an actual SHTF scenario, but it's interesting to think about. I really enjoyed reading this story set on the edges of the prepper community. Tracy has either researched this carefully or lived it for quite a while.

Amber's an interesting character. I can't say I exactly liked her, but that's because she went out of her way to be unlikable. I was certainly intrigued by her, and I wanted to know what would happen to her. I must hunt down the anthology she appeared in and read her short story now. Her father was terrifyingly well written. I appreciated that even though there was a male character, there's no romance. There are too few stories out there with no romance.

My proof copy included discussion questions; I hope they're in the finished copy, because even just reading over them myself helped me to absorb and rethink my reactions to the story.

The ending will probably shock some people, but it's obvious in hindsight, which the best twists should be. A fantastic read. I'm looking forward to seeing it in person.

The book is not what I expected, it is really slow paced and boring and not much happens in terms of the plot.

The main character, Amber was bland as a character and although Josh’s character adds some life to the story, because it is told from Amber’s perspective I just found the book boring. The book follows Amber as she tries to avoid her dad finding her, so there is various change of settings and different characters in each setting that we meet however because she does not stay in one place long enough the side characters have little impact on the story.

I expected more action and a build up of tension and suspense as the book is a ‘thriller’ however I just thought the book dragged a lot. Everything just lacked emotion, when Amber was showing her skills I thought it would be more exciting and there was also never really a ‘chase’ between Amber and her dad. The book does jump between the past and the present which at times can be confusing and showed her life with her dad before, but it was written so factually and there was no emotion to it that I found those chapters boring.

One thing I did enjoy was the ending, I liked how it was written and concluded.

1/5

I really enjoyed this fast paced gripping thriller by Tracy Darnton. Told in snappy short chapters alternating from present day to flash backs to her Amber's traumatic past. It was fantastic to see Amber's character develop throughout the book, although not always in a positive manner. I didn't want to put this one down and needed to know how it would end.

This one has me a bit conflicted. The premise really appealed to me, and I was really looking forward to following Amber’s story. But it didn’t really pull me in, and it’s nothing to do with the writing. You really feel for Amber given her family history and how she’s trying to escape her dad. And he dad, with his almost like cult leader charisma, really opened up the whole world of prepping for when SHTF.

A spine-tingling, gripping thriller!

Oh how perfect the timing - hoarding, prepping!

Amber's father has taught her how to stay under the radar for her whole life. Now she must use the rules he insisted she followed, inorder to escape from him. But can he anticipate her next moves?

Set whilst Amber is on the run, carefully integrated flashbacks inform the reader of Amber's childhood and how tight the hold of her father was. Chilling stuff... as it races towards the gripping conclusion.

Highly recommended!

This was a fast paced novel that grabbed my attention from the first page. I couldn't put this one down until I'd finished, it was a chilling story about survival and obsession.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this E-book to review via Netgalley.

This book is well written and has a fast pace , it’s told in both past and present expressing sensitive topics like obsession

It tells a story of Amber , a girl who’s been raised to be a survival by following a set of rules set by her father and always be prepared for the worst runs away from home to live a new life..

2 years later she’s on the run again when she receives a letter from her dad , she knows her surviving techniques but how can she hide from him when “𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗺“

This book is definitely a 5 star for me and I will always recommend it to others
My most favorite character is josh because he’s really quick witted and always managed to stay cheerful even in the hardest times
And he is definitely the reasons for most of my laugh

All I can say is Tracy Darnton must be psychic! The rules is a perfect book for the second half of 2020.

Amber Fitzpatrick is a feisty product of the chaotic lifestyle created by her survivalist father, she has lived a life of fear and suspicion, a world away from other young girls in the southwest of the UK. She can break down a rifle, treat a knife wound, and is ready to purify water at a moment’s notice. When her mum dies, Amber is left with her (frankly kooky) scary dad and a dawning realisation that she’s got to make a move.

The father is a creepy mess, a ‘prepper’ who treated his wife as property and his daughter as an unwilling apprentice. His cruelty knows no bounds, meaning Amber has a good reason for running away for the school she has come to think of as ‘home’. But thanks to him, Amber is able to make a stealthy off-grid escape across Britain using her survival skills and courage.

The plot is fast-moving and exciting, helped by Tracy deftly weaving backstory through the action as it unfolds instead of spending distinct chapters explaining Amber’s complicated psychology. She’s got Amber’s sarcastic mistrustful voice right, too — so right that I believe I would know Amber if I passed her in the street. Amber grows in confidence through the story — always the mark of the best in YA — it’s great to see her soften those edges roughed by her overbearing father for many years.

Tracy confidently allows Amber a slip-up or two, which puts in play a few chance encounters as well as a story rich in tension and twists. It would be too easy if she were SAS-ready, she knows a lot more than most, but she was a reluctant prepper after all. Throughout the story Amber recites the Rules that her dad drilled into her. They are her prison and the key to getting out of it. Clever.

‘The rules’ is balanced. Though thrilling, I really liked its humour. Not laugh-out-loud, but there are moments to savour and this adds realness. The fact that Amber is studying ‘unreliable narrators’ in English Lit was quite funny as were the hapless antics of the character and confidante Josh (personal favourite); may we please have a Josh-spin-off? As in her previous novel ‘the truth about lies’ there are several objects important to the plot — bin liners, poo shovels, stuffed penguins, Grab-and-go bag — but I want to award Tracy the 2020 prize for ‘Best Use of a Advent Calendar in YA’.

Tracy’s previous novel ‘The truth about lies’ shares a few elements with her new book. There is a boarding school, an unreliable narrator without parents, nail-biting action, intrigue, self-sufficiency and the great British countryside. ‘The rules’ reminded me of ‘After the fire’ by Will Hill in its creepy restrictions and committed outsiders and if you liked ‘Divergent’ by Veronica Roth, you’re going to love Tracy’s sassy taking-care-of-business Amber Fitzpatrick.

I hope you liked my little review. I read the paperback version of this brilliant book, and I couldn’t put it down.

While this is probably not the best time to read a book about doomsday preppers, it was a pretty good read with enough intrigue to keep me going and I enjoyed the characters, though I was put off by some fatphobic comments which are just so unnecessary and harmful in YA books.

Amber is on the run. After her mother died, she was put in foster care, bouncing from family to family, until she was placed in a boarding school. Her social worker is excited to tell her they've finally found her father, but Amber knows this means she has to leave. Her father is a survivalist, preparing for the end of the world, and Amber knows how dangerous he is. Following the rules he set, she goes into hiding.

This was so good, maybe not the best book to read during a pandemic, but if you want a distraction from our worldwide catastrophe with a book about survivalists then this is the one for you. We follow Amber in the past and present, as she recalls the rules her father taught her, and the ones he still lives by. I enjoyed the tension and the build up. I didn't necessarily like Amber but i don't think she was meant to be a likeable character, and it's obvious why she acts the way she does. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and would 100% recommend it.

This is a slow-reveal book. We know at the beginning that Amber is in boarding school, under social care, and is hiding away from an abusive father who is a 'prepper'. We don't know the exact nature of the abuse. We don't know what happened to her mother. We don't know exactly why she is trying to run away from from him, and we think get a fair idea as the book progresses, as she flees to a holiday home belonging to a previous foster family. The lessons Amber learnt from her father's paranoid obsessions rule her life still, but when she comes across Josh, another foster-child she'd met once before, and allows him to accompany her, her fast-held rules begin to fumble and she makes mistake after mistake.
The narration of events makes it appear fast-paced, but actually very little happens in the first half of the book. The reader is kept in suspense, led by Amber's constant anxiousness. It is almost a relief when what she has been dreading comes to a close.

I am not sure quite what to say about this book. I think under different circumstances I would have enjoyed this a lot more but I don't think that with everything going on in the world surrounding the global pandemic it was quite the right time for me to read this.
However that being said, I did enjoy this book. I enjoyed the plot and especially the characters. I thought that they were well rounded and were interesting enough to keep you wanting to find out more about what was going to happen to them. I was never quite sure what way the book was going to turn next and had no clue to what extremes the character was truly in.
I really enjoyed the ending of this one and thought it was quite a unique ending in YA thrillers.
I think this is a book I may reread in the future when the world is in a better place, however if you are up to reading about a girl whose father has trained her to prepare for every doomsday scenario then I think you should give this one a go. It was short, snappy and kept me interested the whole time I was reading. It did not take me long to get through at all as I couldn't put it down.
For now 3 stars from me.

What a time to read about preparing for a lockdown – whilst in a lockdown because of a global virus pandemic! However, Amber’s case is different in that her Dad became more and more obsessed with the Government, and indeed the whole world, watching and controlling his life and was determined to avoid that. He, however, took this to the extreme and it became a one-man cult. He was a ‘Prepper’, someone prepared to be cut off from society by being self-sufficient, not just in providing food and energy for the family, but also in skills aimed at surviving outdoors if necessary, or indoors under lockdown.
We learn this early on, and that Amber has managed to escape his clutches, only to experience the death of her Mother and being left alone in the world. The authorities have no option but to contact her Father, unaware of his extreme views and lifestyle. Unaware, because Amber has never talked about it, still under her Father’s influence of never trusting or talking to anyone. So when she knows her Father is on his way to be reunited with her, Amber leaves her happy place – the school where she felt safe, taking her Grab-and-go bag in which she always has packed rations, change of clothes, survival tent, shovel, matches and cooking gear.
Amber heads for a holiday cottage where she spent some time with a foster family whilst her Mum was in hospital. She knows she can stay there for a while before carrying out the rest of her plan, the details of which she doesn’t reveal. However, what is not in the plan is being joined in the holiday home by another foster child – Josh, who seems the complete opposite of Amber – happy-go-lucky, taking advantage of anyone who offers to help, and some who don’t. Josh is much more talkative and open than Amber and we soon learn that his life hasn’t been plain sailing. But they don’t see eye to eye and after an argument soon split.
Keeping to The Rules her Dad made, Amber tries to carry out the remainder of her plan. Unfortunately, if The Rules were made by her Dad, he also knows them and their paths once more cross.
Amber and Josh have a different outlook on life but end up working together. Their relationship didn’t turn into a romantic one which was refreshing.
This book is fast paced and powerful, taking quite a few surprising twists and keeping the reader on their toes.

ʀᴜʟᴇ: ᴛʀᴜꜱᴛ ɴᴏ ᴏɴᴇ.
Amber is one of life's survivors, she is literally prepared for anything, her Dad has made sure of that. He set The Rules. The Rules Amber follows.
But how does someone stay one step ahead of the person who taught them everything they know?

Amber's Dad is a controlling and abusive Father and also an obsessive prepper. (someone who actively prepares for emergencies) He is looking for her, whilst she is trying to get as far away from him as possible. But what happens when her past catches up with her and the survivalist lifestyle her father follows goes too far?

Reading this at the time of a global pandemic was interesting! There was even the mention of toilet roll shortages! This story was gripping and different from any other I've read before. The author feeds the reader with small amounts of information whilst flicking between past and present which really helped to build the tension and allow you to see exactly why Amber was afraid of her Father. The explosive ending was a real highlight, showing Amber as a dedicated "Rule" follower right up until the end!

(Now excuse me whilst I go prepare a grab and go bag! 🎒)

I love YA and this is a prime example of why!
Incredibly well written, brilliant characters and great storylines.
It feels very topical and current given what’s currently happening in the world.

The Rules was unlike any other book I have ever read, from the way it was set out to the story. I really enjoyed how the book was set up and thought the character building was immaculate. I loved Josh's character and enjoyed how the story unfolded. I thought the way the author incorporated Amber's history and memories into the book was very good, and I found it very clear to differentiate what was set in the past and what was set in the present.

The Rules is a book about a 17-year-old girl named Amber who is in the foster care system and has finally found somewhere she feels she can fit in. That is until one day when her social worker receives a letter from her survivalist father who has been looking for her. Whilst everyone around Amber thinks this is wonderful news, Amber realises she only has one option: to run. Amber packs up and leaves her boarding school and heads down to the coast where she knows there is a vacant holiday home belonging to her past foster parents. During Amber's time there she reunites with a boy named Josh, who she was previously in care with.
Throughout the book, Josh and Amber's friendship grows, as they start to learn what a real family feels like. I really enjoyed Josh's character and I felt like both characters had a lot of death. I feel that Amber -although she can seem harsh at times- has a very empathetic side which is displayed through her care for other people although she may not show it, and even for her father after all he has put her through.
The book did have a few confusing parts but I found that they weren't really essential to the story. And they were made up for in a million different ways. The plot twist towards the end was brilliant, and I think that Darnton represented Amber's father really well.
Overall I think The Rules was a really good and different read and I highly recommend.

Hard-hitting and pacy read that had me gripped from the opening chapter. Amber, the spiky heroine, is strong, resourceful and amazingly resilient, she feels like an authentic product of her upbringing, and she is beautifully juxtaposed by the shambolic but warm character of Josh. Dual timelines were effective at creating pathos for Amber and tension as we glimpsed the extent of her father's control and madness. A very good thriller with enough depth to work for a reading group. Recommended.

The description of this book had me hooked from the start.

It was gripping and interesting and had me quite creeped out at times. I loved the writing style and the way it goes back and forth between the past and present. It helps out to really visualise what has happened and get in Amber’s head.

Amber’s dad is a prepper. He is constantly thinking that the government is watching him, listening in and soon enough that the world will go to pot. He is a survivalist.

Amber has had to be a survivor since her dad has always made her follow his ridiculous rules. A lot happened to Amber as her dad got worse and worse (trigger warning for abuse).

She ended up in foster care, far away from her dad and always hiding. That is until social services locate him and soon Amber’s dad is back in her life and Amber is in hiding again.

She meets Josh (my favourite character!) who is an old sort-of foster brother who helps her along the way.

There is a huge twist at the end of the book (which I obviously can’t share with you 🤫) but I certainly didn’t see it coming.

If you like gripping mysteries, then this one is for you!