Published 13 March 2010
Everyone knows the unwritten rule: You don't like your best friend's boyfriend. Sarah has had a crush on Ryan for years. He's easy to talk to, supersmart, and totally gets her. Lately it even seems like he's paying extra attention to her. Everything would be perfect except for two things: Ryan is Brianna's boyfriend, and Brianna is Sarah's best friend.
Sarah forces herself to avoid Ryan and tries to convince herself not to like him. She feels so guilty for wanting him, and the last thing she wants is to hurt her best friend. But when she's thrown together with Ryan one night, something happens. It's wonderful...and awful. Sarah is torn apart by guilt, but what she feels is nothing short of addiction, and she can't stop herself from wanting more...
Unwritten Rule definition from Urban Dictonary - A rule, usually concerning social behavior, which is known by all but spoken by none. This rule is neither official nor written down. It just is.
Elizabeth Scott is one of those authors where I would probably buy anything she wrote, just because her name was on the front. I don't think its possible for people to not relate in someway to the stories she tells or the characters she creates, and it's no different in The Unwritten Rule. Okay, so yes, I have broken the unwritten rule, meaning I had a major crush on my friends boyfriend. Maybe I liked him first, maybe I should have said something before they got together. Whatever, I was 13 at the time, and being diplomatic like that was an art I had yet to master.
This is why I love Scott so much, because she makes it easy for you to find something about the narrator that hits home, and sometimes even reflects circumstances you yourself have been in. Our protagonist Sarah was nothing like me in personality, but more so in actions. She was a little bit too nice and put others needs before her own. Take her friendship with Brianna, how even though she realised that the comments made to herself were demeaning and not something a real friend would put you through, she still stayed friends with her despite this fact. I will admit, this character trait did annoy me at times, because I wanted her to stand up for herself, however, I think without that added to the mix, I would not have liked her as a character.
Brianna, the best friend was such an interesting character, she was full of mean back handed comments. I know some people will hate her because of the way she acts in the book, but I related to her in a way. Yes, she was a great big bitch, yes she wasn't really a good friend, but neither was Sarah. I understand it's easy to like someone you shouldn't like, however, acting on that is a little different. Sarah in her own way was a selfish character, just as selfish as Brianna. But, because of the way Scott crafted the story, you never feel any anger towards Sarah, its almost always aimed at Brianna, who in actual fact was the real victim, regardless of whether she was a bad friend or not.
As good as Scott is as a writer, I found the whole story line and the character traits to be a little predictable. Friend bags a hottie who the quiet and shy girl likes, but wait, the friend is quite horrible and the other girl saw him first, so thats just like technically stealing. It's very predictable but the emotions are what makes the book a page turner. Ryan the boy in the spotlight is very crush worthy, the easygoing hot nerdy guy, but he was just a little bit too blase about the whole situation and really, the events that happen are all his fault for not manning up. Regardless, people will eat this one right up. Scott remains to be one of the front runners for young adult fiction.
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