The Summer of Broken Rules
K.L. Walther, 2021
A grieving girl returns to Martha’s Vineyard for a family wedding, a cutthroat game of Assassin, and a boy who makes the summer feel possible again. Sun-warmed Vineyard days, a family game with sharp edges, and a witty voice carrying grief and longing underneath.
Feels like longing and wonder. About love, family and adventure.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy YA romance with family drama, summer settings, and a playful game driving the plot. The grief at its center is steady rather than brief, so it may not suit you if you want a purely lighthearted beach read.
Why read it
It gives you a summer romance where love and loss sit close together, and a family game that keeps the pages moving.
A page from the book
What you say when a perfect week is almost over.
Let’s pretend that time doesn’t exist. Let’s pretend that this week isn’t ending. Let’s pretend that we will always be us—happy, sunburnt, and tangled up together. K.L. Walther.K.L. Walther sets the novel on Martha’s Vineyard, where a family-wide game of Assassin—a live-action tag—drives the summer’s plot.
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Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Summer of Broken Rules for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy YA romance with family drama, summer settings, and a playful game driving the plot. The grief at its center is steady rather than brief, so it may not suit you if you want a purely lighthearted beach read.
- What is The Summer of Broken Rules like?
- Sun-warmed Vineyard days, a family game with sharp edges, and a witty voice carrying grief and longing underneath. Feels like longing and wonder. About love, family and adventure.
- What should I read after The Summer of Broken Rules?
- If you liked The Summer of Broken Rules, try It's Not Summer Without You (Jenny Han), Play Along (Liz Tomforde) and Heart Bones (Colleen Hoover).
A taste of the feed
Grief makes a person feel like a stranger to their own life.
I wasn’t in Cousins. Conrad and I weren’t together, and Susannah was dead. Nothing would ever be the same again. It had been—How many days had it been? How many days exactly?—two months since Susannah had died and I still couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t let myself believe it. When a person you love dies, it doesn’t feel real. It’s like it’s happening to someone else. It’s someone else’s life. I’ve never been good with the abstract. What does it mean when someone is really and truly gone?
It's Not Summer Without You · Jenny Han
To be the one always understood, and never the one doing the understanding.
I never had to beg for your attention, and I’m not sure you’ll ever fully understand how safe that became for me, knowing you were giving it to me willingly. I never had to ask you to see me, to understand me, and I’m sorry that I haven’t allowed you to be able to say the same. But I promise you, Isaiah, now that my eyes have been opened, I can’t keep them off you.
Play Along · Liz Tomforde
The theory that damage shapes us more than kindness ever could.
Sometimes I believe personalities are shaped more by damage than kindness. Kindness doesn’t sink as deep into your skin as the damage does. The damage stains your soul so bad, you can’t scrub it off. It stays there forever, and I feel like people can see all my damage just by looking at me.
Heart Bones · Colleen Hoover
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