Rule by Jay Crownover

Marked Men #1

"Opposites in every way . . . except the one that matters 

     Shaw Landon loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule is everything a straight-A pre-med student like Shaw shouldn’t want—and the only person she’s never tried to please. She isn’t afraid of his scary piercings and tattoos or his wild attitude. Though she knows that Rule is wrong for her, her heart just won’t listen.

     To a rebel like Rule Archer, Shaw Landon is a stuck-up, perfect princess and his dead twin brother’s girl. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. He doesn’t have time for a good girl like Shaw even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is.

     But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule have to figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love . . . or each other."

For someone who doesn't normally gravitate to this genre of book, I sure have been reading a lot of books like this. Troubled man-whore guy and untouched innocent and beautiful girl, that has been in his life all along, have a wild night together that ultimately results in them having a rocky relationship that becomes what they both needed all along.

Yes, this story is almost painfully cliche, but I still loved it. Rule is a dirty sexy guy. As a tattoo artist, he sports more than his share of ink and naughty piercings. As the man-whore kind of guy nobody really expects much from him, but at the same time expects everything from him. Including his own parents, after his mother blames him for his twin brother, Remy, untimely death, Rule does everything he can to make a point that he is not his brother. Sporting as many tattoos as his body can handle, changing his hair more often than his bed sheets, and never bringing the same girl home twice. Though he is more than rough around the edges, true to the cliches of the story deep down he has a good heart, he just doesn't know it yet.

Shaw has been in love with Rule since she first laid eyes on him. With his tattoos, and crazy hair styles he was always doing something unexpected and it made him intriguing. Though everyone thought that she and Remy were a couple they never were. Remy was her best friend in the world and he allowed everyone to believe there was more to the friendship than there actually was for his own reasons. Shaw lives by everyone else's expectations, both her divorced controlling parents expect her to act and dress a certain way. As wild and creative as Rule is, Shaw is the opposite. She dresses in highly fashionable clothing and always does everything she can to gain her parents approval.

Throw in a stalker ex-boyfriend and this story bleeds cliche themes. But I still love it. There are enough slight differences in this book that make it not the same repeat story from many other books like this one. I may or may not continue this series since it's one of those book series that has different focus characters in each book but is still set around the same cast of characters.