Maybe should have reread the first book in this series before this, but my library doesnt have a copy and I picked this book up secondhand so...

Short and a little rough, but a still a pretty good book. Queer characters and dysfunctional families and Shakespeare. Doesnt actually teach you how to play hearts. ( )

The Rules for Hearts by Sara Ryan is the sequel to Empress of the World. It's not, though, a continuation of the summer romance between Nic and Battle. Rather, this is Battle's story of reuniting with her brother.

Battle has moved to Oregon to attend college. She has moved in with her brother and his thespian roommates. As the youngest and newest house member, she is the third wheel.

Like Empress of the World, the chapters are rather episodic — one challenge after another for Battle to face as she learns how to live on her own, tries to fit in with the household and discovers her brother's dark secrets.

If there is an over reaching plot arc, it's the presentation of a play put on by the housemates, and run by Meryl. It's a rather quiet and short novel — something to linger over. ( )

Nicely plotted, however I found it a little tough to keep the multitudinous cast of secondary characters straight in my head without flipping back. There are some interesting things missing from this book, and their absence makes the whole stronger, I think. Explores relationships and trust in looping, meandering curves. Set in Portland, so it was also fun to try to pick out places I knew. ( )

Battle leaves for college three months early in order to spend the summer with her brother, who ran away from home five years ago. But Nick is not the older brother she remembered so fondly. Battle becomes involved in a theatre group centered around the co-op in which Nick lives, as she falls into a relationship and learns who Nick is now.

Not as good as the first one. ( )

The Rules for Hearts is Sara Ryan's second novel and companion novel to Empress of the World. TRfH follows Battle Hall Davies, the secondary character in Empress of the World. This novel follows her to Portland, Oregon where she finds herself staying in a house that I can only refer to as dysfunction junction. Originally, I thought this novel would be about Nicola and Battle after leaving summer camp but this took a whole different approach. It was a decent book overall but I wouldn't read it again. ( )