I am delighted to be on the blog tour for The Slope Rules by Melanie Hooyenga 🙂

Genre: Young adult sports romance, coming-of-age

Stars: 4

Links: Amazon UK and Amazon US

 

The Blurb:

Fifteen-year old Cally accepted her fate as one of the guys, so when she meets Blake, a hot snowboarder who sees her for more than her aerials on the slopes, she falls fast and hard. But their romance can only last as long as vacation.

Or so she thinks.

A twist of fate—well, her Dad opening another brewery in a new town—lands her in Blake’s school, but the charismatic boy she fell for wants nothing to do with her, and worse, the Snow Bunnies, the popular clique, claim her as their newest recruit.

Cally must learn to be true to herself—all while landing a spot on the ski team and figuring out who she is without her old friends. And when she finds out what Blake is hiding, she learns the rules on the slopes apply to more than just skiing.

My Review:

Sweet and charming, this is a read about a sporty girl finding both first love and herself, while dealing with a lot of changes, old and new.

Cally is on a skiing holiday with her dad when she is helped up from a fall by Blake. Unused to being someone’s object of affection, she falls for him by the time she has to leave… only to find herself not only moved across the country but also into Blake’s school. But Blake is ignoring her, the Snow Bunnies are pulling her into their rich (and bullying) circle, and Cally is feeling the loss of her friends and home. And then she decides to rebel…

The plot is a fresh (snow pun here!) take on the usual ‘first love’ story. But there are deeper themes here, with loss and death paying a formidable part in what would otherwise be a light read. A gripping read, a lot of drama (both within and outside highschool), and a lot of character growth. The only thing that threw me was the ending, which felt a little rushed and packed full of events that I would have expected to have been further developed through the character growth. But a good, fun read. Recommended.

*Thank you to the author for my free review copy.

About the Author

While not a fan of matching Day-Glo outfits, Melanie’s been skiing since she was five and always points her tips up while exiting the chairlift. She lives in the land of lake effect snow—also known as west Michigan—with her husband Jeremy and Miniature Schnauzer Owen, and is always looking for ways to enjoy the outdoors. This novel, her fourth, inspired her to purchase her first helmet.

Author Links: Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook