*REVIEW* The Six Rules of Maybe

Synopsis:

Scarlett Hughes is overly involved in the lives of everyone around her and exceptionally interested in the habits of her neighbors: a young goth girl, a forgetful mailman, and an older couple who gets excited by email spam. But Scarlett is thrust solidly into her own life when her sister, Juliet, returns home from school—pregnant and surprisingly married to a sweet, handsome man whom she seems to have no interest in, but who is hopelessly in love with her. Forced to take a look inward for the first time, Scarlett discovers the necessity of dreams, as well as the necessity of facing reality and speaking the truth.

The Six Rules of Maybe is the first book I've read by Deb Caletti and based on my feelings about this book, I think it's doubtful that I will read another book written by her. Which honestly COULD be a mistake because I think that her writing is simply beautiful at times. It's extremely descriptive, however I just didn't think that style of writing matched the premise of the book somehow. It seemed to make the book DRAG and DRAG and contained way more words than I found necessary to tell Scarlett's story.

The Six Rules of Maybe introduces us to Scarlett, a teenage girl extremely involved in the lives of others. Scarlett is a giver--constantly trying to go above and beyond for others. We see this in her interactions with her best friend, Nicole, and with a cast of unusual neighbors. There's Clive Weaver, an older potentially-senile old man who is having a hard time letting go of his past career as a mailman, the Martinelli's, an older retired couple who seem to be getting involved in a mail scam, and Fiona St. George, a Goth student who airs out her conflicted feelings in the form of chalk drawings on the sidewalk. Scarlett becomes enmeshed in their worlds as she struggles to help.

What Scarlett is not prepared for is the return of her sister, Juliet. Juliet returns home and she is not alone, she's married and is having a baby. Scarlett develops strong feelings for Hayden, Juliet's husband, and the two bond as Juliet remains distant and scared of letting her new husband truly into her heart. Will this family survive? Will Scarlett learn to put her needs and desires above others? And will she finally learn and realize some honest truths about herself and what guides her actions and feelings?

I think this book had a lot of potential. There's a GOOD story hidden in there, hidden behind words and words and words. To say this book was wordy, too descriptive, and too long would be a MAJOR understatement. There also seemed to be some characters that were just there so that there could be MORE lengthy and unneeded conversations, descriptions and scenes. I really wanted to like this book but I found myself increasingly frustrated as I went through it. Frustrated and frankly bored at times. All in all, I'm happy that this book is now behind me.