Rules for Rule Breaking

Talia Tucker

$21.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Kokila
19 August 2025

Children's & young adult fiction & true stories; Classic fiction (Children's&YA); Comic strip fiction & graphic novels (Children's&YA)

Two Korean American teens are forced into a shared college visit road trip where they discover that the reasons they've been rivals their entire lives might actually be signs they're a perfect pair in this debut YA rom-com.

Two Korean American teens are forced into a shared college visit road trip where they discover that the reasons they've been rivals their entire lives might actually be signs they're a perfect pair in this debut YA rom-com.

Winter Park and Bobby Bae are Korean American high school juniors whose families have been friends since the kids were making crayon art. They, however, are repulsed by each other.

Winter is MIT-bound, comfortable keeping people at arm's length, and known by others as responsible, though she has a desire to let loose. This probably comes from her rebel grandmother, who is constantly pushing boundaries and encouraging Winter to do so as well. Winter's best friend is moving abroad and won't be attending college at all, and Winter's wrestling with what it means to be left behind. Bobby is as type A, anxious, and risk-averse as you can get. He's also been recently dumped, which has him feeling disoriented and untethered.

That's why when Winter's and Bobby's parents insist that they go on a Northeast college campus tour together, both teens find reasons to accept even though the idea of being stuck in a car together for seven hundred miles sounds unbearable. What awaits them is a journey of self-discovery, and the only rule on their road trip is to break all the rules. At first, this happens in hilariously calculated ways (using lists and reason and logic!), but Winter and Bobby soon abandon that, challenging each other to dares in Virginia, getting high and wandering around Philly for food-and battling the subsequent digestive distress-and crashing a party in Cambridge. And, of course, realizing that they're perfect together.

By: Talia Tucker
Imprint: Kokila
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 238g
ISBN: 9780593624760
ISBN 10: 0593624769
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 19 August 2025
Recommended Age: From 12 years
Audience: Young adult , Preschool (0-5)
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Talia Tucker lives and writes in New Jersey. She has a BA in communication from Rutgers University and an MA in liberal studies from Loyola University Maryland. She loves mindless comedies and twisty slow-burn dramas, both of which inspire her writing, as does her connection to her Korean and Jamaican communities. Rules for Rule Breaking is her YA debut.

Reviews for Rules for Rule Breaking

Praise for Rules for Rule Breaking by Talia Tucker: Amazon’s Best of the Month (March) Read With Jenna Jr Summer Reading List (May 2024) ""Tucker’s debut is full of fun, slow-burn, romantic comedy hallmark moments...A thoughtful coming-of-age story filled with rom-com cuteness."" —Kirkus Reviews “Satisfying, laugh-out-loud road-trip debut…Tucker levies dynamic storytelling via the duo’s alternating POVs to present a lightweight rom-com that captures the thrill of spontaneity and budding romance.” —Publishers Weekly “[Winter and Bobby] are such imperfectly perfect teens, [I wanted] to cringe,then hug them. Empathetic and instantly compelling.” —CLAIRE AHN, author of I Guess I Live Here Now “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be begging Winter and Bobby to kiss. Readers, prepare a permanent spot on your must-buy list for Talia Tucker!” —TESS SHARPE, author of The Girls I’ve Been “Rules for Rule Breaking took me on a journey filled with self-discovery [and] sparkling chemistry... Talia Tucker is a debut author to watch.” —SARAH SUK, author of The Space Between Here & Now and Made in Korea “My favorite kind of rom-com: smart, snappy, and swoon-worthy.” —MICHELLE QUACH, author of Not Here to Be Liked “Enemies-to-lovers done right, and an immediate favorite.” —SERENA KAYLOR, author of Long Story Short