[Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway]: The Trail Rules by Melanie Hooyenga

THE TRAIL RULES BY MELANIE HOOYENGA
Publisher: Left-Handed Mitten Publications
Publication Date: March 9th, 2018
Series/Companion" Yes, Book Two
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
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Blurbs

Junior year’s looking up for sixteen-year-old Mike. Her new BFF isn’t a sadistic control freak, her boyfriend adores her, and she’s learning to bike in the mountains without decapitating herself on a tree. 

Well, almost.

When she meets a group of riders who welcome her into their pack, she feels like she’s finally found where she belongs. One particular rider—a boy with an amazing smile and an even more amazing ability to see what she’s truly capable of—gives her the confidence to go after what she wants: her own life with her own rules.

There’s only one problem—he’s not her boyfriend.

Just as things seem to be falling into place, her parents put the pressure to figure out her future—one that doesn’t include riding. Mike soon realizes that having everything isn’t that great when she’s not the one choosing it. She needs to decide if she’s going to continue to be a follower or step out of the shadows and find her own trail.

Mike (she is a girl - Mikayla, btw) is a sixteen-year-old girl. She is in a junior year where the pressure starts to tick her off and with her parents putting more pressure on her to figure what she wants to do in future and hoping that she can be like her sister, Maddy. In addition to that, her boyfriend, Evan - whom she thought he is the one that her heart truly wants but she just felt that her life in controls by him because of his overprotectiveness since his friend died. When she met a group of friend from bike riding, she instantly clicks with them and having fun and she can do anything she wants and from there, she meets a guy that has caught her heart. The way the guy treats him that makes her heart skips a beat.

The Trail Rules is a fun reading although it is kind of slow and we can see how Melanie put all the story and characters that are relatable to our life which I mean - when we're teenagers - school dramas? Check. Parents want us to study hard for our future. Yes. Boyfriend's problem? Maybe (I don't do a relationship when I am still in school, so, no for me). Friendship's problem? Yes and yes. 

So, reading The Trail Rules has brought me back to the day when I am still in junior year. The pressure on the study is so annoying with friends' problem makes it more worst. So, I absolutely understood with Mike's situation except I don't have any problem with those "snow bunny" at school (thank goodness) and of course, boyfriend's problem. Anyhow, for me, I can see how Mike's life has improved since the day she started to make friends, her family start to understand her more and try to be more supportive on whatever she wants to do especially her bike riding activity. I can see that Mike's character has developed wonderfully from the start to the end of the story.

I enjoy bike riding but never riding on trails or trying to do more extreme activities but The Trail Rules definitely have exposed me (and other readers too) to bike riding activities. It's not a typical YA romance novel, it is something that the author has brought us to. Something that makes us think about our decision to make for our life. 

If you are looking for a book that has sports with some romance in it, I would love to recommend you guys to read The Trail Rules by Melanie Hooyenga. I definitely can't wait for her next novel.

Multi-award winning young adult author Melanie Hooyenga first started writing as a teenager and finds she still relates best to that age group. She has lived in Washington DC, Chicago, and Mexico, but has finally settled down in her home state of Michigan. When not at her day job as a Communications Director at a nonprofit, you can find Melanie attempting to wrangle her Miniature Schnauzer Owen and playing every sport imaginable with her husband Jeremy.

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