Rules Of The Road by K. Aten is a story about learning to move on from major setbacks in life, accepting people as they are and opening your heart to love no matter how difficult it can be.
Jamie never allows anyone to get too close to her but she surely knows how to put a smile on any woman’s face. Kelsey’s job as a dental assistant has its embarrassing and infuriating moments but she takes it all in stride. What are the odds that a driving app could bring these two women into each other’s lives? A flat tire on the highway causes Kelsey and Jamie to meet for the first time. Both women learn to navigate more than just road blocks, traffic jams and driving hazards. They learn to celebrate and embrace who they really are and not conform to the expectations of other people.
The Characters
James ‘Jamie’ Schultz is an engineer and a nerd at heart. She really enjoys her job and she gets a kick out of being surrounded by her bizarre coworkers. Jamie has many self-made rules for her life and she tries her best to adhere to them. She stole my heart completely with her vulnerabilities and her flawed sense of relating to people and situations. Jamie’s affectionate, charismatic and fun-loving nature endeared her to me.
Kelsey Ramirez is a dental assistant and fur mom to two strong-willed cats. I love the close bond she shares with her family and friends. Oh, I think I forgot to mention a very important fact—Kelsey is such a darling! I just love her feisty, mischievous and observant personality. I would be overjoyed to have a friend like Kelsey in my life because she does not shy away from speaking her mind and she always tries to be there for her close friends whenever they need her.
The Writing Style
I really enjoyed the witty banter between the characters in the story. In addition, I am very pleased with the vivid description of each character because this brought the characters to life for me. The author gave me a unique blend of romance and comedy with a few nuggets of real life lessons thrown in for good measure.
The Pros
Who doesn’t like a story about nerdy engineers and smoking hot dental assistants? I really enjoyed living vicariously through these awesome women (I am perfectly content with crunching numbers all day at my desk but I was just thrilled to find out what a work day in the life of an engineer really looks like.)
The Cons
Sigh… another lovely story that doesn’t have a sequel.
The Conclusion
Romantic comedies are my favorite ‘go to books’ and this story definitely hits the spot! I really got a kick out of the unusual situation that caused Jamie and Kelsey to meet up. Another thing I really enjoyed about this story is the way the author highlighted all of ways that technology can bring people closer and make life much easier. I just love a story with resilient women, humorous mishaps on the job and pets with attitude!
Excerpt from Rules Of The Road by K. Aten
The engineer had just taken a sip from her travel mug and nearly choked when someone answered her diatribe against Nigel. “Okay, now that’s weird.” With only half her mind on the road, she tried to figure out what she had done to answer her fellow driver. “I didn’t do anything, just slapped my dash. Could it be noise activated? She talked her way through the riddle the same way she would any problem. She saw that the rainbow car was flashing on her screen because it was the one that dropped the voice pin, so she tapped it. Nothing happened so she kept tapping the icon while the little car was still flashing and something that looked like a voice recorder popped up. “Oh! Uh, hey, sorry about that. I didn’t know that the app could let us record messages and I was just talking to Nigel.” She paused for a few seconds and the pop up disappeared.
Kelsey snorted in her own car, ten miles ahead. “Who the hell is Nigel?” She did not record that though because it could have been considered rude. Instead she swiped down on the screen and responded, thoroughly loving the new feature. “Who is Nigel? Is he your carpool buddy?”
Loving the new app feature as well, Jamie listened to the message after the chime. She reached up to turn down the heat then brought her hand down to the gearshift, past the cell in its cradle as she thought about how to answer. “Great, James! Now complete strangers can see the crazy peeking out. She sounds cute though, I wonder if she is cute.” She tried tapping the screen to respond but nothing happened. Her attention was pulled back to the road when all three lanes slowed to a standstill near the nexus of the universe, just like normal. The nexus wasn’t really the center of the universe, but it was the spot where five different expressways converged and branched off. The traffic jam indicator popped up.
“Traffic slow down ahead.”
Before she could think about responding to the little rainbow car, the app chimed again.
“Yes, I’m cute. And you apparently are crazy. You never told me who Nigel was though.”
“Oh, goddammit!” Jamie swore and felt the tips of her ears start to burn. Since traffic still wasn’t moving she started touching the screen in a variety of ways. Eventually she discovered the key to responding by down swiping the screen. “Hot damn! Oh shit, er, I mean, sorry. I’ve been responding to the app on accident because I didn’t know how it worked.” She stopped speaking for a few seconds and the voice record box disappeared.
“I see. But you still didn’t answer my question.”
Jamie thought the woman on the other end sounded like she was holding back a laugh. She did sound cute though, like she smiled a lot. Those were Jamie’s favorite kind of people. Finally understanding the response mechanism, she swiped again. “Again, sorry for my insanity. Nigel is the nickname I gave to my app because I picked a British voice and he’s kind of a dick.”
“No problem. At least you can understand yours. Mine is in German.”
The engineer glanced at her phone with surprise and responded. “Hey that’s cool. So you speak German, huh?”
“Not one bit.”
Jamie laughed out loud at the other driver’s response and thought maybe the other woman was crazy too. She didn’t get a chance to respond though because the rainbow car sent another voice message. “Hey, sorry to run but I’m at work. Maybe we can chat again on the way home. I think you’re ahead of me then. Little nerd car, right?”
Jamie nodded like an idiot then grimaced when she realized no one could see her. “Yeah, I think I am. Talk to you then, rainbow car!”
“Definitely!”
As Jamie got off on her exit she couldn’t stop thinking about her morning commute. “That was fun!” For the first time in a long time she was smiling as she walked into work.
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Bits and Bobs
- ISBN number: 9781619293670
- Publisher: Regal Crest Enterprises
K Aten Online
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