I’m so furious to myself because this amazing read wait for me at least three months at my shelf and I waited too much to grab my hands into it. But finally I did and I truly enjoyed this heartfelt story.

This is one of the saddest and most realistic stories about moving on your life when you’re struggling with your past and experiencing so many traumatic setups prevents you to evolve and start a new beginning.
Lane Meckler is a columnist advising people how to gather the pieces their lives as she fails and loses the control of everything. She is a train-wreck and as her husband decides to leave her, he drunk drives and dies at the traffic accident with a mysterious woman next to him. And their sweet six years old Henry ( I want to sing him “Sweet Child of Mine” and adopt him so bad. He is one of the amazing characters of the book) stops talking.

Lane needs to take a break. She needs a fresh start. She needs to find a new house. So she takes her son and finds a new house in New Jersey but the place is money pit, needs too much repairs and re-construction. Landlord Nathan feels ashamed about inconvenience and as soon as Lane’s mother comes to her house without noticing, he offers them to rent another property at Martha’s Vineyard spending their summer till the construction finalizes.

As they spend the summer, Lane slowly becomes stronger and faces her troubles, inner demons, finds her own voice. This is an emotional finding and rediscovering yourself, second chances, grief, healing your past, enjoying your present and being brave about your future book. We also find out the real reasons behind Lane’s failed marriage. But the reason about Henry’s silence warmed my heart and felt for him so deeply.

This book is heartwarming, poignantly written, emotional, tear jerking ( prepare lots of tissues and bring out your wine glasses) If you enjoy family dramas, effective, intense women’s fictions about grief and questioning your life, catching the second chances of your life, this is great fit for you.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for sharing this emotional ARC in exchange for my honest review. And congrats to Nancy Star to write this powerful, heart wrenching story.

Interesting novel about the love of a mother and navigating through grief. I couldn't connect much with the story line and characters, I think that is why I wasn't a huge fan of the book but very well written.

I enjoyed this book. The main character, Lane Meckler is flawed but extremely relatable. Lane's self-discovery and journey as she tries to understand herself and her surroundings is beautiful. Nancy Star captures intense self-reflection very well in "Rules for Moving".
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"To the outside world, beloved advice columnist Lane Meckler has all the answers. What no one knows is that she also has a secret: her life is a disaster, and it’s just gotten worse. Her husband, whom she was planning to leave, has died in a freak accident. Her six-year-old son, Henry, has stopped speaking to everyone but her. Lane’s solution? Move. Growing up, that was what her family did best.

But when she and Henry pack up and leave, Lane realizes that their next home is no better, and she finally begins to ask herself some hard questions. What made her family move so often? Why has she always felt like an outsider? How can she get Henry to speak?

On a journey to help her son find his voice, Lane discovers that somewhere along the way she lost her own. If she wants to help him, she’ll need to find the courage to face the past and to speak the truth she’s been hiding from for years." - Amazon summary.

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

I thought the premise of this book was great. However, it did not all come together for me. It seemed as though all of the issues were glossed over, and swept under a rug. The explanations given quickly at the end seemed thrown together without any substance. It just all seemed very strange to me, but I am looking forward to reading other books from this author.

I want to start off by saying thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book, it was a very good read easy to follow along with storyline and characters. This was a new author for me but I very much enjoyed it, thank you for the opportunity and I look forward to reading more by this author again. I highly recommend this book to everybody.

There are parts of this book that are very interesting. I enjoyed Lane the columnist providing advice to others. I found this story to be slow and at times hard to get through. The thoughts and plot of the story were good and interesting. The execution of the story seem to be long and drawn-out. I don’t think it took as long as it did to get the substance of the matter.
Lane was a likable character. Her ability to provide advice to others yet struggled when it came to her own life rang true to me. Henry was an adorable little boy who was struggling with the loss of his father and with being uncomfortable in social settings. Henry was a bright little boy would mastered all of Lane’s family rules about moving. It is in his repeating of these rules to Lane that I believe causes her to take a deeper look at the situation.
This is Lane’s journey to find a path forward after husband unexpected death. It is compounded that Lane was planning to leave him is really unsure how to feel. Her focus is on her son Henry who has stopped talking to everyone but her. When things get tough Lane reverts back to her childhood and how her parents handled things, so she packs up to move. When the change does not provide any relief to the situation, Lane has to ask herself the very hard questions about her childhood. It is only through this journey with her sister and parents that Lane remembers her past and from an adult point of view is able to see the truth.

Adult fiction isn’t usually my thing, but I felt like trying it out this time, with the story of Lane and her son Henry, while they go through grief, moving and self-discovery after Lane’s husband died.

While I was not captivated by the beginning of the book, the way Nancy Star writes the grieving process and all the psychology behind all the events in the story ended up getting to me. I feel like this is a simple plot, involving the death of a loved one, that got interesting with a few turning points involving Lane’s family. Unfortunately, those turning points, and plot twists come waaaaaaaay too late in the book, and I had grown a little bored by then. I didn’t DNF it though, because the writing style touched me, and I could feel the emotion injected in the story. Also I felt bad for Lane and I wanted to see how far it would go.

Although the main narrator is Lane, Henry is the reason I ended up enjoying the book. That kid makes the whole thing better, brighter. Including chapters from Henry’s point of view regarding the events was the best idea, and it made me truly like the story. Until the first of Henry’s POV, I msut admit I was pretty bored. Lane is kind of a random woman. I guess that’s the point, since it makes it easier for readers to identify to her, but I thought she was simply bland. The accent should be more on Henry. Lane talks about him, but I want more Henry as himself.

In the end, I have mixed feelings about Rules for moving… I enjoyed it towards the end, but it took me so long to get invested in the story ! I’m pretty sure it’s because I still am in my younger years, and can’t relate to Lane’s situation yet though.

I think it really falls in the adult fiction genre, and since I’m not a full adult yet, I have trouble enjoying this genre. However, if you’re more mature than me, or have a particular interest towards psychological journeys and self introspection, it could be a nice read for you !

I read an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

I found it a lot more moving than I expected! The conceit of the advice columnist needing advice in her own life could have been clunky, but it was actually really tenderly done, and the plot was interesting. Some subplots seemed to have got a bit lost along the way, and I was expecting certain characters to play far more of a role than they actually did. But in general, it was quite a sensitively written book.

Rules for Moving follows Lane, advice columnist by day, unhappily wedded mother by night. When her husband dies in a sudden and tragic accident, Lane’s son, six year old Henry, inexplicably stops speaking to everyone but her. In the aftermath of the funeral, Lane must juggle her grieving son, a job on rocky ground, and a flood of memories dredged up by her complicated family. With only her sister as an ally (and a sporadic one at that), Lane struggles to be seen while drowning under the weight of this challenging reality. With a few helping hands from surprising sources, Lane and Henry try to navigate their normal normal.

In the beginning, this book was giving me Evvie Drake Starts Over vibes. But it quickly diverged, and at over four hundred pages, Rules for Moving ultimately dragged on for longer than I had hoped. I had difficulty connecting with Lane or Henry, and the slow reveal of family secrets and relational developments was poorly buttressed by a supporting cast that was equally lackluster. The hard hitting moments of grief and hopelessness didn’t land with quite as much impact as I imagine Star was hoping.

“You want to know who a person really is, watch how they treat someone who’s different.”

Still, I found the handling of Henry’s anxiety - his inability to speak - compassionate and raw. Being the parent of a special child is always a challenge, but I thought the entire book acted as something of a guidebook to parents encountering similar hurdles with their children. Lane’s ability to love her son and accept him despite her frustration with his silence is a welcome reminder that so much of parenting is patience and perspective.

In the end, while my interest was piqued by the plot, I was let down by how fully formed the characters weren’t, especially Lane’s landlord come friend Nathan, and the neighbors she meets while coming to grips with her family secrets. I thought the placement and purpose of these particular characters was a bit heavy-handed and detracted from the nuance the book had established in previous chapters.

I tend to rate my books by my likelihood to read them again. There are the books you keep for rereads, books you loan out and want back, books you loan out and don’t care about seeing again, and books you which get donated. This would be donation book for me!

Trigger warning for PTSD, childhood trauma, drowning, and domestic violence.

Lane Meckler, aka advice columnist 'Ask Roxie,' has all the answers for her readers, but readers would be surprised to know her own home life and family don't function well. With a philandering husband who drinks a lot, parents who are secretive and a past full of frequent moves, Lane wonders how she can give such popular advice.

After the unexpected death of her husband, she moves her son to a new home where he has difficulty making friends, particularly because he no longer speaks. The house has problems so she moves again. Her family, parents and sister, all join her and Lane decides to get to the bottom of all the family secrets.

"The Rules for Moving" was a wonderful, sad, sometimes funny read.

"Here's what I love. A blank slate. Waiting to be transformed. You see bare walls. I see a magical playroom."

Lane Meckler is Roxie, a professional advice columnist. She grew up moving around alot and is really antisocial.
Lane's husband is killed in a car accident and their son stops talking to everyone but her. She thinks a change will be good for them all.
You won't put this book down until the last page. Not anything like thought! I look forward to reading more from this wonderful author!

Thank you to publisher and NetGalley for the eARC

Thank you to the publisher and author for providing me with a digital ARC of this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I found this title to be mediocre. Nothing to really complain about, but neither can I really think about anything that I really liked about it. It was a nice story, with some interesting characters. I did like the background of the main character writing an advice column and how that plays in to her own life and feelings. I was confused by the relationship with her parents and this silent, helpless seeming uncle that lived with them. It was distracting to to the story- even though it does all wrap up and make sense in the end. I also was bothered by the treatment her young son received at school. It seemed harsh to have a teacher and principal act so harshly and uncaring towards a student. especially an innocent 6 year old. It was frustrating to me. Ok, I guess I do have a couple complaints but I did also think of a positive aspect of the story. I did like the friendship/romance between Lane and her landlord. I liked the move to the lake and the relationships formed there. The book was easy to read, but I found myself feeling underwhelmed at the end. ,

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC

I really liked this story. I loved how the book truly captured the emotions and reactions of a child and why they reaction as they do.

This story is a eye opener as to how events can change an entire life in a moment.

Such a great book that deals with heartache, and family

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! Oh my heart just broke so many times reading this gem. I could relate to this mother who is very antisocial. So misunderstood all the time. Her sweet son is one of those rare sensitive children who understands things that most kids don’t. I kept picturing him as the child from the movie The Switch! This is an author I will be watching.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I had the advantage of going into it without really knowing anything about it and I would suggest doing that. It wasn't a twisty mystery but a well-written family dramady with quirky characters and unpredictable plot points- in other words, my favorite kind of book.
Lane is an advice column journalist who isn't a people person. She grew up moving a lot. Her son Henry is a mix of her introvert personality and his dad's fun-loving, social side. That's all I'm willing to say.
This book is for fans of The Lager Queen of Minnesota and Standard Deviation. It comes out in May 2020 and I hope you read it.
Thank you to Netgalley for the free, advance copy. I turned out lucky on this one.

Lane’s husband Aaron has died in a crash, his car crashed into another killing the occupants and the mystery woman in his car. Lane is now left to bring up their six year old son Henry and juggle her job writing Ask Roxie, an agony aunts column.

After Aaron’s funeral Henry stops talking to everybody except his mother. Lana decides that they should move from their apartment and rents a property from Nathan in New Jersey. Unfortunately the house has many flaws and needs a lot of repairs so Nathan offers her the rent of his other property in Martha’s Vineyard.

This is a moving story about grief and moving on. Lana has her own personal demons to work through as well as finding out why Henry has stopped talking. This is an emotional rollercoaster of a ride, Henry is such a sweet child and I did have a little weep when I found out why he hadn’t been speaking!!!

I’m looking forward to reading more of Nancy Star’s books.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Rules for Moving by Nancy Star
Having been away from writing book reviews for a while, I was keen to get back on Netgalley’s lists so just asked for a random book to read on my new Kindle.
This was a very pleasant surprise: my first read of the author, Nancy Star who shows great skill in engaging the reader in what appears to be a mundane topic.
Our protagonist, Lane Meckler – I did have a problem with the name, but she is American – was very unforthcoming with her feelings and initially I struggled to engage with her. However, she is not written in the first person so when we are given an insight into the mind of her 6-year-old son, Henry, the situation becomes clearer. I was very impressed with her interpretation of young Henry and his childish understanding of his family life. In fact, there is little family in his life and this we learn is a reflection of the childhood of his mother.
Lane is a successful columnist but the advice she gives as her nom de plume, Roxie, bears little resemblance to her own actions. Having spent most of her childhood moving from house to house she adopts the Rules for Moving as dictated by her eccentric mother. As the narrative progresses Lane learns, mainly through her experiences with Henry, that these rules are counter-productive and thus adapts to living by her own dictats. The denouement is satisfactory for all in the family and I was left feeling contented and glad that I had read the book.
The geographical locations and the sometimes unusual words, made this a “foreign” book but this added an edge to the action that I also found pleasing.
I can recommend this book and will look out for other Nancy Star novels.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and #netgalley for letting me read and review Rules for Moving by Nancy Star. Such a sweet and sad story with so many funny bits in between! Highly recommend!

Rules For Moving is a very well written and thought provoking story that captured my attention from the first chapter and had me reading way past my bedtime because I wanted to know what was going to happen!
My only complaint would be that some of the story lines are hard to understand, for example, why do Lane's parents behave so strangely? The way they treat Lane is very strange and I can't understand her responses.

With thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the complimentary advanced reader's copy.

Rules for Moving is a delightful, moving, touching story that almost had me in tears several times throughout the story..

Lane’s husband, Aaron, is killed in a car accident, leaving herself and her son, Henry, suddenly without the third member of their family. Lane believes her husband was drunk and on his way to see the woman with whom she thought he was having an affair, as he had stormed out of the house after one of their all too frequent fights; in fact, both Lane and Aaron were pretty sure the marriage was on the rocks. We find out differently towards the end, but my lips are sealed.

There are parallel yet intersecting story lines in this book. Professionally, Lane is an advice columnist (Ask Roxie) for the Guild, an amorphous organization that appears to be in the business of social media influence. After Aaron’s funeral, Henry mysteriously stops talking except at home, and then only to Lane. She asks to be allowed to work from home (never allowed at the Guild) so she can spend more time with Henry, whose silence continues until almost the end of the book.

Lane’s rental house is literally falling to pieces - not a day passes when some major system fails. Her landlord is embarrassed by the situation and bends over backwards to make things right.

The turning point comes when Lane’s mother suddenly arrives for a visit, with no explanation. The landlord invites them all to stay at his summer home on Martha’s Vineyard, and from there, eventually, all is resolved.

This is a story with a happy ending. There are a lot of interesting threads that wind up together. The Rules for Moving are literally Lane’s mother’s rules: the family moved a lot and she had rules for moving, packing, and she maintained her very self by a long set of intricate rules, rules that Lane did not impose on Henry. The fact that her rental home was falling apart is a metaphor for her own life, a life that is truly reconstructed and becomes strong and solid by the book’s end.

Nancy Star is a wonderful storyteller with a gift for description, dialogue, and uncovering the true voice of her characters. Henry, around whom much of the story revolves, is a delightful child, one who actually reminds me of me: I didn’t speak much in school until midway through college myself. Henry’s reason for silence turns out to be one of his grandmother’s rules. While I was a painfully shy child, his choice of silence certainly resonated with me.

Highly recommended. I look forward to reading more by Nancy Star. I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.