Rules for Hearts

In this companion novel to Empress of the World, a vibrant summer unfolds as Battle Hall Davies finds herself immersed in the quirky found family dynamics of Forest House. “The Rules for Hearts makes its own rules. That’s what I love about it.”—Lauren Myracle, New York Times bestselling author of TTYL and TTFN “Sara Ryan puts the world of downtown theater in all its brilliance and insanity on the page.”—Jacqueline Woodson, Newbery Honor-winning author of Feathers and Show Way Battle Hall Davies is sure of some things: she’s going to Reed this fall; she loves girls; and her older brother, Nick, is cooler and more together than she’ll ever be. Nick ran away from home when Battle was thirteen. Now, four and a half years later, he’s tracked her down, and she’s spending the summer between high school and college in Forest House, the group house where he lives in Portland. It is a summer of surprises. Battle is swept into Forest House’s community Shakespeare production and its all-night card games and into the arms of her new housemate, Meryl. It turns out that Nick is not who Battle thought he was—and Battle’s not who she thought she was either.