Rules Get Broken was released in August of 2009 and is John Herbert's first book. It is the story of his first wife's death but also and perhaps more importantly, the story of the untimely and unlikely relationship that followed with the young woman who lived next door and who has been his wife for the last twenty-seven years.    

John falls in love with Peggy Reilly the moment he meets her New Year's Eve.  Nine years of marriage and two children later, nothing has changed. The beautiful Irish girl with the thick, black shining hair and sparkling brilliant blue eyes is still the center of his world.

But when Peggy tells him one Saturday night in July that she can't go sailing because she is too tired to move, John's concerned.  When Peggy is diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia later that week, he's terrified.  And when she dies seventeen days later, he's shattered, his world destroyed.

So why then just days after Peggy's death does he call Nancy Charlton, the young woman who once lived next door, and ask her out to dinner? Why does Nancy say yes? And what happens when people ignore the rules of propriety and allow themselves to be drawn into a relationship they know will shock and offend family and friends? What price do they pay for breaking one of society's most time-honored rules of behavior?  

John's journey from love lost to love found makes readers laugh and makes readers cry. But most of all it makes them think as they explore with him society's unwritten rules about how a person is supposed to grieve. 

Most married people will experience the death of a spouse at some point in their life. The message of Rules Get Broken is that how we react to the loss of a spouse should be an individual decision and should not have to conform to a societal expectation of what is "proper."

Rules Get Broken is proving to be a controversial book - the kind of book that fosters intense, at times even heated, debate - but it also provides compelling and inspirational insight to people who have lost a spouse or who know someone who has.

Rules Get Broken deals with love lost, love found, and the collateral damage along the way and demonstrates what love is...and isn't.  

John Herbert's simple, elemental style, unique insight, and rare sensitivity make Rules Get Broken an unforgettable love story.

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Rules Get Broken is now available at fine retailers nationwide and online.  Click here for more information.

Copyright (C) 2010 John Herbert -- All Rights Reserved