Fifth Rule

Reef has been living in Calgary for the past year, but nowhe’s back in Halifax for the funeral of Frank Colville, hisformer mentor. Memories of Frank compete with memories ofLeeza and the terrible way their relationship ended. Mindful thatthe restraining order against him has been renewed by Leeza’smother, Reef has no intention of staying in Halifax for long.

Leeza, in the meantime, is feeling stifled by her mother’s“concern.” A first-year university student at Dalhousie, she iskicking herself for not attending university out of town.

Despite Reef ’s best efforts to stay away, circumstancesquickly unfold to push him and Leeza ever closer to each other.An eager political crusader wants to close Reef ’s former grouphome, and he will stop at nothing to get media attention, includingmanipulating news items—Reef is shocked to discover thathe has been photographed outside Leeza’s house and is, therefore,in violation of the restraining order. Finding himself at thecentre of growing controversy, Reef is pushed to his limits.

Before he leaves town, Reef must face his demons andmake some tough choices or else risk losing everything he hasever worked for, including the only girl he has ever loved.

DON AKER’s acclaimed backlist includes The Space Between, winner of the Canadian Library Association’s Young Adult Honour Book Award; One on One, winner of the Canadian Authors Association Lilla Stirling Award and nominated for the Hackmatack Award and the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award; and The First Stone, winner of the Ann Connor Brimer Award and the White Pine Award. Having worked as a teacher for more than twenty years, Don Aker now lives and writes by Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy. Visit him online at www.donaker.com.