I really liked reading Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake. The heroine is 28 and has spent her whole life being a perfect lady, although it has never made her happy. Now she is 28 and she decides to make a list of things that she wants to do, many of them activities that are not done by respectable ladies of the time (like going to a bar or gaming hall, smoking, fencing). The hero is pulled into her plans and eventually embraces them. I like how the hero and heroine grew to know and care about each other.

This book did have a few things that I don't like in romance books. In the prologue, the heroine, who is 18 at the time, witnesses the hero kissing another woman. Then the first chapter opens with the hero waking up next to his mistress when his brother knocks on the door waking him. Both of the scenes happen very early in the book and the hero is never with anyone other than the heroine after. There is also a scene where the hero kisses the heroine when she is angry at him. She tells him to stop, but he continues. She starts kissing him back a few seconds later, so I guess it doesn't matter much, but I'm not a fan of that scene. ( )

Like MacLean's YA regency set romance, The Season, this takes a lot of typical tropes of the genre and gives them a firm whacking. Callie is twenty-seven years old, 'rubenesque' in physique and otherwise not very memorable. She has spent the last decade since her coming out slowly fading into the background and unfortunately becoming a wallflower spinster (complete with a lace cap). She has no idea when this took place, why she let it take place and is horrified to hear that her siblings feel she is too passive and unassuming to ever really change things.

Meanwhile Gabriel is thirty-five years old (give or take a year) and an unabashed rake. His reputation is quite fierce, something he is proud of holding, and constantly talked about by matrons and chaperons (in hushed scandalized accents). A chance encounter with a then seventeen year old Callie during a Ball at her house becomes a full blown one-sided infatuation on her part. He becomes embroiled in her 'List' and seeks to use the leverage of her wanting 'favors' from him in order to have her help with his newly found, half-Italian, younger sister Juliana. Juliana needs a highly respectable tutor to help her get acclimated to England and Callie wants his promise that he'll help her in the future (though she doesn't state why).

At first I had trouble believing that Ralston would want anything to do with Callie. He's not a cruel or malicious guy, but he doesn't comment favorably about Callie beyond the fact that she has a spotless reputation. Actually, despite his attraction to her (which even he can't deny for too long), he continues to describe her as plain and missish (or alternately, plain and recklessly insane). And this seemed to be a prevailing opinion of her appearance throughout the book. Other then Ralston, his former mistress and Callie herself, no one says she is plain, but its implied quite often.

What won me over was the fact that Ralston enjoyed seeing her face light up--in ire or happiness. He found her very eagerness--everything from trying scotch to kissing him--an attraction. For a while he didn't even notice her appearance anymore, only the fact that when she smiled she had a sparkle in her eyes and when she was enthusiastic about an undertaking she went full tilt. He became attracted to her personality and saw her as beautiful because of it.

Juliana was my second favorite character (after Callie). She had a certain energy to her mannerisms, a likability that made me want to read more about her. Nicholas was more flat to me, acting the opposite of whatever way Gabriel was acting at the moment (if Gabriel was being irrationally angry, Nicholas was in high spirits, when Gabriel was amusing himself, Nicholas was being serious). The banter between the two, and how easily he pushed Gabriel's buttons every single time, was entertaining however.

I could not stand, even for the limited amount of time she was in the book, Callie's mother. Not even a little bit. The woman, intentionally or not, seemed focused on making Callie's life miserable.

My real complaint was at the end when it seemed one obstacle after another presented itself in the course of 'true love' for Callie and Gabriel. One obstacle is surmounted and not even five pages later another one presents itself. It felt more like a way to tie up loose ends then true predicaments. I will admit that one of the funniest scenes in the entire book happens on page 345, though its more in the delivery then it is anything else.

Overall I was excited to read this book and read more of MacLean's writing. Book 2, about Gabriel's younger twin brother Nicholas, is entitled Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord and due out in November, and I can't wait! ( )

REVIEW: "NINE RULES TO BREAK WHEN ROMANCING A RAKE”
AUTHOR: [a:Sarah MacLean|1598076|Sarah MacLean|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1499444204p2/1598076.jpg]
SERIES: Love by Numbers, Book 1
FORMAT: Kindle Edition
PUBLICATION DATE: March 30, 2010
SETTING: 19th Century (1813 and 1823) London, England
GENRE: Regency Romance, Historical Romance
REVIEW BY: Noetical
RATING: 4.85/5 Stars
POV: Third-person primarily from the viewpoint of the heroine, with occasion moments from the Hero’s viewpoint, and some omniscient narration.

This was my second time reading "NINE RULES TO BREAK WHEN ROMANCING A RAKE” by Sarah MacLean. It’s a splendid beginning to her Love by Numbers. It’s story of a young woman, Lady Calpernia ‘Callie’ Hartwell, who risks all she has, her reputation, for what she wants, to live a life of her own choosing. Exemplifying the circumstances of most noble women living in Regency England, Callie has little control of the trajectory of her life. Socialized from birth to follow rules designed to preserve patriarchal rule, Callie reinforces her own gilded cage by following these rules.

When we first meet a seventeen-year-old Callie, at the end of her first season in society, she is prim, acquiescent, and too passive to even overrule her mother’s appalling taste in fashion. While she rails against her plight in her mind, she choses to subvert her own instincts rather than assert herself. This ironically makes it less likely she will succeed in society, rather than more.

“I never should have allowed my mother to pour me into this monstrosity,” she muttered to herself, looking down at the gown in question, at its too-tight waistline and its too-small bodice, unable to contain her breasts, which were a good deal larger than fashion dictated. She was positive that no belle of the ball had ever been crowned in such a vibrant shade of mandarin sunset. Or in such a hideous frock, for that matter.

At this point, while hiding from the embarrassment of yet another fruitless ball, Callie meets our hero, the Marquess of Ralston, a notorious rake. Following a self-deprecating remark about her dress, Ralston engages her in conversation.

He chuckled. “Yes. Well, it isn’t the most flattering of gowns.”
She couldn’t help her own laughter from slipping out. “How very diplomatic of you. You may admit it. I look rather too much like an apricot.”
This time, he laughed aloud. “An apt comparison. But I wonder, is there ever a point where one looks enough like an apricot?”

Finding the frank exchange freeing, rather than embarrassing, Callie admits she expects that she will ultimately end up “on the shelf.”

“What makes you so certain you’re shelf-bound?”
She cast him a sidelong glance. “While I appreciate your chivalry, my lord, your feigned ignorance insults us both.” When he failed to reply, she stared down at her hands, and replied, “My choices are rather limited.”
“How so?”
“I seem able to have my pick of the impoverished, the aged, and the deadly dull,” she said, ticking off the categories on her fingers as she spoke.

Ten years later, we find Callie “on the shelf,” chaperoning her younger sister, as foreseen during her first season. With dwindling prospects, she realizes a decade of sitting “upon a pedestal of primness and propriety,” has landed her on the shelf, gathering dust, or lace caps as the case may be.

“I’m invisible. So, why not stop being such a craven wallflower and start trying all the things that I’ve always dreamed of doing?”

Frustrated with a life lived without really living, Callie writes a bucket list of sorts, beginning with seeking a kiss from the Marquess of Ralston. From there, adventure, mischief and mayhem ensues.

Witnessing Callie’s transformation from compliant spinster to an adventurous and intrepid woman is a treat for both the reader and Ralston. While Callie and her antics, surprise and vex Ralston, at the same time, he realizes that he’s “never met a woman like her.”

She was a study in contradictions, all passionate innocence and adventurous primness and shy exploration. The heady combination was enough to fascinate even the most hardened of cynics—and he was indeed fascinated.

Our spirited heroine unwittingly reforms the rake by captivating, confounding, and amazing Ralston with her vibrant passion and love. Ralson has spent his entire adult-life avoiding love out of fear of losing himself to it, as his father did. In the end, he realizes his fears are for naught.

“My God, she’s made me so much more than what I was.”

SUMMARY NOTES
• DESCRIPTIONS: Well written, insightful without being so detailed it spoils the pacing (I hate that!)
• SEXUAL CONTENT: Definitely hot and butterfly inducing. Suitable for people 18 and older. Several scenes of vanilla monogamous M/F sex. Some explicit sexual activity depicted without being excessive or crude.
• VIOLENCE: A couple of minor accidental injuries.
• HUMOR: Witty banter and funny internal dialogue. I laughed out loud several times.
• DIALOGUE: Clever (see HUMOR above.)
• ENDING: Satisfying HEA without a cliffhanger.

FINAL QUESTIONS
• Did you like the Hero? YES
• Did you like the Heroine? YES
• Did you laugh out loud? YES, a few times.
• Did you cry? NO, but I felt the pain of the characters nonetheless.
• Were there any moments you considered abandoning the book? NO
• Was there a cliffhanger? NO, but there were plenty of interesting characters in need of their own HEAs.
• Is sex the central theme of this book? NO
• Do I recommend this series? YES, I bought the rest of the series after reading this book.
• Do I auto-buy books by this author? YES ( )

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean is the first historical romance in a trilogy entitled “Love By Numbers.” Although a lady does not smoke a cheroot, ride astride, fence or attend duels, the heroine of this book does all of that at least once as she is determined to break the rules and live the life she has been missing.

Miss Calpurnia Hartwell dreamed of romance and adventure but somehow she had been overlooked and found herself at 28 considered a prim spinster with an impeccable reputation. Before settling into spinsterhood, she drew up a list of 9 things that she wanted to experience, the first being a passionate kiss. She went to Gabriel St. John, Marquess of Ralston and notorious rake, to request that kiss and he agreed – provided she in turn introduced his Italian half-sister into society. Of course the two draw sparks off of each other and it becomes quite clear that, struggle though they might, these two have a romantic future ahead of them.

I found Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake to be a fun read as Callie experiences new things alongside the handsome and charming Gabriel St. John. There are quite a few steamy scenes but I just skipped ahead a few pages when I tired of the overdone descriptions. From it’s intriguing title to it’s charm and humor this Regency Romance was very engaging. ( )

2.5 stars rounded up

Regency Romance is not my cup of tea, even though I have tried many flavors. This is actually the first one that I was able to completely finish and it had zero to do with the theme nor the plot or any of the entire virgin aspect.

This author is able to write and if she had written this in a contemporary style it would have been five stars!!

( )