Customer Reviews

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake

5 star:		(107)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing A Rake (or 9 Rules for short) is the first ever adult romance novel I have ever read and I think Sarah MacLean may have just led me to a whole new genre to explore! After having read her Young Adult title (and first book), The Season I knew I would read anything else she wrote and this book took my breath away! Coming to 9 Rules from The Season was very natural and just ramped up everything a little bit more. I love that they are both from the same world and time period.

Now it's time for some details. Main character Callie is someone that I could instantly relate to, she isn't as young as the other society girls and has been labeled a spinster and has been almost forgotten about. She realizes that after playing the part society has cast her in she really hasn't had any fun and hasn't gotten anything out of being a good polite woman and so the list is born.

The whole idea of Callie completing a list of basically un-lady like and scandalous tasks is written in a very clever and funny way. Seeing someone try something new is usually always funny and when they have to sneak around in disguises and in the pitch black night it's all the more fun. And add in Ralston and you are very much set!

I loved every single character in this book, pretty much as much as I loved Callie (except for maybe her mother, lol!). From her younger sister Mariana who is engaged, to her older brother Benedick, to Ralston (swoon) and his brother Nick to everyone else. The characters are fabulous. I'm very excited that this is the first of 3 books in this series because I definitely want more where this came from (as if you couldn't tell!).

And the romance, how can I say this politely, it was HOT! (And 2 months later having read a stack of romances, it's still the HOTTEST!) I loved all the back and forth between Callie and Ralston too, the misunderstandings, the stubbornness, the flirting and the silliness it was just adorable! I loved how they would end up hidden in corners, empty hallways and all sorts of places just slightly out of range of the ton, it was dangerous!

I took my time with this book, a week to be exact because I really wanted to enjoy it. I finished it 4 days ago and I haven't really been able to get into anything else since. This book was a complete and absolute treat! RECOMMEND!

I don't mean to gush, but this was a really lovely romance. Well written, with a very appealing heroine and hero, some really good secondary characters, in particular the twin brother and half sister of the hero, who I imagine will have their own stories eventually. If you try to summarize the story, there's not really that much to it, but it was such fun to read and gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling. 28-year-old Lady Calpurnia Hartwell is plump, plain, on the shelf, and feeling that life is passing her by. She has given up on finding her one true love and decides she just needs to live, really live, and makes up a list of nine things she would like to do, if she could just get up the courage to do them. They are slightly scandalous and could ruin her spotless reputation if she were discovered doing them. Number One on her list is to have a Passionate Kiss and she picks our hero Gabriel St. John, a slightly rakish Marquess, as her kissing partner, since he is the man she has had a secret crush on for ten years. Well, this brings him into her life and his interference and participation in the other eight adventures on her list. He does so because he wants to protect her reputation and keep her from being discovered in the act of pursuing these slightly scandalous activities. Along the way her crush develops into real love and he realizes that this plump and plain woman is really lovely, sexy, bright and exciting to be with. Reading this gives you the same kind of feeling as watching a top-of-the-line romantic comedy like the oldies but goodies, "Sleepless in Seattle", "You've Got Mail", or "While You Were Sleeping". Not similar plots, just that same warm fuzzy feeling.

You'll have to forgive me for sounding somewhat irritated in this review...I just finished this book, rather against my will, and have a few bones to pick.

Frankly, I am baffled at the rave reviews this book has been receiving. Though I'll admit it started out with plenty of promise, by the time I got 40% through it got annoying, and by 70% it became nearly unreadable. I frequently wanted to do bodily harm to the heroine, and the hero was so underdeveloped I barely cared whether he got the girl in the end or not. The emotions, especially towards the end, felt contrived and superficial.

This is Sarah Maclean's first adult romance, and it shows - the writing is very amateurish in several places. There is lots of word repetition, as someone else mentioned - there are two instances where the heroine seems to be unable to think of any way to describe her feelings other than "sadness." I believe she uses the word about five or six times in the span of few pages. There's also waaaay more telling than showing. We are told explicitly what each character is feeling and why, especially when it comes to the hero.

I have to agree with the other reviewers who said this book was full of romance novel clichés. The spinster nursing a long-term crush on the emotionally distant rake has been done hundreds of times before, and much more creatively. The book was also rife with Big Misunderstandings, and the kissing and love scenes were full of overused phrases. Although, there was one term, "sweet rain" (I'll let you figure out what that refers to), that I don't think I've ever seen, and it made me burst into giggles every time I saw it.

Here are some of my other issues with the book (may contain very minor spoilers):

1. I just didn't buy that the hero was incapable of love because his mother left him at a young age. I'm not saying it's not a plausible reason to be skeptical of love, or to have problems trusting women, but Maclean really didn't do a great job of selling it. We are told that his mother's abandonment is the reason Ralston is determined not to love, but it's left at that...Ralston very rarely refers back to it, whether in flashback or inner dialogue. It seems like it was just a convenient reason to keep the couple apart until the end.

2. The list of things Callie wanted to accomplish made me dislike her more and more. Not only were the items on it tired Regency clichés, but they demonstrated the heroine's lack of concern for the damage she could inflict on her family's reputation - particularly that of her younger sister - if she were to be caught. As someone who is relatively well acquainted with the time period, it just wasn't believable to me that an aristocratic spinster would threaten her family's honor just for a few cheap thrills. Because Callie does so repeatedly, I couldn't help but see her as selfish and absurd.

3. If Maclean did much research for this book, it didn't show. Though this probably won't bother some people, I adore the Regency and have done extensive reading on the period. It seemed as if Maclean pulled most of her details from other historical romances, or perhaps from quick Google searches. For example, Callie loudly calls Juliana by her first name at a ball, and during a shopping trip on Bond Street, Callie, Juliana, and Mariana take to laughing out loud in public, which would have been considered quite vulgar. There are also several instances of glaringly modern speech that creep into the dialogue, such as "in the romance department," "keep a low profile," and "for the record." Of course, I don't expect historical romances to always be accurate, but the author should at least try.

4. The relationship, too, was terribly underdeveloped. Every time Callie and Ralston were alone, they usually exchanged a few lines of dialogue and then made out for the rest of the scene. They never actually got to know each other very well, and I found myself unable to believe that they knew enough about each other to truly be in love.

5. It was one of those novels where, if the hero and heroine had simply communicated like normal human beings, most of the obstacles between them could have been avoided. Also, for a woman who is supposedly brave enough to do some of the things that Callie does, she is annoyingly insecure. I won't give away too much, but a certain plot contrivance towards the end causes her to blow things way out of proportion and she instantly comes to the conclusion that Ralston's feelings for her are false, despite everything that has occured between them. But of course, they can't talk it out like rational adults...instead, Callie throws a fit and stalks off. Yet bafflingly, Ralston sees this display as a sign of her "newfound strength" and "powerful confidence." What???

To be fair, Maclean does have her moments of cleverness...every now and then I would find myself chuckling. But more often I found myself laughing and rolling my eyes at things that were not meant to be funny. Pit against authors like Loretta Chase and Lisa Kleypas, this book has little to offer a seasoned historical romance reader. It brings nothing new to the table, and merely mimics romance novel tropes that have been done countless times before -- and much more skillfully. Had Callie maintained the fun personality she displayed in the beginning throughout the entire book, that might have been enough to rescue it. Instead, she quickly devolves into a whiny, weepy, tiresome twit.

I skimmed the last portion of the book, just to be able to say I'd finished it. After all, I paid for the darn thing. My advice: if you're convinced by all the high ratings, as I was, and really want to read this, get it used or from the library. In the end, I deeply regretted paying eight bucks for it.

In conclusion: If you're looking for good spinster/rake novels, try "Lord of Scoundrels" by Loretta Chase or "The Devil in Winter" by Lisa Kleypas. Both are vastly superior.

Even though I'm not a romance reader on the whole, I really loved this book. If you read Sarah MacLean's The Season, you know she's all about strong, smart heroines- and in 9 Rules, Callie is no different.

Society says she's been put on the shelf, destined to be a spinster. Callie, however, has other plans- which include gambling at the gentleman's club, getting involved in a duel, and kissing Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston. As you might imagine, this causes more than couple problems for Callie, and everyone else!

This book is witty, sexy and just plain fun to read. I couldn't put it down.

I hate to criticize because I know that this book is currently getting a lot of rave reviews, but whatever the charm, it was totally lost on me. It basically read like a 432 page romance novel cliche. To call it something I've seen before is really an understatement. It would actually be more appropriate to ask where I HAVEN'T seen it before. You certainly couldn't include in that any one of numerous books by Stephanie Laurens, Julia Quinn, Jo Beverley, etc. etc. etc...
A plain-ish, plump-ish debutante falls head over heels for a rake (the hero, Gabriel St. John) in the midst of her spectacularly unsuccessful come out season. Nevermind that she spies him in a somewhat graphic clench with another woman, or that she's basically gone from his memory two seconds after he turns his back on her. Cupid has fired his arrow and she's going to nurse a deep & abiding love for him for the next ten years. Oh goody...
Flash forward ten years and Callie (the heroine & confirmed spinster) drafts her infamous list of nine scandalous things she would do if there were no consequences to face, starting with #1, kissing - Gabriel of course - so she sets out to accomplish this by sneaking into his house (and his bedroom).
I can't believe I spent ten minutes trying to figure out how many times I've seen this plot before. I settled on somewhere between 10 and 100, and then finally decided it hardly mattered. The fact is that I have seen it before, and pretty much everything that follows, from the bargain that Gabriel & Callie strike for her to sponsor his illegitimate sister in her own debut (in exchange for helping her to fulfill the items on her list), to his growing respect & attraction to Callie as a truly unique & beautiful woman in her own right.
Yeah, I know - it gave me a bit of a headache too...
As premises go, it's not a bad one, even if it's familiar. It would have been nice however, if there had actually been something unexpected on Callie's list. Nothing anachronistic like water-skiing, mind you, but something NOT involving things like dressing as a man and gambling in a gentleman's club, attending a duel, riding astride or fencing. Somewhere along the line it went from somewhat tediously familiar to so annoyingly predictable, it was like brushing my teeth with aluminum foil.
To be absolutely fair, I don't think I'd have been so critical of this book, had I read it 5 or so years ago, and well before I'd read a dozen other wallpaper historicals just like it.
Unfortunately, it comes well on the heels of a great many other stories nearly identical to it in plotting & writing style - hence the term "wallpaper". In light of that, I can't call it anything approaching fresh or innovative, or the author's voice distinguishable from that of a dozen others who continually churn out book after book just like this one. I would say that Maclean is a very competent writer for a relative newcomer to this specific genre, but in terms of originality, she's just one more in an already cumbersome list of meat & potatoes writers, cranking out formulaic regency fluff.
Not that formulaic regency fluff doesn't have its place...
If nothing else, it's a guaranteed easy & unchallenging read, and you don't have to think a lot or always be paying attention lest you miss something really integral to the plot. Not everyone likes to be kept on their toes, as they must be when reading a Sherry Thomas or Meredith Duran - in other words, crafty, intelligent writers who like to throw their readers a few curves.
This book, and Sarah Maclean, will appeal to many because her writing is straightforward & uncomplicated, and it won't keep you up, red-eyed & anxious until 4am. It's also relatively clean and error free - which there is a lot to be said for as well. As long as you aren't looking for anything that tests any boundaries or takes you, as a reader, outside of your usual comfort zone, I think you'll be well served here. I personally rate it three stars - in other words, just ok.

Last year I kept hearing about this wonderful debut author named Sarah MacLean and her book The Season. Which was about three teenage friends trying to survive in Regency England. I just had to run out and get it and instantly fell in love with Sarah MacLean's writing. Then when I heard the premise for her next book, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, I was giddy with anticipation. Lady Calpurnia Hartwell is your typical women living in Regency England. She follows the strict rules of society and tries to convince herself she's content even though she is considered to be 'on the shelf.' But when her younger sister becomes engaged and makes some comments that Callie inadvertently overhears, Callie realizes that she's tired of being the woman that society expects her to be. So she decides to make a list of nine things that she'd like to do.

The list ranges from things like 'learning to fence' and 'wanting to gamble '(in a gentleman's club no less) to the almost heartbreaking of 'to be considered beautiful.' Along the way Callie meets Gabriel St. John, the Marquis of Ralston who becomes her partner in crime as Callie dives into her list with both feet. Their encounters are both humorous and at times very very steamy. I swear I think that MacLean made me blush at least once....maybe more. Nine Rules to Break is more than just your typical romance novel though its a journey of self discovery and about accepting one's self for who they are. I loved watching Callie come out of her shell and learn that she could be happy even if she doesn't fit into the mold that society says she fit in.

While I did enjoy this book it wasn't perfect and does fall into some of the common pitfalls of a romance novel. Most notably was the head jumping. The book starts off alternating between Ralston and Callie and at first this is structured. But its not long before the POV would change based on what is convenient to move the scene along. So there are moments when the story will be told for a paragraph or two by Ralston or another character and then return to Callie. There was also that one scene that took up 1/2 a chapter from the POV of Ralston's sister Juliana - a scene that just seemed so randomly dropped into the story. It did nothing to move Ralston's & Callie's story along and I for one found it very distracting.

I also thought that the word "shan't" was used a bit too much. Yes this might be a bit nitpicky of me and I understand that its not easy to try to write a story in a time when many of the words and phrases that we take for granted in this modern world just didn't exist back then. So while I did get annoyed with the over use of that one word I do have to admire Sarah MacLean's ability to write in the Rengency time period. Just from reading her blog I know that it wasn't an easy feat to do. I mean who knew the word neckline didn't really come into being until the 1920's? I know I didn't.

Overall though I did enjoy reading Nine Rules to Break While Romancing a Rake. I found all the characters to be believable and loved Callie and Ralston's romance. Did I mention that their story is steamy? If not, then trust me....this is a book that can make even the regular romance reader blush. The dialogue was witty and fun and I loved Callie's brother. I hope that he gets his own story at some point. One that will hopefully include more of his and Callie's mother who I think was underused in Nine Rules. She was a secondary character that I think could have added some really humorous scenes to the novel. But she's also one who could potentially be a big distraction so I can understand why she was kept on the sidelines.

The next story in this series will feature Ralston's twin brother, Nick and will be called Ten Ways to Be Adored When Romancing a Lord. Doesn't that just sound like fun? I know that I cannot wait to read this one and learn more about Nick and that mysterious scar of his. There is no official release date for Ten Ways as of yet but I believe its expected in stores sometime in the winter of 2010. You can bet that I will be stalking Sarah MacLean on her blog and twitter until the announcement is made. Until then....I think I might just have to go and re-read Nine Rules again. Nine Rules to Break While Romancing a Rake will be available in stores on Tuesday so mark your calendars and be sure to check it out the next time you find yourself in the bookstore.

As originally posted on my blog Ticket to Anywhere.

Count me amongst the detractors. When I initially finished it, I thought this book was okay, but the more I reflect on it, the more I realize that it left me ultimately unfulfilled.

**Possible spoilers in this paragraph** Because so many others have rehashed the plot, I won't go into details on that point other than to say I am among those who found it rather cliche. The only scene I found "original" was the gambling house scene, and that was only because I was SO surprised by the courtesan questions and that Gabriel just went with the decision to take Callie's virginity in the back room of some gambling house. I mean, really? I don't even recall his having any real thoughts or concerns about that fact, which shows a certain lack of respect to me. Maybe he was caught up in a tide of lust (see below)? *lifts eyebrow skeptically*

Some scenes and turns of phrases made me laugh out loud. However, they didn't make me like the novel in the end. Being a traditional Regency reader (of the Signet and Zebra Regency novels of yesteryear), I was uncomfortable with the speed and frequency of Gabriel and Callie's sex scenes. I think there are upwards of five or six rather graphic physical encounters. I'm okay with some sexual encounters in books, but I like them to be more about feelings or lead to a better understanding of the characters and their motives. I don't think the sex scenes in this book really added to the development of the characters' romantic feelings other than lust (particularly on Gabriel's part).

The formula for the "build up" (if it can be considered that, even) is a consistent (1) they argue heatedly about something or other - usually his surprise and disapproval of her putting herself in a questionable situation for the sake of her list, (2) he makes a move on her, and (3) they fall into a lust-filled sexual encounter that opens her eyes to this world of pleasure. *insert eye roll* There never seemed to be an actual resolution to their arguments other than something sexual/physical.

For reference in terms of "taste," in addition to the traditional Regencies, I also like Julia Quinn and Jo Beverley for historical romances. I don't think this book delivers on the level of those authors' books. I would suggest the Bridgerton series, starting with book 1, The Duke and I (Bridgerton Series, Book 1), by Julia Quinn if you would like humorous, mostly non-angsty Regency era reads.

In terms of writing style, the author has a lighthearted tone (as I'm sure you'd expect given the somewhat silly/modern-ish title to the book). Overall, this was not a BAD book, but it definitely was not to my liking.

In the beginning, the heroine was an annoyingly weak ninny. She developed a bit of backbone only to have the hero turn ninny. Quite a few eye-rolling parts, repetition of words, and a surprising number of editing errors that abruptly brought me out of the story. That said, it was still an okay tale but definitely not a keeper. I would have enjoyed a stronger heroine who didn't cry on every other page and a more well-defined rake.

I liked this book, it was a fair read, but i'm a little surprised at the high ratings that it received. Callie was just a bit too insecure for my taste. She came off a bit too pathetic at times. Especially when she would confess to the hero how no other men wanted her. I found my self feeling embarrassed on her behalf many times. I guess it's just my personal preference. I would never lead a man to believe that he was the only man who wanted me, (LOL) so it was hard to relate. I also had to suspend my historical knowledge of the time period with some of the things that Callie was able to get away with on her list, but if you try hard enough you can too. This book definitely had some good qualities though. I loved the fact that in the beginning, the hero thought Callie was plain, but as he got to know her better she became beautiful to him. I also enjoyed the beginning of the book the best because I love it when the heroine is in pursuit of the hero for a change, and Callie was brave enough to go after what she wanted from Gabriel. The love scenes were okay, but in my opinion, not as spicy as some other romance books thats making the rounds these days.

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!