Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake
Author: Sarah MacLean
Publisher: Avon Books
Pub. Date: March 30, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-0061852053
432 pages

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried–and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she’s vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she’s been missing.

But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss–to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston–charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.

If she’s not careful, she’ll break the most important rule of all–the one that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopefully, desperately in love…

~*~*~

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, Sarah MacLean’s debut romance, is fantastic. Lady Calpurnia Hartwell is a woman on the edge. Tired of being relegated to the “spinster seating” and of having a perfect reputation, she decides to take things into her own hands and live a little.  She sits down and writes a list of the things she would do if she could act like a man. I loved the first item she writes on her list of adventures.

Setting the nib to the parchment, she wrote, her script strong and certain.

Kiss Someone

She looked up as soon as the words were written, half-afraid that she would be discovered writing such a scandalous thing. Returning her attention to the words on the paper, she cocked her heat to one side. It didn’t seem enough, did it? “Kiss someone” didn’t seem to capture exactly what she meant.

Biting her lover lip, she added one word.

Kiss someone – Passionately.

Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston, has an extremely wicked reputation that is mostly deserved. After the abandonment of his mother and the death of his father, he looks at love as something to be avoided at all costs. But fate has a way of giving us what we least expect.

Ralston is shocked when he finds out he has an Italian half-sister who is coming to live with him in London. Not knowing what to do with her, he enlists the help of Callie in hopes that she can help launch his sister into society. Callie agrees to help as long as he gives her the one thing she wants to cross off her list first…a passionate kiss.

I loved this book. Callie is a fantastic character that comes across very modern even within the historical setting. She isn’t happy being what someone else says she should be and sets out to find exactly who she is. She is a very strong and well written character. Ralston is a bad-boy, but at the same time Ms. MacLean wrote him with a vulnerable side that made me ache for his past and the little boy he had once been. These two characters were meant for each other and with every adventure, I wanted them to figure that out.     Readers who like Eloisa James and her strong, spunky heroines will love Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake.

~~~

Side Note from Bev

I just wanted to pipe in and say how much I, also, thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s the kind of book I picked up not sure how I was going to feel about it. I certainly didn’t expect to love it as much as I did.

Ralston is the quintessential rake but fully characterized so I wasn’t rolling my eyes at what he said and did. When Callie goes to his bedchamber to get her kiss–you know, strike that from her list–he kisses her briefly and she jumps back and tells him she’s satisfied he’s held up his end of the bargain (a kiss for his sister’s introduction into society). His response was to kiss her again, much longer, much deeper.

His lips curved at her ear as he spoke, his harsh breathing making the words more a caress than a sound, “Kisses should not leave you satisfied.”

He returned his lips to hers, claiming her mouth again, robbing her of all thought with a rich, heady caress. All she wanted was to be closer to him, to be held more firmly. And as though he could read her thoughts, he gathered her closer, deepening the kiss. His heat consumed her; his soft, teasing lips seemed to know all her secrets.

When he lifted his mouth from hers, she had lost all strength. His next words pierced through her sensual haze.

“They should leave you wanting.”

Ralston is a wonderful hero who doesn’t love Callie from the start. She doesn’t possess the kind of physical beauty that will turn a man’s head.  No, he grew to love her as she grew to love him over the course of the book, by getting to know one another–and all that touching and kissing. They have this wonderful repartee and complement each other so well. I cheered for them for the entirety of the book and couldn’t have been more satisfied when they got their HEA.

Ralston also has an identical twin brother, Nicholas St. John, who I desperately hope is getting his own book. I’m praying it’s Ten Ways to Being Adored When Landing a Lord. Yeah, say that 10 times fast. Kudos, Sarah! Your first foray into adult romance is a certifiable home run.

Bev’s Rating: 9 (Excellent)

Rating: 8 (Very Good)

Heat Level: 4 (Hot)

Buy Links: Barnes & Noble ~ $7.19 | Diesel eBook Store ~ $5.95

To celebrate Sarah’s release, I’m giving away a copy of Nine Rules To Break When Romancing a Rake to one lucky commenter.

Avonhistoricalstop picks
By Giveaways, Reviews52 Comments on Review: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake

52 Replies to “Review: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake”

  1. Ooooo it feels like I’ve been waiting for that one for EVER !!!
    Thanks for the great review Carrie 😉

  2. Nice review, Kiss someone – Passionately should definitely be first on the list!!!

  3. Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake just went to the top of my “Purchase” list. Wow, what an exciting glimpse of the book and thank you for a wonderful review, Carrie.

  4. I need to do some of the things on Callie’s list, lol.
    I’d love to read this, in fact it’s been on my list for awhile. Please count me in, thanks!

  9. I have to admit, the title doesn’t reach out & grab me (perhaps I’m becoming jaded. Ooh, I hope not). I am so glad I read this review, because I would have missed out on what sounds like a wonderful book. You have to let me know if I won very soon, or I’ll end up with 2 copies of it. I’m not waiting long before going to find it.

  11. I LOVE that snippet of dialogue: “Kisses should not leave you satisfied. [SMOOCH] They should leave you wanting.” Prrrrrrfect. I can’t wait to have this rake in my hands!

  13. Awesome reviews, Bev and Carrie!

    Please enter me into this contest! The book sounds wonderful, and I love stories like it!

  17. Thanks for the review. I always check the reviews before purchasing. And thanks for the heads up about the twin brother!

  19. Thanks for the review. I purchase a lot of books that have been reviewed so I look for those. The book sounds so terrific.

  20. Wow, this is one of many rave reviews for this book that I have seen lately. It is going on my TBB list right now.

  21. I need to double my chances of winning. The book sounds great. Lovely review.

  22. Couldn’t help but enter again after stopping in for the interview! This book sounds fantastic.

  24. Sounds fabulous, would love to win a copy  otherwise will definitely be on my buy list

  26. Great review. Can’t wait for this book! Happy to hear there is a second one coming too.

  27. Thanks for the review. Great ratings. I’m already excited about reading this one just from those small snippets you included.

  28. I have read several reviews of this book and all have rated it highly. It sounds like a story of two well written characters and their growing understanding of themselves and each other. Humor helps any story be better. Can’t wait to read this one.

  29. Kudos on the well-written review! I think the book sounds great and I love the combination of humor and sexiness. That combo makes for a story that flows along beautifully. So I’m really hoping I can get my hands on this.

  33. Nice reviews. Bev, when you said reread, that was the final push to put it on top of my TRL. 🙂
    And I love that Gabriel said “kisses aren’t supposed to be satisfying”. My kind of Rake.
    Carol L.
    Lucky4750@aol.com

  36. Thanks for the great review Carrie! It really makes me want to read this book!
    And thanks for your comments also Bev!
    This book looks good and interesting, and I love the pretty cover!

    I hope everybody has a Very Happy Day!!! 🙂

  39. Great review! From everything I’ve read about it so far, I know I’m going to love reading it! So, I’m over here in my corner jumping up and down hollering ‘PICK ME! PICK ME!’ LOL

  40. Would love love love to win it. Win it or not, can hardly wait to read it. “kiss someone – passionately” a kiss “should leave you wanting” oh yeah, definately sounds gooood. 🙂

  42. This sounds like an intriguing book. Since I’ve been a wallflower, I like this storyline too. After all, most of us do eventually find our man.

  43. What a great review and I’ve been hearing good things about this book – sounds wonderful!!

  44. Callie sounds a great heroine and I can’t wait to meet this bad boy Ralston. I enjoyed the kissing scene, it left me wanting more too!

  45. I’ve always loved the rake and the spinster stories, and Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake sounds like a fantastic example of this wonderful premise. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy and read it, I know I’ll be in for a treat.

  47. Most of my keeper books are on the hot/steamy side…and this book sounds terrific!!! I’d love to be entered in your drawing and thanks for introding me to a new author too!!!

  48. Great review! And I love love love the premise of this book 😀 Can’t help but root for the heroine trying to rebel in a historical and not only live, but take control of her life.

  49. okay, you guys seriously need to STOP posting so many good books! I have at lease 20 books for my shopping list for next month that I will have add this too since the review makes me want to read it!

  51. Even if I don’t win the book, I’m going to get a copy to read. Love the kissing excerpt!

Comments are closed.