Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake

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Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean

23 reviews

winterfairy's review

emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

MY FAVORITE READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR. I love love love this book so much. I forgot how much I love historical romances until I read this. The writing was great, the scenes amazing, the plot WOW.

It follows a spinster who has been a wallflower for so many years. She is a plus-sized woman, at the age of 28 (I think), and she decides to make a list of everything she wishes to do in this life. Some things include: kiss someone, drink (alcohol) and go to a gentlemen's club. She is also someone is in love with the idea of love, and wishes that for herself. She is also a bit self-conscious at times, and I was definitely affected by her sadness.

One night she decides to visit the famous, and handsome rake, a marquess, in order for him to give her: her first kiss. In exchange she has to help him get her younger sister ready to enter society. The marquess becomes interested in her and slowly increases his interactions with her. Over time, she asks him to help her with different things from the list, and .... you're gonna have to read the book to find out more ;).

BUT I WISH THAT THERE WAS MORE GROVELING DONE FROM THE MMC BECAUSE WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE SAID ONE APOLOGY AND SHE ALREADY FORGAVE HIM?

Definitely steamy scenes here!

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iamamyyyyy's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

As a concept I really liked this book. The plot of a wallflower deciding to step out of her comfort zone and try "scandalous" things only the men can do and then finding herself (and love) along the way? Catnip to me. But the writing was a bit repetitive, especially in the spicy scenes with some phrases being used again and again. A lot also happened in the last 10% of the book or so that I could have either done without or could have been paced differently. The climax and resolution both played out very quickly while some earlier parts of the plot dragged a bit.

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kyeruhh's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed this! I liked the characters, both the two MCs and the side characters, and I thought the premise was fun. The main thing keeping me from rating this higher is how repetitive some of the writing was. So many things said magnanimously, so many mouths kicking up.

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yourbookishbff's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This is an excellent reformed rake x wallflower romance, both lighthearted and angsty in equal measure. It came So Close to an explicit declaration of fidelity, but didn't quite capture it, which is the only element that held it back from being truly Perfect for Me. I loved how a casually careless moment from early in the story came into the plot at the end to create maximum third-act angst and heartbreak (the pain was exquisite). The narrator was great. I loved the older-sister-spinster vibe that is Callie. She's such a relatable character and her tender love for Mariana blended so realistically with bitterness and envy. I loved the humorous nods to the modern reader (flesh wound jokes), was so grateful for her brother, Benedict, and their easy banter and camaraderie. sibling relationships among them. I also felt the plot was well-paced.

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unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A really well done wallflower/rake story. I loved Callie’s insistence on getting to have adventures and it was so lovely watching her come into her own. Ralston is a real Dum-Dum(tm) but his soft middle was so lovely. I can understand the hype about Sarah MacLean.

I do think this was about 50 pages too long - there were a lot of details for the side story and explanations of action that I probably could have done without, but very very good!

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livlamentloathe's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I bought this awhile back when the digital edition was on sale, and didn’t expect much of it. Imagine my surprise when I started reading and quickly became enthralled! I very much enjoyed this book. Especially how much the plot was about Ralston becoming obsessed with Callie. I loved her fire.

Definitely will be looking for more from Sarah MacLean!

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words_and_dreams's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Historical regency romance.

Fairly enjoyable, ticks all of the boxes, mousey heroine who is 'on the shelf', a rake, a villain and a wager.

Wasn't bad, wasn't amazing. My main gripe was describing the heroine as plus sized and plain and then one dress later she is suddenly a bombshell and beautiful all along. Just implies the hero wouldn't have fallen for her if she was actually 'plain'. It's been handled better in other stories.

I did enjoy the friendship between Calpurnia, her sister and Juliana. I also really liked the conversation between Calpurnia and Garbriel's ex mistress, which was deep and emotional. I'm glad that she was portrayed in a three dimensional light and not just a bitter and jealous ex.

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relin's review

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I really struggled with watching the main character Calpurnia make choices that seemed out of character. We were led to believe she had an absolutely pristine social reputation, but seems to only make rather large missteps the entire time? Some of which are believable (being fed up and trying something new), but others seem really... out there

for someone who is supposed to shepherd another man's sister into the ton

.
The other main character, Gabriel St. John, Marquess of Ralston is believable, but puts up with a bit of behaviors that seem absolutely stunningly awful.

Also the grossness at deciding his new found sister will remain here with no real regard for her own goals or wants, and that him and his brother both agreed this was sensible

. I personal also struggle with twins being described as being the same levels of everything / carbon copies to the outside world concept.

I didn't super understand the characters, the expectations the world had for them, or that there could be any kindness that didn't patronize the female lead. It had a lot of sweet, cute and hot moments that I enjoyed! Just Struggled to put away my disbelief after

Calpurnia tries to slap Gabriel, and he calls her a coward for not doing it

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eclectic_hellscape's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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smithrachaelynn's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

After re-reading: This was the book that launched my still current historical romance obsession. I loved the frankness of CallieMs character and her determination. The romance took a while to take shape and there were some things about it that were a bit annoying. Like how long it took them to finally get together, but the story and the characters are just so good.
Original review: 5⭐️ I just enjoyed reading this so so much. From the very beginning I related a lot to Callie and her insecurities. Gabriel’s character was so fun too. This just made my heart feel so full.

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