A review by reading_historical_romance
Unladylike Rules of Attraction by Amita Murray

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

He kissed her like his life depended on it. Maybe he always kissed her like that. Or maybe it was her life that depended on it. Maybe it always felt like that to her. An agony of a kiss. 

Anya Marleigh is a singer and sitar player in Queen Charlotte’s court, who dreams of being independent in the world and freed of the attentions of lecherous men who only want her for a mistress.  Her dream appears to be within reach when she learns that she has inherited a fortune from a deceased patron, until the conditions of her inheritance are revealed.  The money is being held in trust by the estate’s executor, the arrogant Lord Damian Ashton, who will release the funds only if she marries by her twenty-fifth birthday.  And he must approve of the match. 

I’m so glad that I stumbled upon this one as an ARC!  I had not read Amita Murray before, and her writing is wonderful!  This book utilizes several familiar hist-rom tropes, but puts them together with enough variation – and pairs them with a murder mystery subplot - that it felt fresh and kept me engaged through the end. 

There are exquisite moments between Anya and Damian that cement their chemistry and the reader’s buy-in to their relationship, including some delicious sexual tension, fun flirtation, and hilarious banter.  Damian is so sexy in his reserved, stoic, “I’m in charge and I am never wrong except when I am absolutely totally wrong” arrogance, and then he totally lets himself go and melts into this sweet, tender man that had me all in the feels. 

The major theme of the novel is the unintended consequences of hiding one’s true feelings due to fear of vulnerability, even from family members.  I loved that this theme was explored not only throughout Anya and Damian’s relationship, but in the subplots of Anya’s estrangement from her older sister, Damian and his brother Jeremy’s relationship, and even with the friendship between Anya and her young teenage protegee. 

I like the author’s style which is prosy, but in more of a narrative conversational way.  There are really poignant moments with beautiful lines, so I found myself annotating quite a bit.  Like these: 

“He was in love with Anya, or in pain with her.  That was it, he was in pain with Anya Marleigh.” 

“Without Anya, it would all be pointless.  Without her, it always had been pointless.  He just hadn’t known it.”

SQUEEEEE. 

Tropes: enemies to lovers, inheritance clause, family drama, wicked matriarch, 

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the opportunity to read and review this novel.  All opinions are my own.