- Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake: Maclean wrote in her author’s note that this was her favorite book to write, chock full of her favorite romance tropes and that love spills into the pages, it’s so much fun. Here, Calpurnia-Callie is her preferance- is a firmly shelved spinster at the age of twenty eight and she is tired of being passive, being forgotten on the sidelines when her beloved younger sister and others are having the romantic dreams she always fantasized. So she sets out to complete a list of things she always wanted to do, all very scandalous for a well-bred lady of good breeding and the first one is to get a kiss from the rake of her dreams, the Marquess of Ralston. From there, it’s filled with light-hearted banter, cross-dressing and sizzling sexual tension. The Marquess is a classic rake with a hidden heart of gold but Callie’s transformation from plain spinster to someone seizing life with her two hands, finding her own worth and beauty is just spectacular.
- Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart: Juliana Fiori is the Marquess’ wild half-sister. Well, wild is an overstatement, a legacy handed down from her mother who abandoned all her children, leaving the scandal to haunt them all. Juliana suffers the most from the ton’s double standards with her low upbringing by her Italian merchant father and no matter what how she tries to fit in, the ton will always wait for her to slip up to prove their views. It’s a no-win situation made worse that she has fallen for the Duke of Disdain aka Simon Leighton whose commitment to duty is held above all else in his life. Maclean created an exciting ticking clock when Juliana bets Simon that she will bring him to his knees with passion. It doesn’t quite go as plan but Leighton does come to realize life without love is not worth the pristine reputation he used to prize. Juliana was the best heroine yet in my opinion as she was independent, blunt in cutting through the ton’s English nonsense and intensely loyal. In fact, I think she deserved better than Leighton even though Maclean gives him a suitable backstory that makes it okay when they get together. I still feel like he was obtused with how much he cared about his reputation, so concerned about how it would be awful it would be for him if he was caught with her when the women is the one who most often suffers when caught en flagrant.
- Ten Ways to be Adored When Landing a Lord: Unfortunately this one comes at the bottom despite it’s interesting premise. Lady Isabel has been a hermit from ton society since she was young because of her father’s wasteful habits, often gambling her away in wagers. Now, with the earl’s death, the Towsend estate is in a precarious situation riddled with leaking roofs, debts, no school for her little brother and a dozen females. For Towsend is also known as the Minerva House where women escaping harsh circumstances can find healing and community including the runaway sister of a duke. That leads Nicholas St. John, the Marquess’ twin aka the hunter to come to her door in search for the runaway duchess. While, Isabel and Nicholas were interesting characters on their own, their romance was less intriguing not to mention fast as it occurs over three days. I found Nicholas’ immediate overprotectiveness annoying as he yells at Isabel not to fix the roof even though she’s been doing it for years before he came. I know it came from a place that he saw how much she was shouldering and wanted her to share the burden, but some of it came across as it’s a man’s job machoness. Then Isabel was fine until she realizes her feelings for Nicholas where she turns into over-insecure, overthinking love interest. Also the story went on too long, seriously at least 50 pages could have been omitted as it seemed to wrap up but Maclean added a few more pointless obstacles before they officially got together, dragging it out. Plus the sex scenes were too similar to Nine Rules to Break. I know Nicholas and the Marquess are twins but it was too identical with both men lounging on their backs so the woman can touch them, the women having no idea what blowjobs are and the men assuring them they can explore later, the men teaching them how sex works, the same encouraging them to open their eyes as they orgasm and assuring them they’ll be there when they fall apart. It was fine the first time, but too noticable in this book and took me out of it.
Rachel Reads & Reviews 
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