Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake (Love by Numbers, Bk 1)
Author:
Genre: Romance
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Author:
Genre: Romance
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Helpful Score: 5
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 a solid C - in other words, just ok.
Sensuality Rating: R
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 a solid C - in other words, just ok.
Sensuality Rating: R
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