Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sara McLean

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has an impeccable reputation and a very dull existence. Ever since her disastrous first season she had started to resign herself to the fact that she would never be the belle of the ball, that she would probably never meet the man of her dreams or, that if she did, said man would never feel the same way about her.

Particularly because she, in fact, met the man of her dreams at 18, the notorious Gabriel St. John, marquess of Ralston during that first season. He was kind to her, but minutes later she saw him embracing a beautiful woman and Callie realized that Ralston wasn't nearly as affected by her as she was by him.

Years went by and now, at 28 and on the wake of her younger sister's engagement, Callie decides that her pristine reputation is all good and well but is little to show for her life. So she decides to live a little and take risks, coming up with a list of 9 things she wants to do, 9 rules to break. The first item on her list is "Kiss someone - Passionately!" and the chosen one for this first momentous kiss is none other than Ralston.

Ralston, who earlier that day had found out he had a sister, is quite surprised when Callie shows up at his house and asks him to kiss her. In a flash, he realizes there is away in which both of them can get something they want: Callie can get her kiss and he can get someone to help him introduce his sister to society.

So the two of them strike a bargain and Callie's quest to live a little starts.

I liked this one, I liked how Callie and Gabriel strike their bargain, and Callie is a truly endearing character. I didn't love the book, somethings never clicked for me, but over all Nine Rules to Break While Romancing a Rake was a very nice read. I really liked most of the characters. Callie's brother and sister and Gabriel's brother and sister were lovely characters, bringing a lot of warm and fun into the story.

Favorite Quote: "If only others knew that lady Calpurnia Hartwell, proper, well behaved spinster, entreated deep-seated and certainly unladylike thoughts about fictional heroes,"
2/3