Author: Christy Carlyle
Genre/Age: Historical Romance/Adult
Series: Romancing the Rules Series (Book One)
Publisher: Avon Books
Format: Paperback via Giveaway
Rating: ✺✺✺✺.5
Links: Goodreads
Synopsis: Kit Ruthven's Rules (for Rogues)
#1 Love freely but guard your heart, no matter how tempting the invader.
#2 Embrace temptation, indulge your sensual impulses, and never apologize.
#3 Scorn rules and do as you please. You are a rogue, after all.
Rules never brought anything but misery to Christopher “Kit” Ruthven. After rebelling against his controlling father and leaving the family’s etiquette empire behind, Kit has been breaking every one imaginable for the past four years. He’s enjoyed London’s sensual pleasures, but he’s failed to achieve the success he craves as London’s premier playwright. When his father dies, Kit returns to the countryside and is forced back into the life he never wanted. Worse, he must face Ophelia Marsden, the woman he left behind years before.
After losing her father, Ophelia has learned to rely on herself. To maintain the family home and support her younger sister, she tutors young girls in deportment and decorum. But her pupils would be scandalized if they knew she was also the author of a guidebook encouraging ladies to embrace their independence.
As Kit rediscovers the life, and the woman, he left behind, Ophelia must choose between the practicalities she never truly believed in, or the love she’s never been able to extinguish.
A man who hates to follow rules meets a woman trying to change them.
Kit is doing exactly what he wants to do. He's left his father's stifling expectations behind to pursue a career as a playwright in London. But when the responsibilities suddenly land on Kit's shoulders, he's thrust back into the life he left behind. The properties and businesses to manage, the social constrictions, and the house that Kit never really thought felt like home.
The only upside to being back is the presence of Kit's long lost love. The woman who haunts him day and night. The girl he never really got over and the one he regrets leaving behind. If he's going to be stuck putting on his father's many hats, he might as well get to enjoy one aspect of his new life.
It's just too bad that Ophelia wants nothing to do with him. After he abandoned her four years ago, to run off to the city, Phee has had time to come to terms with his choice. And he didn't choose her. Besides, she has enough to worry about as she tries to stay financially afloat while secretly penning a controversial guide for young ladies and avoiding matrimony to a snobbish pursuer. She doesn't have time to add an old flame to the mix. If only her heart agreed with her head...
This is the first book of the series but I read the second book first for a tour. I actually won this paperback copy in the same tour and since I loved A Study in Scoundrels, I was super excited to start this story. And while I liked the second book just a smidgen more, this was still a really good read!
The plot was actually two-fold. We had Kit's lack of desire for taking over his father's publishing company that led to him trying to find a way to sell it, while he also had his prior playwright job to contend with. And we also had Ophelia's secretive pursuit of publishing her scandalous ladies' guidelines that clashed with her tutoring responsibilities. There was a lot going on even without the added love story.
The romance was full of ups and downs as Kit tried to become reacquainted with Phee and she attempted to avoid him. It was cute to watch the couple attempt to hide their feelings from everyone, even each other, at times. There were many stolen kisses and hidden caresses. The buildup for the sexual tension was nicely done.
One thing that really surprised me was Ophelia's strength of character. She didn't lay down and take what the world handed to her, even though it would have been the proper thing to do in that time period. She challenged the rules and went toe-to-toe with Kit over his treatment of her. Even when things looked bleak, she didn't just wallow in her self-pity. I love a strong heroine.
I also found Clarissa's character to be highly entertaining. Her morbid painting scenes? It was downright hilarious. I hope her story is told in the future since her brother and sister's now have been.
In closing...
That's two rogues down and hopefully many more to come. 4.5 suns!
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