Liviania’s Duckies Do Series review of The Love by Numbers Trilogy by Sarah MacLean
Historical Romance published by Avon Mar 10-Apr 11

In 2009, Sarah MacLean’s debut The Season got several good reviews on young adult book blogs.  I put it out of my mind since it’s a hardcover, but then her adult romances started showing up on my radar.  I picked up the second book, Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord, when my Borders went out of business.  It convinced me that there’s something to the hype, so I went ahead and read the other two books in the trilogy.

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake
30 Mar 10

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell does her best.  She follows the rules of society exactly and ends up on the shelf.  She decides that it’s time to pick up a few eccentricities.  Her younger sister is already engaged and her brother is a marquess, so their reputations are rather safe.  As for hers, well, she isn’t getting married, is she?  Then she goes to get her first kiss from the rakish marquess Gabriel St. John, who has been looking for a woman with an impeccable reputation to introduce his newly discovered half-sister to society.

I identified with Callie, who overcorrects herself when trying to fit in and just ends up a wallflower.  I also think MacLean manages a plausible premise to explain why her heroine wants to smoke, shoot, and otherwise act modern.  I like how Ralston (St. John’s title) and Callie play off of each other.  He slowly realizes that she’s pretty awesome while she gets to know the real man instead of her idealized version of him.

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake sets the tone for the trilogy.  MacLean’s Regencies are light and funny.  Those looking for serious fare might seek a different author.

Grade: B+

Summary:

A lady does not smoke cheroot.

She does not ride astride.

She does not fence or attend duels.

She does not fire a pistol, and she never gambles at a gentlemen’s club.

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried—and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she’s vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she’s been missing.

But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss—to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston—charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.

If she’s not careful, she’ll break the most important rule of all—the one that says that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopelessly, desperately in love .

Read an excerpt here.

Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord
26 Oct 10

Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord opens with an excellent prologue.  Lady Isabel Townsend methodically sends away another man who won her hand in marriage in a card game with her father.  She’s been forced to take care of herself, and when the earl dies, she takes advantage of the opportunity to care for others.  She acts as her ten-year-old brother’s steward and opens the earldom to young women in need of shelter – including the pregnant sister of a duke.

Nicholas St. John, “London’s Lord to Land,” has been hired by Duke Leighton to find his sister.  Nick and Isabel instantly connect, but she’s busy trying to hide her secret, which makes him think she’s up to something truly nefarious.  Isabel and Nick also seem like a good match, with their shared interests and practical natures.

Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord is the first of the Numbers trilogy I read and my favorite.  It contains the most laugh-out-loud moments of the three novels.  The epigraphs from the fictional magazine Pearls and Pelisses are not to be missed.

Grade: A

Summary:

“Lord Nicholas is a paragon of manhood.
And his eyes, Dear Reader! So blue!”
Pearls & Pelisses, June 1823

Since being named on of London’s “Lords to Land” by a popular ladies’ magazine, Nicholas St. John has been relentlessly pursued by every matrimony-minded female in the ton. So when an opportunity to escape fashionable society presents itself, he eagerly jumps—only to land in the path of the most determined, damnably delicious woman he’s ever met!

The daughter of a titled wastrel, Lady Isabel Townsend has too many secrets and too little money. Though used to taking care of herself quite handily, her father’s recent passing has left Isabel at sea and in need of outside help to protect her young brother’s birthright. The sinfully handsome, eminently eligible Lord Nicholas could be the very salvation she seeks.

But the lady must be wary and not do anything reckless…like falling madly, passionately in love.

Read an excerpt here.

Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart
26 Apr 11

The problems with Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart start with the cover.  Juliana Fiori, Ralston and Nick’s sister, is clad in some sort of sad sack with a strange slit instead of a pretty dress like Isabel and Callie.  The final novel is more of a sad sack than a funny romp.  Part of its problem is there is no overarching external problem giving it structure.

Juliana is bold, but it’s not because she wants to be, like Isabel and Callie.  She’s bold because everyone expects her to be as scandalous as her mother and she’ll deliver.  After reading about the efforts Ralston and Callie go through on her behalf, it’s a bit frustrating to read her self-pity.  (I could’ve also done with less funny foreigner jokes about her difficulty with idioms.)

The Duke of Leighton, her hero, eventually admits to the fact he’s an ass.  It takes a while, though.  Personally, I’m sad it takes so long for Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart to address Leighton’s treatment of his sister.  I couldn’t get into the guy getting his happy ending until he starts treating his family well.  I don’t need an alpha male in every story, but Leighton is so afraid of his mother and society.  Juliana and Leighton do have a great deal of character development, but the first half on the novel feels stagnant to me.

It’s a decent romance, but it lacks the effervescence of the first two.  It’s a disappointing end to the series.

Grade: C-

Summary:

She lives for passion

Bold, impulsive, and a magnet for trouble, Juliana Fiori is no simpering English miss. She refuses to play by society’s rules: she speaks her mind, cares nothing for the approval of the ton, and can throw a punch with remarkable accuracy. Her scandalous nature makes her a favorite subject of London’s most practiced gossips…and precisely the kind of woman the Duke of Leighton wants far far away from him.

He swears by reputation.

Scandal is the last thing Simon Pearson has room for in his well-ordered world. The Duke of Disdain is too focused on keeping his title untainted and his secrets unknown. But when he discovers Juliana hiding in his carriage late one evening–risking everything he holds dear–he swears to teach the reckless beauty a lesson in propriety.

She has other plans, however; she wants two weeks to prove that even an unflappable duke is not above passion.

Read an excerpt here.

I think Sarah MacLean is an exciting new historical author.  I’m looking forward to The Fallen Angel quartet.  It does sound like it could be a darker set of books, which could be a misstep given the strength of MacLean’s humor.  I enjoyed the Love by the Numbers trilogy, but expect I’ll only reread the first two.

Overall Grade: B