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Rules of Engagement (Warner Forever)
by Kathryn Caskie

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/267486.Rules_of_Engagement?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Rules of Engagement (Warner Forever)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1173283059m/267486.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/267486.Rules_of_Engagement?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Rules of Engagement</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/156114.Kathryn_Caskie">Kathryn Caskie</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3443997?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 3 of 5 stars Eliza Merriweather wants nothing more than to go to Italy for a year to study painting, and if she can only make it through one Season (unattached to a meddlesome husband, of course), her inheritance money, though meager, will be able to make her dream come true. But Eliza did not reckon with her meddlesome aunts. Never having had a season themselves, Letitia and Viola Featherton determine that their nieces should have the best and most successful Seasons the ton has ever seen, and to help them, they consult a strategy book - Rules of Engagement - which Eliza doesn't have the heart to tell them is actually a military text. Soon Eliza forges an arrangement with the handsome Magnus MacKinnon to keep her unwed and help him find a suitable (read: rich) bride to save his family's faltering finances. With the help of her aunts and their strategy book, however, the arrangement soon becomes much more personal.
 
 The novel has a clever premise, but it lacks something in execution. Although the aunts employ the strategies faithfully at the beginning, that aspect soon begins to fade as the relationship between the main characters takes root. It's a crying shame, too, because the meddlesome aunts are far more entertaining.
 
 While it's nice to see a heroine who is not completely enamored of balls and husband-hunting, but intent on pursuing an artistic career, Eliza is - simply put - a pain. She nobly sacrifices herself for the financial good of Magnus not once (acceptable), not twice (tolerable with the right motivation), but four times that I counted! FOUR! It pushed her firmly into the TSTL category despite her promising beginnings.
 
 Added to that was the horror of the main character's sister. She is self-centered, interested only in snagging her own husband regardless of whether she must sacrifice Eliza's happiness to gain it, and constantly blames scandals of her own making on Eliza. It's enough to scream. At one point she apologizes and claims that she did not understand how Eliza actually felt, but immediately returns to acting as she did before. She definitely ruined the story for me as I was more angry at her than interested in seeing the main characters get together - especially since she was an enabler of the whole TSTL situation. 
 
 So after all that ranting, I feel compelled to state that the writing was good. The aunts were excellent characters, and I absolutely loved the premise. I would try another book by this author as this is a first effort - surely her plotting will improve. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/216057?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Alana's review
rating:
bookshelves: romance-regency

Eliza Merriweather wants nothing more than to go to Italy for a year to study painting, and if she can only make it through one Season (unattached to a meddlesome husband, of course), her inheritance money, though meager, will be able to make her dream come true. But Eliza did not reckon with her meddlesome aunts. Never having had a season themselves, Letitia and Viola Featherton determine that their nieces should have the best and most successful Seasons the ton has ever seen, and to help them, they consult a strategy book - Rules of Engagement - which Eliza doesn't have the heart to tell them is actually a military text. Soon Eliza forges an arrangement with the handsome Magnus MacKinnon to keep her unwed and help him find a suitable (read: rich) bride to save his family's faltering finances. With the help of her aunts and their strategy book, however, the arrangement soon becomes much more personal.

The novel has a clever premise, but it lacks something in execution. Although the...more Eliza Merriweather wants nothing more than to go to Italy for a year to study painting, and if she can only make it through one Season (unattached to a meddlesome husband, of course), her inheritance money, though meager, will be able to make her dream come true. But Eliza did not reckon with her meddlesome aunts. Never having had a season themselves, Letitia and Viola Featherton determine that their nieces should have the best and most successful Seasons the ton has ever seen, and to help them, they consult a strategy book - Rules of Engagement - which Eliza doesn't have the heart to tell them is actually a military text. Soon Eliza forges an arrangement with the handsome Magnus MacKinnon to keep her unwed and help him find a suitable (read: rich) bride to save his family's faltering finances. With the help of her aunts and their strategy book, however, the arrangement soon becomes much more personal.

The novel has a clever premise, but it lacks something in execution. Although the aunts employ the strategies faithfully at the beginning, that aspect soon begins to fade as the relationship between the main characters takes root. It's a crying shame, too, because the meddlesome aunts are far more entertaining.

While it's nice to see a heroine who is not completely enamored of balls and husband-hunting, but intent on pursuing an artistic career, Eliza is - simply put - a pain. She nobly sacrifices herself for the financial good of Magnus not once (acceptable), not twice (tolerable with the right motivation), but four times that I counted! FOUR! It pushed her firmly into the TSTL category despite her promising beginnings.

Added to that was the horror of the main character's sister. She is self-centered, interested only in snagging her own husband regardless of whether she must sacrifice Eliza's happiness to gain it, and constantly blames scandals of her own making on Eliza. It's enough to scream. At one point she apologizes and claims that she did not understand how Eliza actually felt, but immediately returns to acting as she did before. She definitely ruined the story for me as I was more angry at her than interested in seeing the main characters get together - especially since she was an enabler of the whole TSTL situation.

So after all that ranting, I feel compelled to state that the writing was good. The aunts were excellent characters, and I absolutely loved the premise. I would try another book by this author as this is a first effort - surely her plotting will improve. ...less

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