Rules For Engaging the Earl | Janna MacGregor | ARC Book Review

Rules for Engaging the Earl by Janna MacGregor is the second book in “The Widow Rules” series. A historical romance featuring a marriage of convenience between childhood friends, this book features a strong heroine determined to rise above her circumstances, and a reclusive War injured Earl who is too lost in his inner turmoil. So read the book summary, genre, publication date, book series, similar book recommendations, reading age, and book review of Rules for Engaging the Earl by Janna MacGregor in this post below.

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About Rules for Engaging the Earl by Janna MacGregor:

No. of Pages: 378

Publication Date: St. Martin’s Paperbacks (26 April 2022)

Genre: Historical Romance, Regency Romance, Marriage of Convenience, Second Chance Romance

Series: The Widow Rules Book 2

Reading Age: 18 years and above

Can be read as a standalone? YES

Buy From: AMAZON

Rules for Engaging the Earl by Janna MacGregor Book Summary:

Constance Lysander was devastated when she, pregnant, lost everything in one swoop. Her duplicitous husband died, she learned of his other marriages, and then learned that he had spent all her dowry. Now in danger of falling victim to scandal, she needs to marry. The only good thing is that she has a supportive aunt, and her husband’s other wives are now like her sisters. But still—with a baby on the way, her shipping business to run, and an enemy skulking about, she has no time to find the perfect match.

Jonathan, Earl of Sykeston, returned war hero and Constance’s childhood best friend, is the only one she can trust to help her. But Jonathan’s return to society has been harsh. Injured in war, then cruelly judged for his injury, and facing threat from an unfounded rumour that has the power to destroy his life, he has turned reclusive, and shuns society. However, his feelings for Constance run deep and when she asks for his help, he agrees to this marriage of convenience.

But will this marriage heal their hurts, and pave the way to a happy future, or is this another mistake that will drown them?

Rules for Engaging the Earl by Janna MacGregor Book Review:

I enjoyed the first book, “A Duke in Time” and was so eager to read Constance’s story. A tortured, injured, and reclusive hero is my catnip. So when I first met Jonathan and Constance, and got an inkling of their repressed love for each other, I was super excited to read this book. However, in the end, while this is a decent read, I feel that it could have been better.

Protagonists:

For most of the book, Jonathan stays cranky, hopeless, and brooding. While I understood his fears, anger at society, and his insecurities, it just stretched too long. I was looking forward to reading an emotional, angsty, and redeeming story of a tortured hero but was sadly left bored.

So much of Jonathan’s healing happens off the page, and I would have loved to see him get back in form on page. There is so much emotional, and romantic development that could have happened but unfortunately it didn’t. Even the romance failed to connect with me.

However, I loved Constance and Jonathan’s past, and the flashback scenes plus the end scenes are my favourites in this book.

Constance is a strong woman and I liked her for the most part. However, her hypocrisy in wanting her husband to share everything with her while she didn’t want to burden him with her problems had me shaking my head in disappointment. Baby Aurelia is so cute and I loved her interactions, and Constance’s motherly affection. But Constance’s superwoman portrayal where she has time to play with the baby, manage her business, keep the house clean with weeding, dusting, and all, and then have the strength to indulge in sex was just not believable.

Then I also don’t understand why she married Meri when she had been in love with Jonathan all her life. Since she had her own business, didn’t need money, and had seemed determined to never let any other man in, her marriage to Merriweather whom she didn’t love is so confusing.

Other Characters:

Her friends while good people just made the situation worse every time. And had me feeling disinterested with the long, meandering inner monologues of Jonathan. Then a relation that ran in circles with no development, and an enemy who could have been dealt with easily had the protagonists shared things with each other.

Another character that I loved is North. A true romantic, loyal, and devoted to Jonathan, his matchmaking tactics had me smiling and chuckling so often.

It was so fun meeting Katherine and Christian from “A Duke in Time” again. And I am now so intrigued to read Julian and Beth’s story. Also the mystery of the missing dowries, and the investigation has me captivated. Much is developed in this book in this regard, and I am eager to get the closure in the next book.

Conclusion:

All in all, Rules for Engaging the Earl by Janna MacGregor is an okay read that had the potential to be better. While I enjoyed reading it and will definitely read the next book in this series, this isn’t the angsty emotionally electric story that I was hoping to read. 3 out of 5 stars to it and Njkinny recommends this historical romance to all romance lovers above the age of eighteen.

Buy From:

AMAZON

Read the other books in The Widow Rules Series by Janna MacGregor

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