A Regency-era interracial romance? Sounds intriguing, but ultimately I was disappointed in this book. The hero is an amazing man who worked his way out of bondage and has become a wealthy businessman in Boston. The heroine is the daughter of a duke, whose reputation has been ruined. She is also a free-thinking abolitionist. She meets Virgil when he is in England meeting with that country's leading abolitionists. The attraction is strong and immediate, but . . . .

In HR, there's always a "but . . . . " Here, you would expect all sorts of complications relating to racial differences; even abolitionists didn't 'want their daughters to marry one.' This topic, however, is barely mentioned, and ultimately the story is not much different from what it would have been if Virgil was a white American businessman wanting to carry off a duke's daughter to America.

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*ARC received from Netgalley on October 8th 2012*

The Lady Who Broke The Rules is part of the Castonbury Park series from Harlequin. All the books are written by different authors. I read a prequel of sorts many months ago. It wasn't my favorite historical fiction, but it was enjoyable. I haven't read the first two book in this series either. One of the things that I like about this series is that you don't have to start at the beginning to understand the characters. There are cross-over characters in this book, but you get enough explanation to understand the story.
The two main characters in this book are Kate Montague and Virgil Jackson. Kate has recently upset her family by breaking off her engagement. Virgil is a freed slave that now has a successful business. Kate and Virgil's paths cross, and their attraction to each other cannot be denied. I applaud Kaye for her unique spin on this romance, but I had a few problems with the story line. Most of my reservations lay with the historical accuracy in this book. I don't mean that a book has to be 100% accurate to be believable, but I can only suspend my disbelief so far. All though Kaye does mention the hardships the couple will have to face, it's not really stressed upon especially for this time period. Not only of being different social classes, but also that the characters are different races. However overlooking that aspect of the story, it's enjoyable. It's more of a novelette at 169 pages than a full-length novel. I think if the author added another 150 pages she could have built a more believable story line. As it was it's an okay read. I'm a huge fan of historical romance, but this book fell a little short for me.
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