Rules for Ruin - Review

Rules for Ruin (The Crinoline Academy, # 1)

By: Mimi Matthews

Publication: May 20, 2025 by Berkley

400 pages

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction, Victorian

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon )

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Goodreads description--No one betrays the Academy. But now Euphemia must decide: break the rules for her enemy, or let the rules break her heart.

On the outskirts of London sits a seemingly innocuous institution with a secretive aim—train young women to distract, disrupt, and discredit the patriarchy. Outraged by a powerful politician’s systematic attack on women’s rights, the Academy summons its brightest—and most bitter—pupil to infiltrate the odious man’s inner circle. A deal is struck: bring down the viscount, and Miss Euphemia Flite will finally earn her freedom.

But betting shop owner Gabriel Royce has other plans. The viscount is the perfect pawn to insulate Gabriel’s underworld empire from government interference. He’s not about to let some crinoline-clad miss destroy his carefully constructed enterprise—no matter how captivating he finds her threats.

From the rookeries of St. Giles to the ballrooms of Mayfair, Euphemia and Gabriel engage in a battle of wits and wills that’s complicated by a blossoming desire. Soon Euphemia realizes it’s not the broken promises to her Academy sisters she should fear. . . . It’s the danger to her heart.

I've read 18 of Mimi Matthews' published books. I find her to be a consistent author who writes characters I can root for and stories that pull me in. Out of 18 I've read, I've only rated 5 less than 4 Stars. So I generally expect to like her books. Yet when I started Rules for Ruin, I had a hard time connecting to the beginning of it. I worried the story was going to stray more into a mystery than her books have in the past. All it took to change my mind was to make it to the part where Gabriel and Effie met. That was enough to hook me.

Effie has grown up in an orphanage for girls. But this wasn't a typical orphanage. The owner of the orphanage wasn't affectionate, and she and Effie often butted heads. Effie was eventually sent to Paris, and now she's returning for a mission that will, hopefully, earn her freedom. Mrs. Corvus has tasked her with ruining a man who stands in the way of laws to further women's rights--specifically protecting women's property that they bring into a marriage from being taken over by their husbands and leaving them completely dependent upon their spouses, who might not have their best interests in mind. Effie is hosted in society by a lady who owes a debt of some sort to Mrs. Corvus. This lady is frequently in the company of Lord Compton--the mark. Lord Compton has an impeccable reputation, but how he votes often sways his peers. 

When Effie meets Lord Compton, she also meets a man named Gabriel Royce. Gabriel runs a betting house in the Rookery. He is trying his best to grow his business and improve the Rookery. He has good intentions. But he uses Lord Compton as protection from the law. And he's recently been pressing him for introductions to more noblemen and businessmen, hoping to garner investors in his improvement ideas. But he has to do so using a bit of blackmail. Effie's goals run counterproductive to his own. And he lets her know up front that any plans she has against Lord Compton will be undermined by Royce himself. 

Effie and Gabriel have a fun journey. I liked seeing them work against each other and for each other. I liked seeing them bump heads as both tend to have a little temper and fire about them. I appreciated that Gabriel isn't a typical hero. Most wouldn't root for a man who owns a betting shop in the slums. But he was a good match for Effie. And I enjoyed their story. 

I did wonder a little at a few things. The Crinoline Academy is essentially raising spies. They are trained in unconventional arts. And Effie is supposed to be the prize student. Yet, I found her skills lacking several times. Maybe she's out of practice, having been in Paris and not necessarily on a mission. But a few things felt obvious to me that she missed. Even after being warned by Nell to assume she's being followed, her correspondence being read, and being spied on herself by keyholes, Effie is never as paranoid as I would assume she would be. 

Favorite quotes:

-"A finishing school in Paris, was it?" Gabriel inquired. "That's correct." Miss Flite returned her attention to the others. "And were you?" he asked. She glanced back at him again, distracted. "Was I what, sir?" "Finished?" Her mouth curved into a slow, feline smile. "On the contrary," she said. "I'm just getting started."

-"There you are," he said, with a husky scrape of triumph. "I see you now."

-"Fashion is fleeting, but a well-timed right cross is forever." She added wryly, "To paraphrase The Oracle of the Ring."

-"You're too bitter, that's the trouble. You persist in blaming Miss Corvus for the conditions that brought you here. And she's accepted the blame--foolishly, I feel--in the mistaken belief that your anger would fuel you. Instead, all it's done is cloud your judgment. It's made you suspicious of everything you've learned. Perpetually dissatisfied, imagining there's something better waiting just around the corner, if only you could be free of this place."

-"Never talk about other people. It is the mark of a small and common mind."

-"Don't be ridiculous," she said. "Blackmail is a loathsome business." She smoothed her gloves. "I intend to remove Compton from the board entirely."

-"Everyone must sleep eventually." "Some people sleep with one eye open." Effie gave him a thoughtful look. "Some people must be very tired." Gabriel's mouth hitched wryly. "Exhausted." "That's why it's important to have a true friend. Someone you trust with your life. You can sleep in turns."

-"When all the world desserts you, you will have no friend but yourself to rely on," Miss Corvus had told them. "See that you are a fierce and competent friend. A friend to be reckoned with."

Rules for Ruin is multifaceted, and I've barely scratched the surface in my review. Miss Corvus's backstory. Effie's backstory. I mentioned Nell, but I haven't described any of the side characters. Franc, the dog. I enjoyed it all. I'm so glad that I pressed on when things felt slow in the beginning. And I can't wait to continue the series with Nell's book next. Rules for Ruin gets 4 Stars. Have you read Rules for Ruin? What did you think? Let me know!