Sarah MacLean (born December 23, 1978) is a New York Times bestselling American author of young adult novels and romance novels. Her first adult romance novel, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List, where it stayed for four weeks. Since then, all of her adult romance novels have been on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. From 2014 to 2018, MacLean wrote a monthly romance novel review column for The Washington Post. She is a two-time winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award for Best Historical Romance for A Rogue by Any Other Name in 2013 and No Good Duke Goes Unpunished in 2014. She's also the co-host of the weekly Fated Mates podcast, where she and her co-host, Jen Prokop, analyze and deconstruct the romance genre. Biography MacLean was born in Lincoln, Rhode Island to an Italian father and a British mother. MacLean's website reports that her mother worked for MI6. MacLean started reading romance because her older sister read the books, and she has wanted to be a romance novelist since she was a teenager. In 2000, MacLean received a BA in American Studies from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. While at Smith, MacLean and her friends read hundreds of romance novels. MacLean moved to New York City in 2000, and worked as a literary publicist until she attended graduate school at Harvard University, receiving a master's degree in education. Upon returning to New York City, she wrote her first book, a young adult novel, The Season, after a friend suggested she try her hand at writing for teens. The book, set in Regency England, received numerous awards, and was named to the 2010 Lone Star Reading List of the Texas Library Association. After The Season, MacLean wrote her first adult romance novel, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, a Regency historical. The book debuted on the USA Today Bestseller List and the New York Times Bestseller List, where it stayed for four weeks, and was the first recipient of the Romantic Times Magazine Seal of Excellence. MacLean is a self-proclaimed feminist and speaks widely on the intersection of feminism and the romance genre. She is a vocal defender of the literary merit of the romance novel and the skill it takes to write it well. In February 2014, MacLean began writing