Carole's Monday

 

Author: Sarah MacLean

Title: The Rogue Not Taken

(Scandal & Scoundrel #1)

Genre: Historical Romance
Format: ebook

Published:  December 29th 2015

Pages: 419 
Where I Got It: Borrowed from library

Summary: LADY SOPHIE'S SOCIETY SPLASH

The youngest of the infamous Talbot sisters scandalized society at the Liverpool Summer Soiree, striking her sister’s notoriously philandering husband and landing him backside-first in a goldfish pond. And we thought Sophie was the quiet one…

When she finds herself the target of very public aristocratic scorn, Sophie Talbot does what she must to escape the city and its judgment—she flees on the back of a carriage, vowing never to return to London…or to society. But the carriage isn’t saving her from ruin. It’s filled with it.

ROYAL ROGUE'S REIGN OF RAVISHMENT!

The Marquess of Eversley was espied descending a rose trellis—escaping an irate Earl and his once-future countess. No lady is safe from Eversley’s Engagement Ending Escapades!

Kingscote, the Marquess of Eversley, has never met a woman he couldn’t charm, a quality that results in a reputation far worse than the truth, a furious summons home, and a long, boring trip to the Scottish border. When King discovers stowaway Sophie, however, the trip becomes anything but boring.

WAR? OR MORE?

He thinks she’s trying to trick him into marriage. She wouldn’t have him if he were the last man on earth. But carriages bring close quarters, dark secrets, and unbearable temptation, and suddenly opposites are altogether too attractive…

Review:

I've enjoyed previous novels by this author and I randomly seen this while scanning through all the ebooks my library is offering (just found out they now have a HUGE selection of ebooks and even audiobooks - yayy!). Love that dress and that summary. Couldn't resist checking it out. 

We have Lady Sophie who is just trying to get away from London and her family. She has always hated the city and the ton, but now she scandalized society at the Liverpool Summer Soiree by striking her sister’s notoriously philandering husband and landing him backside-first in a goldfish pond. Whoops. She jumps on the back of a carriage to leave forever. Little did she know it is a carriage with the notorious Marquess of Eversley inside. He is quickly heading north to see his father.

This had great potential...but I had such a rough time with it. NOT because of the journey but because of our two main lovebirds.

We have Sophie and King (a nickname of course). They are so similiar....thick-headed dumb-dumbs. I wanted to scream at them and shake them....especially near the end. I get them hating each other in the beginning. It was fun watching them throw insults at each other. Cute. Fun. However....it did get a tiny bit old.  

I blame mainly King. He would NOT let it go that he thought Sophie wasn't trying to trap him into marriage. GIRL had proved it 100 million times. LET IT GO. She does NOT want to trap you. She just wants to be alone and open a book store. She even tried just leaving and getting her own carriage a handful of times. BUT noooooooo...she MUST be trying to trap King into marrying her *eye roll*. Okaaaaaaaaay. And Sophie...be dumber. Let's just run away on the back of someone's carriage? Go back to your hometown and hope your childhood friend will 1) remember you (it's been 10 years girl...let it go) and 2) didn't marry someone else because he is pining away for you even though you never maintained a communication with him and 3) HOW are you going to afford your life and opening a library? Girl. Use yo brain. Of course King is going to call you stupid when you tell him your plan. 

Okay this sounds like I would just call it done-so and say I hated the book. Nope, I did enjoy the story overall even though the two annoyed me. It was for sure a different take to a historical romance. There was lust after a while and then love later on. They really had to both grow up and learn to trust each other. It made sense that it took forever. They have a lot of issues to work through...especially King. 

The twists and turns were enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. I really had no idea what was going to happen next. Especially with King's father's secret/twist. That shocked me for sure! D: D: Whaaaaa? No way. Love it. 

Once the two got over their issues, they were SO cute together. 

Overall, not the best I've read by this author, but I did like it. I am interested in book 2 mostly because I want to read book 3 really bad. Mmmm now what to stamp this? *does complicated math equations and calculations* I'll give this 3 stars. 

Challenge(s):

- #9 on THE BAD BOYS OF ROMANCE challenge

- #20 Borrowed from library.