The Rogue Not Taken is Sarah MacLean’s first book in her Scandal & Scoundrel series. It’s a road trip book, and it tells the story of King and Sophie.
It is also the ninth book in the Summer of Sarah MacLean event. The event hosts are Kelly Gallucci (bookish.kelly, Instagram) and Dana Cuadrado (To All the Nerdy Girls, Instagram). I must admit reading all these Sarah MacLean books and chatting about them with fellow romance lovers has been a delight!
Here is my current bingo card for the event:
The heroine Lady Sophie Talbot is the youngest of the Dangerous Daughters. While her elder sisters have no problems with scandals, Sophie has led a scandal-free life until now.
We learn quickly that she does not have much time for the aristocracy – the way the look at her family and their opinions of themselves. The book starts with her pushing her brother-in-law the Duke of Haven into a pond. He deserved it and it made me love her from the start! YOU GO GIRL!!!
Kingcotte or King, the Marquess of Eversley the hero of The Rogue Not Taken has a reputation for ruining betrothals throughout the Ton. But in this book he has been summoned home to face his dying father. A man King has not forgiven for causing the death of the love of his life – so there are some rage issues here 😉
The banter between these two is simply wonderful! This exchange really does capture them in all their gloriousness:
“You’re not dying.” She read the words on his lips as the echoed around her in the enormous carriage. Everything about him underscored their certainty. Squared jaw, firm lips, unyielding touch. As though she wouldn’t dare die because he had willed it.
“Just because you call yourself King does not make you my ruler.”
“In this, I’m your ruler,” he said.
“You’re so arrogant. I have half a mind to die just to prove you wrong.”
You can’t help but love them!! They really do bring the happy. I could not put down this book!
Sophie is a strong, smart, capable woman who believes no one really loves her. King believes he is unworthy of love – where could this go wrong?
Outside, of the two main characters, we get to meet another rogue, the Duke of Warwick, the hero in the next novel, Sophie’s sisters (also known as the Spoiled Ss) and a very intriguing surgeon. They all play a role in bringing our couple together.
And it was the surgeon who brought out King’s jealousy. I greatly enjoyed King’s instant jealousy around other men and Sophie – mainly because he didn’t act on it, we just got to watch him suffer. I was positively gleeful.
As for Sophie, her disdain for the aristocracy and her love of books helped make her one of my favourite MacLean heroines.
And like most of Sarah’s heroes, King also must grovel to make amends. I quite enjoyed his grovel when he finally saw the light. Sophie deserves the best and I do believe King will spend the rest of her life letting her know how loved she is.
The Rogue Not Taken brought a different twist to historical romance and that is not a bad thing. The road trip aspect was lots of fun and I loved how concerned King was about Sophie wearing slippers!
If you are looking for a very enjoyable romance with wonderful banter this is the book for you! You can purchase it on the Kobo and Amazon websites.