The Rogue Not Taken

Starred review from October 19, 2015
MacLean’s spellbinding first Scandal and Scoundrel Regency romance (linked to her popular Rules of Scoundrels series) revitalizes the usual pairing of defiant wallflower and misunderstood rogue, spicing up the story with characters who make provocative propositions and brave assorted dangers. Sophie Talbot loathes everything about the aristocracy. Her father’s now an earl, thanks to his financial success with coal mines, but she preferred her previous life as a commoner, and after an embarrassing public scene, she decides to flee London forever. To her chagrin, the carriage she stows away in also contains Kingscote, Marquess of Eversley, who’s making a hasty getaway after what she assumes is one of his infamous trysts. Eversley knows he should steer clear of the Soiled S’s, as Sophie and her sisters are known, but that doesn’t stop him from helping Sophie time and again. He’s made it clear to the brash young woman that he’ll never fall for her. Now, if he can just convince himself of that, his world can remain upright on its axis. Readers will be intoxicated by the emotional connection between the lovers, which makes their banter that much more amusing and their eventual physical passion that much more satisfying. Sophie’s delightful family will leave readers eager for future installments in the series. Comedy, action, secrets, and love: this book has it all. Agent: Steve Axelrod, Axelrod Agency.

November 1, 2015
After Sophie Talbot creates a scandal, she tries to escape aristocratic society by stowing away in the Marquess of Eversley's carriage--but she winds up in even more trouble. Since her father went from being a coal miner to a rich businessman to an earl, Sophie has become increasingly unhappy. Unlike her sisters, who take glee in creating scandal and flaunting the mores of Victorian society, Sophie hates feeling like an outsider and detests the hypocritical aristocracy. But when she goes too far, pushing her brother-in-law the Duke of Haven into a fish pond after she catches him in a compromising position at a garden party, she asks the rakish Marquess of Eversley, nicknamed King, to give her a ride back to Mayfair. When he denies her request, she pays one of his grooms for his livery and hitches a ride on the back of the carriage. But it turns out that the carriage isn't going to Mayfair; when it heads out of London, Sophie is stuck on the road with an angry King and no way home. Changing her plans, she asks King to deliver her to the small town where she spent her childhood, claiming a lost love is waiting for her. Skeptical but intrigued, King agrees, but nothing goes as planned for the antagonistic pair, who snipe at each other along the journey yet somehow turn to each other in times of trouble, even while a sense of pride keeps them from admitting their growing regard and attraction. When King finally takes Sophie back to his home in Cumbria, where he'd been headed all along to see his ailing father, a series of miscommunications drives the couple apart, risking their happy-ever-after. MacLean's elegant writing, brisk storytelling, and clever dialogue are frosting on the cake of Sophie's compelling romance, and they'll hook the reader into this new series about the risque Talbot sisters, who must forge a path through a hostile social structure. MacLean's latest shines with the intensity, wit, and emotion for which she's celebrated.

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Starred review from December 1, 2015

Incensed when she catches her aristocratic brother-in-law cheating on her pregnant sister at a party, quiet Sophie Talbot, the "unfun" wallflower of the scandalous Talbot sisters, does the unthinkable and pushes the arrogant, furious duke into the fishpond in full view of everyone. Now a pariah in the eyes of the ton, Sophie just wants to go home. Her ill-advised plan turns into a hair-raising carriage ride north to Cumbria with the infamous Marquess of Eversley, and suddenly her misadventure is no longer a game but something potentially far more risky. This refreshing romp is both a thrilling, often funny romantic journey and a delicious, scathing commentary on upper-class pre-Victorian society. VERDICT A roguish hero who's not quite the cad he's supposed to be and a bright, resourceful heroine who's anything but dull drive each other to distraction--and into love--in the first of a most promising series. A purely delightful diversion (and who wouldn't love the title?). MacLean (Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover) lives in New York City.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 15, 2015
As far as Sophie Talbot is concerned, the Duke of Haven had it coming. Not only was her odious brother-in-law dallying with a blond strumpet in the Countess of Liverpool's greenhouse, Haven didn't even have the good manners to be embarrassed when Sophie and her sister discovered them. So if Haven should happen to have slipped and fallen into the Countess's fishpond, Sophie believes it is only a fraction of the embarrassment he deserves. The problem is that the rest of the assembled ton is holding Sophie responsible for the fishy debacle, and the last thing Sophie's family needs is another reason for social censuring. Therefore, a speedy retreat would seem to be in order, but the only carriage Sophie can locate belongs to the Marquess of Eversley. Sophie has no choice but to hitch a ride with the Royal Rogue, never once imagining that the road to ruin would turn out to be so much fun. The entrancing first book in RITA Awardwinning MacLean's new Scandal and Scoundrel series is another triumph of delicious wit and delectable sensuality that will solidify her reputation as the go-to author for readers searching for smartly written, stunningly sexy historical romances.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)