“Beauty and the Beast” has always been my favorite fairy tale. And, with the Disney version, what book lover can forget that library? It’s just one more reason to fall in love with the beast. And, what do you do with a rogue who bribes the heroine with books? Then he tells her, “You are better for every book you’ve read.” But, in society in England in 1833, “No one likes a female with ideas.”The Rogue Not Taken is Sarah MacLean’s first in her Scandal & Scoundrel trilogy, but it will remain one of my favorites with the library in this one, and a heroine who wants to own a bookshop.
Sophie Talbot is the youngest and least interesting of the scandalous Talbot sisters. But, when she pushes her cheating brother-in-law, a duke, into a fish pond, the ton turns its back on her. So, she flees. She begs a ride home from the notorious Marquess of Eversley, but he turns her down. So, she does what any needy woman would do. She buys the livery right off of Eversley’s footman, and hops on his carriage to get a ride to her own home. But, the carriage is heading to the north of England where the Marquess’ father is supposedly in ill health.
King, the Marquess of Eversley, refuses to be tricked into marriage. And, when he finds one of the Talbot sisters accompanying his carriage, he’s sure she’s there to ensnare a duke. That isn’t Sophie’s intention. She only wanted a ride home. But, now that he’s heading north, she’ll take a ride to the last home she remembers fondly, from when she was ten years old. But, carriage wheels, guns, pickpockets, and mad doctors have a way of interfering in the plans of a marquess and a wandering Talbot sister.
Every time I read one of Sarah MacLean’s historical romances I think it can’t be as good as the last one. And, I’m down to the last two that she’s written. But, her scoundrels are not as wicked as they could be, and the heroines are intelligent and funny. In fact, on her website, MacLean writes of her heroic males, alpha males who are also feminists because they encourage the women in the books. The reader will catch on about King before Sophie does. The combination catches fire in stories that are witty and sexy.
And, then there’s that library. “And he opened the door to reveal the largest, most beautiful library she’d ever seen. The room was cavernous, taking up two stories on all sides, with a glorious wrought-iron balcony that ran the perimeter of the room…And all that before the books, stretching for what seemed like miles, shelves and shelves from floor to ceiling, in deep reds and greens and browns and blues. More books than a person could read in a lifetime. But she could try.” (sigh)
Sarah MacLean’s website is www.sarahmaclean.net
The Rogue Not Taken by Sarah MacLean. Avon Books, 2015. ISBN 9780062379412 (paperback), 419p.
*****
FTC Full Disclosure – Library book
