The Rogue Not Taken: Scandal and Scoundrel, Book 1

Written by Sarah MacLean
Review by Jessica Brockmole

The first book in this new series by Sarah MacLean is billed as “old-school TMZ” and does it deliver. The Talbot sisters, daughters of the newly-minted (and wholly unaristocratic) Earl of Wight, are favorites of the Regency gossip mill. Even the youngest and plainest, Sophie, can’t escape the attention of the ton. After an unfortunate incident involving a duke and a fish pond, she makes a desperate escape and finds herself in borrowed livery, perched on the back of the disreputable Marquess of Eversley’s carriage. But perhaps his scandalous reputation isn’t any more warranted than hers, something both begin to wonder as they get to know one another along the Great North Road.

This book is breezy and fun, suggesting the light, gossipy magazines promised by the author. The romance is easy, helped along by delicious banter between Sophie and Eversley. Between chapter titles that read as tabloid headlines, larger-than-life characters, and snappy dialogue, the reader is reminded that celebrity gossip is nothing new. But, behind that, is a lesson. Even the puffiest tabloid pieces conceal real stories, more complex and human than their headlines would have you believe.