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A review by tinaha083
A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean
4.0
The critical reader in me would like to nitpick about little things like character and motivation and gullibility. In this particular instance, I’m choosing to ignore her. This book was fun.
I picked this up after hearing about it on YouTube in one of JeansBookishThoughts’ videos. She was talking about romance novels and this sounded fun. And man, did I enjoy it. I flew through it, starting at about 9:30 or so at night and finishing at about 1:00 in the morning. I couldn’t put it down. Michael is a Marquess, who’s been disgraced after losing pretty much his whole inheritance in a gambling match. He vows revenge against the man who set him up. Ten years later, we meet Penelope, who’s 28 and a spinster, still weathering a scandal of her own from eight years ago, even though she was completely innocent. They knew each other as children. There’s a marriage of convenience, lots of missed opportunities to mend things, and sparks fly.
I loved Michael and Penelope together. She did frustrate me at times, simply because he does some pretty despicable things and she seems to forget them all in close proximity because sexual attraction exists. But when she’s being an opinionated, determined woman, she’s amazing. Michael is a cross between Captain Wentworth and Mr. Rochester, with a bit of Edmond Dantes thrown in for good measure. I loved him. Their chemistry is believable and the book is sprinkled throughout with a correspondence between to youths that was just wonderful.
I’m usually not an open door reader, but I’ve been tearing through romances since lockdown started. This was another one that wound up really working for me, and the only reason it’s not a five star read is because of that little issue with Penelope’s character. I found the discussion of women’s basically being chattel to trade very interesting. I also enjoyed the way it dealt with how scandal affects the two genders very differently, which hasn’t changed much in modern times. He’s just a rogue, still rich and acceptable. She ends up on the outskirts of society, blamed for messing up her sisters’ chances of advantageous marriages. And she didn’t even do anything wrong!!!!!
Anyway, this was fun, fast, sultry, steamy, and yet somehow, truly romantic. I’m looking forward to the next in the series.
I picked this up after hearing about it on YouTube in one of JeansBookishThoughts’ videos. She was talking about romance novels and this sounded fun. And man, did I enjoy it. I flew through it, starting at about 9:30 or so at night and finishing at about 1:00 in the morning. I couldn’t put it down. Michael is a Marquess, who’s been disgraced after losing pretty much his whole inheritance in a gambling match. He vows revenge against the man who set him up. Ten years later, we meet Penelope, who’s 28 and a spinster, still weathering a scandal of her own from eight years ago, even though she was completely innocent. They knew each other as children. There’s a marriage of convenience, lots of missed opportunities to mend things, and sparks fly.
I loved Michael and Penelope together. She did frustrate me at times, simply because he does some pretty despicable things and she seems to forget them all in close proximity because sexual attraction exists. But when she’s being an opinionated, determined woman, she’s amazing. Michael is a cross between Captain Wentworth and Mr. Rochester, with a bit of Edmond Dantes thrown in for good measure. I loved him. Their chemistry is believable and the book is sprinkled throughout with a correspondence between to youths that was just wonderful.
I’m usually not an open door reader, but I’ve been tearing through romances since lockdown started. This was another one that wound up really working for me, and the only reason it’s not a five star read is because of that little issue with Penelope’s character. I found the discussion of women’s basically being chattel to trade very interesting. I also enjoyed the way it dealt with how scandal affects the two genders very differently, which hasn’t changed much in modern times. He’s just a rogue, still rich and acceptable. She ends up on the outskirts of society, blamed for messing up her sisters’ chances of advantageous marriages. And she didn’t even do anything wrong!!!!!
Anyway, this was fun, fast, sultry, steamy, and yet somehow, truly romantic. I’m looking forward to the next in the series.