A review by jobinsonlis
A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean

3.0

This is a perfectly standard romance novel, which isn't really a condemnation because if it had the tropes I enjoyed I would have loved it. Penelope is fine but doesn't stand out in any way (she's plain but he makes her feel beautiful, she's smart but naive, she's demure but brave when it matters). I like her sister Pippa better because she's a sarcastic amateur scientist. Bourne is a humorless, melodramatic dildo who thaws in the ends, which is my least favorite type of romance hero but if I liked that type, he would have hit all the right notes. I liked the gambling den, which is a common trope in this genre. I think I'll like the rest of the series more because I like the character types of his partners in the club way more than him: the bookish libertine who Pippa has set her sights on; the big, rowdy, and crass scoundrel who's probably smarter than he acts (one of my absolute favorite types); and the third partner who is so clearly a woman in disguise, which is a very sexy situation, especially since she owns the club. Altogether this is a good start to this series but it didn't really do much of anything for me.