Nelly S. (on semi-hiatus)'s Reviews > The Rogue Not Taken

3.25 stars

I liked this, but nowhere near as much as anything from the Love by Numbers series. Sophie is one of five sisters who Society has collectively nicknamed the Soiled S’s because of their “common” roots and scandalous courtships. And King, a marquess and heir to a dukedom, is known as the Royal Rogue for his rakish reputation.

Sophie defends her sister’s honor at a ball when she catches her brother-in-law cheating; she proceeds to dunk him into a pond and gives him a public dressing down. Unfortunately, her brother-in-law is a powerful duke and everyone sides with him. After being given the direct cut and treated like a pariah, Sophie flees the ball and sneaks into King’s carriage wanting to get home. Instead though, she unexpectedly finds herself heading to the country with him when his carriage goes there rather than to Mayfair.

While I loved Sophie’s and King’s carriage trip and subsequent adventure, their inner dialogue was incredibly repetitive. Sophie’s took the form of “I’m plain, uninteresting, and I don’t fit into Society so I need to leave London and go back to Mossbarn (former home).” And King’s is all “I can never fall in love or marry. I can’t wait to tell my dying father that the Lyne line ends with me.” Rinse and repeat.

Likes
— Great writing
— Carriage trip
— Push-pull dynamic
— Good relationship development
— Side characters

Dislikes
— Repetitive inner monologue
— Dragged midway