We owe our allegiance to regency, and our love for it to Sarah MacLean. And tomorrow she finishes her Scoundrels series with Never Judge a Lady by her Cover.
Heck.Yes.
Let’s recap
In Sarah MacLean’s Love by Numbers Series, we meet a couple of twin brothers, who marry awesome ladies, and have a half sister who marries a VERY cranky duke. That duke has a little sister who becomes the heroine (and the hidden centerpiece) of Sarah’s next series, The Rules of Scoundrels.
Flash forward about 10 years, and we meet the fearsome foursome that run the gambling hall, The Fallen Angel. Bourne, Cross, Temple and Chase. For each of the first three books, a new romance surrounding these very rich, very sexy owners of London’s most notorious blah blah blah. They’re hot. They fall in love with awesome women. It’s sexy. Everyone has plenty of money and sex and happiness in the end.
Let’s reminisce
A Rogue By Any Other Name: Bourne gets his land back by kidnapping Callie and forcing her to marry him. Good thing they were childhood buddies so they can fall in love again.
One Good Earl Deserves a Lover: Cross is gobsmacked by odd little Pippa who asks him to teach her about sex before she marries. YES MA’AM.
No Good Duke Goes Unpunished: Temple, aka the Killer Duke, finds love when the woman he was supposed to have murdered comes back to life…and into his life.
and finally … Never Judge a Lady by her Cover. Chase’s book. The book that was to round out the series with a hot, mysterious Mister Chase. But the epilogue of book 3 {SPOILER ALERT} revealed something we never suspected about Chase … he’s a she.
I was seriously unprepared for that reveal at the end of Temple’s book, but nothing excited me more than going back through the entire series, and re-reading all of Chase’s scenes to see if I should have known. I remembered Chase smoking. Chase cracking bawdy jokes with the other guys. I remembered Chase lifting a strong blonde eyebrow in incredulity. And apparently, despite never being referred to with any pronouns, I assumed Chase was a dude. Wish I could have remembered to check my latent sexism at the door.
{See our Never Judge a Lady Cover Reveal Post here}
Let’s Review
Never Judge a Lady by her Cover is one of the most unique regency’s I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot now thanks to Sarah). And not just because there was a huge reveal about Chase (who is really Lady Georgiana Pearson, sister to the Duke of Leighton), but because she is a fallen woman, someone completely without recourse to make her world forget her past, or overcome it, but AT THE SAME TIME, she is the most powerful woman in that world. Just … no one knows it’s her.
Chase is not just a Strong Female Character. Chase is King.
And together they did rule [the ton]. Bourne, Cross, Temple and Chase held London’s most powerful mean and women in their thrall. Discovered their darkest truths. Their deepest secrets. But it was Chase alone who reigned, in part because it was Georgiana alone who would never fully be able to return to Society.
The men are able to overcome scandal; the women never are. Georgiana grapples with this as she also deals with the usual romance novel fare: giving up her independence and autonomy for this new, all-consuming attraction to someone who wants to protect her: the gorgeous, untitled and also very powerful newspaperman, Duncan West. When faced with his attempts to save her, his assumptions that she needs him, this is how Georgiana replies.
She had more power than he could ever imagine. More power than he could ever know. When she lifted her chin and spoke, it was to prove it. “I don’t need you.”
But of course, it’s not all fighting. There’s plenty of foreplay too. When Georgiana learns that Duncan doesn’t know how to dance, she offers to teach him.
He raised a brow. “I’d rather you teach me other things.”
“Such as?”
“Such as where you like to be kissed.”
OH HEY THERE, DUNCAN. I’m not even going to bother giving away the best quotes. Find those for yourselves. Despite the high stakes, and the hotness, what I love about this book is that Georgiana ultimately gets to make her own choice… about it all.
This is a romance novel for women who love women. Who root for women. Who want to read about women who desire more than men to fulfill them. And it’s a perfect ending to my absolute favorite regency series. I’m a Sarah MacLean fan for life.
Want to Win Book 1?
We are giving away the FIRST book in Sarah MacLean’s series, A Rouge by any other Name. If you haven’t started with this series yet, you MUST! Enter to win below!
Never Judge a Lady comes out TOMORROW, Nov 25. You can get it here: Amazon B&N Audible Indigo Kobo
*An ARC of this publication was provided by the publisher. All quotes are from an uncorrected e-proof, and may not appear in the final publication as such.
