A Rogue By Any Other Name audiobook

I mean, if I don't like it, what hope do you have?!

This is one of the best Hades and Persephone retellings I’ve read, mostly because it gets the Persephone characters personality right. She’s a good mix of innocence and wanting adventure and choosing the “underworld”; a battle queen in her own right. This one also added a twist of the characters being childhood friends so there was a history there that made the development of the relationship much more believable. This is my first historical romance but I’d continue with this series and read more from this author.

Back in ye old days, marriage was a business transaction - all about what would look good on paper. So, many of these Regency Era books have the formula of a marriage first, then a love story where the husband and wife fall in love. This is one of those tales. and he was kind of a dick...This is your typical bad boy tricks girl into marrying him, treats her like crap, she falls for him anyway, he realizes he loves her back stories. And, yet, it is cute, funny, and I find that I am a sucker for these kind of books.Why do we fall for the "misunderstood" bad-boy who treats us like crap, girls? Why? Are we just gluttons for punishment? stop hitting yourself Or, is it perhaps that all of these romance novels give us a false idea that if we could change them, they would be the best husband/boyfriend ever?Here's the thing, though. These books are fiction. Men don't really change. Sure, they can grow-up and become better husbands and fathers than their younger self would have been. But, if a guy is a raging asshole with major anger-management problems - he's going to stay a raging asshole with anger-management problems. ok, ok, most guys don't change!!And, that's my lesson for today.Oh, and by the way, this book is cute and funny.

EDIT: bumping up to 5 stars because I am realizing how much I actually loved Penelope and Bourne. I keep coming back and re-reading some scenes from their book. Loved the angst in this. “Don’t look so miserable. Thank your stars you’ll finally have yourself a husband. With Falconwell in your dowry, you could win yourself a prince.” Lady Penelope Marbury used to be the darling of the ton but then everything had changed when her engagement to the the Duke of Leighton was broken off. Years later, the broken engagement is still whispered about by the ton. At 28, she is considered a spinster. But the love match between the Duke and Duchess of Leighton made Penelope realize that she wanted something more in a marriage. Love. And so, she hasn't really accepted anyone's proposal of marriage in years. A decade ago, Michael, Marquess of Bourne, lost everything. Except his title. Now, he's wealthier than he's ever been but he does not have the one thing he truly wants; Falconwell. The land that was his that he gambled away all those years ago. And if the land comes with a bride, so be it. A Rogue by Any Other name is Lady Penelope Marbury (Simon's ex fiancee) and Michael, Marquess of Bourne's book. Well, it seems I'm on a "Rogue/Scoundrels" binge. I can't help it. I love those kind of heroes. I won't take a shit from a man in real life, but I surely tolerate it a lot in fiction. When we first meet Penelope in Simon and Juliana's book, she seemed shallow and just like every other aristocrat, thinks of marriage as a duty. She was well-liked, considering that she almost made the match of the decade. Until, she didn't. The engagement was overshadowed by her fiance's love match. Penelope realized that marriage could be something more. That there could be marriages that are purely for love. And deep inside, she hoped for that. Michael, on the other hand, has been fueled by revenge. He worked very hard to restore the wealth that he lost. Now he's three times richer, with more money than any man could spend in a lifetime. But he isn't happy. He wants Falconwell. And he wants to ruin the man who took it all and ruined him. His reputation is besmirched. He was young and a fool, liked the feeling of winning and never knowing when to stop. Until he lost it all. After years of waiting, Falconwell seems perfectly attainable. He just needs to marry Lady Penelope, his childhood friend. Penelope, Michael and Tommy were best friends. Penelope has always liked Michael best. She wrote letters to him when he was in Eton. Wrote letters to him when his parents had died. Wrote letters to him even when he did not reply anymore. Wrote letters to him that remained unsent. They haven't seen each other in more than a decade and so Penelope was very happy to recognize Michael when she was going out for a walk in the night in her land (Falconwell, technically). But that happiness quickly vanished when she realized that he isn't the same man that she loved so dearly as a friend. He was Forcing her hand in marriage in order to have Falconwell back. But at least his intentions were true, he did not even try to lie to her. She was already full of guilt, thinking of accepting Tommy's proposal. After all, she's not getting any younger and she has sisters to think of. She has to get married so that her sisters could make excellent matches. Being a spinster isn't a good look, especially as the eldest daughter of a double marquess. And so, she accepted Michael's offer. I liked Penelope's character because she was a selfless girl but she did not let Michael walk all over her. What I did not like was the silly "Adventures" she craved. Like, what? going to a gambling club that your husband owned isn't an adventure. Surely, it was exciting but that's just that. It felt silly. And she reminded me of Lady Calpurnia's silly list. Which I did not like very much. Aside from that, I liked her enough to root for her happy ending. As for the hero, Michael, I liked him. Sure he was an ass. But that was expected. The title is literally "A rogue by any other name". But my god, he was frustrating! Pushing his wife away, saying things that he did not mean and regrets later on and feeling like he was not enough for her. His reputation is ruined while his wife has been a proper lady all her life. Penelope did not feel enough for her husband as well. Like, they are so frustrating! I wanted to slap some sense to the both of them. Just! Talk! Stop! Assuming! Things! The hero is also very immature for most part of the book, wanting nothing but to ruin viscount Langford, Tommy's father. Who also used to be his friend. I was glad that he did not stoop so low. He was afraid of losing his wife if he continued with the revenge shit he has going on, so....besides, Tommy was likeable. So he was a bastard. Who cares? The ton, surely. But he does not deserve to suffer for his father's doing. Over all, it was a really engaging book. I have at least 500 annotations. It was frustrating but it was that engaging. I was rooting for Penelope and Michael from the start. I loved their first meeting after decades of not seeing each other. Their chemistry was off the charts so I had no choice but to root for them. The letters at the beginning of each chapters made me smile and made me sad too, depending on what it contained. This book served the childhood friends-strangers-lovers trope well and I loved every bit of it. This particular paragraph made me sad, "She’d written him letters, dozens of them over several years before her father had refused to mail any more. After that, she’d continued to write, hoping that he would somehow know that she was thinking of him. That he would always have friends at Falconwell . . . in Surrey . . . no matter how alone he might have felt. She’d imagined that one day, he’d come home. But he hadn’t returned. Ever." Penelope was so loyal to him. And the fact that Michael never responded... but he did keep the letters which redeemed him to me. "But in the darkest hours, on the coldest nights, when I felt I’d lost everything, I still had your letters. And through them, in some small way, I still had you. I loved you then, my darling Penelope, more than I could imagine—just as I love you now, more than you can know." Perfect! Sure, she was to be a duchess. But being Bourne's marchioness doesn't seem so bad. They were perfect for each other and I loved them!

The perfect place to start reading Sarah MacLean is with the first of her Rule of Scoundrels series. One of the very best of today’s historical romance authors.

Awww, this was so cute. The pace was also really good. Basically if you like romances set in the regency period, you should enjoy this one. Great job MacLean!Favorite quote: “You are perfectly imperfect for me.”

#RetoÍntimo14,54ª vez que lo leo y....ME ENCANTA!!!!#RetoRitaEs la 3ª vez que leo este libro y me dan ganas de leer toda la serie otra vez.Me gusta mucho como escribe Sarah MacLean y los personajes que crea. Aquí tenemos a Bourne, que lleva 10 años viviendo para vengarse, duro, frío y al que no le importa nada con tal de llevar a cabo su venganza. Es un canalla de esos que me gustan, me encanta.Penélope, qué delicia. A sus 28 años, considerada una solterona, sobrevive al escándalo de verse abandonada por su prometido (la conocimos en la serie Love by numbers). Con ganas de vivir aventuras, se ve envuelta, sin querer (o queriendo) en otro escándalo. Conoce a Bourne desde siempre y sus cartas a Michael son una delicia.No es una historia de esas novedosas, fuera de clichés, pero la manera en la que Sarah MacLean las escribe, esa manera dulce, con diálogos entretenidos y protagonistas femeninas inteligentes y fuertes, me encanta. Me atrapan desde el primer momento. Nos da a conocer a los protagonistas de los próximos libros de la serie. Es una serie que me encanta y que volveré a leer.

Maravilloso, romántico, dulce, tierno, repleto de pasión... Me he enamorado de la pareja protagonista y de los tres amigos de Michael. Me ha maravillado la pluma de la autora, tiene unas frases preciosas, puede describir una caricia de una manera tan mágica y romántica que es increíble, las escenas románticas y eróticas están repletas de pasión y sentimientos y puede transmitir los sentimientos de los personajes de una manera especial... Leeré más libros de esta autora y la continuación de esta saga, porque en el final ya nos introduce la siguiente historia de una manera especial.Totalmente recomendada.💖