Welcome to the TAKING THE HIGH ROAD – THE ROGUE
NOT TAKEN by Sarah Maclean Blog Blitz. Sarah MacLean is going to take us on a
journey with Lady Sophie Talbot when she stows away atop a carriage belonging
to the Marquess of Eversley. What fun. I’ve got an excerpt from the book for
you at Stop #7 and then a giveaway so have a good time. Oh, by the way, if you
pre-order a signed print copy from WORD Bookstores, you will also get a
beautiful printed copy of the this amazing map showing the journey created by artist,
Amy Solomon. Click HERE
for more information on how to pre-order your signed copy. Happy Travels
Everyone!
THE ROGUE NOT TAKEN by Sarah Maclean, releasing December 29, 2015 from Avon Romance.
Blurb for THE ROGUE NOT
TAKEN:
Lady
Sophie’s Society Splash
When
Sophie, the least interesting of the Talbot sisters, lands her philandering
brother-in-law backside-first in a goldfish pond in front of all society, she
becomes the target of very public aristocratic scorn. Her only choice is to
flee London, vowing to start a new life far from the aristocracy.
Unfortunately, the carriage in which she stows away isn’t saving her from ruin
. . . it’s filled with it.
Rogue’s
Reign of Ravishment!
Kingscote,
“King,” the Marquess of Eversley, has never met a woman he couldn’t charm,
resulting in a reputation far worse than the truth, a general sense that he’s
more pretty face than proper gentleman, and an irate summons home to the
Scottish border. When King discovers stowaway Sophie, however, the journey
becomes anything but boring.
War? Or
More?
He thinks
she’s trying to trick him into marriage. She wouldn’t have him if he were the
last man on earth. But carriages bring close quarters, dark secrets, and
unbearable temptation, making opposites altogether too attractive . . .
Great North Road Map Reveal: Destinations
and author
annotations:
Stop #1: "Sophie Stows Away" (English
Country Estate near London)
Author Commentary:
There
are moments in life when you know that you just can't go on without a change.
Lady Sophie Talbot, the youngest of the infamous Talbot Sisters (darlings of
the gossip rags and nicknamed the Dangerous Daughters) knows this is the case
when she lands her odious, philandering brother in law backside-first in a fishpond
at a major event of the London Season. And so, Sophie does what's necessary. “I
simply need conveyance home,” she requests of Kingscote, Marquess of Eversley,
notorious rake, and her only chance of escape. Sophie's desperate, and in
possession of the Marquess's boot, so she thinks she has a leg up, so to speak.
King has other ideas.
Stop #2: “The Carriage”
Author Commentary:
Lady Sophie Talbot, youngest and least
interesting of the scandalous Talbot sisters (think 19th Century Kardashians)
isn't so uninteresting once she's decided to stow away atop a carriage
belonging to the Marquess of Eversley -- notorious rogue and her recent
nemesis. Indeed, she cannot wait for the horrible man to discover that she's
disguised herself as an outrider and stolen conveyance home to central London.
There's just one problem...
Stop #3: “The Fox and
the Falcon Posting Inn”
Author Commentary:
By the time Lady Sophie Talbot finds herself
outside the Fox & Falcon Posting Inn, miles from her home in London, she's
realized she's made a huge mistake. She only ever intended to hitch a ride home
to Mayfair--and simultaneously stick it to the arrogant, handsome, horrible
Marquess of Eversley, who happens to be minus a boot, thanks to Sophie. Suffice
to say, things got out of hand. And now, dressed as a male servant in the drive
of a roadside inn, things are about to get much, much worse.
Stop #4: “Beware
Highwaymen!”
Author Commentary:
Suffice to say, being on the road with an
arrogant aristocrat is no fun at all, so Lady Sophie Talbot does what any
self-respecting woman would do, she "borrows" his money, and gets
herself on the next mail coach north. All seems fine -- until Highwaymen
arrive, and that arrogant aristocrat arrives just in time to see her entire
plan go pear-shaped.
Stop #5: “The Warbling
Wren”
Author Commentary:
Being shot on the Great North Road isn't exactly
a thing people expect to happen, and Lady Sophie Talbot finds herself in the
rooms above The Warbling Wren pub, under the welcome care of a rather mad
doctor and the watchful eye of the rather infuriating (and infuriatingly
handsome) Kingscote, Marquess of Eversley. There are worse things, she
supposes. Or are there? Not for King.
Stop #6: “Mossband”
Author Commentary:
Lady Sophie Talbot, youngest and least
interesting of the infamous Talbot sisters, has decided that her best bet to
escape London and the aristocratic life for which she'd never been intended is
to take herself home -- to the small village on the Scottish border where she
spent the first ten years of her life. And perhaps, after a disastrous journey
north, something would go right, and her childhood friend Robbie, now the
village baker, would make good on their silly youthful promises and marry her.
Of course, Sophie isn't alone. She's saddled with the horrible, handsome
Marquess of Eversley. Who has done everything to ruin her plans. Until now.
Stop #7: “Lyne Castle”
Author Commentary:
The Country seat of the Dukes of Lyne, Lyne
Castle is the childhood home of Kingscote, Marquess of Eversley, who left home
at eighteen after a terrible tragedy and never returned. Summoned home by his
ailing father, King finally returns--with the unexpected addition of Lady
Sophie Talbot, irritating and somehow irresistible. The estate boasts one of
the most complicated labyrinths in Britain...where King and Sophie find solace,
and heartbreak, and each other.
Excerpt from THE ROGUE
NOT TAKEN:
Sophie would want love.
She’d want it pure and unfettered, given freely, along with all its trappings.
She’d want the marriage and children and happiness and promise that came with
it.
King could see it, the
life she wanted. The line of little girls, blue-eyed and brown-haired, in love
with books and strawberry tarts. For a moment, he imagined them smiling at him
the way their mother did, filled with happiness and hope.
For a moment, he let
himself believe he might be able to give it to her.
But she would want love,
and he would never be able to give it.
He didn’t have it to
give anymore. And those children, they would never be his.
He set her down on the
edge of the fountain, coming to his knees, as though she was Ariadne and he the
Minotaur, worshipping at her feet, adoring her even as he knew she could not
survive in the labyrinth, and he could not survive beyond it.
“Tell me about last
night,” he said softly, looking up at her, his hands at the hem of her skirts.
“What—” She caught her
breath as his fingers explored the skin of her ankles. “What about it?”
“I hated it,” he said.
“I hated stopping.”
She pressed her lips
into a thin, straight line. “I hated that you stopped.”
His hands were beneath
her skirts, pushing them back, farther and farther, up and over her knees. He
pressed his lips to the inside of her knee, swirling his tongue there, loving
the little gasp of surprised pleasure that came at the touch.
“I hate that I will have
to stop today, as well."
For more information about THE ROGUE NOT TAKEN by Sarah
MacLean, please feel free to visit her website.
News Flash:
Announcing a sublime – and scandalously wonderful – new series from New York
Times, USA Today and Washington Post bestselling author Sarah MacLean!
The
author aroused immediate interest when she announced this high-concept affair:
“I'm thrilled to announce my next project -- the Scandal & Scoundrel
series, which I pitched to my editor as ‘Old School TMZ,’" says
MacLean. “It’s modern celebrity gossip with a pre-Victorian twist.
Basically, this is my way of convincing my husband that all those glossy
magazines in our house are ‘work necessities.’
The
first novel in the series, THE ROGUE NOT TAKEN (Avon Books; ISBN 9780062379412;
eISBN 9780062379399; on-sale 12/29/15) is a riff on a certain elevator
incident made famous at a Met gala several years ago. But in MacLean’s
imagination, the scurrilous turns absolutely sensational, as a ballroom
imbroglio sets off a very heated carriage journey along the Great North
Road. It’s a long way from London to Scotland…you would be quite amazed at
how much drama can ensue between a seemingly ill-matched duo on such a wild
ride!
Smart
Bitches Pull Quote: “The Rogue Not Taken by Sarah MacLean is my favorite
book of hers to date. If you’ve read her, or know me, then you know that I just
said a thing.”
AWESOME GIVEAWAY
I want this!
About MEGAN ERICKSON:
