A review by ontheshelf_romance
The Roguish Baron by Sophie Barnes, Sophie Barnes

4.0

This was a very sweet book and as a massive fan of the friends-to-lovers’ trope I was excited to read this one. Sophia Fenmore is a totally unacceptable wife in the eyes of Jack Lancaster’s Father. As a Baron and future Earl, he needs to set his sights much higher than a lowly vicar’s daughter. However, when his father broches this subject with him he decides the best course of action is to run off to London and not look back leaving poor Sophia feeling abandoned. For the next few years all she hears about are his rakish escapades. He returns home after four years of not seeing his family or friends, for his sisters’ debuts and that’s where our story begins. What will Jack think when he sees Sophie for the first time in four years now that she’s newly engaged?

Sophie and Jack are wonderful characters and this second chance romance has all the feels, my only wish was that it had been steamier as it bordered a bit too much on the sweet side of historical romance for me. I really enjoyed the side stories of the sisters too who also felt they had to marry the right person to further the family, rather than marry for love. There is also a very good plot twist that I didn’t see coming toward the end! Over all for a novella Barnes packs a lot into this book and you almost forget it’s not a full length novel.

A very well written novella and I will definitely be reading more from Sophie Barnes in the future.

*I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.