The Perils of Pleasure: Pennyroyal Green Series (Pennyroyal Green, #1)

by Julie Anne Long

Ancient secrets and grudges bind the wealthy Eversea and Redmond families of Pennyroyal Green, Sussex, so when handsome, reckless, fatally charming black-sheep Colin Eversea, the youngest of the clan, is framed for killing a Redmond cousin in a London pub brawl and sentenced to hang, no one seems to think it's a coincidence that the only witness to the crime has disappeared. Then again, throughout history, Everseas have always managed to cheat fate in style: much to his own astonishment, Colin is snatched from the gallows by a beautiful, clever mercenary.Inured to danger by life in the London rookeries, Madeleine Greenway considers Colin both a lightweight and a mission accomplished for a generous, anonymous employer. But, when it becomes clear that whoever wants Colin alive wants Madeleine dead, their mutual, desperate need for the truth makes them reluctant partners.
Their race for answers takes them through a labyrinth of shocking secrets linking the lowest and highest of London society, and along the way Colin and Madeleine learn that what they think they wanted from life is something else altogether-a realization about as convenient as their incendiary attraction to each other.

• ISBN10: 0061341584
• ISBN13: 9780061341588
• Publish Date: 29 January 2008
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Avon Books
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

The Perils of Pleasure was a pretty good read. Colin Eversea is about to hang for murder, but he didn't do it. Luckily, someone out there wants to him to live. There's an explosion, and Colin is whisked away from the noose. His rescuer is none other than Madeleine Greenway, who is paid to take care of problems. However, no sooner than she saves Colin, he saves her from being shot! Did the same person who funded his rescue now want her dead? The two must work together to prove Colin's innocence, find whoever wants Madeleine dead, and stop his brother's wedding!

I thought The Perils of Pleasure was quite fun! I really liked the mystery aspect of it, especially since it takes place over just a couple of high adrenaline days. Colin and Madeline are running all over London tracking down people who might know something about who's behind everything happening. It includes a lot of blackmail and threatening and spying and following and pistoling and tying people up! It's a jolly good time, basically. Except the big reveal at the end was odd to say the least.

As for the romance, I wasn't as interested in that, which is unfortunate since The Perils of Pleasure is a Romance novel. Part of it is that I never felt like I got to know Madeleine all that well. We get facts about her, and how she got into the business that she's in, but not much of her personality. I'm sure she's awesomely badass, but it seemed like most of her characterization was filtered through Colin. He's also in love with the woman marrying his brother, and yet he's constantly sexing Madeleine without a second thought. I wish there had been more development of their relationship and of Madeleine as a person.

I did enjoy The Perils of Pleasure, although it's certainly not a favorite. The adventure aspects were easily my favorite, and I actually found myself wanting more of that and less of the kissing. Weird, I know. Madeleine and Colin fit better as a crime fighting duo rather than lovers.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Amanda]

Holy crumb. I was all ready to be very annoyed with The Perils of Pleasure. What the synopsis won't tell you -- but you learn very early on in the story, so it's not a spoiler -- is that beyond Colin wanting (needing!) to prove his innocence, he also wants to reach Pennyroyal Green to stop his brother from marrying Louisa Porter -- aka, not Madeleine Greenway, the heroine of the story.

Naturally, Colin is drawn to Madeleine as they dodge people who want them dead and, you know, everyone who wants a piece of Colin for the 100 pound reward for bringing him in. But even as Colin is drawn to Madeleine, he continues this quest to marry Louisa, and it. was. annoying. That kind of thread in a romance drives me crazy.

But I took a short break and realized that when you've been nearly hanged for a murder you didn't commit, you probably need something to hold onto to keep you moving. And that's what Louisa was for Colin, though it took him far too long to realize it.

Anyway. Toward the second half of the book, we see less of Colin's thought process about Louisa and more of Madeleine's feelings toward Colin. So you get an idea that Colin is going through THINGS, but not really what those are. Which kind of also contributed to the annoyance I had, but I also think that maybe it's better we didn't have to go through the angst of his thoughts/feelings.

Moving on.

This felt very much like a first book of the series, in that it wasn't the best representation of Julie Anne Long's writing, especially compared to later books in the series. There were some rough spots, and the ebook version I read didn't have clear markings where POVs changed, so sometimes the switch was more jarring than I would have liked.

Some POVs were of lesser characters, and although I can see why they were important for the story, I didn't spend a lot of time reading them, preferring instead Colin and Madeleine's journey. But. You've gotta read the first of a series -- even if it's not in order -- and I liked seeing how this all got started.

Plus, there's a revelation at the end that had me raising an eyebrow and wanting to reread everything I've read thus far to see how it's brought in. (Or if it is at all.) Which also leads me to wonder how a new reader to the series would process all the people and players here -- it's a huge cast of characters, and many of them I "recognized" from other books.

Still. Good book. I have a couple more of the Pennyroyal Green series books on my Kindle -- the earlier ones I haven't gotten to yet -- and I'm looking forward to diving into those, since I have a feeling these books get better as they go.