Back to the Posting Board

Disclaimer: I’m super behind on writing up the books I’ve read. What can I say? Good things happening in my life have unfortunately meant I’ve had less time to read and write about said reading. I’m super behind on my TiVo too, if it makes you feel any better.  This is all to say that the following summary is going to be brief and probably leave out a lot since it’s been quite some time since I read the book in question.

The Perils of Pleasure by Julie Anne Long is the first of the many entries into the Pennyroyal Green series that Long wrote on the love and hate between two English families. In this particular installment, Colin Eversea is about to be hanged for a murder he didn’t commit when at the very last minute he is rescued by parties unknown. He soon realizes that a mysterious ‘mercenary’ named Madeleine Greenway is responsible for his last minute reprieve. Their meeting is cut short when someone attempts to kill Madeleine and the two must escape the streets of London and journey to solve once and for all who wanted Colin to hang for a murder he didn’t commit and who wanted Madeleine to save him from it.

The couple’s romance is delayed a little by two not uncommon obstacles. The first of these is that Colin is in love with another woman, one whom his own brother is marrying very soon after Colin mysteriously disappears from the gallows. The second is that Madeleine is long accustomed to fending for herself and is planning to leave England for the brighter opportunities of the Americas. Naturally these obstacles slowly fade away, eroded by the excitement of danger, a mutual physical attraction and generally better suited compatibility.

I think I liked this one as well as I’ve liked anything else I read by Long. I wasn’t that interested in who actually framed Colin or tried to kill Madeleine, and while I enjoyed the characters, I wasn’t particularly titillated by their eventual coming together. I don’t really recall much of it at this distance from the read so I guess it didn’t really stay with me.