The Perils of Pleasure

For some reason I kept pushing this book down to the bottom of the TBR pile, picking it up only when I'd reached the end of possible renewals at the library. What a mistake! I enjoyed this book from the moment I read the first few words until the all-too-soon end. As with all of London, apparently, I loved Colin; I'm still giggling a little at the vision of him walking down the road imitating Madeleine calling out his name in a moment of sheer exasperation. I thought the author did a remarkable job in keeping Colin's light-heartedness while still allowing the bitterness arising from his circumstances to come through. And Madeleine was his perfect match.

I was also particularly impressed by her ability to build the attraction between the show more two in what can only be described as simmering. As a fan of the romance genre, I'm always willing to go along with the sure-they-can-fall-in-love-in-a-matter-of-days convention. But in this book I actually felt it every step of the way. I will eagerly seek out the next in the series. show less

What a delightful book! I'd been a bit put off by the title but I've heard so many good things about this author, I finally decided to give her a try. When I was able to pick this book up on a $2.99 e-special, I thought the risk was low. I'm so glad I did. The story was very good and not the usual - the hero is a "Mr" and the heroine actually worked for a living (shock, horror). I very much enjoyed the wit and charm of the story and the characters and the style of the writing. Here's a taste. She looked as though she'd been ravished. He doubted she would welcome the observation. "You look as though you've been ravished," he said, as he was in a mood to make unwelcome observations.I enjoyed how many of the standard romance tropes were show more turned on their heads - a very capable older, experienced woman (I didn't see an actual age mentioned but she would have had to have been around 30 I believe which is quite old for a heroine in 1820) who saves the hero (he saves her too of course, as heroes are wont to do) for example. It's also a "road trip" story and the characters are together for almost the whole book, so there's plenty of interaction and dialogue and being shown the how and why these characters fall in love. It's very, very good. I feel a glom coming on! :D It's my ** Pick of the Month ** for July. show less

This will be a shorter review as I took too long in writing this however, I wanted to share my thoughts on this one here.

I found this one to be so intriguing and interesting. I will be honest in that even though it wasn't my favorite of the series, I still enjoyed this installment quite a bit. It was truly fascinating though. I did love that this book was so different than anything that I expected. The only thing that was truly lacking about this one was the lack of the romance. I just didn't quite get the feels between these two here. Maybe I had high expectations from it considering how much I loved all the other books in the series. But I still enjoyed it as a whole of a story. The plot itself was so well done though and I really show more enjoyed the elements of it that just seemed to work so well together. I really enjoyed the way in which the couple worked their way through the mystery to see who was behind everything.

There was such a rich atmosphere to the London underground in this story and I really adored that. I just adore any books set in this type of setting for Regency. If you love that type of setting, then you definitely will get a kick out of that.

Overall, I had a blast with this one and eager to finish up the last of the series that I have yet to read! Although I will probably keep away from the audiobook as I think that affected my enjoyment. show less

Fun book. Colin has been convicted of a murder he didn't commit and is moments from hanging. But Everseas have the reputation of being able to cheat fate and Colin is rescued in a puff of smoke and disappears. Madeleine has been paid to rescue him and then hold him for the person who paid her. But when someone takes a shot at her, Colin saves her and they go on the run to discover who wants her dead and him alive.

Colin wants nothing more than to prove his innocence and make it back to Sussex in time to keep the woman he loves from marrying his brother. The only way he can do that is by working with Madeleine to discover the truth behind his rescue. He is fascinated by her and her cleverness and the way she can resist his blatant show more attempts to charm her. He soon discovers that she understands him far better than anyone else he knows. He also begins to understand her the more he learns of her past and seems to know just what to say to her to revive her spirits when they start to wear down. I really enjoyed the banter between him and Madeleine as they have to first overcome their distrust of each other, then deal with their growing attraction. He seemed to be pretty oblivious to the fact that he was falling for Madeleine at the same time he was obsessed with getting back to Louisa. Colin is basically a nice guy who uses humor to hide his own insecurities while doing nice things for other people. Even as he was on the run he was still polite even to the people who were involved in his troubles. I liked the way that he realized what was most important to him at the end, though frustrated by the way he didn't pursue it.

Madeleine is a widow who has made a career out of "planning" rescues for people. Her rescue of Colin is simply a way to earn the money she needs to move to America. When the planned turnover of Colin is interrupted by someone trying to kill her, they go on the run to find out who is behind the rescue and murder attempt. I really liked Madeleine's intelligence and ability to think on the fly. It was really nice to read a book where the heroine rescues the hero. Madeleine is attracted to Colin but has no intention of doing anything with it. She spends the first part of the book not trusting him because she isn't sure that he is truly innocent of the charges. As they have to work together she begins to get to know him and trust a little bit. She also sees that he uses his humor and charm to hide behind when he feels vulnerable. Having been on her own for several years since the death of her husband she is moved by Colin's protectiveness. Her feelings begin to change even though she knows that he is far above her. As they get closer to solving the mystery she admits her feelings to herself, but refuses to allow herself to think of a future with him. She denies herself what she really wants because she wants him to be happy. I loved seeing her face her fears at the end and allow herself to go after what she really wanted.

The mystery itself was pretty interesting, though certainly convoluted. As Colin and Madeleine pursued their investigation they only got small pieces of information at a time. Each bit that they got came from interesting occurrences, from a lady and her footman to gravediggers. There was also an interesting revelation about Colin's parents that rocked his world. show less

I enjoyed both the humor and the adventure in this book. I thought the chemistry between Colin and Madeline was clear from the beginning and really well done. I was worried, though, that it would never feel like intimacy. By the 50% mark though, it definitely did.

I really loved Madeline, with her prickly no nonsense yet challenging manner. Colin's charm and humor were fun, and made it easy to see where he'd weasel his way in through her defenses. And even though I'm not giving this some spectacular rating-I can see reading this again. There's lovely dialogue and writing as is usual for JAL, and some hotter than sin sex scenes and sexual tension.

The thing that holds me back from a 4 here is that it definitely drags at points, and the show more plotting results in a lot at once at the end. I guess I'm not sure I hated that, but I might have liked it better if that hasn't felt so rushed. 3.5 for now. show less

Lovely and fun. When Madeleine is left without a source of income after her husband's death she begins earning her keep by quietly effectuating dangerous and sometimes scandalous plans. We meet her here after she has been hired to steal away Colin Eversea mere moments before he is hanged for a murder he did not commit. Mads and Colin are fun and charming and they have a very entertaining adventure where they come to love and trust one another. The problem is Colin is rushing to find a way to stop the wedding of the woman he has loved since he was 13.

I really enjoyed this, big fan of the characters. The beginning was a little bit of a mess, but it hit its stride not too far in and kept me quite entertained.

I first read this book a few years ago and buddy reviewed it with Holly here. I've always been wanting to catch up with the series so I thought I'd go back and start from the beginning. I'm glad I did because Perils of Pleasure was as much fun to read the second time around.

Since I can't seem to form coherent sentences, please bear with me while I muddle through my thoughts. LOL

Since the time of William the Conqueror (1066AD), the Everseas and the Redmonds have been at odds. Some say it started with a pig, but no matter what, these two families are cursed to hurt each other at least once a generation. And who but the Redmonds can be at fault for Colin Eversea ending up in prison and set to hang? And the lone witness to attest to his show more innocence vanished in the dead of night - who can it be but a Redmond's fault?

Colin Eversea is the youngest son of his family. He's a charming man, always quick to get himself into and out of trouble. But this time trouble has caught up to him. And even when he's rescued at the last minute (as he's walking up to the gallows) trouble is still following him...and now his rescuer.

Madeleine was hired to rescue Colin from hanging. She did that. And instead of receiving payment, she gets a bullet for her troubles. Luckily for her, Colin knocked her down and saved her life. Now these two decidedly different people from different walks of life are on the hunt together - to find out who's trying to kill her, who hired her to save Colin and where did the witness to Colin's innocence go?

Perils of Pleasure worked for me on many different levels. First of all, despite the fact that Colin is a wanted man and these two are scrabbling around all over London in disguise, I found the whole thing very light-hearted. Part of that is Colin's charm and general outlook on life. Which is directly opposite Madeleine's. She's been through some hard stuff and she's done what she's had to to survive. She's not hard but she is practical and she hasn't had much room in her life for fun. With those two different personalities, the only thing keeping them together is the search for the truth. I liked that these two were uneasy allies at first. But the more that bad things happened to them, the more they learned they could rely on the other. And I loved that Colin saw Madeleine as a challenge. He's used to being able to charm his way out of everything and Madeleine doesn't cave to his wiles like other women do. But we the reader know how hard Madeleine is fighting to keep Colin at a distance. So delicious!

Now there are a few obstacles to these two ever being together. First, Madeleine is set to go to America. She wants to start a new life for herself and the fee she would get for Colin's escape was the last bit of moolah she needed to get away. Second, she is not from the ton. And third, Colin is in love with a woman who is days away from marrying his brother. So there's a time limit to them finding the truth and him getting home in time to stop the wedding. With these kind of impediments, a romance between Colin and Madeleine seems impossible. And that's what makes me love it! Despite all those problems, Colin and Madeleine fall for each other and they both fought it until they couldn't fight it anymore. *sigh*

The Perils of Pleasure gets a B+ from me. I highly recommend it. show less