Julie Anne Long - The Perils of Pleasure

Scandal has rocked the city of London. Colin Eversea, a handsome, reckless unapologetic rogue is sentenced to hang for murder and, inconveniently for him, the only witness to the crime disappears. Then again, throughout history, the Everseas have always managed to cheat fate in style: Colin is snatched from the gallows by a beautiful, clever mercenary. 
Cool-headed, daring Madeleine Greenway is immune to Colin's vaunted charm. Her mission is not to rescue Colin but to kidnap him, and to be paid handsomely for it. But when it becomes clear that whoever wants Colin alive wants Madeline dead, the two become uneasy allies in a deadly race for truth. Together, they'll face great danger--and a passion neither can resist.

Comment: I've had this book to read for several years...last time I've arranged my shelves I thought it would be a good idea to put this book on the list of things to read soon....(this was around February or so...), and voilá, I wrote down this title for this month and here it was its turn. I got this because I saw in a message board so many people saying good things about the series...I decided to get the first book and try.

This is the story of Colin Eversea. He's the youngest son in a big family and they have an enemy family living close by, in PennyRoyal Green. Colin has been accused of a crime and he is going to hung soon. In the morning of his hanging, he is rescued and later on he finds out his rescue is a woman.
Madeleine Greenway is a widow trying to win the remaining money she needs to travel to America and start her life again, after losses she can't bear to thin about. After she rescues Colin someone tries to kill her so she joins forces with Colin to find out who is behind this whole scheme. But during their adventures to look for the culprit, they talk and after all there is more they have in common than they imagined.

I liked the story. It was absorbing and interesting. I lid how the author inserted more serious subjects about the character's lives in an apparent unimportant manner, which made some passages very subtle. In fact, I was rather surprised about the writing style, because I had an idea it would be a lighter narrative and possibly not as centered in the main couple as it was. I expected the story to develop among Colin's family but they didn't have such a big part as that. 
I wonder if the narrative will change in the upcoming books, but as each book features someone from one of the main families alternatively, I suppose it won't be the case. In a way, I wish it wasn't so, because I'd like to see them interact a lot more. I don't tend to enjoy books where the main couple seems in a world apart from everyone else, even it it enhances their romance more. I like families and interactions and veracity to that family living because it's more common to believe in people who live close to a family than on their own. I don't now but it seems more interesting to set stories like that.

The characters, like I said, are very interesting. Colin believes himself to be in love with his brother's fiancée but is he? I thin it was quite surprising to find out at the same time as Colin himself. He finds out a great deal about himself while traveling with Madeleine to solve all the mess around him and the false accusation of murder. I liked how he saw Madeleine and how he started to see himself through her eyes and after all he feels he is someone worthy of consideration and true affection. He even finds out something I was curious to now how he would deal with but apparently it's to be developed in the future...or not, I'm not sure by the way it was done.
Madeleine on the other hand, made me sad. She has a lot to be sorry for and I felt sorry for her and for all the people who probably had a life very similar to hers in real life in those days. She suffered but she kept a practical take on life even when it was hard and it was no surprise to see Colin fall for her. I think she is the best character in the book, no doubt.

All in all, this was an almost perfect book. If it had more involvement between more characters Key to the plot, I think it would have been better. As far as this book goes, I was glad to have read it and I already ordered the next one, which I hope is as engaging.