Pride and Pleasure by Sylvia Day

 

Summary:

 

Wealth has its dangers...

There are disadvantages to being an heiress, as Eliza Martin knows well. Fortune hunters flock to her, acquaintances lie and pander, and lately, someone is engineering "accidents" to propel her to the altar. But Eliza will not be bullied, and she will get to the bottom of this plot. All she needs is a man to infiltrate her assemblage of suitors and find the culprit. Someone not easily noticed; a proficient dancer, quiet, and even-tempered.

...so do certain men

Thief-taker Jasper Bond is entirely too large, too handsome, and too dangerous. Who would believe that an intellectual like Eliza would be seduced by a man of action? But the combination of her stubbornness and the mystery makes the case one Jasper can't resist. Client satisfaction is a point of pride and it's his pleasure to prove he's just the man she needs after all...

Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com

Length: 305 pages (Paperback)

Source: Toronto Public Library

Available Formats: Print/E-book/Audio

Publication Date: January 14th 2011

 

As some of you might know I'm a huge Sylvia Day fan so when I saw my library had this one I knew I had to give it a try. I have read another one of her historical romances last year and my review for Seven Years to Sin can be found by clicking here. It was one of my favourite reads last year so I went into reading Pride & Pleasure with high expectations that unfortunately were not met.

 

While I liked the plot of Pride and Pleasure quite a bit the way that the story was told, as well as the characters just didn't jive with me well at all. I was happy to see that Sylvia Day created a smart, and strong willed heroine that was unwilling to be pushed around by anyone I just couldn't connect to Eliza's character. She was far too hard and aloof so I was completely unable to connect with her. She just seemed so harsh and didn't endear me at all because of the aloofness. Even when it came to the love she had for Jasper she wasn't sweet or tender at all. She was like Ice through out the whole novel and I didn't think she nor any of the other characters were very well developed.

 

Jasper, despite being a handsome and charming fellow who makes his money doing some underhanded things and being rich wasn't all that likable of a hero either. I will admit that I did like the role he played in investigating the circumstances behind the attempts on Eliza's life I didn't feel anything for him. He was rather bland and didn't seem as smart as he appeared to be and I thought he was cliché.

 

As I said I did like the plot of the story for the most part. I liked that there was a mystery to solve because certain unscrupulous people were making attempts on Eliza's life to pressure her into marrying someone for safety so they would have access to her wealth. There were times when I thought I figured out who the bad guy was but when the people responsible were finally revealed near the end of the book I was taken by surprise. However, when it came to the pace of the story I thought the whole book kind of dragged for me and there seemed to be a few plot holes that never made sense to me and I didn't really get why they were added in.

 

The romance between Eliza and Jasper was probably the biggest disappointment for me. I'm used to Sylvia Day offering up a tension filled spicy romance and I felt as though the romance between the two main characters in this one just lacked all of that. I was hoping that there would be a lot of passion between the pages of Pride and Pleasure but it seemed as though the romance was very bland and lackluster.

 

Despite not believing in the romance and wishing the characters had more substance I did like certain aspects of the story enough for Pride & Pleasure that in the end I didn't end up loving it but I did end up liking it. I'm glad I gave it a try and I think that this is just a book that didn't meet all my expectations.

 

I would recommend this to other fans of Sylvia Day and fans of historical romance because it was a very quick read and it was fun enough that I spent an afternoon immersed in the book. I think it would be a good introduction to the authors writing for people who haven't read her books before.

 

Liked it!
★★★

 

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