The first of the Pennyroyal Green series, which follows a generations long blood feud between two of England’s oldest family, possibly started by the theft of a cow.
Plot: Colin Eversea has always been a bit of a bull in a china shop but has always managed to charm his way out of serious consequences. Then he was framed for murder, and suddenly he found himself on the way to his hanging. Thankfully, some was very invested in Colin’s wellbeing, and he was saved, rather dramatically, at the last moment by Madeline, a widow who is saving for a farm in America. But then the people who were supposed to pay her tried to kill her and suddenly they’re running for their lives together. Shenanigans ensue.
I never reviewed this book and reading it again I realized I remember almost nothing at all about this book from when I first read it a few years ago. The sequel to this book was the first I reviewed for the site, and reading the first book again I didn’t understand how I even read the second one, I was so bored by this book. Then I looked back at my ratings and I had this book in my FAVOURITES pile. Special books that are worth a re-read (since I rarely re-read). It’s fascinating how much a book changes as you change, and I’m bummed I don’t have a review to look at to see what it was I liked so much.
My best guess is that I enjoyed Colin’s manic-pixie-dream boy personality to Madeline’s bitch who takes no shit. I think now that I have more exposure to novels with plots I find interesting, reading a romance where the central plot is a mystery, where I’m not a mystery gal, I just couldn’t bring myself to care about it. Maybe I was just in a mood.
Long’s style is as always here, with fun characters and a good pace to the story that allows some depth to the story without becoming maudlin. It’s a good read, and I clearly LOVED it at one point, it’s just not as good as her later stuff, at least for my money.
The other problem may be that I read it last time and took the audiobook this time and I just really disliked the narrator.