A Notorious Countess Confesses: Pennyroyal Green Series [Mass Market Paperback]

Julie Anne Long (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 30, 2012 | Series: Pennyroyal Green

“Julie Anne Long reinvents the historical romance for modern readers, delivering intense, passionate characters and high adventure. Her writing glows.”
—Amanda Quick

“You will LOVE the Pennyroyal Green series.”
—Julia Quinn

A notorious lady learns just how wicked a good man can be in the latest installment of RITA Award nominee Julie Anne Long’s emotionally charged Pennyroyal Green series. A Notorious Countess Confesses is absolutely unputdownable historical romance for fans of Karen Hawkins and Sabrina Jeffries; another gem in the bestselling series set in Regency England and centered on a long-standing feud between members of two wealthy Sussex families, the Eversea and Redmond clans. The breathtaking romantic adventures of a former courtesan-turned-noblewoman, A Notorious Countess Confesses stokes the Pennyroyal fires hotter than ever before, providing readers with all the passion, scandal, and true love they could possibly hope for.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

She rose to spectacular heights . . .

From Covent Garden to courtesan to countess, beautiful, fearless, shamelessly ambitious Evie Duggan has riveted London in every role she plays. But the ton never could forgive her scandalous—if shockingly short—marriage, and when her star plummets amid gleefully vicious gossip, the countess escapes to the only legacy left to her: a manor house in Pennyroyal Green.

He never expected to fall so hard . . .

He has the face of a fallen angel and a smolder the devil would envy, but Vicar Adam Sylvaine walks a precarious line: resisting temptation . . . and the wild Eversea blood in his veins. Adam's strength is tested when scandal, aka the countess, moves to Sussex. But when a woman who fiercely guards her heart and a man entrusted with the souls of an entire town surrender to a forbidden desire, will the sweetest sin lead them to heaven . . . or make outcasts of them forever?

About the Author

San Francisco Bay Area native Julie Anne Long originally set out to be a rock star when she grew up (and she has the guitars and fringed clothing stuffed in the back of her closet to prove it), but writing was always her first love. She began her academic career as a Journalism major, until she realized Creative Writing was a better fit for her freewheeling imagination and overdeveloped sense of whimsy. And when playing guitar in dank, sticky clubs finally lost its "charm," Julie realized she could incorporate all the best things about being in a band—namely drama, passion, and men with unruly hair—into novels, while also indulging her love of history and research. Since then, her books have been nominated for numerous awards, including the RITA^®, Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice, the Holt Medallion, Bookseller's Best, and The Quills, and reviewers have been known to use words such as "dazzling," "brilliant," and "impossible to put down" when describing them.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Avon (October 30, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062118021
• ISBN-13: 978-0062118028
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.1 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #510,455 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

San Francisco Bay Area native Julie Anne Long set out to be a rock star when she grew up (and she has the guitars and fringed clothing stuffed in the back of her closet to prove it), but writing was always her first love. She began her academic career as a Journalism major, then realized Creative Writing was a better fit for her freewheeling imagination and overdeveloped sense of whimsy. Still, for years she worked by day in finance, software development, web & graphic design, and marketing and promotions...until the fateful day when playing guitar in dank, sticky clubs by night lost its "charm." Which is when she realized she could incorporate all the best things about being in a band--namely drama, passion and men with unruly hair--into novels, while indulging her love of history and research. Since then, her books have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Romance Writers of America Rita, Romantic Times Reviewer's choice, the Bookseller's Best and the Quills, and reviewers have been known to use words such as "dazzling," "brilliant" and "impossible to put down" to describe them. Her latest, WHAT I DID FOR A DUKE, was chosen as one of Amazon's Best Book of 2011.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#26 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Historical Romance

#27 in Books > Romance > Historical

#26 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Historical Romance

#27 in Books > Romance > Historical

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Torn Between Three Or Four Stars November 1, 2012

By E. A. Montgomery TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition

This is the seventh novel in the Pennyroyal Green series and my first Julie Anne Long. I enjoyed about 85% of it, putting her on par with Eloisa James. In fact, I enjoyed Long's style so much I was halfway through the book before I realized she'd named her lead couple Adam and Eve. (I got over it and kept reading.) Long does a great job with Adam's uncertainty. Instead of a fire and brimstone vicar he's a man of doubt doing the best he can to muddle through. Her depiction of a conflicted man of faith rang very true. I had a little more trouble with Eve. Having decided to live a respectable life, Eve is ready for a fresh beginning in a village already familiar with her past. Who else for Eve to turn to but the town's moral center? Adam isn't just a local boy made holy. He's the town heartthrob.

I found the relationships between Adam and Eve, between Eve and the matrons, between Adam and the debutante girls plausible. The relationship between Eve and the girls made me roll my eyes. With nothing in common beyond their age, Eve is soon giving advice on men to them. This advice is rather modern. Be yourself. Make him treat you like a queen. Confidence is beauty. (Eve has seen the darker sides of men. I think she'd lead with other aspects of the male / female power dynamic but if she's still a romantic who am I to argue?) Most readers will find the ending of A Notorious Countess Confesses jaw-droppingly romantic but it almost ruined the book for me. Early in the book Eve tells Adam she has serious control issues. Eve's number one statement to Adam is about self determination and self direction. This is a key aspect of her personal security. Adam not only disregards this, he treats her like a child while he does it. Adam's end of the book assumption that he knows best in all things made me crazy. Eve (and most readers) embrace it. The Eve from the start of the book would have seen right through Adam's emotional theater to the manipulation at the core of his actions. Alas, she was long gone.

With the ending being my sticking point, a five star read dropped to a three or four for me. Under consideration I decided to go with four stars. When Ms. Long is good, she's very, very good and when she's bad she's not horrid. With a small twist in the closing chapters, A Notorious Countess Confesses would have been one of my best books for the year. I will definitely try another Pennyroyal Green novel.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great author. Needed editing... November 5, 2012

By Claire

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Julie Anne Long is on my "auto buy" list and this latest offering will keep her there. The writing is wonderful, with lots of hidden meanings (and some not so hidden: H/h's names are Adam and Eve...) and symbolism and extremely smart dialogue. In fact, I can always count on this author to provide amusing and witty conversations and there are great ones in this book. The story has a nice pace and leads up to a slow boil of passion and tension. So well done!!
A believable tale of love and passion between the courtesan and the vicar was going to be hard to pull off and it was well done all the way until the denouement. Sadly, that was just too over-the-top, required too much suspension of disbelief and almost ruined the book for me. That is why I only gave this book 4 stars and, in fact, this was more of a 3.5 stars. Also, I am not sure what happened to the editing but this book needs to be re-edited and corrected! There were way too many typos and grammatical erros (lots of wrong pronouns, for example.) Very strange and not characteristic of this author at all. Finally, another problem was the change in the heroine's name: I just told myself if was the author vascillating between the heroine's aristocratic monikers but it was very distracting. In fact, the first time Eve, "Lady Wareham" was suddenly "Lady Balmain" I groaned, assuming poor editing. There is probably an explanation but it took me out of the book each time it changed. Not good.
Nevertheless, I remain a total Julie Anne Long fan -- "What I did for a Duke" was a masterpiece as was her last one -- this one doesn't quite reach that level but it was pretty darn good! You won't go wrong reading almost anything by this author.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite Pennyroyal Green book...not by a long shot November 7, 2012

By ratingtheromances

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Julie Anne Long is one of my favorite, favorite authors. "What I Did for a Duke" is on my Desert Island list. I love that book so much! So I was beyond excited to see her new book available for review. I couldn't wait to get it and when I was approved I was ready to dig in for a long night of reading. Until I realized it was about the vicar and a courtesan. Ugh! I know I am probably coming at this from an entirely different angle than most people but that H/h combination is just not my favorite. I don't like to read about the Clergy being seduced by anyone but a skilled, much wanted, notorious courtesan?

Oh geez...I wasn't sure I would enjoy it. I guess it's that higher standard thing I have for men of the cloth. Plus, I was really wanting to read a good story about the Everseas and the Redmonds but instead we are treated to a story about the cousin Adam! Which isn't a bad thing. I don't have anything against Adam. I just really wanted to read about Ian or Lyon. Anway, several books back we learn that Adam is eye candy for all the women in Pennyroyal Green but now the recently widowed Countess, Eve, (ex-courtesan) arrives in town in an attempt to try and rebuild her life in relative obscurity. She doesn't fall madly in love with Adam and physical relations between the two of them take a long, long time to ever happen in the book, thankfully for me. Also, their names are Adam and Eve. I had read half of the book before I realized their names were Biblical references to the first man and woman. Duh.

Julie Anne does a decent job of helping us like the Countess by making her easy to relate to and showing us her painful and checkered past. I don't really blame Eve for the choices she's made but I don't especially like the idea of her with Adam. Neither do the townspeople I might add. We expect bad behavior from Colin and the Eversea clan, but the dutiful, loved by all pastor Adam seems a stretch to me. At times, I didn't know how to feel about the situation.

As usual, Julie Anne Long has a beautiful way with words and emotions. She brings you right into her novels and paints beautiful word pictures. I really liked this paragraph. "You see, Reverend, you may never know this, but love, real love, the kind that you fall in, isn't like Corinthians. The "suffereth long" and "is kind" nonsense. It's like the Song of Solomon. It's jealousy and fire and floods. It's everything that consumes. I defy even you to resist it should it visit you in this lifetime, no matter the circumstances, and I don't know whether I would wish it upon you. It's a . . . beautiful suffering."

In all of Julie Anne's books we are treated to a hint of what is happening between Olivia and Lyon but this book didn't really add to the story. Instead, it just barely hinted that Olivia was moving on. I don't know. I was confused about that and was hoping for more.

I love Julie Anne Long's writing and look forward to her future books with baited breathe but this one is not going to go down as one of my favorites..not by a long shot.