What I Did For a Duke: Pennyroyal Green Series [Mass Market Paperback]

Julie Anne Long (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 22, 2011 | Series: Pennyroyal Green

“A fresh voice that stands out….Delicious and delightful!”
—Karen Hawkins

 

Romance superstar Amanda Quick calls Julie Anne Long, “a fantastic writer,” and says, “her writing glows.” Suzanne Enoch calls Long’s work, “warm, witty, and fabulous!” This rapidly rising star of historical romance dazzles once again with What I Did For a Duke—the next fabulous installment in her sensual and emotionally charged Pennyroyal Green series. This Regency delight focuses on a dark duke with a sinful reputation and his determined efforts to seduce and ruin the innocent sister of his enemy—only to fall victim himself to the gentle lady’s good nature and passionate soul. What I Did For a Duke follows Long’s delightful I Kissed an Earl, continuing the colorful feud between the Eversea and Redmond families, and it’s one of the most scandalously entertaining love stories in many a season.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"You will LOVE the Pennyroyal Green series."--NYT Bestselling Author Julia Quinn

From the Back Cover

For years, he's been an object of fear, fascination . . . and fantasy. But of all the wicked rumors that shadow the formidable Alexander Moncrieffe, Duke of Falconbridge, the ton knows one thing for certain: only fools dare cross him. And when Ian Eversea does just that, Moncrieffe knows the perfect revenge: he'll seduce Ian's innocent sister, Genevieve—the only Eversea as yet untouched by scandal. First he'll capture her heart . . . and then he'll break it.

But everything about Genevieve is unexpected: the passion simmering beneath her cool control, the sharp wit tempered by gentleness . . . And though Genevieve has heard the whispers about the duke's dark past, and knows she trifles with him at her peril, one incendiary kiss tempts her deeper into a world of extraordinary sensuality. Until Genevieve is faced with a fateful choice . . . is there anything she won't do for a duke?

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Avon (February 22, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061885681
• ISBN-13: 978-0061885686
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 1 x 4.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (210 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,134 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 

(What's this?)

#81 in Books > Romance > Historical

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

#81 in Books > Romance > Historical

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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

110 of 116 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Read this HR for the Romance, not the Historical. February 24, 2011

By Old Latin teacher TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I've been bemoaning the lack of real romance with a warm love story in most recent HRs. Well, this one has it in spades and I truly enjoyed reading it. Yes, as a few reviewers before me have pointed out, Long doesn't have titles and the peerage mastered, but I can overlook the Duke of Falconbridge (our H) being called Moncrieffe throughout the book when he should be addressed as "Your Grace", "Duke" or "Falconbridge", depending on who's talking to him, and the young son of a viscount here (the character Harry) is only an "Honorable", not a "Lord". You have to overlook a lot of inaccuracies and anachronisms in most mass market paperback HRs anyway.

The reason this isn't a 5-star book for me is that the whole story takes place at a house party and nothing much happens except for the romance. (Apparently there is no pleasing me. When there's not enough romance I complain, and here I have the romance I've been wanting and still I complain.) There's also an age discrepancy of almost 20 years between H and h, something I'm not usually fond of, but it works here because the young heroine isn't annoyingly immature or naive or TSTL. And the hero is someone I could fall for, if he would ignore the reverse even larger age discrepancy between him and me. He's a wonderfully complex character.

The book starts off well and caught my interest immediately. Long's writing is very good, her ability to describe things, people and emotions is much, much better than the average HR author's, and her characters' dialogue/conversation is witty, humorous and smart and her characters come alive on the page. The love story develops gradually and that's something I appreciate. Instant sex by page 50 isn't my idea of romance.... So when this H and h do become intimate, you know that it's not just a physical thing. (But, BTW, that physical thing between them is pretty smokin' hot.)

So the only reason for the 4 stars, rather than the 5 that the romance aspect deserves, is that I did become a bit bored by the breakfasts, picnics, strolls and card playing. There wasn't much else going on. However, that's certainly better than too much going on so I shouldn't be complaining. Read more ›

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What I Did For A Duke February 24, 2011

By AndreaG

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I finished reading What I Did For a Duke today and I loved it. From the very first chapter, I was already drawn to the main character, the Duke of Falconbridge. I think one of the things that caught my attention was his dark sense of humor, evident in the first chapter. And interestingly, even though he is a duke, Alex Moncrieffe is not very well liked by the ton, which makes one wonder why. And of course, all those rumors circulating the ton about his dark mysterious past makes him all the more interesting.

The female main character, Genevieve, is also very interesting. I was definitely entertained when she was trying to figure out how to "feign a swoon." And I enjoyed seeing the two main characters interact with each other, slowly revealing their true selves to each other. I found myself drawn to the conversations between the two main characters. The initial aloofness Genevieve displayed seemed to make the Duke even more determined to coax a reaction out from her. And they began surprising each other, becoming more interested in one another.

What I especially like in this book is the dialogue. I like how the conversations were witty and funny at times. There were moments where one of their conversations brought a smile to my face and I enjoyed the scene so much I had to reread it.

I thought this book was a very good light read. I enjoyed seeing Alex and Genevieve's relationship develop as the story continues. Their banters were entertaining to read. And of course, I liked seeing them find their happily ever after. I haven't read any of Julie Anne Long's other books, but after reading this one, I'm planning on getting my hands on another book soon.

71 of 81 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Didn't like it at all :( February 15, 2012

By SagaciousSteph

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I had high hopes for this book because it had so many great reviews, but unfortunately I really ended up hating it. Firstly, as some others mentioned, it was very slow in many places...way too much card playing and going for walks,(although I did laugh out loud at the goose scene). This alone would not make me dislike the book however, what I really didn't enjoy was the story itself and the main characters. Now I fully admit that this might just be due to my own personal preference in regards to what kind of hero/heroine I prefer in these kind of historical romances, but that's why I'm writing this, in case anyone might share my preferences and know to steer clear.

First a bit of setting up:

So Genevieve is your typical young, beautiful, innocent, virgin from a wealthy family...all good there. But the author immediately threw me off by making her madly in love with someone who we know is not the hero. The man she loves is not someone she barely knows, or has only met at a few dances or something, but rather a childhood friend that she has been wildly in love with for years! And this man is not flawed to the point that we know she would be better off with someone else, but rather he's funny, charming, intelligent, and shares her interests and passion for art. They seem like they'd make a wonderful couple actually, and Genevieve truly believes that he returns her feelings. So when he tells her that he is planning to ask their other mutual best friend to marry him instead, naturally she is completely shocked and heartbroken. Like, spends days crying over the lost love of her life, will never love again heartbroken.... Plus this all happens during a house party where this man she loves (I think his name was Harry), their friend he intends to propose to, and many other guests are staying in her family's house for a few weeks, so she has to see them together everyday and pretend that she is happy for him. So at the start of the book not only is she already in love but also in extreme pain, and so at this point I'm wondering how the author can possibly turn this into a romantic setting.

In comes the Duke who also decides to stay with her family for the duration of the party, with the intention of seducing Genevieve and then leaving her as a form of revenge to her brother. She pretty quickly figures out his plan though, and basically says hell no to that. But he has figured out from observing her that she heartbroken over Harry, so instead he tells her that he will pretend to be courting her to make Harry jealous so she can thereby win him back, while still making the brother squirm too. She agrees to this.

And this finally gets us to the stuff I really didn't like. Firstly, the duke is old enough to be her father. I tried to forget this while reading but it's pointed out many times throughout the book. In fact the Duke had a son who, if he had survived would have been Genevieve's age. And because of his age he has some stamina issues. While I know this sort of thing happened all the time back then, it's just not what I prefer to be in my fiction.

So during a conversation while the pretend courting is going on, the old Duke basically tells her that he has had lots of experience with whores, and makes a few other inappropriate comments. Instead of being put off by this, Genevieve is only amused and interested. Huh?

And THEN after a few more inappropriate conversations in which the old Duke basically tries to convince her to have sex with him, not because they have any feelings for each other but rather just for the pleasure of it, she agrees to do just that. That's right...our innocent virginal heroine, without much internal conflict or wrestling with scruples, begins to invite the old Duke into her bed every night to have casual sex, all the while still actively plotting and scheming during the day to win back the love of her life Harry. Um, WHAT!?! Pretty slutty there Genevieve.

There's more about this book that I didn't like, but I'll stop here because this review is already so long and I think you get the idea. I apologize if I offended anyone who likes this book, like I said it's just my personal preference and I just hope to help any of those who might share it! :) Read more ›