Pride and Pleasure

Pride and Pleasure

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3.72 of 5 stars 3.72  ·  rating details  ·  1,366 ratings  ·  112 reviews
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 an

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Paperback, 352 pages
Published February 1st 2011 by Brava (first published January 14th 2011)
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Sammy
Eliza is an heiress in her sixth season. She has money, manages her own finances and affairs, and has never been denied anything. She has happily decided not to marry, but to live out the rest of her days quietly reading and spending time in the country. Marriage would only cost her her freedom to do as she pleases, and would allow her husband to take over her finances. And that is just unacceptable. Eliza has no concept of carnal lust until she lays eyes on Jasper.

Jasper is a thief-taker, which...more
Tina
Eliza is a wealthy heiress who is a fortune hunter magnet. but lately she also has had some puzzling accidents. Obviously somebody is out to harm her.

Thief taker Jasper is hired to figure out who wants to harm Eliza. He is handsome, tenacious and immediately wants Eliza for himself. He also has a personal vendetta against one of her more persistent suitors.

I have read a few other Sylvia Day books and have always found them pretty pleasant. She was my first introduction to Historical-romantica. H...more
Julie Dolcemaschio
PRIDE AND PLEASURE is one of those books that stay with you, not necessarily because of the story, but because of the writing. This is less of a mystery than it is a simple yet wonderful character study, and that is my favorite kind of read.

Eliza Martin is a closed, efficient woman who is in her sixth, and final, season for capturing a suitor, something she’d rather not be bothered with. She is independent and wealthy, and she is so determined to be the opposite of her mother, that she’d rather...more
Kennedy
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Joan Swan
After studying the writing craft for over a decade now, I’d have to honestly say, I’ve been ruined…at least as an objective reader. I can no longer slide blithely through redundant description, dawdling action or blah characterization. I find myself constantly searching for more, silently challenging the author to give me a reason to keep the book open, to ignore the push of real life and remain lost in their fictional world.

And while charming, shocking, seducing or even scaring a reader into ma...more
Sandy M
I’m the typical reader when I have a book I want to devour in hand - it doesn’t take long to get it read, and then I’m disappointed because it’s over and now I have to wait for the author’s next book. So this time with a Sylvia Day book, I made myself slow down. Savor. Anticipate. Hunger. Need.

It’s not easy putting a great book down, but it’s definitely worth it to make it last longer when reading someone like Sylvia Day.

Eliza is a vintage Day character. Intelligent, independent, self-sufficient...more
Holly
Quite a few things in this book too me by surprise. There were several things I predicted were going to happen that didn't. Eliza, for example. She was leery about marriage thanks to growing up with a mother who prized passion and love more than anything else. She's learned to be distrustful of men and their motives and really has no desire to be attached to one. So I thought she'd have a fit when she realized Jasper wasn't everything he'd claimed to be, but Day really took things in an unexpect...more
Alanna (The Flashlight Reader)
Well... What can I say about this one? My mother always said, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." If I made it a habit to listen to all of my mother's advice, I wouldn't have anything to say about bad books! With that being said, this one was rotten. I was highly disappointed. It wasn't a book, it was a novella-- and a poorly developed one at that. It took too long to get to the point of the book (which I still am unclear of). That's not entirely true... I do know the po...more
Jane Stewart
Read one of her other books. This was not good.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
I felt like I was reading a boring textbook. My mind kept wandering. It was hard to concentrate and pay attention. I did not want to keep reading, but I forced myself in order to give a complete review. There was too much description about uninteresting things. Many conversations felt like filler. Too many events were “told” and not shown. See Spoilers below for examples. Some parts of the story weren’t developed enough.

The person...more
Brittany
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Anna
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Kimberly
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 it turned out to be one of my favourite reads of 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...more
Jill
Pride and Pleasure was given to me as an Arc from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Jasper Bond and Eliza Martin have me all a flutter. What a wonderfully, surprisingly, fantastic regency romance. I have been on the outs with my regency romances lately, but this one was perfect!!! A pure pleasure to read!

Eliza Martin is smack bang in the middle of her sixth and final season. She is surrounded by suitors most of them fortune hunters who seek to better themselves with her very comfortable...more
Britt
...And just when I thought I couldn't possibly love Sylvia Day anymore.

"Client satisfaction is a point of pride, Miss Martin. By the time I am done, I guarantee you will be eminently gratified by my performance"

Eliza Martin is an independent women, happy managaing her own enormous fortune without the assistance of a husband. However it seems someone has other ideas, hatching a plot to lure her into marriage for the security and protection it could bring from many unfortunate accidents. Although...more
Roz Groves
This review and others can be found at my blog, My Written Romance. Just click here.

There is something so lush and rich to the way Sylvia Day writes. As you read one of her novels, the words are constructed in such a way that you feel as if you can just about inhabit the same world in which her characters live.

Jasper Bond - wow! Ms Day sure knows how to write a sexy man! The book blurb describes him as devilish and dangerous, which he is, however he is not dangerous in the physical sense of the...more
Lorraine
Sylvia Day is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. I simply adored this book, it was different to what was expected, let me explain, their is a plot - someone wants to harm our heroine, she believes it is one of her suitors, so she hires our hero to investigate - but it is not the main feature, the main feature is our heroine and hero. Most of the book is about them, they don't pretend they don't like one another, they don't play hard to get, they admit their feelings and deal with them -...more
K
Dec 02, 2012 K rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of historical romance
Recommended to K by: found on goodreads
After thoroughly enjoying Day's Crossfire books, I was intrigued and very intersted in her other books. And when I found out she also wrote historical romance (a guilty pleasure of mine), I was even more intrigued. I am def glad I took the risk. Suprisingly, I found the story very enjoyable and truly enjoyed the characters, both primary and secondary. I must admit that Eliza's character drove me nuts at times, but Jasper's character well made up for it. In addition to the above, I appreciated th...more
Jenn
After reading the Crossfire 1 & 2, this book was a surprise. Her style of writing completely changed!

Setting in the 1800s, the words used were appropriate for the era except I'm not sure about a couple. Anyway, I adore a heroine who is strong-willed, independent, intelligent and passionate about her beliefs; never believing that she is less of a man because she is a woman.

I like how the lovestory unfolds. Flirtatious in every way yet romantic to the core. True love, so they say. And can I...more
Tracey
This novel was yet another great one and very well written by Sylvia Day. It kept you interested all the way to the end. The way that Eliza Martin and Jasper Bond working relationship started off was very different to other stories I have read this made it so much better to read. The story began with Eliza needed to hire a fake suitor because she had become a victim of diabolical scheming to get her to the alter, also a lot of strange happenings were going on around her she could not explain. El...more
Sharon
I'm going with the middle of the road on this one.
Positives- there were some sweet parts when Eliza and Jasper were beginning their relationship and I enjoyed "watching" them figure things out. The idea of a thief-taker (kind of like a private investigator) was a fun one, and I always like a little mystery in my romances.
On the negative side- the sex scenes in the story were (dare I say it?) a bit too much, and the mystery was not quite enough. Also, I would have enjoyed more resolution concer...more
Joanna Terrero
The heart recognizes what the reason ignores.

Passion and love undermine the best laid plans. Eliza Martin, a self-sufficient heiress, who is avoiding forfeiting her freedom and fortune to a husband, plans to retire to the country after her sixth London season is over. Suspicious incidents make Eliza wary of her suitors, thinking someone is trying to force her into a marriage for protection. She hires a runner (London pioneering police) who doesn't take her seriously, but recommends Jasper Bond’...more
Monique
I really liked Jasper and Eliza's story. Eliza was a stubborn, independent, take charge woman and Jasper was a determined, arrogant man. From the first time they met he knew that he wanted her. The mystery of who was behind all the freak accidents that Eliza was victim to was a nice back drop. But what I really enjoyed was the bold bantering between the two of them and Jasper's seduction of Eliza was perfect.

"God. Am I hurting you?" "No...Too full." Stretched to the point of aching, but she was...more
Nicol Legakis
Okay, It's not the author's fault I didn't do any research when I began this book so I shouldn't blame her. I didn't know this was what I guess would be termed "erotic historical fiction"??? I was immediately drawn into the story because 1. I'll read anything Jane Austen/ Pride and Prejudice related, but more significantly: 2. The author is definitely a good writer. However, as a true Janeite I would have to say this type of writing is definitely not my cup of tea! I had to quit the book when it...more
Lannie
Love, love, love this story! I love how wonderfully sassy, independent, stubborn, and determined Eliza is throughout the entire story. Jasper sinfully delicious and I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful read as Pride and Pleasure.

I hope we won't have to wait too long for Sylvia to write another historical novel since I love all the ones I've gotten to read so far. Not to mention, I wonder if Sylvia has any plans to write the story of the Earl of Westfield (who is the grandson of Marcus and...more
Stacy
With the way Bared to You has been placed on the shelf next to 50 Shades in every bookstore in the country, I wasn't sure what to expect from Day's writing. This book, at least, was a fairly standard Regency romance, though I do feel the overall story was a bit more complex than average. The language of the intimate scenes, however, was at the cruder end of the spectrum, which always results in losing points with me. I liked pretty much all the primary characters, and I felt the resolution to th...more
Natasha
Wasn't my most favourite of Sylvia's books but as always she never fails on the lust and seduction side of things. Jasper's need for Eliza from the moment they met was palpable. He was a bit of a bad boy that fell in love at first sight but didn't realise it was at the beginning, he just knew he had to have her and had to keep her in his life. To have her as a possession, but not in a bad way. I thought the story line of some one trying to hurt Eliza would have been a bit more exciting and have...more
Inki
This was quite good! I really enjoyed the 'who-dun-it' element to this historical romance. Day writes all her leading men in a similar way though. Tall, dark, dangerous. Does anyone else feel like she's writing about some incarnation of Gideon Cross in all her stories?? LOL. Not that I'm complaining, but girlfriend's definitely got a type...

Lord Westfield needs his own story, stat. As male lead, he'd be more entertaining to read about than Jasper in my opinion. I'd rather read about characters t...more
ClosetRomanceReader
3.5

I'm such a fan of Sylvia Day, the plan really is pretty much to read all her work...

Maybe it was just me, but the characters in this book had a different feel for me for some reason. Both H&h felt like a bit of a departure from her usual H&h. It's neither better nor worse, just different. Not that Ms. Day gives the same attributes to her characters all the time, but like I said, they just feel different somehow.

I still got the strong (in her own way) h, thankfully. The H didn't feel...more
Aly (Mircea) Basarab
Main characters:
Eliza Martin
Jasper Bond

What I Liked: The story was very good and a little unusual. Eliza is in her 6th season and doesn’t want to marry, and if this wasn’t unseen in the romance world, just think that she was a woman of business, she managed her inheritance and loved working with numbers. We wouldn’t have this book if something unseemly wasn’t happening, so here comes the intrigue: she hires Mr. Bond to play at being her suitor and find the person who arranges some mishaps to ha...more
Michelle
It took me a while to really get started on loving this book, but I've pretty much read it in one day if that tells you anything (and it's not because it's a short book/easy read). There are so many things I like about this book. Sylvia Day's writing, for one. There is a perfect mix of dialogue and action, and not too much internal dialogue/repetition. The characters are just wow. Eliza is such a starchy, smart, smartass, independent British blueblood that you can't help but like her. Jasper is...more
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Sylvia Day (aka S. J. Day and Livia Dare) is the #1 New York Times and #1 international bestselling author of more than a dozen award-winning novels translated into over three dozen languages. She has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Author and her work has been honored as Amazon's Best of the Year in Romance. She has won the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Award and been n...more
More about Sylvia Day...
Reflected in You (Crossfire, #2) Bared to You (Crossfire, #1) Seven Years to Sin A Dark Kiss of Rapture (Renegade Angels, #0.5) A Touch of Crimson (Renegade Angels, #1)

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