Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Book Tour for Between the Devil and Ian Eversea by Julie Anne Long (Review & GIVEAWAY)

Today I'm bringing you the wonderful Julia Anne Long and the next installment in her historical Pennyroyal Green Series, Between the Devil and Ian Eversea.  Keep reading to get a glimpse of this book as well as Ms. Long's views on older versus younger heroines.  You can learn even more about this book by visiting the other blogs hosting this tour as well as my impressions of it.  Make sure to fill out the form below for the chance to win a print copy of the previous installment in this series too!

I suggest you have the smelling salts within arm's reach before you read the next sentence. And perhaps you ought to take up a position near to your fainting couch (I know you have one). Ready?
I'm not 20 years old anymore.
(I know. I know. I'll give you a moment to recover from your shock. I'll be waiting right here).
And given my, shall we say, relative seasoning, sometimes writing about young, virginal heroines is like trying to recall a country I visited quite a few (at least two. *cough*) years ago. What were the customs? Is my passport current? That sort of thing. But as I sat down to write BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND IAN EVERSEA, twenty-year-old Titania “Tansy” Danforth sort of materialized: “Ta da! Here I am! I belong to Ian, and he belongs to me! Now, how are you going to make that happen?” 
Well, challenge accepted. After writing about heroines who are fairly worldly, or at least emotionally sophisticated as a result of their ages and the circumstances of their lives—Evie Duggan in A NOTORIOUS COUNTESS CONFESSES and Thomasina de Ballesteros in IT HAPPENED ONE MIDNIGHT, Titania was intriguing. How was I going to bring together such two seemingly disparate people with such seemingly different needs?
Ian is a gorgeous, sophisticated, reckless, war-hardened, too-experienced jade. Tansy is a blue-eyed, golden-haired, sheltered innocent. What then, about their lives, have shaped the two of them in such a way that their hearts fit only with each other?
Love—romantic love, passionate love, sensual love—is a delicious mystery to Tansy. She understands attraction and certainly enjoys attention and knows how to get it. (Boy, does she. She in fact knows how to cause a riot, if she wants to.) But she does know what love, real love, between a man and a woman looks like—she's seen the looks exchanged between her parents before she died, which had felt “like a door ajar on a world she'd never be invited to visit.” She wants to belong, to be someone's everything. She wants roots, a home, and a family again. And she doesn't want to be, heaven forbid, BORED by a man. The Duke of Falconbridge is responsible for finding her a husband, and she's made a helpful list of qualities she wants, confident she can find him, and confident of her appeal. And once she gets a look at the Eversea men, she's extremely optimistic about the appeal of English men.
She never expected to be clubbed upside the head by an attraction to one particular man, let alone a man who looks right through her as though she's invisible. 
But we've only seen Ian so far through the eyes of the other characters in the series—Colin's, the Duke of Falconbridge's, his sister Genevieve's, for instance. But none of them really know the true contents of his heart and mind, or the source of his restlessness, or what motivates his ceaseless seeking after pleasure. And in the end the only person who understands Ian is Tansy. He recognizes that her recklessness is in part driven by loss, that they're both much braver and resilient than anyone realizes, that they're both hiding vulnerabilities and strengths that only the two of them can see, because they in a sense see each other through similar lenses. And that they're both rogues, in their own ways, and irrepressible, which makes them irresistible to each other.
So it isn't age that matters here. It's experience, or more specifically, and how experiences has shaped and deepened them. They see the world through the same lens.
What about you? Do you prefer to read about young heroine or mature heroines, or does it depend on the story? Does it matter at all?

She might look like an angel...
The moment orphaned American heiress Titania “Tansy” Danforth arrives on English shores she cuts a swath through Sussex, enslaving hearts and stealing beaux. She knows she's destined for a spectacular titled marriage—but the only man who fascinates her couldn't be more infamous...or less interested....but it takes a devil to know one...
...and Heaven has never been hotter.




As someone who's not read the previous books in this series, but who loves historicals, I wasn't sure what to expect.  What I got was a compelling romance that took its time bringing the protagonists together as well as giving us a heroine difficult to warm up to but who I still liked despite her superficiality.  The romance felt more real as both Ian and Tansy had to discover who the other ACTUALLY was before falling in love in a slow journey to HEA.

Tansy's on her own after the deaths of her parents and brother and being sent to England is a big change that she adapts to in the only way she knows how, by putting on a facade.  She claims to be a wallflower but flirts beautifully and shamelessly.  She gauges her worth by the amount of attention she gets which puts her at odds with the other female characters.  When she's alone though she shows a more caring side, a side more real with less artificiality.  She does little acts that promote remembrance which reminds us of her loss and makes her more human.  The only person to ruin her act is Ian.  She's attracted to him and hates herself for the cracks in her facade that show when in his presence.  She's drawn to the man he is behind the facade he too portrays and sees a man she can count on to accept her completely.

Ian's always been seen as a rogue and he's lived his life accordingly with his numerous women and over the top lifestyle.  He sees Tansy as immature and bland at first but becomes drawn to the human side he sneaks glimpses of across the balcony.  He's at once exasperated as well as desiring to dig deeper into her soul.  For the first time he sees a woman much like himself in dealing with the pain of their pasts and he wants to claim her.

This story was rather slow-paced.  The romance took the time to flourish with witty banter being the majority of their early interactions.  I felt that Tansy evolved more completely than Ian but still enjoyed them as a couple in their mutual dealings with grief and guilt.  This story felt like it tried to do too much at times with Tansy and Ian's story as well as furthering Olivia's storyline.  For so long she's been hiding behind a wall of coldness but her battles with Tansy over attention brought her to life and promise an intriguing story of her own.  On a whole this was a pleasant read but not of the caliber of my favorites, Loraine Heath and Julia Quinn.  I definitely recommend her works though and will read more from her in the future!

My rating for this is a C+

*I received this book from Edelweiss for review in exchange for my honest opinion.


The author of five popular novels from Warner and eight from Avon, Julie Anne Long lives in California with a fat orange cat (little known fact: they issue you a cat the moment you become a romance novelist).


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  1. It depends on the story. I like both.


  2. It depends on the story. I didn't think I'd like the age difference in What I Did For a Duke, but it was a wonderful book.

  3. Not too young, at least 20 usually, but maturity is more important than age.

  4. Not the best of reviews, but I don't care. I have ALL of the Pennyroyal Green series (except this one), so I believe I'll enjoy it as much as I have the rest of them. I like your writing, Julie, and I love the cover of this latest one. jdh2690@gmail.com

    1. I wanted to like it more Janice, but the main characters just didn't endear themselves to me. It was hard to relate to Tansy as she spent so little time showing who she really was. I had the same problem with Ian, not enough time spent getting to KNOW him. Believe me, I AGONIZED over the rating! There was STILL plenty to enjoy about this book and Ms. Long has a lot of talent. This one was a bit flat for me but I'll definitely read more from her as Olivia's story caught my attention. Thanks for your comments though and I hope you keep visiting!

      The Scarf Princess

    2. I forgot to answer the question! I prefer a mature heroine, not a "green girl." I think the best witty conversation is with a mature heroine and I like witty humor.

  5. The best age for a heroine all depends on the story. Some work better with the innocent young ones, many need an older one.