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    Pleasure for Pleasure
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    Pleasure for Pleasure
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    Pleasure for Pleasure
    Audiobook12 hours

    Pleasure for Pleasure

    Written by Eloisa James

    Narrated by Susan Duerden

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Fueled by the knowledge that notoriety is better than failure, witty, unconventional Josie does what no proper young lady should-she challenges fate. She discards her corset and flirts outrageously. She attends the horse races and allows an arrogant rakehell to whisk her behind the stables for a surreptitious kiss . . . and is caught!

    She doesn't want to marry the young hellion-but who's to help? Her chaperone keeps disappearing for mysterious appointments; her guardian is on his wedding trip; and his friend the Earl of Mayne is too busy staring into the eyes of his exquisite French fiancée.

    Can a marriage forced by stuffy convention and unwilling desire become the match of the season?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateDec 23, 2011
    ISBN9780062133014
    Unavailable
    Pleasure for Pleasure
    Author

    Eloisa James

    Eloisa James is a USA Today and New York Times bestselling author and professor of English literature, who lives with her family in New York, but can sometimes be found in Paris or Italy. She is the mother of two and, in a particularly delicious irony for a romance writer, is married to a genuine Italian knight.

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    Reviews for Pleasure for Pleasure

    3.5/5

    210 ratings20 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Another chubby, insecure heroine. I liked this book, but mostly because of that theme, so I'm not terribly inclined to read the rest of the stories in the series. I think the novelty of historicals has worn off for now, with the exception of the ones that cater to my preferred heroine (fat, abused, scarred, insecure, tomboyish, plain, etc etc). (3.5 stars)

      First read in July 2011, re-read December 2016. I almost bumped this up to four stars, and probably should to be fair, but while I ADORE this heroine's insecurity about her figure, her overall confidence kind of flew in the face of it, tempering the angst that I love in these kinds of tales (notably, how she concocted the scheme at the end because she was so confident that Mayne loved her and not Sylvie, and that he just needed to figure that out). I also enjoyed the secondary romance as well.
    • 5/5
      This series about the Essex sisters was too lovely. I was totally engaged. I cried with them and laughed with them. A testament to how great a writer Eloisa James is. Josie got her happy ever after even though at the start Happy seemed like a state she would never achieve. I loved loved loved this book.
    • 5/5
      Loved every second of it. Every time I had to sp listening I couldn't wait to get back to it.
      There are always 2 stories in every one of Eloisa James books, one main one and one secondary one. In this book the main one was the better one because it wasnt so obvious who Josie was going to end up with. And that's why I loved it.
      The narrator was good.
    • 2/5
      I honestly can’t tell what Josie is supposed to look like based upon the descriptions in this book and the cover art is ZERO help- why is the cover model skinny? All I can say is the Earl of Mayne deserves to find his happy ending. He was never in love with Helen or Sylvia. Every other Essex sister encounter was barely anything, but at least Sophie wants him? (The attitude about Mayne seems more than odd to me by the sisters). Josie’s immaturity comes out at times, but that’s to be expected. She knew he was “in love” with someone else and married him anyway. Why she keeps being surprised that he’s not ready to admit he loves her after a week of marriage is a testament to the stupidity of these sisters at times. And are we supposed to find it charming when a woman poisons a man? While I can understand the first time, given what an ass that particular man was, I’m having a real hard time being okay with her wanting to drug her husband. Instead of talking to him, she just decides what he’s feeling and what he wants in a very dramatic and sophomoric fashion.
    • 2/5
      I had liked Josie as a side character, but I liked her less as this book went on. Perhaps this one was trying to be more of a comedy? It just missed the mark for me. I'm glad it's over.
    • 4/5
      What I love about this series is that there is so much going on with all the characters we have come to love that there's actually a level of uncertainty about who Josie will ultimately end up with. Very satisfying.
    • 2/5
      Just like the book before this one it again took until chapter seven for me to get into this story. So anyway I really wish it would stop being mentioned how much older Garrett is than Josie because it makes me feel icky with how much older he is than Josie.

      This story begins for me when Garrett and Josie get tipsy in the Starlight room in his house and he gets her to shed her corset. This scene just made me smile because I could totally tell it was a precursor for things to come.

      I became so incredibly annoyed with how the author gave dual top billing with what is suppose to be our main couple and a secondary couple, Garrett's sister who appears in previous books and the guy who starts a nasty nickname for Josie, The Scottish Sausage. The author dedicates whole chapters to the secondary couple and alternates the two stories. I would be just fully immersing myself into Josie and Garrett's story and then would be rudely jerked out of their story into the other couple. It got so bad for me I actually skipped the chapters that didn't pertain to Josie and Garrett. They are who I wanted to read about darn it!

      There were times I was reading this story I kept asking myself why I was trying so hard to get into it instead of treating it as blase reading and then there would be a Mayne scene. The author writes this character so strikingly, it's a shame to me she couldn't write him a supporting story.

      There are definitely some scenes and dialogue between Josie and Garrett which cause a pang in your chest but few and far between. I will say I'm not someone who feels a need to get married but there is something about the way some men say "their wife" and when Mayne said wife in regards to Josie I seriously got shivers.

      Too much attention alternating between the first and secondary couples and I totally feel like the author flaked out on a character I loved; maybe my expectations were to high. This book received a B solely on the back of Mayne. Josie was a really likable character but sorry she just didn't meet up to Mayne standards.I would like to say though, this has been one of the strongest series I have ever read. Each book was above average and kept me involved with the series, which is extremely hard to do. The author just needs to curb her ADHD and focus on the main couple.
    • 5/5
      What a great story! I laughed and cried many times! Such wonderful writing and really engaging characters!! I love this authors work!!

      This was my favorite book of the series!! Who can resist the ugly duckling and the ultimate bad boy pairing up! Hot and steamy too!

      I am currently on a Regency kick and this one was terrific!!
    • 4/5
      Sweet story about two people finding that what they think is love is only fleeting and that the attraction they have for each other is in fact a deeper love that will satisfy them. Josephine Essex has been labelled as the "Scottish Sausage" because she's not of the ideal size, but she yearns to be liked and loved. She is almost attacked and has to be rescued, she marries in haste, and has no repentage but wonders if her new husband really loves her.

      Charming story that I really enjoyed.
    • 3/5
      Charming and rather witty in places, if a bit scattered. The novel is subversive of the form in some respects. First off, there's three romances, one between the trite but true younger woman and older man (except the younger woman is full figured and plump not a stick, although back then that was actually appealing), one between an older woman, who is not a virgin, and a younger man, and a third between two lesbians - which is subtley referred to, mainly because the author is no doubt aware of who her audience is. We also have a marvelously comical scene where the hero, a reformed rake, is teaching the heroine how to walk seductively, while wearing her pink dress.

      The title refers to Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" but the writer riffs off of Midsummer Night's Dream and Little Women mostly. Saw a lot of references, including quotes from, Midsummer Night's Dream.

      The heroine is a bit of a nit-wit, but she is also only 18 and far from worldly, so it is forgiven. The hero, while much older than she is, isn't that much older as far maturity goes - so they are well-matched. There's some lively conversation. But the best romance in the book, is the sub-plot between Griselda (the heroine's chaprone and the hero's sister) and Darlington (a writer of pulp fiction) who is much younger than she is. They have a heated affair and he pursues her until she agrees to marry him. It's a charming romance and I wanted more of it.
      The book should have centered on these two - it would have been riskier and less appealing to many of James' readers, who may well prefer the trite but true younger girl, who is a tad wet-behind the ears, and the older rakish guy that seems to be the main course in 95% of the Regency novels. But Griselda and Darlington were a breath of fresh air.

      The lesbian romance...gets short shrift. I wouldn't recommend James to non-heterosexuals, her homosexual characters when they pop up are annoyingly cliche and stereotypical. That said, it's admittedly rare we see them at all. James like Heyer, makes me miss Oscar Wilde.

      There's two mysteries...I suppose. One about Sylvie and why she doesn't like the hero, which I figured out pretty quickly. And another about who the writer of the risque memoirs is. The memoirs are loosely based on the hero's exploits. It's fairly easy to figure out who is writing them.
      I knew 20% into the book.

      Overall, a nice romp. Not memorable, but likable for what it purports to be. And more ambitious than most of those books.


    • 2/5
      Could have finished about 50 pages earlier than it did. Mayne and Josie are delightful, but Josie's fat hate and poor self image in this book are not enjoyable and they're a lot of the story. It's a pity that her book is less about the delicious spiky wit and frankness she had in the first three books and more about how much she hates her tits. The book cover illustration is particularly ironic.

      My recommendation is don't read this if you have body image issues, it may distress you.

      If you do read it, stop when Mayne and Josie consummate their marriage and assume everything ends up fine for everyone with lots of babies.

      I could do with a whole book about Sylvie discovering passion in Gemima's arms.

    • 4/5
      Now that her three sisters are all safely married, its Josie's turn to come out, unfortunately she's been nicknamed the 'Scottish Sausage' - an incident which leads to an interesting lesson in how to learn to love your body. A fast, fun and entertaining read.
    • 5/5
      This one was a lot of fun. I pretty much adore James' books - her heroines are smart, witty and strong-willed, while her heroes are sexy and smart enough to adore their smart loves.Josie is a very full-figured young woman, and has had the misfortune of taking the advice of a seamstress who's crammed Josie into a ridiculous corset, earning (and keeping) the unpleasant nickname, the Scottish Sausage. Josie's brothers-in-law are well-meaning as they urge their friends to dance with her at balls, but it's not until a family friend, the Earl of Mayne, convinces her she's beautiful without the stupid corset that she begins to come into her own.The characters in this are charming and winning, and though I found it annoying that Josie's figure is described as very full, but with a surprisingly tiny waist (of course it is. Sigh.), the story was fun. And thank God the conflict wasn't dragged out forever to heighten tension!Funny, sweet and sexy - Recommended!
    • 4/5
      The final chapter in the Essex sister story is a grand one. It has a little bit of everything you would expect to see in it. And I have to say that few books ever make me laugh out loud, and yet this book at several points made me laugh so hard I thought I was going to cry.The beginning starts out a bit sad, poor Josie the youngest of the sisters hates her body, and has been dubbed the Scottish sausage which is a horrible nickname. And of course there for the Ton all avoid her, no young men her age will ask her to dance and only the older men her sisters or chaperone can rustle up will dance with her. The biggest crime is that she sees herself as fat. And Josie is anything but. She’s not fat; she is beautiful like a real woman.It’s a horrid corset she wears that makes her appear stuffed. Well, enter Garrett the Earl of Mayne. I loved him in the other books when he popped up. He is a rakehell who isn’t feeling like much of a rakehell anymore. He is engaged but none the less he kisses Josie, and shows her what its like to be a real woman. She taking his teaching well gets rid of the corset and indeed becomes a woman who leaves young men slavering after her. She has the body of a Madonna, and she has just a fun personality.Follow this story is a true romp of fun, and finding love where you would least expect it. Mayne has had a little dabble in with all of the Essex’s sisters in one form or another. Who would have guessed that he would have one with Josie as well? There is a particularly funny scene in which Mayne believing Josie has been ravished picks her up while she is asleep. Josie wakes and proceeds to slug him, giving him a black eye. What a fine way to say hello to a gentleman.But Mayne can have a good laugh too as Josie’s expense including a time in which he dumps a glass of water over his head and startles Josie into thinking he is a ghost. The romance is there as well, and there is love to be found for everyone. Even Griselda whom who have followed as a widow through it all does indeed find her own happy ending. If you have enjoyed the other books in this series, you must read this one. And if you haven’t read the others, I recommend you do so you can read this one as well. You will not be sorry in the least. You will laugh, cry and enjoy it.
    • 2/5
      Entirely forgettable book. Pleasure for Pleasure is about the youngest Essex sister Josie's insecurity over her weight - she's supposedly fat and undesirable, a social pariah and the brunt of cruel jokes perpetrated by the mean spirited members of the ton. All this changes overnight (literally!) when she visits a modiste who gives her magic dresses that show her true beauty and ta da. She's no longer fat, she's the sexiest, curviest woman alive and everyone loves her. Not to sound insensitive, but her self-image issues were so superficial and insincere that I found them more frustrating than endearing (or whatever it is they were supposed to be.) Josie has no personality in this story. She just whines about being ugly and fat, when she is clearly neither. Her delusions are also handy for a those big misunderstandings that are so good at destroying any modicum of pleasure I might have derived from this book - she can't believe Mayne loves her, it's inconceivable! This in turns leads to some confusing, bizarre high jinks that just leave me scratching my head and wishing the book was over already. In addition to shoddy character development, there is minimal romance in Pleasure for Pleasure - Josie has no chemistry with Garret, the earl of Mayne, who's been an interesting character up to date. But all his appeal and charm is washed out here. He's engaged to another woman at the start of the book, but the author isn't fooling anyone into thinking that there's any feeling between the two. Theirs is a self-defeating relationship transparently set up to fail, to prove what "real love" is like (we have Mayne and Josie to show us what love is, of course), and to reflect very badly on the poor other woman, who is clearly so very wrong in who she is and what she feels. She's sabotaged as a character (because she started out kind of interesting,) and all for nothing, because Josie and Mayne's relationship certainly doesn't convince me of any genuine love between the two of them either. Pleasure for Pleasure is also just plain messy. It's full of random events that never go anywhere, plot threads that sprawl all over the place, distracting and incoherent. Even if there was anything of substance between Josie and Mayne, the reader is never given a chance to find it out because there's so much else that crowds around and interferes with their romance. In previous books, Eloisa James has skillfully balanced an ensemble cast of characters, and while the hero and heroine did have to share the stage a lot, these other characters and relationships enhanced the book and didn't detract from the romance. James seems to have lost that talent here. I did not enjoy this book. It had none of the wit or vivacity of the first two books in this series, and you wouldn’t miss anything if you passed it up.
    • 5/5
      This is the fourth and final book in the Essex Sister series and also my favorite. Josie is a fascinating character full of contradictions: excellent with horses but afraid to ride, young and innocent but wise, self-concious of her looks but bold in her speech. An unexpected yet perfect countess for the damaged Earl of Mayne.
    • 5/5
      This is my first Eloisa James book, and I have to say that I think she's a fun author. I enjoyed reading every bit of this novel. The characters were fun and fresh, and they were different from the characters that show up in a lot of other novels (ie, different from the Cynsters). And I loved that the main female and a few of the other females were truly curvy women, not "petite" women or "with subtle curves." No, these were real women, and that's so often hard to find in romances. In fact, the only complaint (and I use that word loosely) is that the illustration on the cover was not of a curvy woman. Other than that slight pet peeve, I loved the book. There were so many different personalities on display, so many different venues, so many different ways the story went. It was fantastic. It was wonderful to see Josie's transition from the "Scottish Sausage" to a woman who is proud of her curves and the affect they have on men. She really accepts herself by the end of the story, dimples and all, and it was fantastic to read.Of course, the side plots were interesting too. Where Sylvie ends up, Darlington and Griselda, Thurman, Gemima, and more...all was on display. I love that multi-faceted aspect of novels.All in all, a great read, particularly if you're looking for something with a bit of spunk.
    • 3/5
      "Pleasure for Pleasure" is the last book in the Essex sisters series. It concerns Josie, the youngest sister, who we find out at the opening of the book has been nicknamed "The Scottish Sausage" because she happens to be a bit plump and curvy. This moniker of course makes it difficult for her to find a husband - nobody wants the ridicule of being known as the man who danced with the Sausage. Enter the Earl of Mayne. A friend of Rafe's and an acquaintance of the Essex sisters since the first novel, he's horrified by what's being done to Josie, and encourages her to get rid of her corsets and embrace herself in all her curvy, feminine glory. Josie finds herself falling a bit for Mayne. The problem? He's engaged to a perfect little French girl who he seemingly adores.This is an enjoyable read. I'd loved Mayne since I met him in "Your Wicked Ways," and it's really nice to finally see him settle down and be happy. Josie is a wonderful character - opinionated, brassy, and not a size zero - the kind of woman a lot of us can relate to! The problem? Well, because of Sophie (Mayne's french fiancee), there's not really all that much time for the relationship between Josie and Mayne to build. It kind of comes out of nowhere and blindsides you. One minute he's waxing poetic about how much he adores Sophie, and the next minute he's in love with Josie. Perhaps he had a revelation, but if so, it doesn't really show it to us very clearly. We know he's fond of her - he's practically like an older brother to her in the other books - but it's a long jump to go from "fond" to "in love." In fact, during the scene on their wedding night, I was convinced for a long time that he actually was going to try to annul their marriage! And again, James makes the fatal mistake of spending too much time on a secondary love story. Griselda's a nice character. If you want to do something with her, give her a book of her own. I don't want to read that when I'm dying to see what happens with Mayne and Josie!
    • 5/5
      An enjoyable read. Mayne is a wonderfully troubled leading man who is stunned to find himself a relatively redeemable sort, even after dealing with a troublesome French woman and becoming entangled with yet another one of the wards of his best friend, Rafe. Josie is a wonderful character whose literary "education" and attitudes set her apart from many of the regular Regency-styled reads.
    • 3/5
      Eloise James is hit and miss for me. Sometimes it takes me forever to get into her books, sometimes the skimming starts early. However her good books are really good, so I persevere in the hope htat this one is a good one. And P4P is a good one. I enjoyed the characters, suspended my sense of disbelief (what is it with all these women having sex with no protection and no fear of pregnancy?) and while I found Josie occassionally annoying she was only 19 (or, as the text said later, 18) so she'll grow out of it. Mayne was a very good hero.