I read this book without realising that it is the origin story of two characters that feature in several other books by the same author. With that in mind, I'd highly recommend reading Jodi Taylor's St Mary's and Time Police series before reading this one. It works as a standalone story, but several events that seem highly interesting are skipped over (presumably because they are dealt with in detail in the other books).

We follow Lady Amelia Smallhope from the moment she meets Pennyroyal, from their early partnership to establishing themselves as bounty hunters. All while hopping back and forth through time.

This silly caper of a book was so much fun to read. Narrated with the irreverance of the My Lady Jane series, it is filled with impossible events, sleek comebacks and loveable villaneous characters. I'm not off to read the other books in which Smallhope and Pennyroyal make an appearance!

A recommended read for fans of Jodi Taylor's other books, My Lady Jane, and morally grey protagonists.

Thank you to Netgalley and Headline for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal is the origin story of two recurring Jodi Taylor characters from the St. Mary's and Time Police books. I've always been intrigued by these characters so the idea of finally discovering a bit more of their history was too good to resist. The story is in parts thrilling, funny, frightening, and heartbreaking. Although it does fill in some knowledge gaps, there are also an awful lot of teasers and unresolved issues that hopefully will be answered in any future Smallhope and Pennyroyal novels. I'd certainly be up for another outing with the dynamic duo. The intro does drag a little bit but the pacing does pick up, ans once it does, it's an absolute rollercoaster. This is another winner from Jodi.

A real return to form for Jodi Taylor! I've read all of the Time Police and St Marys novels, and was frankly finding them to become a bit convoluted after so many books. This was a refreshing change, but also one that fit in well with the rest of the series. It would also work well as a stand alone, or an introduction to this time-travelling world.

Amelia Smallhope is a 17 year old member of the British aristocracy, living in the manor house with a village of adoring workers on the surrounding land - probably the only part of the novel I didn't enjoy, it seemed very outdated for something nominally set in the present. Her and her brother plan to run the estate but when her brother marries, everything falls apart. What follows is a delicious villain who is desperate to get rid of Amelia, but she has other plans. She meets the mysterious Pennyroyal the night she has planned to steal back her mother's diamonds, but he gets there first! What follows is a great tale of how they partner up and eventually triumph, becoming the famous duo of bounty hunters seen in the St Marys books. Very enjoyable.

I received a copy of the book for a free and unbiased opinion.
Pennyroyal and Smallhope are two of my favourite characters from the St Mary’s Chronicles ( series review here) and now we find how they met, how they became so rich and what is going on between them. Lady Amelia’s Smallhope is the main narrator, and we follow her journey from a rich, titled family to future bounty hunter and the story is unexpectedly heartbreaking.
Set in the same world as the Time Police and St Mary Chronicles where time travel is possible and story flits from one time period to another, Smallhope and Pennyroyal meet in the unspecified present and the future. But you really don’t have to have read any of the other books to figure out what is going on, in fact it is a great standalone book and a less daunting introduction to this madcap world.
The story is fast-paced with plenty of humour, madcap action, restrained romance and of course time-travel.
I finished the book in one sitting and I hope that there will be sequel to The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal

I understand this started off as a short story that took on a life of its own and what a life!

If you have read The Chronicles of St. Mary's and/or The Time Police this novel will bring plenty of Aha moments. I think it helps to know the background of some of the incidents mentioned as they are not expanded on here due, as Smallhope writes, to the fact they have been recorded elsewhere.

For the most part this is written in the first person. Lady Amelia writes, briefly, of her life growing up at Starlings. Then she meets PennyRoyal. I will not say how or why, read the book!

It is about family and what constitutes such. Not all family is biological. The feelings of betrayal and the joy of a life well lead.

There is humour and sadness and humour in the sadness.

Well worth a read.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Jodi Taylor’s The Ballad of Smallhope and PennyRoyal is the story of two characters from her excellent Chronicles of St Mary’s series. It is excellent. Taylor captures the voice of Lady Amelia Smallhope beautifully. Her father was an Earl and he brought Amelia up to ride, shoot, drink and curse. Unfortunately, her brother George will be the next Earl, not Amelia – and he doesn’t do any of those things at all well. However, he knows his duty and so he gets married to Caroline Dyer and produces a son.

If I may make the understatement of the millennium, Amelia and Caroline don’t get on, in the same way that a lighted match and a barrel of gunpowder don’t enjoy each other’s company. The novel is about how Amelia seeks revenge upon Caroline – not in a hot-blooded, unthinking, emotional way that may end in tears for both parties, but in a cold, calculated, planned way. There is no doubt: Caroline is evil and deserves all that Amelia wishes upon her.

We see Lady Amelia and Pennyroyal (we never learn his first name) meet; we see them forming a partnership; and we see their loyalty to each other. Max, Evans and a few other St Mary’s staff appear but on a highly peripheral basis – they are really very minor characters in Smallhope and Pennyroyal’s story.

There is a lot of emotion: when you entrust your business partner with your life, it’s understandable that you might get peeved if they abandon you at the hour of greatest need – and that’s what we saw happen when Max worked for Insight. And let’s mention emotion again: this book takes us on some highly emotional ups and downs. Yes, I shed a tear at times – and I’m a 65-year old bloke, so I am not easily moved to tears. And yes, of course, this is a Jodi Taylor book: I almost wet myself laughing. Sometimes it was the dialogue; sometimes it was the plot; but, quite often , it was the peacocks.

If you know and enjoy Jodi Taylor’s St Mary’s Chronicles, it’s a no-brainer: I guarantee you will enjoy this book just as much. Just get it, for God’s sake!

#TheBalladofSmallhopeandPennyroyal #NetGalley

***advance review copy received from NetGalley in return for an honest review***
A fantastic outing, as I have come to expect from Jodi Taylor. This is a slight departure from the main St Mary’s books and indeed even the spin off Time Police books, but it’s a welcome look into how Smallhope & Pennyroyal came to be.
The narrative whirls its way through the plot as you’d expect, and for fans of the main series there are welcome glimpses and indeed backstory fill-ins on some familiar plot lines.
Taylor has done it again - expanding the St Mary’s universe with an original story that still somehow fits right in and also leads the door wide open for at least one follow up book, and I seriously hope we get it.
I also detect shades of her non-St Mary’s endeavour, Frogmorton Farm, which I for one welcome as that small series is a favourite of mine as well.
A sure fire hit for those already enmeshed in the St Mary’s universe and, I think, a possible jumping off point for those who have yet to dip their toes in.

I’m such a big fan of Jodi Taylor and her Time Police series. When a friend advised she saw this new novel on NetGalley, I was super excited and had to request it. I wasn’t disappointed.

Smallhope & Pennyroyal make sporadic appearances in some of Taylor’s other books. Always intriguing but not around long enough to learn too much about them, they are the enigmatic Scarlet Pimpernels of the Time Police world. Until now. The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal covers their back story & it’s everything that Time Police fans would expect. Let’s start from the top.

The prose was engaging as ever, putting you through all sorts of emotions. It went from funny to exciting in the blink of an eye. The speech was always spot on too - I never felt that a character said something that was jarring.

In terms of setting, this was again great - almost a halfway house world between the really futuristic Time Police & the modern world. However, it’s the characterisation where this book really shone. I particularly loved Smallhope who was so well-rounded. She showed so many emotions and all rang true. She is the sort of lady a lot of us real women wish we were inside.

As with the rest of Jodi Taylor’s books, I really enjoyed this one. Thank you to the author, publishers & NetGalley for access to this arc in return for an honest (if slightly gushing!) review 🤣

Smallhope and Pennyroyal, the mysterious time travelling bounty hunters of the St Mary's and Time Police series, are back with an origin story. I loved learning about how the pair met and came to be partners in crime, and also seeing a lot of the infamous escapades of past adventures from their perspective. The storyline is fast paced and unrelenting, making this an easy and enjoyable read that grabs the reader from the start, enticing them with stalking peacocks and complicated families, and not letting go.

If there's one thing that Jodi Taylor excels in, it's making loveable and villainous characters and this story is no different. Amelia and Pennyroyal are a great dynamic pair, similar in many ways in their loneliness when first they meet, yet coming to mutually respect each other and grow together. They're a bit morally grey, taking no prisoners, but they're good at their core. Pennyroyal remains as enigmatic as ever though. The same cannot be said for the villain of the story, who I eagerly waited in anticipation for their downfall. And when it came, it did not disappoint.

I wouldn't really recommend reading this if you're unfamiliar with the St Mary's and Time Police series as this is filled with spoilers for those stories. However, if you're wanting to jump in feet first and aren't bothered about the previous books, this might be a good introduction to these characters.

I always know I'm in good hands with Jodi Taylor, who never lets me down in providing a rollicking good time.

I was sent a copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.....for a full review please see my Amazon and Goodreads accounts

'The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal' is a spin-off novel from Taylor's hugely successful 'Chronicles of St Mary's' and 'Time Police' series. The title characters are time-travelling bounty hunters, who appear in some of the later books in both series. Whilst I've read some of the 'Chronicles', I haven't read any of the novels featuring these two. So I came to the book with an understanding of the concepts featured and a knowledge of some of the characters mentioned incidentally, but no preconceptions about the protagonists.

The narrator for almost all of the novel is Amelia Smallhope, a modern aristocrat who is cheated out of her family home and expected future by her cold-hearted sister in law. Amelia is a likeable character, very similar to Taylor's heroine Max from the Chronicles. After losing virtually everything, Smallhope encounters Pennyroyal, who claims to be a butler but also seems to be a very effective criminal. Who also happens to have access to a time machine of the sort Taylors' readers will be very familiar. The two team up and become successful bounty hunters, sorting out criminals who try to use time travel to mess with history - but both are distracted by personal revenge missions against those who have wronged them.

Taylor's style is the same as in her other books, and why change a winning formula. It's easy to read, entertaining and fun. She also sticks with her overall mix of madcap humour, action and occasional tearjerking pathos. It doesn't feature historic characters in the same way as the Chronicles, focussing more on travel around the 'present' and near future. The first part of the book works well and I didn't feel I needed to have read all of Taylors' others - although I would recommend having read at least some of the 'Chronicles' to get familiar with the way time travel works in these books. The second part, where the timeline starts to overlap with that featured in some of Taylor's other books, works less well. In order to avoid retelling stories that featured elsewhere, the action becomes sketchy and second hand, with important events skipped over and not enough direct involvement of the reader. I don't know if this effect would be greater or lesser if the reader has read all of the books featuring the same events. But regardless, a really good book needs to be able to stand on its merits.

I also felt there were a few plot holes and unanswered questions - perhaps a sequel is planned, or maybe it's covered in other books in the series. But again, it doesn't help this book in particular feel satisfying. By the end the reader has a good knowledge of Smallhope, but still knows very little about Pennyroyal, which is annoying when it is clear his story must be very interesting. I wouldn't necessarily describe it as a ballad of them both - it's a ballad of Smallhope, which necessarily includes a bit of Pennyroyal given his central role in her life.

Overall, it's a fun read but probably best enjoyed after reading the 'Chronicles' and 'Time Police' series first, and with an acceptance upfront that its quality is as an addition to a wider canon rather than as a standalone novel.

I hadn't realised that this was an origin story for characters in a long-running series, but it did read well as a stand-alone (and I need to read the rest of the series, now!). Wonderful time-travel romp with characters you can really care about (even if one of them did manage to stay a Man of Mystery - I gather this is his role in the main series).

Lady Amelia Smallwood is happy... until her older brother marries someone who systematically dismantles his life (trying not to give spoilers, but a bit towards the end of the book is VERY satisfying). She's trying to steal back her own jewels, stolen by said vile sister-in-law, when she meets someone else who's trying to steal them - Pennyroyal. Her own stint at finishing school is... let's just say different, and I'd love to know more about what Pennyroyal did at Butler School.

And then they become bounty hunters. Except not normal bounty-hunters - there's time travel involved...

Very fast paced, fabulous characterisation and a fantasy world that's really well built. Thoroughly enjoyable. 5 stars. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

THE BALLAD OF SMALLHOPE AND PENNYROYAL explores the background of the mysterious recovery agents who have played important parts in both The Chronicles of St. Mary's and The Time Police series'. Their stories are both heartbreaking and inspiring, and I was absolutely riveted the whole time. As usual, birds provide some comic relief. In this case, it's peacocks! The villain in this story is an absolutely evil woman, and I hated her appropriately. The motivations behind Pennyroyal and why he is the way he is make sense to me now.

Without giving spoilers, parts of this novel now have me furiously investigating past books in the series, looking for clues. It is also made clear how integral these two characters are to the plots of both series.

I started this book after breakfast and finished it the same day. I could not stop reading. It is not your usual St. Mary's story, but it ties everything together and makes some big reveals. I loved that it covers the whole time period of The Chronicles of St. Mary's, and more, while also telling Smallhope's life story. Fans of this series will absolutely love this one.

I received a free copy of this book from Headline via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

I'm a sucker for an origin story, and this tale of two characters who have had a minor but noticeable impact on the world of St Mary's is a prime example of the genre. It's definitely designed to be read after the other books in this world: there are multiple references to events in both the Chronicles and the Time Police series which give additional context without a great deal of description. But quite apart from filling in a few gaps, this is the story of a relationship that starts amid adversity, develops through pain and tragedy and sheer bloody-mindedness, and spans many years of timeline-hopping and peril and deeply committed friendship. (And margaritas.) Lady Amelia Smallhope's voice is a delight: practical and sarcastic and dryly humorous; ideally I'd have liked to learn more about Pennyroyal, but the fact that his past is still shrouded in mystery seems very in-character for him. This is an excellent addition to the existing interconnected series, and makes me want to go back and read the other books all over again to appreciate the full picture.

Another fabulous book by Jodi Taylor. I love her writing style and have read all of her books. This was another side story from the St Mary's series featuring the back story of Stanhope and Pennyroyal. It did not disappoint. I wanted the story to continue in perpetua! Brilliant. I look forward to hearing more about them, St Mary's and the Time Police.

Three and a half stars.

At last the origin story of bounty hunters extraordinaire: Lady Amelia Smallhope and Pennyroyal, well Smallhope at least, I don't think I know much more about Pennyroyal's background.

Lady Amelia Smallhope meets Pennyroyal for the first time when he steals the diamonds she inherited from her mother from her rapacious sister-in-law's safe. Soon the two of them have fled the scene (avec les diamonds naturellement) and Pennyroyal has transported Amelia to London in the blink of an eye.

With a sick friend to assist and grasping moneylenders, Smallhope and Pennyroyal decide to become bounty hunters - and so the legend was born.

It seems odd to gripe when I loved this book so much but I still don't know much about Pennyroyal's origins (ooo hope there's another book), also I wanted to see all those missions involving St Mary's and/or the Time Police from Smallhope and Pennyroyal's POV but instead they were just mentioned in passing, I would have been happy for the passages to be copied verbatim from the relevant other books if necessary and I think that this might be a hard read for a newcomer to the series (what is the plural of series?).

Anyway, gripes aside, loved it, loved it, loved it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

I didn't know about this book until I saw it on netgalley, and the excitement was real. Pennyroyal and Smallhope are two characters I love and their story does not disappoint.
We start off with Smallhope telling us her background and how she came to meet Pennyroyal. I love how she gets carried away with funny little stories while she tells the main story. Her anecdotes strengthen the characters and make her, and her history very real. I really enjoyed getting to know her more.
The sarcasm to it is brilliant, and I got sucked into Jodi Taylor's style of writing quickly and easily. You can tell straight away that it's part of the St. Mary's franchise.
Amelia is such a brilliant character, and reading how she had to become the strong person we all know and love was incredibly satisfying. Pennyworth is such a distinctive character and I could tell who he was before we knew his name. I loved seeing how they first met, and the first margarita.
Their relationship clicked from the beginning, is very genuine, and has some really wholesome moments that made me laugh out loud too many times to count. An unlikely friendship that worked from the get go. I really hope we see more of them again. A brilliant book, with great humour and an ending that makes you wish for more.

A brilliant read about an aristocratic woman, Amelia Smallhope and a criminal called Pennyroyal in which they experience adventures, which I will not tell you too much about, or it would spoil the novel. But I would recommend it to readers as an excellent read. I have not read Jodi Taylor before but I am going to buy all her novels, or most of them, now I have read this one. The characters are well drawn as well, especially that of Amelia. All in all a terrific novel.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this review copy. Having already preordered a signed copy from Jodi Taylor’s website, I was eagerly awaiting its release. To say I was delighted at receiving an early ARC would be an understatement. I have always been intrigued by Smallhope and Pennyroyal in their earlier appearances in Taylor’s novels but never thought they would get their own novel. I actually didn’t realise this was a novel, I assumed it was more like one of her Christmas novellas, until I downloaded this ARC. To any fan of Taylor’s this book is a must read and explores the background of these characters beautifully. I hope we continue to see them pop up in future novels as I desperately what to know what happens next in their adventures.

Yet again another amazingly funny Jodi Taylor book looking at characters that are always around, but we know little about until now