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