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Wicked Pleasures
From the author of An Outrageous Affair comes this contemporary saga of two dynasties. They become helplessly entwined when a brother and two sisters discover that they all have different fathers, none of them Alexander, Earl of Caterham, who was married to their mother for 20 years.
929 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
139 people are currently reading
641 people want to read
About the author
Penny Vincenzi
65 books923 followersPenny was nine years old when she embarked on her storytelling career. She wrote her own magazine called “Stories”, which she copied out three times on carbon paper and sold for two pence at school. So began a career in writing which has seen 7 million copies sold, and 17 bestselling novels.
After secretarial college, Penny worked as a junior secretary at Vogue and Tatler magazines, before moving to the Daily Mirror as personal assistant to Marje Proops, Britain's legendary agony aunt.
Marje encouraged her to write, and she became fashion editor and beauty writer at the Mirror, working for the women's editor in what was irreverently known as the "fragrant department". Penny’s journalistic career as a celebrated writer and columnist spanned several decades working for many of the leading newspapers and magazines of the time.
She once asked bestselling British author Jilly Cooper for advice on writing a novel while interviewing her for a magazine profile. Jilly put Penny in touch with her own agent, who promptly auctioned off her (then unwritten) first novel. It was quickly snapped up and the rest, as they say, is history.
Penny died in 2018. She was the proud and much-loved mother of four equally proud daughters, and grandmother to nine grandchildren.
After secretarial college, Penny worked as a junior secretary at Vogue and Tatler magazines, before moving to the Daily Mirror as personal assistant to Marje Proops, Britain's legendary agony aunt.
Marje encouraged her to write, and she became fashion editor and beauty writer at the Mirror, working for the women's editor in what was irreverently known as the "fragrant department". Penny’s journalistic career as a celebrated writer and columnist spanned several decades working for many of the leading newspapers and magazines of the time.
She once asked bestselling British author Jilly Cooper for advice on writing a novel while interviewing her for a magazine profile. Jilly put Penny in touch with her own agent, who promptly auctioned off her (then unwritten) first novel. It was quickly snapped up and the rest, as they say, is history.
Penny died in 2018. She was the proud and much-loved mother of four equally proud daughters, and grandmother to nine grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews
November 22, 2014
I read this book for the 1st time a long time ago. So it was all new to me.
What a plot and what a style of writing Penny Vincenzi has.
The title does not do justice to the book, it is fabulous.
It is sexy, glamorous and fun, this story of two sisters and one brother who found out that they all had different fathers.
Alexander, the Earl of Caterham, was married to their mother but is obsessed with this estate, the house, etc.
Some parts are still a mystery to me, for instance did the Earl really try to poison his grandson ?
If the book was not over 900 pages I would say it was unputdownable.
What a plot and what a style of writing Penny Vincenzi has.
The title does not do justice to the book, it is fabulous.
It is sexy, glamorous and fun, this story of two sisters and one brother who found out that they all had different fathers.
Alexander, the Earl of Caterham, was married to their mother but is obsessed with this estate, the house, etc.
Some parts are still a mystery to me, for instance did the Earl really try to poison his grandson ?
If the book was not over 900 pages I would say it was unputdownable.
December 11, 2012
This book was okay - not quite what I expected. Instead of an intrigue-filled generational novel, I equated the story to a classed up version of a Jackie Collins tale. Not that there is anything wrong with Jackie Collins...! The book is LONG! It has to be in a sense because it covers thirty years and almost ten main characters. However, I think a bit of judicious editing should have been applied. One pet peeve of mine - the author likes to repeat phrases and adjectives. That got old, quick.
I would have enjoyed this book more as a beach/summer read - not as a story to fill in my "Downton Abbey" need. (which is what one of the reviewers said...)
I would have enjoyed this book more as a beach/summer read - not as a story to fill in my "Downton Abbey" need. (which is what one of the reviewers said...)
October 23, 2012
Classic Vincenzi. Large cast of characters, melodrama galore, women with voracious sexual appetites. You know what you're getting. I always enjoy her novels in a junk food kind of way: I know that it's not particularly good for me, but I figure I'll atone for it later.
January 26, 2024
Classic Vincenzi - so entertaining I struggled to put it down.
February 13, 2013
Long-winded. If I had to describe this book in one phrase, that's what I'd say. The story was interesting enough; with family secrets, trust fund kids, Wall Street greed, sex, attempted murder, office politics, revenge, lust, family politics, affairs, English aristocracy, alcoholism, drugs, jealousy, rivalries, and more secrets, and more sex, this book had more drama than any soap opera or Real Housewives of Beverly Hills episode, but good grief, it was a couple hundred pages too long!
March 31, 2021
An enjoyable read telling of the lives and loves of two wealthy families.
October 11, 2013
This book had so much potential to be an amazing, Syndey Sheldon type family saga. However, it just didn't quite get to that exciting, can't put it down point for me.
I felt there were parts that seemed dull. Story jumps back and forth in time between the numerous characters in the novel. The plot seemed thin and it took forever to get to the point many times. Almost like the story could really have been told in half the pages.
This author came recommended to me and I will likely try another by her just to compare, but this particular book did not make me a fan.
I felt there were parts that seemed dull. Story jumps back and forth in time between the numerous characters in the novel. The plot seemed thin and it took forever to get to the point many times. Almost like the story could really have been told in half the pages.
This author came recommended to me and I will likely try another by her just to compare, but this particular book did not make me a fan.
January 21, 2015
It was amazing.
It reads like a thriller, first it seems to be a Romance but the thriller only becomes apparent towards the end, it is very hidden. A very very good book.
Alexander, who owns Hartest, is impotent and will go to whatever it takes to conceal this….
It linked in to my life and explained things.
It reads like a thriller, first it seems to be a Romance but the thriller only becomes apparent towards the end, it is very hidden. A very very good book.
Alexander, who owns Hartest, is impotent and will go to whatever it takes to conceal this….
It linked in to my life and explained things.
December 26, 2012
Did not finish this book....boring
May 9, 2016
Very long. Full review: http://sleaze-factor.blogspot.ca/2016...
Read
May 9, 2016Long book. Review: http://sleaze-factor.blogspot.ca/2016...
October 24, 2012
ugh. I gave 1 star to her last book too. What's going on with her?
July 31, 2024
Secret homosexual affairs, fetal alcohol syndrome, gaslighting lords, and scheming teenage hussies! I needed something to fix my bonkbuster craving and that’s how I landed on Wicked Pleasures by Penny Vincenzi which delivered all of the absolutely ridiculous and wild fun that I was anticipating. When Virginia Praeger, a virginal American heiress, who is tired of claims that she is frigid, meets Alexander (Lord Catterham) she’s ready to lose it all and offer him a little teenage delight. He convinces her to hold on to her chastity until the night they’re married and their relationship serves as the catalyst for this sinfully delicious family saga that includes death, betrayals, and all of those wicked pleasures that the cast of characters cannot resist.
I’m a massive fan of long family sagas like Wicked Pleasures and this was my first foray into the work of Penny Vincenzi. The best feature is the sprawling cast of siblings and cousins, ensuring there is always someone to root for and someone to despise. I loved Virginia, hated Virginia, then loved Virginia again. Frigid American girl to alcoholic, aristocratic floozy? I need every single moment of it. And Angie? I hated the little tart (okay, I hated that she got to have a little slice of Baby and I didn’t) but then circled back to loving her again as well! I wanted to throttle Alexander, whose secret was very apparent from the start of the book, but didn’t manage to detract from the delicious twists and turns of the story.
Although my copy of the book was nearly 700 pages, I never once found myself growing bored. How could I, when I was trying to solve the mystery of Virginia’s sex life? Although Alexander does get his comeuppance, I wish there had been a bigger moment where the extent of his deception was revealed to the family. It certainly felt deserved after everything Vincenzi puts the reader through! Angie Burbank is my new bonkbuster hero. Truly a noteworthy strumpet.
I’m a massive fan of long family sagas like Wicked Pleasures and this was my first foray into the work of Penny Vincenzi. The best feature is the sprawling cast of siblings and cousins, ensuring there is always someone to root for and someone to despise. I loved Virginia, hated Virginia, then loved Virginia again. Frigid American girl to alcoholic, aristocratic floozy? I need every single moment of it. And Angie? I hated the little tart (okay, I hated that she got to have a little slice of Baby and I didn’t) but then circled back to loving her again as well! I wanted to throttle Alexander, whose secret was very apparent from the start of the book, but didn’t manage to detract from the delicious twists and turns of the story.
Although my copy of the book was nearly 700 pages, I never once found myself growing bored. How could I, when I was trying to solve the mystery of Virginia’s sex life? Although Alexander does get his comeuppance, I wish there had been a bigger moment where the extent of his deception was revealed to the family. It certainly felt deserved after everything Vincenzi puts the reader through! Angie Burbank is my new bonkbuster hero. Truly a noteworthy strumpet.
March 26, 2020
Definitely not a fan of this book. This was the first book I picked up by this author and clearly this is not the best book by her.
This book is excessively bloated that could use an extensive amount of cutting out. Let's be honest, right off the bat the first 200 pages could be cut out. Everything was either too overly detailed or dry as heck.
I did not connect or like any of the main characters. They are so not likeable at all. There are times when I want to shake all of them for being so egotistical, hard headed, annoying and trying to use their white privilege to get out of sticky situations. I wish they faced more consequences for their actions.
Alexander. What an oily bastard! He had it too good in life and was too scheming, pity no one really discovered and uncovered the real him. Poor Virginia, she got the bad rep sheet for his heartless actions and yet she has to carry that reputation for decades after her death.
The bank.... ugh big boys club.... and the country house.... this got old quick. But that is basically the core of the book along with these 2 family.
Sex, blackmail, scandal, betrayal, backstabbing, lies, privilege, ego and stupid pride.
This book was way too bloated for its own good. It was so hard to push through the initial couple hundred pages to finish.
This book is excessively bloated that could use an extensive amount of cutting out. Let's be honest, right off the bat the first 200 pages could be cut out. Everything was either too overly detailed or dry as heck.
I did not connect or like any of the main characters. They are so not likeable at all. There are times when I want to shake all of them for being so egotistical, hard headed, annoying and trying to use their white privilege to get out of sticky situations. I wish they faced more consequences for their actions.
Alexander. What an oily bastard! He had it too good in life and was too scheming, pity no one really discovered and uncovered the real him. Poor Virginia, she got the bad rep sheet for his heartless actions and yet she has to carry that reputation for decades after her death.
The bank.... ugh big boys club.... and the country house.... this got old quick. But that is basically the core of the book along with these 2 family.
Sex, blackmail, scandal, betrayal, backstabbing, lies, privilege, ego and stupid pride.
This book was way too bloated for its own good. It was so hard to push through the initial couple hundred pages to finish.
October 13, 2018
I have read a lot of Penny Vincenzi books and always really enjoyed them. For some reason this one took me a very long while to read and it is my least favourite Vincenzi book so far.
It is the story of a brother and two sisters who find out that they all have different fathers: none of them Alexander, Earl of Catherham, who was married to their mother for almost twenty years. It is the story of the power and the greed of the mega-rich, as the great family banking business upon which fortunes are won and lost comes to the brink of ruin, and family ties are tested to the utmost.
It was good but it constantly goes backwards and forwards in time and sort of swaps from character to character. I found it took me a long time to get used to this style and I found it confusing. Maybe it was because I read it in small snatches and it is a long book, over a 1000 pages. Or maybe I read small snatches because I was struggling to get in to it. I likea book to suck me in and get me hooked from page one and this didn't do that for me. That said once I got over halfway, I settled into the pattern and I did enjoy it.
It is the story of a brother and two sisters who find out that they all have different fathers: none of them Alexander, Earl of Catherham, who was married to their mother for almost twenty years. It is the story of the power and the greed of the mega-rich, as the great family banking business upon which fortunes are won and lost comes to the brink of ruin, and family ties are tested to the utmost.
It was good but it constantly goes backwards and forwards in time and sort of swaps from character to character. I found it took me a long time to get used to this style and I found it confusing. Maybe it was because I read it in small snatches and it is a long book, over a 1000 pages. Or maybe I read small snatches because I was struggling to get in to it. I likea book to suck me in and get me hooked from page one and this didn't do that for me. That said once I got over halfway, I settled into the pattern and I did enjoy it.
October 21, 2020
Virginia Praeger Caterham has an unusual secret. Each of her three children have different fathers. When she meets her future husband, Alexander the Earl of Caterham, from across the Palm Court of the Plaza, she is certain that her fairytale life is about to begin. As it turns out Virginia's marriage is anything but a fairy tale necessitating that she find the fulfillment she needs as a woman outside of her marriage. The complicated politics of an English marriage to an Earl plays both within her nuclear family and within the Hadleigh crest and Praegers, the family bank makes this a fast paced but issue and character dense read. Moving back and forth in time through the voices of Alexander, Virginia and the three children, Charlotte, Georgina and Max, the impact on the lives of all and the secondary characters plays out in a vast and complex array of events. Author Penny Vincenzi has a unique ability to build a story through tiers of characters each with their own flaws and graces. For new readers of Penny Vincenzi and fans.
December 31, 2024
American heiress Virginia Praeger Caterham seemingly has it all. The husband, an english earl, the children and the glamourous lifestyle, whom seem suddenly die in an automobile accident, leaving four young children behind. As everyone morn the vivacious Virginia, her big secret is sipping out. Her husband, the Earl, is not the father of their children, and share a mixture of a marriage of convenience
and friendship. As the novel progress we get to know Virginia, her family and her lifestyle as the wife of a man with secrets . The Earl of Caterham seem to hide a sinister personality beneath the surface. Penny Vincenzi has the ability to craft well developed characters and tie them together efertlessly. As you get to know the Caterhams, their friends and foes, and the Praeger banking familys secrets, the ore you want to know. Wicked Pleasures is a page-turner that tells a good story, has good character development and is wickedly diffucult to put down.
and friendship. As the novel progress we get to know Virginia, her family and her lifestyle as the wife of a man with secrets . The Earl of Caterham seem to hide a sinister personality beneath the surface. Penny Vincenzi has the ability to craft well developed characters and tie them together efertlessly. As you get to know the Caterhams, their friends and foes, and the Praeger banking familys secrets, the ore you want to know. Wicked Pleasures is a page-turner that tells a good story, has good character development and is wickedly diffucult to put down.
July 9, 2019
Not my kind of book. Too soap opera style. The story is too long (dragged almost) and there are so many characters you get confused. The author could have omitted a few characters and scenes since they did not add anything to the story anyway. Most of the sex scenes, for example, are placed there just for the sake of it. The plot is good but I would have liked it if it was developed in a different manner. Apart from that I am not into banking and finance so most of the jargon was lost on me. You know how, after reading a book, you feel it has changed you in some way, affected you, made you angry, happy, hopeful, or at least taught you something... in this case the book did not affect me in any manner. Very disappointing on the whole. :( I don't know whether all Vincenzi's books are like this as this is the very first one I read. Not sure I'm interested in reading another though...
December 30, 2019
2.5/5. This books took me AGES to get though, partly because it was very long but also because I never really wanted to keep reading it. But I'm a book finisher, so here we are. None of the characters in this book were particularly likable, with the exception of the grandmother Betsy and perhaps Charles St. Mullins and Martin Dunbar. This was a sweeping multi generational story about two families who were probably equally messed up and then produced even more messed up offspring.
I thought the murderous streak in Alexander kind of came out of nowhere, and I spent nearly all of Georgina's chapters wanting to grip her shoulders and yell sensible things at her. Nanny seemed particularly batty. Charlotte seemed very spoiled and Max definitely was spoiled. I also really didn't like how Baby never got a real name. Seemed wrong for a man in his 50s to be called Baby.
I thought the murderous streak in Alexander kind of came out of nowhere, and I spent nearly all of Georgina's chapters wanting to grip her shoulders and yell sensible things at her. Nanny seemed particularly batty. Charlotte seemed very spoiled and Max definitely was spoiled. I also really didn't like how Baby never got a real name. Seemed wrong for a man in his 50s to be called Baby.
April 21, 2023
This is a another book about honestly unlikable people (I am starting to think its me I just don't like people anymore)
Virginia is a Million dollar American Princess alas in an era when a million dollars was nice but not earth shattering - the early 1960s
Having been denied opportunity to take a career in her family's bank (Wall St not Main St) she tries her hand at interior design until she falls in love with a handsome Earl and the all loved HEA
NOT turns out the Earl is a bit of a psychopath / sociopath with enough emotional baggage to require a separate car. But this is dribbled out to the dear reader with nary a clue for quite a while.
And the book seems to be unsure of its genre is it a family saga? A Business saga (I never needed to know this much about banking) or is it a 'Bonkbuster' there is much much more more sex in this book than in the prior three I read by this author
All these people need therapy and possibly hospitalization for life...
Virginia is a Million dollar American Princess alas in an era when a million dollars was nice but not earth shattering - the early 1960s
Having been denied opportunity to take a career in her family's bank (Wall St not Main St) she tries her hand at interior design until she falls in love with a handsome Earl and the all loved HEA
NOT turns out the Earl is a bit of a psychopath / sociopath with enough emotional baggage to require a separate car. But this is dribbled out to the dear reader with nary a clue for quite a while.
And the book seems to be unsure of its genre is it a family saga? A Business saga (I never needed to know this much about banking) or is it a 'Bonkbuster' there is much much more more sex in this book than in the prior three I read by this author
All these people need therapy and possibly hospitalization for life...
November 26, 2017
Ah, good old Penny. Long, involved escapist soap opera with a nice listing of the cast of characters at the beginning so you can keep track of them all. I never like any of the characters so I'm always rooting for horrible things to happen to them. Time Saving Tip: there are overwrought sex scenes every few pages..read one you've read them all, so feel free to skip. She should just write one and put it in the back .."SEE APPENDIX" It would knock a couple hundred pages off of each book, I bet. Save trees.
August 14, 2020
I do like Vincenzi's limitless imagination and her ability to weave a story and several tories, really, right to what you think is the conclusion, yet over and over again there's a little more to share. This story has a twist at the end which, if you read carefully, you'll know and see, yet if you don't pick up on all those subtle and not so subtle hints and happenings, you'll find as a surprise.
To be honest, I find this as one of the more fascinating character studies Vincenzi's written, and I really hope others read the same enjoyment into this.
To be honest, I find this as one of the more fascinating character studies Vincenzi's written, and I really hope others read the same enjoyment into this.
January 27, 2021
I couldn’t finish this book. The beginning was awesome, but as the story wore on (and on and on and oooon) I just didn’t care anymore. It was the same thing over and over again hinting at a mystery that was way too easy to figure out. I jumped to the end and surprise, surprise I was right. I’m a fast reader and almost four weeks after starting, I was barely halfway through. This book could have easily been condensed down by 1/3 at least. I’ve never cared less about characters.
January 3, 2019
Started off good but wayyyyyy overly long and more and more complicated with different characters and by the time I got to a few chapters from the end, about 90% through it, I didn’t care about any of it anymore and pitched it.
July 11, 2017
This one is a slow burner but once it sucks you in boy are you caught.
September 8, 2017
Not your typical Vincenzi, but oohhh soooo good!
November 30, 2017
Fluffy and fairly pointless. But I had to keep reading to see what eventually happened, which is why in the end I gave 2 stars instead of 1. Long and drawn out with one dimensional characters.
December 6, 2017
804 pages of twists & turns - wonderful story telling. Will read more from this author.
November 18, 2018
Excellent. Well written. Draws you in. Despite the length it’s never boring, tedious or heavy going
July 3, 2019
More delicious trash
Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews