Fletcher Walker has worked his way up from the lowest of the streets to a become a successful writer of Penny Dreadful serials… and in his spare time he’s an advocate and saviour for the poor street kids on London’s streets as the figurehead of the secret Dread Penny Society.

Miss Elizabeth banks come from impoverished gentry and is the the headmistress of a girls’ school, who writes “silver-fork” novels to help fund her school. Elizabeth yearns for adventure and in the we hours her days, she secretly writes Penny Dreadful serials under the pseudonym Mr. King as well. In fact, her serials have gotten so popular she starts to take the lead in the market.

Fletcher depends on his serials income to support the children and causes their society takes on. When the Society bands together to sniff out their completion and and he needs all the help he can get, even enlisting the help of the kind “silver-fork” author, Elizabeth to find their man.

I didn’t really know what I was getting when I stated this book, but I was in for a pleasant surprise! The story of the Penny Dreadful writers searching out the mysterious Mr. King was great fun and the romance between the authors was really sweet. The real bonus of this novel are the two Penny Dreadful serials were the real treat! I absolutely enjoyed them for themselves and for the way they added to the story as a whole.

This was a fun read, and I highly recommend this book!

The Lady and the Highwayman by Sarah M. Eden is due to release September 3rd, 2019.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Shadow Mountain Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#TheLadyAndTheHighwayman #NetGalley

Y'all, "The Lady and the Highwayman" let me tell you-
✒️
Well, I pulled a Belle with this one. I walked around my house with my nose snuck in my iPad until I finished this book. This is my second Sarah M. Eden book and so far I'm 2 for 2 on being satisfied with her stories.
✒️
Our heroine is a prim and proper headmistress who clandestinely writes Penny Dreadful novels. Our hero also is a Penny Dreadful novelist and part of a secret society along with other novelists.
✒️
The story is really fun because it's busy. We get samples of actual Penny Dreaded novels and we follow the secret society as they 'work' around town. One of the Penny Dreadful stories has the Gothic feel of 'Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron' a la Julia Quinn. So, it's worth checking out on that basis alone.
✒️
This book is not Romance with a capital R. The love story is not an afterthought but not the focus either. It's lagniappe. But it's sweet and clean lagniappe, appropriate for our prim and proper headmistress heroine.
✒️
Lastly, can we talk about how adorable this cover is? I'm super basic in that I blatantly judge a book by its cover. I'm definitely more of a fan of this cover than most of the other Sarah M. Eden covers.
✒️
Alrighty, they've kissed, I've raced to the end of this book and told you about it. This adventure comes out September 3rd so be on the lookout!

I believe this is my favorite book by Sarah M. Eden thus far! The characters are amazing, the wit and humor outstanding, the love story sweet, clean, and beautiful. And I just love the ending! Such bravery, such goodness. And the stories written within stories! Those were amazing too! It’s like getting three books in one! Loved it!

Sarah M. Eden is such an amazing author and this is a wonderful addition to my collection. It was different from many of her books, and I enjoyed that the main male character (Fletcher) wasn’t her typical male lead (not that I don’t love her other characters-I do, it was just a fun change). I liked knowing the details and having the main characters figure things out. The setting was new for Eden’s books too, and it made for a great story. I will definitely read this one again.

4.5 Stars

This is a Victorian-era sweet romance involving the Dread Penny Society, a secret society made up of authors who wrote penny dreadfuls (cheap serials aimed at middle/lower class readers). This society used their funds and resources to help the oppressed street children of London. The leader, Fletcher, grew up on the streets himself so his mission is a personal one. Elizabeth has her own school for middle-class girls, is a silver-fork author and anonymously pens penny dreadfuls, which add excitement and thrills to her otherwise simple life.

The book alternates between DPS stories of saving children from villains, penny dreadful stories penned by Fletcher and Elizabeth which somewhat mimic their real lives, and a burgeoning romance between these two. While sweet and well-written, I was not as engaged with the story or the characters as I could have been.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #ShadowMountain for providing the ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.

I found this story rather fun and unique. Our heroine, Elizabeth, writes novels for the upper classes of society by day. In secret, she likes to write the "penny dreadful" novels so loved by the lower classes. Our hero, Fletcher Walker, comes from from the lower dregs of London and also writes penny dreadful novels. He belongs to the Dread Penny Society, a wonderful group of people pledging to better the lives of who they can, protect what they can of the lower class, and fight for the rights of education in the poor ragged schools.

A competing penny dreadful author, Mr. King, is cutting into the profits of Fletchers work, thus affecting the profits and abilities of the Dread Penny Society. The two authors work together, Fletcher wanting the identity of Mr. King, and Elizabeth wanting some adventure in her life.

The story is split up into sections of each authors penny dreadful novels as well as the main story. I really liked this and was totally drawn into the gothic feel of the novels. I enjoyed Sarah Eden's writing, the flow.

This story does lose stars for me though because I felt like the hero and heroine were barely together in the page time. It really downed the romance for me, which was extremely sparse anyway. I love historical romance for the feels, the tension, the longing and being transported to another era. Unfortunately for me this book missed most of the those things.

Le sigh. I really enjoyed this book. And now you can feel the but coming. Sarah Eden just kept repeating over and over how no one can find out that Elizabeth writes penny dreadfuls, and about Fletcher’s low station starting off in life. And I don’t mean the casual reminder or even once per chapter. It was often multiples times in a chapter. And some of the chapters that may have been all that was talked about.

The Lady and the Highwayman could have been cut down to 200 pages if Eden didn’t repeat that information over and over. And I would have been happy with a 200 page book. I would have given that novel a five star rating. The rest of the story was very entertaining. And I can’t even just say the novel, because Eden included two penny dreadfuls in the book as well. Not only was that a fun idea, but that was the only time I wasn’t reading on repeat about Elizabeth and Fletcher’s predicaments. So I extra enjoyed the dreadfuls.

The adventure parts in all three of the stories were very entertaining and fast paced. Eden did a wonderful job describing Victorian London, from the conditions of the slums to the upper crust. And her details in regards to the clothing and social norms were very in depth. And most of her characters were very well developed, especially for the first in a series.

But I just can’t get past the repetitiveness. If Eden writes another in the Proper Romance series I may read it, but if she hasn’t changed up her writing style I know I’ll be in for a lot of skimming.

I loved this book! First off, Sarah M. Eden is a great writer. She has lovable and relatable characters, strong plots, and great settings. So any story of hers is going to be good.

But this one is a romance where both characters are Penny Dreadful writers—and we get to read both of their stories as well! Penny Dreadful stories began in the mid-1800s, were often serialized, usually shorter stories (what we would call novellas) and focused on action, adventure, and crime. They are sometimes considered to be the beginnings of genre fiction. Both of the stories included in this romance—serialized between the chapters about the two main characters—were interesting, entertaining, and I looked forward to every new chapter.

In addition to the loving the Penny Dreadful stories (one about a highway man and a monster in the woods; the other about disappearing street children and the monster taking them), the main romance was clever and fun to read.

Elizabeth Black runs a school, writes “respectable” novels, and also writes Penny Dreadfuls under a pseudonym. She meets up with Fletcher Walker, who is openly a Penny Dreadful writer and part of a secret group that helps street children. They come to know each other as they help to rescue these children.

I loved their personalities, their humor, their kindness—and how they came to respect each other before falling in love. I loved the adventure involved in rescuing children and overcoming the villains. And I especially loved the end, which I can’t even hint at because it would give away too much. But it’s awesome!!

If you like historical romantic suspense, this is top-drawer! I highly recommend it to readers 14 and older. I give it a full 5 STARS.

On the face of it a Victorian romance, dig a little deeper and The Lady and The Highwayman actually explores the much more involved topic of the education and treatment of poorer children at the time, which I wasn't expecting this from a historical romance. Having come from nothing himself Fletcher Walker, author and member of Dread Penny Society are determined to save as many children as they can falling into hands of those who would abuse their innocence and ability to be forgotten under the pretence of being a collective of authors.

Through a mutual friend Walker meets Elizabeth Black, headteacher and author, well known for her books which are considered more 'silver fork' than his own Penny Dreadful volumes; however Elizabeth is publishing new work under the pseudonym of Mr King who is quickly becoming an extremely popular Penny Dreadful author due to both his writing and the mystery surrounding his identity. Fletcher's becomes enamoured by Elizabeth and her desire to help aid the education of the poor as well as determined to unmask the elusive Mr King. The narrative is broken up with volumes of Fletcher and Elizabeth's Penny Dreadfuls and I loved how the plots of the of their stories mirrored their own lives and feelings; particularly one released following am encounter between Elizabeth and Fletcher's encounters which left Elizabeth feeling slightly snubbed and with no other way to express her annoyance that it write Fletcher into her narrative.

I ended up really enjoying this, particularly how the plots of the short Penny Dreadfuls mirrored the characters own lives and feelings and has got me wanting to give a lot more historical fiction a go.

I thought this was a nice take on historical romance, the chemistry between Fletcher and Elizabeth was brilliant I also loved the banter they had together. Unfortunately for me the chapters from both of their books seemed to take away from the plot in my opinion. I really didn’t like the idea of stories within a story and found myself skimming these chapters so I could get back to the main story. Lots of characters set in Victorian London, and 2 separate short stories being retold among it all, was not easy to lay out. However, once I figured out what the plot here was, I really began to enjoy it.

This was my first time trying Sarah Eden’s books, and I thought there was several aspects that were enjoyable and interesting about this read. There was one aspect that was not, and it took away from some of the enjoyable bits, in my opinion.

This novel featured penny dreadful serialists who are part of a secret society to aid the poor. The members are growing concerned at the growing popularity of a new and mysterious writer called Mr. King. If this new writer takes too much readership, the society’s ability to help the poor will be in jeopardy. The hero, Fletcher Walker, makes it his mission to find out who Mr. King is and offer membership to the society if that appears to be amenable.

Elizabeth Black run a girls school that seems to cater to the wealthy or upper middle class. She is also a writer and meets Fletcher at a literary soirée. She is interested in gaining further support for her school. Her and Fletcher get along well and end up helping each other out.

I thought the details about the penny dreadfuls interesting. I also enjoyed the characters and that many walks of life with varying backgrounds were featured. However, most chapters included installments from the writers, and they weren’t just excerpts. Instead of keeping track of one story, there were three. Three different storylines. Three sets of characters. This was distracting and sometimes confusing.

If you don’t mind multiple storylines, you may like this more than I did. I would consider trying more by Eden as I thought the research well done and the main story interesting, but unfortunately the penny dreadful installments detracted rather than added to that.

*I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What's not to love? Secret identities, adventuring, saving children, smoldering looks, and two "penny dreadful" short stories to boot! In fact, I really liked the way our author showed us the types of stories that were popular and how his story and her story were very different writing styles. There are still a couple of mysteries to solve, so I imagine there will be a follow up novel or two. It is fast paced and just the right amount of dramatic (it IS about penny dreadful writers after all). It isn't too steamy, so it would also be something to recommend to teens or readers who like their romance without the "smut".

This was such a unique historical romance and I enjoyed every minute of it!

I loved the characters of Elizabeth and Fletcher and especially loved that this novel did not only focus on those in the upper class and aristocracy. Showing where our hero Fletcher came from and what he has accomplished only added to his character and made me love him even more. Elizabeth was everything a good heroine should be, strong, brave, smart and witty. She gave all of the gentlemen in the book a run for their money and I loved that.

I have never read anything that talked about a type of writing like a Penny Dreadful and that was such a fascinating part of the story, almost a character itself. Especially being able to actually see the two stories our characters were writing.

This was definitely a slow burn romance that made you really wait and watch these characters grow. I liked how they each considered what being in a relationship would mean and the pros and cons of that. Although it was a slow burn, I loved the friendship that was formed and it was totally worth the wait!

A brilliant historical fiction novel with a lot of mystery and a touch of romance, The Lady and the Highwayman was an enjoyable adventure for the reader. Elizabeth Black is a prim and proper schoolmistress by day, who writes silver fork novels that are loved by elite women. By night, she takes on her more enjoyable pursuit of writing Penny Dreadfuls under the pseudonym "Mr. King". Fletcher Walker was a street urchin child who clawed his way out of poverty. Now, he fights for the freedom and education of the poorest children, which he finances through his writing of Penny Dreadfuls.

When Fletcher's reign as the best-selling author of Penny Dreadfuls comes to an end thanks to the elusive Mr. King, he begins a missing to discover the identity of this mystery man.

Eden really took a chance with the format of this novel. Chapters of the serial Penny Dreadfuls written by both Elizabeth and Fletcher are woven throughout the main story. I was nervous when I began reading, worried this would become confusing or uninteresting, but it was not the case at all. I especially enjoyed the parallel story that Elizabeth told in her serial. I did find Fletcher's story less compelling, and it felt as if we never really got the end of the story. It was a great way to break up the story and I think Eden did a fabulous job.

I received an ARC of The Lady and the Highwayman by Sarah M. Eden from Shadow Mountain Publishing through NetGalley. What follows is my fair and honest review.

The Lady and the Highwayman is a historical romance novel featuring three different narratives, two rival penny dreadful authors, and one secret identity. Here’s my quick summary:

Elizabeth Black is a novelist, writing respectable silver-fork stories. Everyone knows this. What everyone does not know is that she also writes penny dreadfuls under the pen name Mr. King. Fellow penny dreadful author Fletcher Walker is determined to find Mr. King’s true identity before his new rival can ruin the plans of his secret Dread Penny Society, but when he asks Elizabeth Black for help, he finds himself increasingly distracted be her wit and kindness. Will they be able to work through all the secrets and schemes before it’s too late?

Eden’s book is a fun read, but how much you enjoy it will really depend on your tastes as a reader. It’s definitely a romance novel because the main story and final conflicts are all about Elizabeth and Fletcher’s relationship. However, there’s no heat in the story, so if you’re looking for a true bodice ripper, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

The other aspect of the novel that I think will be really hit-or-miss for readers are the stories within the story. Since Elizabeth and Fletcher are both penny dreadful authors, Eden decided to include each of the latest releases in the novel. These stories are fun, and I think they can help readers better understand Elizabeth and Fletcher. However, I can also see how they might be disruptive or distracting for some readers.

I recommend this story for readers interested in “clean” historical romance (for lack of a better term) and fans of hidden/secret identities tropes.

3.5 stars

*Book received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Elizabeth Black is the headmistress of a girls’ school in 1865 Victorian London. She is also a well-respected author of “silver-fork” novels, stories written both for and about the upper-class ladies of Victorian society. But by night, she writes very different kinds of stories—the Penny Dreadfuls that are all the rage among the working-class men. Under the pseudonym Mr. King, Elizabeth has written about dashing heroes fighting supernatural threats, intelligent detectives solving grisly murders, and dangerous outlaws romancing helpless women. They contain all the adventure and mystery that her real life lacks.

Fletcher Walker began life as a street urchin, but is now the most successful author in the Penny Dreadful market, that is until Mr. King started taking all of his readers. No one knows who King is, including Fletcher’s fellow members of the Dread Penny Society, a fraternity of authors dedicated to secretly fighting for the social and political causes of their working-class readers. The group knows King could be an asset with his obvious monetary success, or he could be the group’s undoing as King’s readership continues to cut into their profits.

Determined to find the elusive Mr. King, Fletcher approaches Miss Black. As a fellow-author, she is well-known among the high-class writers; perhaps she could be persuaded to make some inquiries as to Mr. King’s whereabouts? Elizabeth agrees to help Fletcher, if only to insure her secret identity is never discovered. What neither author anticipated was the instant attraction, even though their social positions dictate the impossibility of a relationship.

For the first time Elizabeth experiences the thrill of a cat-and-mouse adventure reminiscent of one of her own novels as she tries to throw Fletcher off her scent. But the more time they spend together, the more she loses her heart. Its upper-class against working-class, author against author where readers, reputations, and romance are all on the line.

This was an intriguing mystery with just enough romance for my tastes!

3.5 ⭐️
It’s always something special to read about writers and romance. *Sigh* I inhaled them and watch how crucial it was to be a productive writer and how sometimes people have to hide who they are to be taken seriously or without due respect. This to me was a very important part of this story.

The other part was about the streets of London.....poverty, crime and the needs and rescue of some of the misfortunate children. It was great and quite an adventure.
Things I loved:
• The Dread Penny Society
• Romance
• The rescues
• HEA

This was a NETGALLEY gift and all opinions are my own.

From the first page this book shattered all my preconceived notions of Sarah Eden’s writing. If I hadn’t been fully aware that the book I was reading was a Sarah Eden book, I never would have guessed it.

The writing and the plot were so very different from the Sarah Eden I was used to, and yet wholly delightful. The story was incredibly quirky and a little on the dramatic side, both of which fit the whole perfectly.  I was entirely entertained and captivated.

The two stories within the story pulled me out a little the first time or two, but the more I was pulled into the characters, the more I loved the added character development they provided.

This is why I love Sarah Eden’s writing, it continually surprises and enchants me. Every, single, time.

Elizabeth's passion is for writing penny dreadfuls. However, as she is a headmistress to a girl's school in 1865 London, she has to be considered respectful by only writing manner books or else her funding is pulled. So she writes penny dreadfuls under the name Mr. King. Her books are a success and other writers of the genre want to meet Mr. King as they've been using their money to help orphan boys. This leads her to meet Fletcher, a man she feels herself drawn to.

The characters are compelling for having their own, good reasons for the secrecy. The reasons are so good that once discovered they only understand. I love when the main couple aren't stupid and come together to solve problems. And Elizabeth is brave when she helps Fletcher save street boys from their cruel masters.

I loved the difference in classes between the two main protagonists, but how their mutual love of penny dreadfuls solidifies their bond as well as their commitment to the protection and education of the poorer classes. Each protagonist is also an author of penny dreadfuls, and it was a treat to read two different penny dreadfuls that weaved themselves into the main story. A realistic romance that focuses heavily on historical fiction where the author did their research. I'm excited to read more from Sarah Eden.