I was not familiar with this series, but I am glad I found them. I read The Lady and the Highwayman which I throughly enjoyed. This second book was no different. I enjoy the storyline and characters. I like how the penny dreadfuls are included. Hope this series continues because we need to know who the Dread Master is!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

SIGH...DNFed at 35%, and since this was an ARC, I always feel awful when that happens.

Maybe it's because I hadn't read the first book and didn't quite appreciate the workings of the Dread Penny Society. Maybe I was irritated by the two penny dreadfuls interrupting the main plot, and so there were two more plots my brain had to contend with. Maybe it's because I wasn't feeling sparks between Ana and Hollis, and I <i>have</i> read chaste romances that had sparks. Only this was as much mystery as romance, sometimes more so. Maybe it was being overwhelmed by the holidays and life.
But it looks like her series get great marks overall, so I'm happy for Ms. Eden.

I liked the two main characters quite a bit, and their respect for and understanding of each other. I also enjoyed the mystery that was at the center of the book, it made for a more interesting read. I am interested in reading the other books in the series now!

This book was delightful! Sarah always gives a stellar book 2 to her newest series! I loved the characters and the whole storyline was wonderful! You won’t regret it!

I love the Dread Penny Society. It is made up of a group of eclectic personalities that write Penny Dreadfuls and strive to make society a better place for the less fortunate.

This story is about Hollis Darby, a gentleman and a member of the Dread Penny Society. He is out to save the world while pretending to be a man of leisure. He is devoted to his cause, friends, and family.

Hollis has a mystery to solve. There is a thief that is making life harder for the street urchins he is concerned about. It is something that he wants to get to the bottom of while finding himself attracted to Ana, a music teacher at a girl's school the Dreadfuls have a vested interest in.

The book has many moments that make you laugh, smile, and teach about the plight of the less fortunate during Victorian London. I enjoyed the story and the stories within the story. There are chapters that are Penny Dreadful stories. It is a unique feature that I enjoy.

The characters are wonderful and the story is well-paced. Sarah Eden is one of my favorite authors and this book is one that I would love to revisit.

Source: I received a complimentary copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own,

This was an interesting story. I absolutely love this author and have ready many of her books and loved them. This was kept you on your toes, though, because there were three stories in one. It is the second in the series. It isn't my favorite of hers, although, I really enjoyed reading each of the stories but it was a little confusing bouncing around between the three stories while reading, especially since I read late at night.

For the most part, I still love reading this author's work and look forward to many wonderful stories to come.

This was a clean, romantic, suspenseful story with many, many layers.

I was given an arc copy of this book and I willingly offer my honest review.

The Gentleman and The Theif

Hollis and Ana have a lot in common. They both have been through so much and both are so strong.

Hollis is living a double life in away. He appears to a fine Gentleman to everyone around him in society. If people find out he is apart of the PDS they won’t thinks so highly of him.

Ana has lost everything. She works at Thurloe Collegiate School. She too is living a double life. She has a secret that could hurt the job she has.

I love the {PDS} Penny Dreadful Society. This a group of amazing people doing great work for those that are less fortunate or who can’t help themselves.

I love how the stories the {PDS} write are intertwined into the book.

This is such a wonderful book. I throughly enjoyed every minute of it. It is full of adventure, mystery and romance. Sarah M. Eden has away of pulling you right in to the story from the first paragraph. This is only the 3 book of hers I have read. I have loved each one!!


{ I received ARC from the publisher through NetGalley }

#BookLove

"A gentleman scribes penny dreadful novels by night and falls in love with a woman who is a music teacher by day - and a thief at night.

LONDON 1865

From the moment Hollis Darby meets Ana Newport, he's smitten. Even though he's from a wealthy, established family and she isn't, he wishes he could have a life with her by his side. But Hollis has a secret: the deep coffers that have kept his family afloat for generations are bare, so he supports himself by writing penny dreadfuls under a pseudonym. If not for the income from his novels, he would be broke.

Ana Newport also has a secret. Though she once had a place in society thanks to her father's successful business, bankruptcy and scandal reduced his fortune to nothing more than a crumbling town house. So Ana teaches music during the day, and at night she assumes the identity of the "Phantom Fox." She breaks into the homes of the wealthy to reclaim trinkets and treasures she feels were unjustly stolen from her family when they were struggling.

When Hollis's brother needs to hire a music tutor for his daughter, Hollis recommends Ana, giving him a chance to spend time with her. Ana needs the income and is eager for the opportunity to get to know the enigmatic gentleman. What neither of them expects is how difficult it will be to keep their respective secrets from each other.

When a spree of robberies rocks the city, Ana and Hollis join forces to solve the crimes, discovering that working together deepens the affection between them. After all, who better to save the day than a gentleman and a thief?"

I love female thieves and penny dreadfuls! Was this book written just for me?

Hollis and Ana were so cute together! She was a bit like the anti heroine, seeing as she was the thief. But yet, she wasn’t. It was sweet to watch them with each other. Both were a little unsure. I loved it.

I look forward to the coming books in this series. I enjoy these sweet romances without them being preachy. It was nice to have the butterflies in the belly feelings again.

I'm a romance girl through and through, so I wanted that swoon factor and I missed that in this book. To me, there wasn't enough of a build in that relationship. I cared more about Hollis and Ana achieving their individual goals than I cared about them being together.

Throughout the book, readers are given snippets of penny dreadful novels. At first, this kind of threw me, but I found myself caring just as much about the novels as I did the storyline. It's like getting three stories for the price of one and I ended up enjoying it.

Overall, I became attached to the Dread Penny Society and will likely read the rest of the series. If you're a fan of historical romances with a touch more intrigue, this one is for you!

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. All expressed opinions belong to me.

The Dread Penny Society is a secret society in Victorian London that helps people that are trapped in the underworld of society. This includes poor children who are used as thieves and are not able to have a decent upbringing. Many of the members are also authors of “penny dreadfuls.” Penny dreadfuls were cheap serialized sensational stories that were sold for a penny during Victorian times. They were entertainment for the masses but were generally looked down upon by the upper crust.

The “Gentleman” of this story is Hollis Darby. His grandfather lost their family fortune by gambling and he and his brother are trying to use their respectable name to put the family back on solid footing again. Hollis makes money by writing penny dreadfuls secretly at night. He meets and falls in love with Ana Newport. Ana is a music teacher at a school for girls. Her family lost their fortune when her father’s business partner stole from their company. She also has a secret. At night she is the “phantom fox” and steals the items back that were stolen from her family. As Hollis and Ana get to know one another, they start to investigate the strange activities at her neighbor’s home. Why are there gentleman visiting the home at all times of day and night? Why has her old neighbor suddenly moved away? Who is behind all of the robberies that are taken place across London?

I loved The Gentleman and the Thief. The plot was very exciting and suspenseful. I really liked the mysteries and trying to determine what was going on. I also really liked that the overall goal of the characters was to help out those in trouble. I enjoyed the characters, especially the main characters of Hollis and Ana. I especially liked that interspersed throughout the novel were chapters from penny dreadfuls. One was the story of a school for ghosts and the other was the story of a gentleman that keeps finding items missing from his him. He enlists the help of his childhood friend, the steward’s daughter, and together they tackle the mystery. I especially loved this second story.

The Gentleman and the Thief is the second novel in the Dread Penny Society books. I read this as a standalone and it worked. I would love to read the first book in the series, The Lady and the Highwayman. I’m adding it to my “to read” list. I also enjoyed that this story was a clean romance.

Overall, The Gentleman and the Thief is a riveting story of love and danger in Victorian London. I highly recommend it!

Book Source: Review Copy from Shadow Mountain Publishing for being a part of the Blog Tour. Thank-you!

What a cute story! I loved the first book in the series and so couldn't wait to read more. Each chapter has an installment from the penny dreadful. It is like reading multiple stories in one book. I am so impressed with Eden's ability to make the stories sound like they are written by other people. Well written and highly entertaining.

I liked revisiting familiar characters and returning to London in the 1800s. We follow the members of the DPS (Dread Penny Society) as they rescue and protect street urchins through a network of spies. I love this heroic aspect, which lends hope amidst a backdrop of dank London streets.

The main characters are often writers of “penny dreadful,” stories mainly for children with daring heroes and mysteries or even ghosts/zombies, etc. I admit I’ve skimmed or skipped these aspects at times. There are hidden elements if you want to read them, but I haven’t felt I’ve missed out by skimming.

It’s impressive to me that the author includes these stories in her narrative while also carrying out the main story of the novel as the penny dreadful excerpts are themselves detailed and layered.

Our heroine is multi-layered as well. She’s committing crime for noble reasons, and no one suspects her. This aspect really hooks readers.

The chemistry between the hero and heroine was delightful. Sarah is one of my favorite authors of historical fiction. I love her sense of humor and how she includes it on the page.

I do recommend reading these novels in order. The first is The Lady and the Highwayman. The Gentleman and the Thief is the second book in the Dread Penny Society series.

I enjoyed my time reading this delightful story. This charming, page turning mystery set in Victorian England is sure to not only entertain your imagination, but keep you up late into the night sipping tea and turning pages. I especially enjoyed the fun banter between the characters.

I enjoyed watching these characters growth in this story, both as individuals and together. Sarah Eden weaves an enchanting story with a rich plot and engaging characters and I simply did not want to put this story down. A light, fun mystery that is sure to entertain!

This is the second book in the series, and I need to go back and read the first book. However, I caught up fairly quickly and didn’t feel that my not reading the first book put me at too great of a disadvantage.

(I receive complimentary books for review from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including Netgalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own.)

Hollis and Ana. So many secrets, but together they form a formidable and entertaining team. I love that they are from different stations in life as it offers different perspectives and points of view. Bring your focus factor as there is more than story occurring and you don’t want to get lost in the details. The descriptions of London in the mid-1800s are enlightening and transport you to the scene. The mystery, intrigue and chemistry will charm and satisfy lovers of historical fiction. This is book two in a series from Sarah M. Eden, but easily stands alone.
I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own, freely given.

Had to read the first one first but love them both! Very entertaining and fun. I love a regency novel and this one had good characters and dialogue.

Oh boy how I love historical fictions and this one was another great one. I love the characters and the beauty of how they where written. They each carried a unique quality about them. I just get excited thinking about this book again, it was so good. I cant wait to read more of Sarah work too. So happy to have found another historical author.

I struggled to get into this one for some reason, despite the concept being incredibly intriguing to me. Maybe it's the narration style, or maybe it's because I didn't realize The Gentleman and the Thief is part of a series...I think if I went back and read everything in order, I'd connect with this one more.

The Gentleman and The Thief is all about Hollis and Ana, who they are on their own, and who they are together. Hollis is the gentleman in this story but that doesn’t mean he lives a stuffy, boring life. He also secretly fights crime with his friends in the Dead Penny Society and secretly writes penny dreadful stories under the penname Lafayette Jones.

Ana, on the other hand, is the thief. But she doesn’t steal just anything, she steals back what was taken from her family when they fell into financial ruin. So…a thief, but a noble one. Ana is also a teacher and a musician. She also happenes to have a secret.

While it’s know that her family is in borderline poverty, what isn’t known is that her father still lives in her family home. But it’s not him living there that’s the secret, it’s the fact that only one room is fit enough to live in and the rest of the house and furnishings have fallen into disarray.

This makes Hollis and quite a few of his friends from the Dread Penny Society visiting and using it as a headquarters of sorts quite anxiety-inducing for Ana. What will they think of her when they see it? Luckily, Hollis and his friends are no strangers to the darker sides of life.

Together, Hollis and Ana are quite the team and work to take down a gambling den that is assaulting and ruining the men (and their families) that take their chances at the game tables. The situation becomes even more dire when someone close to Hollis is attacked.

They use their individual skills (Hollis’s ability to blend in with the upper class and how good he is at gambling, and Ana’s ability to sneak in just about anywhere) and some help from their friends to infiltrate the secret club. But will they make it out ok? You’ll have to read to find out.

OK, let’s talk formatting because OH. MY GOD. This book is one of the most uniquely formatted I’ve ever read. In between the chapters showing us what Ana and Hollis are up to are actual penny dreadful stories written by characters in the book. When I realized this was happening, I almost lost it. I love it so much. I love when an author surprises me with something I never thought of.

I also loved the supporting characters in the story. Fletcher, Elizabeth, Brogan, Stone,and Móirín all had their own personalities and were fun to see as they popped up throughout the stories.

I would have liked a little more buildup before Hollis and Ana understood that they liked each other. It felt like they met and then BOOM, they had feelings for each other, but that could be because this was a second book. Maybe there were a few small moments in the first one. Either way, it wasn’t anything that bothered me too much.

There was also at least one moment where I didn’t want to escape into the penny dreadful story and just wanted to stay with the main narrative. Nothing too big a deal.

If you love historical romances with a side of mystery, you should definitely check out The Gentleman and the Thief. The romance, Ana’s thieving, and the job inside the gambling den are all very intriguing. I’m giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

This series is a lot of fun and to get the full effect, I would recommend reading them in order. I love the little "penny dreadful" stories wrapped up in the middle of this book, and along with the main story, the reader is treated to two penny dreadfuls. A "penny dreadful" is a story that costs a penny and was full of adventure, danger, crime, and romance. These clever little diversions are an amusing part of the book.

A secret society is created to help those who need help and to rid society of evil and I'm enjoying the adventure of getting to know different characters in more depth. There are all kinds of personalities, backgrounds, and professions in this group, but that's what makes it work so well. Eden always does a great job of creating likable characters in entertaining situations.

Ana and Hollis are great characters and I loved the mysteries and mild suspense surrounding their interactions. It's especially fun to watch what happens when they join forces. It's apparent a lot of research has gone into this series and it's refreshing to read a bit of history written in such unique way.

Content: mild romance; mild adventure/violence/danger