I absolutely love this series by Sarah Eden! The Merchant and the Rogue is intriguing and has plenty of Victorian London flair that makes these books so fantastic! The pace of this book moved a bit slower than the previous novels in this series, but the writing is as great as always. Once again the inclusion of two Penny Dreadful stories adds a unique aspect to the book and I was intrigued and guessing as those stories developed! While I enjoyed this story, I would have loved to see more interaction from the members of the Society. For me, the magic of this series is the camaraderie between the Dread members and I missed that. It seems like we will be getting more books in this series and I’m so excited!

Vera Sorokina loves reading the Penny Dreadfuls and immersing herself in tales of adventure, mystery, and romance. Her own days are filled with the often mundane work of running the book and print shop she owns with her father. The shop offers her the freedom and income to employ and protect the poverty-stricken Londoners she's come to care about, and it gives her father something to do other than long for their hometown of St. Petersburg. She is grateful for the stability in their lives, but she often feels lonely.

Brogan Donnelly was born and raised in Ireland, but has lived in London for several years, where he's built a career as a Penny Dreadful writer. He has dedicated himself to the plight of the poor with the help of his sister. His membership in the secretive Dread Penny Society allows him to feel he isn't entirely wasting his life, yet he feels dissatisfied. With no one to share his life with but his sister, he fears London will never truly feel like home.

Brogan and Vera's paths cross, and the attraction is both immediate and ill-advised. Vera knows from past experience that writers are never to be trusted, and Brogan has reason to suspect not everything at her print shop is aboveboard. When the growing criminal enterprise run by the elusive and violent Mastiff begins targeting their area of London, Brogan and Vera must work together to protect the community they've both grown to love. But that means they'll need to learn to trust each other with dangerous secrets that have followed both of them from their home countries.

I loved the first two books of this series and I loved this one too. Sarah Eden is a master at characters; she always delivers on making me feel like I know the characters and showing progression through the story. Brog and Vera are both so well written along with the rest of them. I love the growth of their friendship throughout the story and the chance to learn more about their pasts.

I love the penny dreadfuls as we get 3 unique stories in one book. The talent it takes to write in 3 different styles is amazing. If anyone wants a fun read, choose this book! I couldn't put it down. I think it might be my favorite of the series so far. The action has really heated it up and I can't wait to read the next one.
#netgalley #themerchantandtherogue

A great addition to this series! I am a big fan of the embedded penny dreadful tales in each book. As usual with Sarah M. Eden, the romance was great. Vera and Brogan were great characters individually and together. I also really liked Brogan's sister.

My one complaint is slightly spoilerly. I wanted a bit more resolution with Vera's condition at the end. I hate being left in suspense.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and can't wait for the next!

Many thanks to Sarah M. Eden, Shadow Mountain Publishing and Netgalley for letting me review an early copy of this book!

Although I am one of the biggest fans of Sarah M. Eden's series 'The Jonquil Brothers" and "The Lancasters", I enjoy her series about the Penny Dreadfuls a lot less. I found the previous book in the series ("The Gentleman and the Thief") to be ok, so I wanted to give this series a second chance and try "The Merchant and the Rogue", but my opinion of the series didn't change: it's fine, but not quite to the level of the Regency romances Sarah M. Eden usually writes.

What I did like about "The Merchant and the Rogue" was discovering life among the popular classes in the late 19th century London, especially at this book involved characters with an immigrant background, which added some originality. I liked the protagonists without being overly fond of them - they were nice and had some depth but were not overly attaching. It was also nice to discover a bit more about life in a print shop, but a little more description about what it could look like would have been appreciated.

What I liked less were the penny dreadful novels (although I liked them better than in the previous book) — they don't add anything to the story itself but it's always interesting to see what penny dreadfuls could look like.
I personally am not a fan of the mystery going on throughout the series — that's my personal taste but I wasn't too interested in that whole fraud/child labour/forced prostitution/arson/blackmail/forgeries/extortion stuff that the DPS society is trying to solve, especially as I found it a bit rushed towards the end.

Overall, the story was ok, but I might not read the next installments, even though the mystery and danger have not been solved yet.

thanks to netgalley for providing me with an e-arc.

this was nothing special, i had to skim most of it and ended up not enjoying the story. i felt disconnected to the characters and just disappointed i didn’t get the victorian era romance i was expecting.

Sarah Eden does it again. Fantastic!
Another wonderful Dreadpenny Society tale. So very good. Plus, of course, two short Dreadpenny stories included in the book. Such a great read. Brogan is a Dreadpenny author and member of the Dreadpenny Society that works for the good of the world around them, working in the background unseen but potent. Brogan is assigned to investigate the rumors of problems with the Russian ambassador. To do so he takes a job at the print shop of Vera Sorokina and her father, Russian immigrant, and hopefully a way to obtain information about the ambassador. As he works at his task, he finds that the problem he has been assigned has many arms reaching across the city. But investigating may actually place others in harms way especially Vera and her father. Mix in not one but two Pennydreadful stories and putting the book down becomes a hard thing to do. Although this is the third in the Pennydreadful books it easily could be read as a standalone. I was given a free copy in exchange for an honest review

This is the third book in the series. I have read the other 2 books and loved them too. This one does have cameos of the characters from the earlier books and that was fun. This can be read as a standalone though.

Overall, this is a fun and romantic book with a bit of mystery/suspense.. The characters are charming and likable. A fun read!

The Merchant and the Rogue is the third installment in Eden's Dread Penny Society series. This story features Brogan Donnelly, an immigrant from Ireland who now writes penny dreadful novels for a living. He also happens to be a member of the Dread Penny Society which focuses on helping the poor and marginalized people living in the area. When Brogan is given an assignment that sends him to investigate a print shop, he ends up taking a job there and befriending Vera, the daughter of the owner who helps to run the shop. As Brogan struggles to maintain his distance as he completes his assignment, he and Vera are thrown together more and more as it becomes clear that her neighborhood is being targeted by someone seeking to oppress the already struggling area.

This was a fun story to read! I really enjoyed Brogan and Vera, and it's fun to see cameo appearances by characters from the previous books. I also appreciate that there's an underlying villain who connects the series together. It keeps me hooked and looking forward to next book in the series.

I like how there are stories within the story, and it's fun to read the penny dreadful novels that the characters are writing. I enjoyed Brogan's story more than the other story, but both are fun to read.

This is fun, light-hearted read. It's not particularly suspenseful, but the plot is well-paced and the characters are charming. There's also enough mystery to keep me wondering where the plot will go next. It's a good read for someone looking for a sweet cozy romance with a bit of mystery!

A big thank you to Sarah M. Eden, Shadow Mountain Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book.