I kinda wish... more happened in this book?

This is a cute Victorian story with some light romance thrown into the mix. The story has a fun premise (a young woman stealing back family heirlooms after their fortune is lost and a gentleman who supports himself through secretly writing penny dreadfuls after his family loses their fortune meet and solve some mysteries) and I really liked how the story had mini Penny Dreadful style stories tucked into the main story, but it was unfortunately quite a snooze. There are good bones here but it's just not that engaging.

The Gentleman and the Thief by Sarah M. Eden was my first read by this author, and what a great read it was! I really enjoyed this story! I love the premise and the characters. It’s a nice clean romance with a great mystery that keeps you turning pages! I can’t wait for more in this series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book!

When they will cross path at the most unexpected place, will it be the end or beginning of them ...

I did not know well I would read this book when I requested it, for sure just a few days prior its release date.
And today being Halloween, in fact hazard could not have chosen a better schedule.
Having not read the previous book, I feared at a time, I would be lost, but the heroes in this one were side characters in the first story.
And what was my surprise when I read extract of the hero’s work, tales about a ghost boy full of mischiefs. But it does not stop there as the book is interspersed with pieces of the other Penny Dreadful authors as their respond to the mainline plot.
It added so much fun to the plot.
Hollis is from the upperclass, alas only in appearance as only his family’s name is what is left to be seen.
What an unconventional read, I wanted to learn the outcome of every different parts in this book, the two penny dreadful tales and the major plot.
Hollis is such a charming gentleman, living in between two worlds, a writer under a pen name, a member of a secret society helping the poorer and weaker but also the bearer of a name known as respectable when everything is in fact shabby in the background.
Ana has known the reverse of fortune like Hollis, but her family’s shame was made public, so she can’t hide like him. But while regaining her good name is an impossibility, she can still retrieve what was wrongly stolen from her home.
Her robbery exploits are not about retribution but mending past wounds.
Their romance is a slow burn one, none has doubt about their feelings but their own unsure position in society is what kept them holding back, until circumstances put them more than one time on the same path. Once trust is won, matter will settle very much easier.

I loved too the group of friends they navigate with, thick as thieves, their bickering is as fun as Hollis and Ana’s banter. And Very Merry is a marvel of mischiefs and lost innocence.

A much enjoyable romance with a dash of mystery.
5 stars

I was granted an advance copy by the publisher Shadow Mountain, here is my true and unbiased opinion.

From the moment Hollis Darby meets Ana Newport, he's smitten. Even though he's from a wealthy, established family and she isn't. They both have secrets he supports himself by writing penny dreadfuls under a pseudonym & at night she assumes the identity of 'The Phantom Fox' breaking into homes to reclaim treasures she feels were unjustly stolen from her family. When Hollis's brother needs to hire a music tutor for his daughter Eloise, 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. They are then drawn to working together to help Hollis’ brother who has been gambling & in seeking out The Mastiff.
This is the second book in the series & several threads are ongoing so I’d recommend reading that first. As with the first book there are snippets from penny dreadfuls throughout the book, which for me added to the enjoyment. I really liked both Hollis & Ana but felt their romance was second fiddle to the ongoing mystery involving The Mastiff. I did find the book very hard to put down & now eagerly await the next in the series
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

I always find Sarah Eden's books entertaining. This one is no exception. I did get a little confused trying to follow 3 plot lines at the same time. I think I would have prefered more time with Hollis, Ana, and company and less time in the Penny Dreadful stories. Still, it is cleaver how the stories are reflections of one another. Ana's undercover activities are quite shocking for a woman of her era. I enjoyed seeing Hollis and Ana learn to open up and trust one another. It will be fun to see how this series continues to unfold.

I didn't love this. It just missed it for me and i had such high hopes. The first 20% was so good but it just kind of went down for me. The characters just weren't fleshed out enough to make it somewhat believable. The plot was fun but it just wasn't enough for me.

This is a sweet story about Hollis and Ana. Both have been part of high society with each of their families having gone through significant financial loses. Hollis still remains within certain areas of society and maintains an income through writing Penny Dreadfuls. Ana has been shunned by society and has had to move out of her family home and into a local school to teach music. She has also begun stealing back things that she feels were taken from her family.

There's a mystery to the book that leads to some sense of adventure and has the two working together at times. The characters are sweet but I just didn't feel the chemistry or excitement with much of the story. There were several sub-stories within the book that led to more distraction than anything. While the book is well-written it ran more along the lines of a children's book to me and so just wasn't my personal preference of book. That being said, I could definitely see many people enjoying this if you like a sweet, clean, adventurous story with mystery and a bit of fun. 3.5 stars for me rounded up to 4.

Oh how I loved the next installment of this series! This series is a bit of a departure from Sarah’s other books, taking place in the Victorian Era and featuring a secret society of spies.

Hollis Darby is a member of high society, but his true interests lie in things of a...slightly “lower class” nature. He secretly writes penny dreadfuls and belongs to a secret society of spies, intent on rescuing the less fortunate of London. Ana Newport is a sweet music teacher at a girls school by day, and a thief, the “Phantom Fox,” by night. Their growing attraction only intensifies when they learn each other’s secrets, and work together to bring down one of London’s most vile gang leaders.

I loved the wit and humor mixed with moments of sincerity between the characters. The background cast of characters is delightful. Like the first book, this has snippets of the penny dreadful stories sprinkled throughout- one from Hollis and one from Mr. King- I was thrilled to see the return of Mr. King’s stories! Fun fact- in the print version, the penny stories are printed to look like newsprint- so fun!

This was such a fun story- it releases November 3rd! Thanks to the publisher for the copy in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoy the 'penny dreadful era' books! The blanket of mystery, secret societies, suspense and is something to cozy up with. I enjoyed the first book in this series. This second installment fell a little short me for me. The characters were difficult to remember and the plot refused to keep my attention. I expected this series to expand, enhancing this band of characters. The spark from the first book faltered a little in this book. I am still pleased it did not end with the first book, it was pleasant reuniting with the original characters.

I truly love these unique stories. The Dread Penny Society-on the surface... Writing Penny Dreadfuls, books for the lower class.... But underneath and in secret.... Helping the lower class citizens.
In this book, there are a lot of thefts going on about Town. Most are little street urchins, doing the bidding of an unknown Master. There is also the elusive Phantom Fox.

Hollis and Ana try to navigate a budding relationship - each with their own secrets that they have to try to keep hidden.

Hollis could quite possibly beat Fletch (from the previous book) as my favorite DPS gentleman! He is so sweet and really helps the secret society he's involved with navigate London society.
Ana is a master at anything she puts her mind to! She's also very sweet and kind hearted. She is doing what she feels right after her father loses the family's standing in society. Her father is this gentle and kind guy.

I think my favorite Penny Dreadful story (which you get in between the big story) is the first school one. That one is so fun!

Sarah M. Eden is so creative and can spin a tale of a story! This book, The Gentlemen and the Thief, is no exception. Who can weave three stories in one? Two of the stories are part of the Penny Dreadfuls, which were short serial stories printed over a number of weeks. They were usually stories of adventure, pirates, highwaymen, ghosts and crime. But my favorite part of the book was the story of Hollis and Ana. Both are living a secret lives that cross paths. There is mystery, suspense, intrigue, historical, romance and of course HEA. The characters are thought out well. I love all of the penny dreadful society members. I would recommend reading the 1st book in the series before this one. There is some details that would be easier to comprehend. This really is fun and witty, a clean historical romance.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Delightful book. And I must say, much easier to follow than the first. I was more prepared for the different stories and viewpoints. Eden always has a way of drawing you in. 3.5 stars ( I enjoyed it but still love her other series more!)
Thanks for an advanced ecopy in exchange for a review.

4.5*
I'm loving these Dread Penny Society books. If you're just discovering them, do yourself a favor and read them in order. There are several great characters and you get to know more about them as you read the books. I keep wondering which characters will get their own story but know that whichever ones do, the books will be fun.

There's some mystery and a touch of suspense here and there. Nothing too nail biting, but enough to keep you turning the pages faster and wanting to know what's going to happen. Are they going to get out of there safely? Will they catch the thief? Which ghost is going to win or lose? (Ok, that last one is part of one of the penny dreadful stories in the book). When will their secret identity come to light? Who is the bad guy? All these questions and more will be floating around in your head while you're reading it. Just saying.

And as an added bonus, you get three stories in one. We have the main story with Hollis and Ana alternating their POVs. Then we have two penny dreadful stories popping in throughout the book. I really have enjoyed the penny dreadfuls. Did you know that the author Sarah M. Eden has read penny dreadfuls and posted them on her facebook page? So if you don't know what a penny dreadful is, go check out more information from her on it. I'd heard about them years ago, long before this author started writing this series, but I've enjoyed seeing her create her own and put them into this series.

Hollis and Ana were so cute. I really enjoyed watching them dance around each other and trying to keep their secrets safe. And Hollis is a little bit (or maybe a lotta bit) of a flirt. He cracked me up. I was highlighting his lines when he was in a playful bantering mood and in a flirtatious mood. Loved his character. Both he and Ana had hurts from their past and I really liked watching their growth as they worked through individually and together to overcome those hurts. But I really loved the combining of their skills to root out and best the bad guy. *Cue ominous music* Duh, duh, duhhhhhhh!

I'm a fan! And the next character to have his story is Brogan. Woohooooo. Although I'm very hopeful that maybe his sister will get her story too? Or possibly she'll get some page time in his story and we'll get a couple different stories going on in that one and the penny dreadfuls. Am I making your head spin yet? Lol!

Content: Clean. Some moments of peril. Some talk of gambling dens, human trafficking and alcohol, but nothing graphic. It fits in great with the story and the time period. Some sweet kisses but nothing further than that.

I received a copy from the publisher, Shadow Mountain Publishing, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading!!!

Wonderful! An beautiful book with a wonderful story! I love this book so much and can’t wait to read more by this author! I couldn’t put it down!

I really enjoyed this book. I felt like it was something a little different for the genre and those differences made it an entertaining and fun read. The underlying romance throughout isn't too over the top but it's a sweet and cute love story. I especially loved how unapologetically smitten Hollis was. The penny dreadful and secret society elements gave it an extra twist and plot that I really enjoyed to what would have already been an enjoyable regency read.

First sentence: Hollis Darby learned two things at the knee of his not-so-dear, long-departed, low-life, scoundrel of a father: how to gamble beyond what was advisable and how to be an utter disappointment to his family.

Premise/plot: Hollis Darby, our hero, is a member of the Dread Penny Society, a secret society consisting of authors of penny dreadfuls. These authors are on a mission to do good--they are social justice reformers, if you will, intent on "saving" and "rescuing" the least of these. And in this second book, they are trying to solve a couple of mysteries...

One of the mysteries they are trying to solve is the identity of a thief...turns out there are many, many, many thieves in London. But there's one thief in particular that is hiding in plain sight.

Ana Newport, our heroine, is a music teacher by day and a thief by night...but she's not your ordinary thief. She just wants to track down all her family's belongings that were wrongfully taken...and if she just so happens to fall in love with a gentleman like Hollis Darby...well...that would be quite unexpected and lovely.

But that's just the barest fraction of the plot in this newest Victorian Proper Romance. There is a BIGGER mystery to solve--which I think in part began in the first book--and I think this bigger mystery may take more than a couple books to solve.

One of the highlights for me, however, is the inclusion of TWO serial penny dreadfuls. One serial series is Higglebottom's School for the Dead written by "Lafayette Jones" and The Gentleman and the Thief by "Mr. King."

The Gentleman and the Thief is the sequel to The Lady and the Highwayman.

My thoughts: I love, love, love, love, LOVE this series. I expected to love it of course. I adored the first book in the series. Both books are just fantastic. Highly recommended.

I really love the framework of the novel. It alternates narrators between Hollis and Ana. Both fabulous narrators, by the way, I love getting romance from both a his/her perspective. And this romance had just the right amount of challenges. It also alternates chapters or installments of the two penny dreadful series. I honest LOVED both of these. So well written. So enjoyable. So satisfying. I never once got annoyed that the plot was getting interrupted. Everything was delightful.

I would like to thank the netgalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the uniqueness of the plot and characters of the book. I also loved the excerpts of the penny dreadfuls that some of the characters were writing.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed the previous book in the series, so I was excited to hear about The Gentleman and the Thief, continuing the adventures of the Dread Penny Society writers. However, while it is second in the series, it works ok a stand-alone, and this publisher has been super weird about their series marketing up to this point too (a non-related Victorian Proper Romance book by Eden is featured on the “series” page on Amazon), so I wouldn’t worry too much if you missed the first, although you do get more background information about the Dread Penny Society.

While plots that hinge around characters keeping secrets from one another aren’t my favorite, I like the way it worked here, with Hollis being a gentleman and secret penny dreadful writer and Ana a music teacher who is also a thief at night. A bit of the “spark” was lacking in the dynamic, so it did feel a bit lacking in comparison to its predecessor, but I still more or less enjoyed them as characters working out the mystery.

I also found the interstitial stories a bit more of a chore to get through this time around than in the first, where they complemented the story perfectly. There were moments when there are hints at the parallels, especially in the story that shares its name with the title of the book, but I wasn’t as enchanted with them as with the previous ones.

While this one is not as good as the first, I still enjoyed spending time in the Victorian world of Penny Dreadful writing again, and hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of them. If you love historical romance set in the Victorian era, especially involving the world of Gothic fiction, I think you‘ll enjoy this one.

Thank you author Sarah M. Eden, Shadow Mountain Publishing, and NetGalley for allowing me to receive a free ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I will start off by saying I did not read the first book of this series, but with that being said I did feel I could still understand and enjoy the second book just fine. This book was so much fun. I loved the world building of the Victorian times, the characters, and the story line. I really liked our main characters. Ana was so strong and brave. The concept of a female cat burglar is rarely seen in books. Hollis, the male main character, was so clever with his own secrets and skill set. The idea of a secret society who's mission is to help those who are less fortunate was fun to read about, The story within the story was good, but sometimes distracted and confused me due to both sets of characters and their story lines. Overall, I really liked this book. The author did a great job of pacing the story as well as the climax. This book has made me want to go back and read the first one. I would recommend this book to those who love the Victorian time period. I look forward to more books in this series.

This series is an utter delight! This is the second in the Proper Romance series. Like the first it contains two side stories adjacent to the main story. It's a bit of mystery, romance, adventure, and wit. I find it completely enjoyable and will read every book in this series.