Mercy Goode can't help that she is fascinated with mysteries or changing the world - and now slowly or quietly. So when a man finally interests her - of course, it would be a gangster with a code of honor. Rafael isn't sure why he had to meet the petite, blond, stick of dynamite just as he is about to burn the world to the ground - but what a way to go.

Another highly bingeable read from Kerrigan Byrne! Mercy is feisty and aware of the world around her - and highly protective and cares so deeply! Rafael is my favorite sort of antihero/ sinnamon roll/ badass with a heart of gold situation. The only reason this isn't five stars is because it is short. Coming in at 22o pages it reads like a novella and it doesn't leave a lot of time for things to develop slowly. Feelings, chemistry, all that good stuff - is already vaguely established in the previous Goode Girls book (Courting Trouble) but the pacing still felt rushed.

Side Note: This is great for fans of Lisa Kleypas' Hello Stranger or Sarah MacLean's Wicked and the Wallflower.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Steam: 🔥🔥

Tropes: gangster with a heart of gold, opposites attract, solving a mystery

Subgenre: historic romance - Victorian

CW/ TW: mentions of parental abuse/ domestic violence, some violence, graphic medical scenes

I loved this book and I am so excited to find a new series. This story was exciting and so beautiful. I literally couldn’t put it down and finished it in one sitting!

A young lady trying to solve the murder of a friend of hers and a man who want to avenge it . A very beautifull couple will make you want to be them .
I reveived this novel from netgalley and the publicer as an arc . All thoughts and opinions are my own .

I really enjoy Byrne's writing, so I was stoked to receive an advance copy for reviewing purposes. These are my honest opinions about it.

The first couple chapters of this book had been included as a teaser at the end of the book before it, and they were so good. I've been champing at the bit ever since. The highlight for me was the hero. Byrne writes excellent dark heros! This one is an underworld kingpin, and it's juxtaposed so delightfully with his feelings for the heroine. He's hard and dangerous, etc. etc. and yet also finds the heroine fascinating, and clever, and adorable, and can't help but be drawn to her. It was a joy to watch. He's also quite charming, and he didn't spend half the book trying to deny having feelings, they're just new for him and a bit inconvenient. =D I liked his relationship to his brother as well, and this book made me even more interested to read his story. It should be a good one.

The heroine in comparison didn't entirely win me over, but I liked her well enough to enjoy them together and wish her well. She's a tad bit childish I thought, though not too bad, and she has a temper that didn't feel entirely reasonable (it wasn't full blown tantrums or anything, but it felt a little reminiscent of them), and a bit churlish. But, she was clever in her field of interest, and she cared about her people, and she was brave I suppose. I think she's 20 in the book, and she may be someone I would enjoy more by the time she's 30 or something. A little more life under her belt to give her a better understanding of the world beyond her small corner of it. A bit more perspective. It might also be a little exacerbated by the contrast with the hero who had to grow up early and has had lots of struggles and is quite worldly. And he's 30 I believe. So he had a head start. =)

I could have used a few more pieces of information to get to know her twin sister better. The seed for interest between her and his brother was planted the very first time they met a couple books ago. So I'm already here for it. But I feel like I have more of a handle now on who he is and where he's coming from, and she's still largely a blank page. I'm sure her most interesting points will come out well in her own book though.

I'm not sure the mystery in the story quite gives enough clues that you could solve it before getting a few final ones near the end, but it wasn't painfully obvious the entire time either, which I definitely appreciate. (I wasn't really in it for the mystery either way, =P but it gives them some opportunities to share information and things, so it serves its purpose well enough).

This book could probably stand on its own, but I recommend reading the series in order, (and the others are good too). I read the entire book the very day I recieved it and it brought me great joy. =D I will definitely read it again at some point, and I'm already looking forward to the next one!

This is the third book in the Goode Girls series, which is a spin-off of the Victorian Rebels. This is Mercy and Raphael’s story and it features an enemies to lovers, anti-hero gets the good girl storyline.

Raphael appeared with his brother at the end of the last book, giving a chest of gold (earned through nefarious means) to Titus and Nora in exchange for the promise of a medical favor in the future. Mercy runs into him again at the murder scene of a friend who had asked for her help in escaping an abusive spouse. She’s there to solve her friend’s murder, he is there to find and punish her killer.

I love a good anti-hero, in fact, I’d rather have a bad guy turned good through love than I would a rich aristocrat or rake. Raphael is exactly that and he and Mercy do have great chemistry. The last book felt jumbled and the pacing was weird, but Dancing with Danger laid out a murder mystery, an extended side plot involving Raphael and his brother’s criminal enterprise, and a romance and never felt rushed. The story flowed well.

There is one thing that did bother me and that’s the way Raphael referred to Gabriel’s facial scarring. I understand it is bad, but some of the language used made me uncomfortable. Describing your brother’s face as “the horror of his features” just didn’t sit well with me. I understand that Gabriel will be paired with Felicity in book four, and I’m wondering how his past and transformation after surgery will unfold.

I did enjoy Mercy and Raphael’s romance and am looking forward to the last Goode sister’s happily ever after.

Mercy is such a wonderful character. She's interesting, confident, and unafraid to challenge people, including men. Also the writing really drew me in, I love the way the author describes characters and events.

The author manages to weave the mystery and the romance together really well. I felt like I was getting enough of both of them, getting to see a development in Raphael and Mercy's relationship but also how Mercy was piecing together the puzzle of the murder. I think this really helped me love the book as much as I did.

Family is also a very important aspect of the novel, and it's clear how important Mercy's family are to her. I really liked this, that we get to glimpse the love between siblings and how they will protect one another.

The only thing I didn't love was how Raphael talked about Gabriel, his brother. Gabriel is having reconstructive surgery on his face because of injuries that have left a lot of scarring and have an impact on his ability to open his mouth. Often Raphael would use words like "ruined," "monstrous" and "broken." I understand this is historical fiction but even so, I get tired of this. People aren't ruined because they have scars or a facial difference. They're not broken. I really, really wish authors would think before using this kind of language. The idea that Gabriel has to have surgery in order to be worthy of love is so troubling, and has actual consequences for people living with facial differences. I did take off a star for that, but other than this, I really enjoyed the book.

I wish I'd read the first two books in the series before reading this one, as they share characters and the stories are connected. Even so, reading this as a standalone worked well. I'll definitely pick up the rest of the series.