The Merchant and the Rogue by Sarah M. Eden

 

The Merchant and the Rogue

Sarah’s historical romances are some of my favorites!

Let’s begin with the summary:

London, 1865

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’s 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.

And now, my review:

Oh, this series! Once again, I applaud the author for writing stories within these novels as she includes the Penny Dreadfuls written by her characters.

Our hero is an earnest member of the Dread Penny Society, as one of their authors and a sort of vigilante in town. He’s competent, and the others believe in him, but he's unaware of his own strengths. He’s also undercover, which means, he can’t tell the heroine he writes the books she loves so much. What a fun element!

Our heroine is a strong shopkeeper who longs for adventure and love. She’s loyal to her father and helpful to her community. And she doesn’t trust liars.

The hero comes across as lonely and kind, someone readers will root for. He has sacrificed a lot, been misunderstood, and faces more of the same—with all of its pain. We want to see him happy and repaid for all his losses.

As we follow their story, the author treats us to lilting language. Each secondary penny dreadful has its own unique voice as well.

I liked the hero’s savvy sister. There were nuggets of wisdom throughout the novel that I highlighted as I read. The tricks of speech and jargon were fascinating as well, like these: “I’d not pour rumor broth in your ear…” and “spill your budget.” (both from location 2340 of the ARC, which may vary from the final published version) You can almost hear the characters’ varied accents while you read.

I recommend beginning with the first book in this series, so readers are less lost in this unusual story world.