Review: The Gentleman and the Thief by Sarah M. Eden

The Gentleman and the Thief by Sarah M. Eden

Published by Shadow Mountain on November 2020
Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 368
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon Goodreads

3 Stars

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?

This is the second book in this clean romance series by Sarah M. Eden and while I loved her first book, this one was a little harder for me to get into.

Hollis should be a very interesting character, trying to make himself more useful to his friends in the society of underground writers who publish penny dreadfuls. Ana Newport is from a family who fell from grace and is secretly stealing her items back, the ones that she was forced to sell so her father didn’t spend time in prison. I like both of them okay, but there wasn’t a lot of chemistry between them for me. Alone, they’re both interesting and layered but together I just didn’t sense that spark.

The plot also stalls a little for me. Hollis is investigating some unsavory characters that may be involved with his brother, including the recent thefts. But this storyline doesn’t move very fast and I kept putting the book down to come back to it later.

Like her last book, there are fun stories of penny dreadfuls that are scattered through the book, authored by our fictional characters. I really enjoyed Mr. King’s story but the other one by Hollis didn’t intrigue me as much so I skipped over it.

Overall, I think it’s an okay sequel but didn’t really possess the magic of the first one for me. Will I read another one of her books? Of course! Eden is obviously a talented writer and while this second one wasn’t for me, the first one was still such an enjoyable read, I’m willing to give her another go.