Category: Gothic Historical

The Bachelor and the Bride by Sarah M. Eden

On By TracyIn Gothic Historical, Part of a Series, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Bachelor and the BrideThe Bachelor and the Bride by Sarah M. Eden

Tracy rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Dread Penny Society, #4

Release Date: September 6, 2022

In this installment of the Dread Penny Society, we learn that Dr. Barnabus Milligan has been keeping a rather large secret from his fellow DPS members. Barnabus who has been deemed a confirmed bachelor is actually married! This comes out when the members of the society were looking for answers regarding Resurrection Men working for the “Mastiff” and to the shock of everyone, Barnabus says his wife’s family are the Kincaids – London’s most notorious corpse snatchers. He hasn’t seen his wife Gemma in three years when she left because she was in love with him and he didn’t return her feelings.

When Gemma gets Barnabus’ letter asking her to come to the house, she thinks he has finally ready to make their marriage real and has realized that he does love her. She is more than a little hurt to learn that not only did he not tell anyone they were married, but he only contacted her because he needed information about her former occupation and her family. She offers the answers he seeks and asks to stay a bit, as she thought this was a reunion and not a visit, she gave up her lodgings and her job. Staying is dangerous for her heart and her person since it seems that her family is in need of her skills and is actively looking for her.

As they work together to thwart her uncles, Barnabus realizes his feelings for Gemma are deeper than he thought and he wonders if he can convince her to stay with him and give their marriage a chance. Unaware of Barnabus’ change of heart, Gemma makes plans of her own to free Barnabus of their marriage and convince her family that she is dead. But when the Mastiff warns “The Tempest is Coming” and Barnabus confesses his love and then unintentionally exposes Gemma to her family, their plans change and soon death will be the only way that can be together.

This installment is much like the previous stories which included two “penny dreadful” stories interwoven into the main story – for me, realizing this right away and remembering that reading the short stories as they appeared in the book kind of broke the flow of the main story for me, I skipped the dreadfuls and then read them after I finished the main story in the book. This book was once again very light on the romance, Gemma already loves him when the book starts and the story is primarily about the ongoing battle between the Mastiff and the DPS. So love scenes are little more than a few kisses. and there are no intimate scenes at all. This installment is filled with a lot of action, a lot of twists and turns, shocking revelations, familiar faces, death and near-death moments, and finally a HEA for Gemma and Barnabus. And if all that isn’t enough to tempt you – we finally learn who the Mastiff works for AND the real head of the DPS – one I had pretty much guessed, the other was a complete surprise 😊. This book is the fourth in the series, and could be read as a standalone title – but if you are planning on reading the entire series, I would strongly suggest reading the books in order. Overall, this was a very good read and I would happily recommend it.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*

Letter to a Duchess: A Duchess of Blackmoore Mystery by Nellie H. Steele

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Gothic Historical, Historical Mystery, Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

Letter to a Duchess: A Duchess of Blackmoore Mystery (Duchess of Blackmoore Mysteries Book 2)Barbara’s rating: 3.7 of 5 Stars
Series: A Duchess of Blackmoore Mysteries #2
Publication Date: 7/19/22
Period: Regency or Victorian (hard to tell)
Number of Pages: 365

This is the second book I’ve read by this author and I could have given each of them 5-stars except for the historical inaccuracies. The author teaches at a college, so I don’t understand why she couldn’t take the time to research something as simple as forms of address. I was jolted from the story each time someone addressed the Duke or Duchess as Duke (or Duchess) Blackmoore or worse yet introduces her as Mrs. Robert Fletcher. That is just so very wrong – and getting it correct would be so very easy. Even if it was correct, there was just so very much of it.

Lenora Hastings has had an unusual talent (or curse) her entire life. It has made her life miserable because nobody could deal with a child who could talk with the dead. Everyone left her, even the nuns at the convent couldn’t deal with it and turned her over to an orphanage. As an adult (barely) she married Robert Fletcher, the Duke of Blackmoore, and used her talent to solve the mystery of the death of Robert’s first wife.

The Duke’s ne’er do well brother, Edwin, has written Lenora a letter begging her to use her talent to get him out of trouble. He is in Glasgow and has been arrested for murder. He swears he didn’t do it and he believes all Lenora has to do is speak to the ghost of the murder victim and find out who really did do it. Nothing, of course, is ever that easy when one is speaking with the dead.

The Duke doesn’t want Lenora to have anything to do with his brother, but she convinces him to let her try. The main reason she believes Edwin is that her deceased friend Tillie insists he is innocent.

With uncommunicative ghosts, seedy locales, dangerous villains, and a worrywart husband, finding the true murderer isn’t easy. When there is another attack and they all come under suspicion, they know that they have to quickly find the real murderer. Will they all survive? Can they thwart the murderer and prove Edwin isn’t guilty? You’ll just have to read the book to see.

I enjoyed the mystery and thought it was well-plotted and well-delivered. Other than the forms of address, I thoroughly enjoyed the read. One thing that struck me as a bit humorous though – the ghosts kept coming to Lenora at night and sometimes literally pulling her from her bed. They lead her into the bowls of Glasgow – and always into trouble. Robert would rant – but – somehow it never occurred to him that he ought to sleep in the same bedroom so he’d know when she was dragged out into the night.

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