Product Details
- Title: The Bachelor and the Bride
- Author: Sarah M. Eden
- Series: The Dread Penny Society #4
- Genre: Victorian Historical Romance, Proper Romance
- Publisher : Shadow Mountain (September 6, 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 368 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1639930485
***I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own***
”Centers on a heroine’s unrequited love with lots of twists and turns.” ―Library Journal
London, 1866
Dr. Barnabus Milligan has always felt called to help people, whether that means setting a broken bone or rescuing the impoverished women of London from their desperate lives on the streets as part of his work with the Dread Penny Society.
Three years ago, he helped rescue Gemma Kincaid by secretly marrying her to protect her from her family of notorious grave robbers.
But six months after Gemma and Barnabus exchanged vows, she realized her love for her new husband was unrequited. To protect her heart, she left, telling Barnabus to contact her if his feelings for her ever grew beyond a sense of duty.
When Barnabus sends a letter to Gemma inviting her to return home, she hopes to find a true connection between them. But unfortunately, he only wants her help to foil the Kincaids, who have been terrorizing the boroughs of London, eager to gain both money and power.
Heartbroken, Gemma agrees to help, but she warns Barnabus that she will not stay for long, and once she goes, he'll never see her again.
Yet as the couple follows the clues that seem to connect the Kincaids to the Mastiff, the leader of London's criminal network, Gemma and Barnabus realize they might make a better match than either of them suspected. Perhaps the marriage that had once saved Gemma's life might now save Barnabus―and his lonely heart.
But before the once-confirmed bachelor can properly court his secret bride, they'll need to evade the dangerous forces that are drawing ever closer to the hopeful lovers and the entire Dread Penny Society itself.
My Review
I loved reading this fourth book in The Dread Penny Society Series called, The Bachelor and the Bride. Gemma Kinkaid and Dr. Barnabus Milligan were the perfect couple even though they didn't know it. Even though they had been married for three years, theirs had been a marriage of convenience. It's always fun to see how clueless they are to how much they love their significant other until others point it out.
In this book, there is a lot of action that kept the story moving at an accelerated pace. I appreciate that all of the characters we've grown to love and care about in the first three books were also in this novel. Fletcher is still front and center leading the DPS and Brogan and Vera Donnelly are again highly involved in things. Readers can also expect to read two new Penny Dreadfuls that I enjoyed very much.
This series has been a fun one. It's had some of the most unique and colorful characters. I've loved how the series has been built and the plot thickened book after book. Many things culminate in The Bachelor and the Bride. The ending and the BIG reveals were surprising and I honestly didn't see them coming. Maybe others can guess better than me but I enjoyed being shocked at the conclusion. Of course, thankfully there is more to come. I truly didn't want this series to end. As always, I recommend reading this series in the order in which they were written, otherwise, things may be so confusing. So, I say to everyone who reads my reviews, that Sarah M. Eden is one of the finest series writers and you need to dive into The Dread Penny Society books.
*****Meet Author Sarah M. Eden*****
Sarah
M. Eden is a USA Today best-selling author of witty and charming
historical romances, including 2020’s Foreword Reviews INDIE Awards Gold
Winner for Romance, Forget Me Not, and 2020 Holt Medallion finalist, Healing Hearts.
She is a two-time “Best of State” Gold Medal winner for fiction and a
three-time Whitney Award winner. Combining her obsession with history
and her affinity for tender love stories, Sarah loves crafting deep
characters and heartfelt romances set against rich historical backdrops.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in research and happily spends hours
perusing the reference shelves of her local library.
Sarah is represented by Pam Pho at D4EO Literary Agency.
Awards & Recognitions
Seeking Persephone, 2008 Whitney Award finalist, Romance
Courting Miss Lancaster, 2010 Whitney Award finalist, Romance
Longing for Home, 2013 Foreword Reviews IndieFab “Book of the Year” Gold Medalist, Romance
Longing for Home, 2013 AML winner “Novel of the Year”
Longing for Home, 2013 Whitney Award finalist, Romance
Longing for Home: Hope Springs, 2014 Whitney Award winner, "Best Novel of the Year"
Longing for Home: Hope Springs, 2014 Whitney Award winner, "Best Romance"
Longing for Home: Hope Springs, 2014 Foreword Reviews INDIE Award finalist
The Sheriffs of Savage Wells, 2016 Foreword Reviews INDIE Award finalist
The Sheriffs of Savage Wells, 2016 Whitney Award finalist
Sarah M. Eden, 2017 Best of State, Gold Medal winner, Fiction
Love Remains, 2017 Whitney Award winner, “Best Romance”
Sarah M. Eden, 2018 Best of State, Gold Medal winner, Short Story
Ashes on the Moor, 2018 Foreword Reviews INDIE Award, Silver Medalist, Romance
The Heart of a Vicar, 2019 Foreword Reviews INDIE Award finalist
The Lady and the Highwayman, 2019 Foreword Reviews INDIE Award, Gold Medalist, Romance
Healing Hearts, 2019 Holt Medallion finalist
Forget Me Not, 2020 Whitney Award finalist
The Gentleman and the Thief, 2020 Foreword Reviews INDIE Award finalist
Forget Me Not, 2020 Foreword Reviews INDIE Award, Gold Medalist, Romance
The Bachelor and the Bride
HERE:
Paperback-https://amzn.to/3ASOj78
Kindle-https://amzn.to/3TpgnpF
Sarah M. Eden Upcoming Events and Appearances:
Friday, September 2
6-9 PM MDT
Provo City Library
(Tickets Required)
***************
Saturday, September 3
1-3 PM MDT
Deseret Book – Logan, UT
*****************
Monday, September 5
4-6 PM MDT
Deseret Book – Boise, ID
******************
Tuesday, September 6 (Release Day!!!)
5-7 PM MDT
Deseret Book – Idaho Falls, ID
*******************
Thursday, September 8
5-7 PM MDT
Deseret Book – St. George, UT
*******************
Friday, September 9
6-8 PM MST
Deseret Book – Mesa, AZ
******************
Saturday, September 10
1-3 PM MST
Deseret Book – Phoenix, AZ
*********************
~*~*~*~Excerpt From The Bachelor and the Bride~*~*~*~
Chapter 2
For three years, Gemma Milligan had sent a letter every few months to her one-time home in the Finsbury area of London, updating her husband-in-name-only on her whereabouts. He’d sent very few responses, none of which requested her to return. She’d told him before
leaving that he needn’t send for her unless he’d come to feel something more than a vague friendship for her. Absence was meant to make the heart fonder, she’d been told. After three
years, she’d accepted that some people couldn’t be absent enough to make any heart fond of them.
She currently laid her head in Wandsworth, a rough area of London south of Thames. She worked what odd jobs she could find. None of it would make her wealthy, that was for sure and certain. But she weren’t starving, and she’d not needed to crawl back to her horrid father for a roof over her head. She couldn’t have anyway. The man was dead, and good riddance.
Upon returning from a long day selling flowers on street corners, Gemma was met by her landlady, who tossed her a neatly folded letter addressed to Gemma. She recognized the handwriting and nearly dropped at the shock of it.
“Can’t remember you ever getting a letter,” Mrs. Woods said, watching her with all-consuming curiosity. “Hope it ain’t bad news.” On the contrary, the woman seemed to hope it were exactly that.
“Ain’t got the first idea what it is.” Gemma dropped it in her coat pocket. “I’d twig it’s some job coming my way. Been hoping to leave off the flower selling.”
On that Banbury tale, Gemma trudged up the tenement stairs toward the tiny, single-room flat she’d called her own for nearly half a year, which was a fair-sight longer than she usually kept to any one place. Her family’s reputation had, miraculously, not caught up with her here. Yet.
She unlocked her door and stepped into the darkness that awaited her. The hour weren’t overly late, but dusk came early in the winter. She hung her coat on the nail on the wall next to the door. With a flick of a Lucifer match, she lit a stump of a candle. She carried it and her letter to the kerosene lantern on the table and lit it. That was as bright as the space ever grew.
Gemma dropped her weary body onto her only chair. She broke the seal on her bit of mail and unfolded it under the spill of lantern light.
Gemma,
I am in particular need of seeing you. I realize
Wandsworth is not an easy distance from Finsbury,
but I hope you will be able to make the journey
sooner rather than later. I am still at the same house
and can be found there most of the time. If you choose
to come—and I do hope you will—and I am out, the
keys have not been changed. Let yourself in. Make
yourself at home.
Yours, etc.
Barnabus
It was not precisely a declaration of love and devotion, but considering the agreement between them, it was nearly that. She’d waited years to hear anything from him other than “Received your letter. Hope all is well.” He’d written so much more this time. He wished her to come home and not at a shambling pace. It was what she’d waited three years to hear from him. Three long and lonely years.
Make yourself at home.
Home.
Pleased as pudding, Gemma packed her few belongings into her well-worn carpetbag. She’d dragged herself so many places she hardly had to think about the ins and outs of it. Perhaps it was telling that she wouldn’t miss this place or the people she’d come to know. If there was one thing Gemma was a dab hand at, it was moving along. Only once had leaving a place broken her heart. But now she was returning to that very place and the man who lived there. A man she adored to the depths of her soul. A man whose heart had grown tender toward her.
At last.
At long last
