Review: The Innkeeper’s Daughter by Michelle Griep

I received this book via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

The Innkeeper's Daughter by Michelle Griep
Series: The Bow Street Runners #2
Published by Shiloh Run Press on 2018-03-01
Length: 322 pages
Reviewing eARC from Netgalley
Rating:
Reading Challenges: #NGEW2019, Beat the Backlist 2019

A London officer goes undercover to expose a plot against the Crown

Dover, England, 1808: Officer Alexander Moore goes undercover as a gambling gentleman to expose a high-stakes plot against the king—and he’s a master of disguise, for Johanna Langley believes him to be quite the rogue. . .until she can no longer fight against his unrelenting charm.

All Johanna wants is to keep the family inn afloat, but when the rent and the hearth payment are due at the same time, where will she find the extra funds? If she doesn’t come up with the money, there will be nowhere to go other than the workhouse—where she’ll be separated from her ailing mother and ten-year-old brother.

Alex desperately wants to help Johanna, especially when she confides in him, but his mission—finding and bringing to justice a traitor to the crown—must come first, or they could all end up dead.

The Innkeeper’s Daughter by Michelle Griep is the second book in The Bow Street Runners series and my favorite so far. Set a few years after the events of Brentwood’s Ward, this book follows runner Alexander Moore as he travels deep undercover to find a traitor to the crown and Johanna Langley a young woman trying to keep her family from being sent to the workhouse. Their story tore at my heart and kept me intrigued long after it finished.

Johanna is a tough one. She’s fiesty, determined, and bull headed. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and she will do whatever it takes to keep her family’s inn. Johanna can come off as cold at times, especially with her temper towards her brother. Underneath her callousness is a heart that cares too much. When a man who spells trouble comes to stay at the inn, paying in full ahead of time, she’s leery and thankful all at the same time. His money is welcome, how he came by that money though leaves her wondering.

Alex was first introduced in Brentwood’s Ward, and I liked him instantly. He’s loyal to a fault, but growing weary of his runner days. Although he’s ready to retire, a wife though isn’t in the picture. He’s not ready for that. When Ford (the magistrate) give him his assignment, he is excited for the challenge, though he would never admit that. However the young innkeeper’s daughter is not what he expected. Love never factored into his assignment, and blowing his cover isn’t an option.

The plot revolves really around two things: first the budding relationship between Alex and Johanna and second around the case Alex is working. The relationship is akin to insta-love, at least on Alex’s part. Johanna is leery of him as she doesn’t fully trust his reasoning for being at her inn. Though his interactions with Thomas (her brother) endear him to her. The case though is what really makes the pages fly by. There are so many twists and turns it left me guessing right to the end.

Overall The Innkeeper’s Daughter is a sweet, almost heart-aching read filled with mystery and intertwined with past. The historical elements of the novel are subtle but enough to allow the reader to be fully immersed in it. As this is touted as a Christian romance, I’d be remiss to not mention that. God is a central part of both characters and redemption, relying on Him are the big themes. If you enjoy sweet romance with a historical component, I highly recommend this one. While it is the second in the series, it can be read as a standalone with minimal spoiling of the first book.

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