I am still playing catch-up on books I read in December and still have not shared my thoughts about them with you. Today I am delighted to share my review for 76 Silver Street by Anna Shenton.

Let me show you what it is all about…

76 Silver Street – A Historical Romance: Set in the suburbs of Manchester: A gritty, scandalous story of courage, passion, love, loss, lies and sexual desire.

Imagine, how it feels, to be dumped on your aunt’s doorstep by your mother. Your aunt takes you in as if her own; goes without herself, to keep you warm and safe.

Nineteen years later, in the suburbs of Manchester 1905, you become house keeper, in the next town, for a handsome young man in hope of finding true love; but find yourself being subjected to his, and his mate’s drunken, coercive behaviour.
Then one day, your aunt calls for help from her hospital-bed, to take over her rundown boarding house before it goes bust.

Such is the plight of Rosa Brown. She owes it to her aunt to help in her hour of need and sneaks off out of town, escaping the sordid life she lives, without a word to anyone.

Met by Jack Howard on arrival, in Pembertown, Rosa’s heart plummets when her eyes meet with the dingy filthy place, and Jack’s devilish manner, who thinks she’s mad and has no intention of helping to get the place up and running before it goes bust.

Rosa is shocked when faced with all the ruffians and commoners knocking on the door and struggles to keep the roguish, rampant Jack Howard’s hands off her.

Sprucing the place up and filling it with respectful paying guests, proves harder than expected.

Now, filled with fear for her aunt, and her own wellbeing, will Rosa ever find the love of her life and be free from trouble?

The cover kind of sets the feel for this book, it has a sultry look to it. The story inside was wonderful and also quite a believable one. Rosa is given the chance to run her Aunt’s boarding house in Manchester. Rosa accepts this as it is a chance to move away from her past and get the chance to start anew.

When she first arrives at the boarding house she meets Jack, and let’s say that they don’t exactly hit it off. Jack has been running the place, but it seems to Rosa that running it down would be more appropriate. She soon gets to work to get everything up to standard, not something that goes down so well with Jack as this means more work for him.

This is a wonderful read and the author has packed quite a lot into this 120-page book. I liked the use of the local Manchester dialect, and there is a handy glossary at the back, though it makes sense in the context it is used. There are a couple of backstories for Rosa and Jack, and these for me added to their characters and gave a reason for how they reacted in the beginning. The author has added some wonderful descriptions of the rooms, and again these add to the general feeling and setting of the story.

I really liked the contrast between the characters, Rosa being more of a lady than Jack is used to and Jack is a through and through rogue, but he does have a bit of something about him that you just can’t help but warm to.

This story moves along at a brisk pace, and once I had picked it up I found that I could only put it down when I had finished it. It was a gripping story with fabulous characters. In fact, I would love to think that there would be a follow-up. A historical fiction and romance novel that I thoroughly enjoyed and would definitely recommend.

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx