I have been moved to tears by Ava March in the past. I just wish she'd return to a longer format. The more time she takes to tell a story the better it is.

For some reason when I read books in a series like this, with each friend finding his mate, I feel like I have to choose my favorite. I think Ben and Cavin will probably remain my favorites, but Oscar and Julian were pretty great.

Oscar is the sweetest guy. He’s always smiling and happy. He’s spent a lot of his life alone, so his top priority is being social. He loves going out and being with people. The problem is that he’s filthy rich. People have a tendency to use him for his money, privilege, and status. He’s never minded very much because everyone got what they wanted. That is, until he met Julian. Julian came back to London with the intention of marrying himself into society. He wants to be part of the ton. He’s spent most of his life listening to whispers about his gambling father and being cut by his peers. He believes if he can find a wealthy wife, he can buy his way to happiness. When he meets Oscar he suspects he’s found someone who shares his attraction for the same sex. Soon he finds that Oscar might also be his ticket to getting in with society.

Julian can be a little difficult to like, at first. He’s so blinded by his plan to marry rich, he has a hard time seeing what’s right in front of him. Obviously, being with Oscar won’t fix his monetary problems. It takes a huge mistake and an enormous fight with Oscar to make him understand how important making it on his own is. I felt like that part of the story was a little rushed. One minute he was too worried about his reputation to think of Oscar’s feelings; the next minute he was flipping out about his relationship with Oscar and seeing the error of his ways. It was a little convenient. It actually took a little more time than that, but the book skips over that period of miserable waiting. A peek into that part of the story might have made the overall story a little stronger.

All in all, I really loved this book. It was almost as good as the last. This is possibly a little spoilery, but I really loved when Julian found out about Ben and Cavin. I’d been hoping all the guys would figure out they’re all gay. They’re all trying so hard to hide it that they’re even careful of speaking to each other about it. I definitely recommend this series to anyone who likes MM. Start with My True Love Gave to Me. I still haven’t read it, but that’s the prequel short.

Thief by Ava March 
Series: Brook Street #1 
Genre: Erotic Romance, Historical Romance, M/M Romance 
Published by Carina Press on March 19, 2012 
Format: eARC 
Pages: 125 
Source: Publisher 

*This book may be unsuitable for readers under 18 years of age due to one or more of the following: strong sexual content, language, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence. 

Gentleman meets bad boy thief in this sweet and scandalous historical romance!

Lord Benjamin Parker has struggled with his sexuality for years, wondering if a man will satisfy him more than any woman has. He decides to put an end to his curiosity one night and visits Clements, a gambling establishment of questionable repute. There he meets the handsome Cavin who wins him over with a sexy smile and flirtatious personality. As a thief, Cavin initially sees Benjamin as an opportunity to fill his pockets with a little money. Sparks fly between the two and soon Cavin and Benjamin share a night of passion that changes them forever.

I love a smexy M/M romance and Ava March delivered exactly that, ten times over with THIEF!

Benjamin and Cavin start off as a simple one night stand that turns into a sweet romance. They come from different worlds, Benjamin is a lord of wealth and privilege and Cavin lives in the darker streets of London with his band of thieves, but both men see past their social status and help each other become who they want to be. Cavin is comfortable in his skin and when he learns of Benjamin’s inexperience, he’s surprised and touched that Ben has chosen him to be his first, throwing his initial intention of stealing from him out the window. Ben’s first sexual encounter with Cavin is spectacularly written, equal parts sexy and sweet. It was extremely hot to watch these two come together (pun intended!) and quite believable, no smoke and mirrors here!

One of my favorite aspects of this book is the friendship between the two characters, there’s no insta-love (hurray!). Ben and Cavin’s personalities mesh perfectly well and while they are extremely attracted to each other they also share personal details with one another, building a solid friendship before the romance. There are some obstacles each must overcome before the HEA, especially Cavin. He doesn’t feel worthy of Benjamin’s love, which makes him somewhat of a tortured leading man, which I absolutely love. Their romance also brings a sense of self-worth for both Ben and Cavin that they’ve struggled with in the past. No matter how hard they tried to stay away, they managed to find a way back to each other. I couldn’t get enough of these two!

THIEF is a beautifully written story filled with sensuality, compassion and a sweet forbidden romance that will tug at your heart strings and have you in need of a cold shower…all in the same chapter! Benjamin and Cavin’s chemistry is off the charts and left me wanting more (thank goodness it’s part of a series). Ava March is a brilliant romance author who knows how to deliver a heartfelt story with compelling characters and just enough steam to keep you turning the pages! I’m an offical fan <3

The final story of the Brook Street Trilogy was a nice one -- "Thief" was still my favorite among the three though. It combined friends-to-lovers and only-for-you theme.

Basically depending on the misunderstanding of what each other's actually wanted out of their dalliance, I found it started to get repetitive in the middle. However, since it was the shortest among the three -- probably because Rob and Julian was already in some sort of 'friends with benefit" situation when the story started -- it didn't annoy me to the point where I would bitch about it.

I sort of expecting an epilogue with all the three couples though ...

Urgh, I didn't like this as much as book #1. I thought that Oscar Woodhaven was sweet and I sympathize for him -- his loneliness and how people just used him and befriended him for money. But I had more issues than my sympathy over Oscar.

My issues were four-fold: