Darcy Burke has done it again. She has created a fascinating story full of conspiracies, alluring characters and mysterious dealings. What I find compelling about the Secrets and Scandals series is that there is a fine line between what is right and what is wrong. Yes there is scheming and subterfuge, yet it is hard to identify the shady from the pure. The reason is because bad things are done by good people who feel they have no other choice. To Love a Thief falls into that category. In order to fully understand the circumstances the book has to be read in its entirety. This is one of those reads that lures you into revisiting the whole series. With bestsellers in contemporary and historical romance-Darcy Burke delivers quality driven, emotionally stimulating reads.

Title: To Love a Thief

Author: Darcy Burke

Genre: Novella, Victorian-England Era Historical Romance

Rating: 4 Stars

Description/Synopsis: To set things right, she has to be very wrong…

 

Former constable Daniel Carlyle hasn’t the foggiest notion how to be a viscount. No one is more shocked than he when his father’s second cousin and his son die on the same day. When a prominent earl offers to guide Daniel through Society and the House of Lords, he’s grateful to have a champion. Things seem to be falling into place when he meets a lovely young woman he intends to make his viscountess. Until he catches her stealing from his mentor.

 

The moment Jocelyn Renwick glimpses her family's stolen heirlooms in the possession of a wealthy earl, she demands their return. He dismissively insists they’ve been in his family for generations, and she privately vows to get them back at any cost. But the law-abiding Lord Carlyle foils her plans, and she reluctantly partners with him to solve the theft of her property. When they discover the earl is up to his ears in criminal acts, he threatens to link Daniel to his gang of thieves. Jocelyn must decide if justice for her family is worth risking a chance at love.

 

WARNING - SPOILERS MAY ENSUE BEYOND THIS POINT - REVIEW BELOW

 

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of Novellas. I don't like writing them, and I don't like reading them. Why? Because I want to get so engrossed in the stories I'm reading that I can flip through 400+ pages and still think it's too short. When a book really is short (200 pages or less) it feels like I've missed part of the story - not to mention novellas seem have a bad habit of being written in a very quick manner. Sometimes information is glossed over, there's tons of time jumps, or worse: the ending comes out of nowhere - quick and wrapped in a little sparkly bow. Man that irritates me.

 

That being said, I can assure you that when  a novella does cross my desk, 98% of the time it's a complete accident. Like this one.

 

Did I like this story? No. I loved it. This is one of the few novella's I've run across that was nicely paced, descriptive, took it's time with the characters, but still managed to work in a solid plot. I couldn't have asked for more. The general character premise was a little tired, I'll admit: it's the same old story of the nearly-shelved society darling meets the recently-appointed society prince, BUT I won't hold that against it. It doesn't bother me when stories have cliche ideas as long as I find the book engaging. As far as I'm concerned, it's like picking up an old favorite - a familiar plot - and seeing it reworked in a new way with unique characters.

 

A few things that did stick out at me though were (A) the fact that throwing all society-manners to the wind, the two main characters hooked up with very little thought to the fact that the female lead would be "ruined", as is generally the case in these sorts of novels. This bugs me a little, just because I've read a lot of Victorian-England era romance novels, and I know that this practice is generally frowned upon. That aside, it was only a minor twitch at the edge of my periphery because it showed the characters had passion for each other. Neither one of them was right in the thick of society (him being new to it and her being thrust off in a corner somewhere) so it didn't matter so much in their situation.

 

The other issue I had (B) was that the ending did wrap up a little too quickly for my tastes. After the main female lead (I'm sorry, I can't be bothered to look up their names, I finished reading this yesterday and it's been a long day) gets kidnapped and held hostage and several people have died... well, it cast a bit of a sour shadow to the ending. It was hard to be happy for the couple who were rushing into a marriage (though awwwwww... they luff each other) when they'd both just witnessed two murders and they were letting a criminal get away scot-free. It didn't feel very heroic, and to immediately follow it with a chapter where they were already married and living together... I don't know. I guess it felt like I'd missed the happy punchline somewhere in that mess.

 

Those things aside though, it was a great afternoon read, and a nice change of pace to read something so well-written. I needed a break from being inside Calliope Reaper-Jones' whiny, juvenile head.

Cat burglars, thieves, pickpockets, bank robbers, and safe crackers in Contemporary Romance...swift of hand, clever, fleet of feet, bold, and they look good in black. What is not to like? 

 

Here are some sexy Contemporary Thief Heroines and Heroes for your reading pleasure!

 

My list are never in any particular order. Who can pick a favorite? Not me. 

 

1. Midnight Pursuits by Elle Kennedy Juliet Mason Master Thief

2. Hot Ice by Cherry Adair Taylor Kincaid Jewel Thief

3. The Chocolate Thief  by Laura Florand Cade Corey, Chocolate Thief

4. Thief by Lily Harlem Kat  Car Thief

5. Trouble in High Heels  by Christina Dodd  Roberto, Jewel Thief

6. Flirting With Danger by Suzanne Enoch Samantha Jellicoe, Thief

7. Against the Dark by Carolyn Crane Angel Ramirez, Safecracker 

8. Sleepwalker by Karen Robards Jason Davis, Thief

9. To Love a Thief  by Merline Lovelace Henri Everard, the fastest pickpocket in Nice.

10. Catspaw by Anne Stuart John Patrick Blackheart, ex-cat-burglar

 

Did I miss your favorite? Let me know!

 

To vote for the best of the best, go to my Goodreads list: Burgle: Thieves in Contemporary Romance. 

 

To get Thief Romance recommendations from all types of Romance, visit my Pinterest Board: Stop: Thief! 

 

 

   I think I have whiplash! I was jerked in so many directions in Thief that I'm not even sure what way is up anymore. The will they or won't they was absolute torture right up until the very end. It was rather sad to watch Caleb deal with all the repercussions of his poor decisions. This book wasn't quite what I was expecting. I was thinking that all Caleb's dirty secrets were finally going to be put on display here, but instead it was just sad to see how much he was trying to fill the void that not having Olivia had left in his life for so many years. I really thought that he might have been more sinister than we were lead to believe at the beginning, but it seems that he was just more damaged than anything.

 

  "Maybe our souls touched underneath that tree. Maybe I decided to love her. Maybe love wasn't a choice. But when I looked at that women, I saw myself differently. And it wasn't in a good light. Not a thing would keep me from her. And that could make a person do things they never thought themselves capable of. What I felt for her scared the hell out of me. It was a consuming obsession."

 

 

   It was nice to finally get the remaining pieces to the puzzle, even if they weren't always what I was expecting. Leah and Olivia's interactions as always were pretty entertaining. I like the claws that Olivia has finally let out with her in the past two books. She used truth as a weapon against Leah, and it was a sharp one. This series was a rollercoaster ride for your emotions, and while it's exciting and there is a part of you that desperately doesn't want to stop riding the high, I am also content with the ending and the fact that the story is over. It ended quite perfectly for this bunch of characters. Nothing seemed out of place or unrealistic. 

 

I had surprisingly few 5 star reads this year.  I'm not sure that if that's because my standards are getting a little crazy for 5 star reads the more I read or what.  I tried to only include books that came out in 2013 also, but I threw in At Peace because I read it this year and even though it came out in 2011, I loved it enough that I've read it several times this year so I included it. So. My top books of this year. 

 

1. Ashes to Ashes by Karina Halle.  I've read the entire EIT series this year, but I only included the most recent one here. If you haven't read EIT, for whatever reason, you are missing out on something incredible. I can't really talk this series up enough. It has just the  right amount of horror, suspense, and romance.  Then you throw in Perry and Dex in with that, you hit the awesomeness jackpot.  Dex is my favorite male character ever. I guess I have a thing for douchebags with rapist mustaches and awesome taste in music.  Perry and I apparently share taste in guys. 

 

2. Rock and Roll Never Forgets by Barbara Stewart.  This was such a ridiculously poignant love story of Bethy and Andy, that it just about killed me from dehydration due to crying. I still haven't been able to read the rest of the books in the series. I started crying during the first chapter of the second book. I was a mess.  

 

3. Thief by Tarryn Fisher.  The ending of Caleb and Olivia's story.  This series was definitely full of questionable, hot messes of characters, but it was still amazing. It was a great ending to an already great series. It was maybe not as wonderful as I hoped it would be, but it was a fitting end. 

 

4. At Peace by Kristen Ashley.  Joe and Vi's book is my favorite of all of KA's books. I can't really pinpoint any specific reason as to why this is, other than Joe and Vi. I loved them apart and together. Joe maybe wasn't the best guy in the world to start out, but if you've ever read anything by KA, that's to bed expected. It's more the journey than the beginning.  I don't think anyone will ever unseat Joe as my number one KA alpha. 

 

5. Arsen by Mia Asher. This book is not the best book in the world. Cathy is actually a pretty shitty person.  I can't begin to profess my love for Ben either. So, it says something for me when I was completely and utterly enthralled with their and Arsen's story.  I'm currently doing my best to convince the author that she actually does want to write an Arsen spin-off. 

 

6. This Girl by Colleen Hoover.  This is another final book within a trilogy. And the only one from the alternate male POV (that has seemed to take over the genre) that I've actually liked. It was a slight continuation of Will and Lake's story, but more so Will's version of the happenings in Slammed and Point of Retreat.  I loved his views as much as Lake's, if not more. I honestly could just skip the first two and just have read this and would be content.

 

7.  World After by Susan Ee.  There was what felt like an exceptionally long wait between this book and Angelfall.  So much so that I started to doubt that this book was going to live up to the massive hype I was building up in my head after Angelfall.  Luckily for me and the world in general World After was freaking amazing.  And not just because of Pooky Bear.  If I thought the hype after Angelfall was bad, I don't know how I am going to handle the wait for book 3.  

 

So, there you go, even if having 7 is going to slowly drive me insane.  I have a ridiculous of 4 star reads this year, but these are the ones that really went above and beyond for various reasons for me. I'm hoping 2014 brings even more.