To Love a Thief (Warner Forever) [Mass Market Paperback]

Julie Anne Long (Author)

Book Description

Series: Warner Forever | Publication Date: April 1, 2005

The acclaimed author of "The Runaway Duke" returns with this second Regency-era romance in which an impoverished pickpocket is transformed into a lady of high society by a brilliant barrister. Original.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Forever (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446614262
• ISBN-13: 978-0446614269
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #483,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

San Francisco Bay Area native Julie Anne Long set out to be a rock star when she grew up (and she has the guitars and fringed clothing stuffed in the back of her closet to prove it), but writing was always her first love. She began her academic career as a Journalism major, then realized Creative Writing was a better fit for her freewheeling imagination and overdeveloped sense of whimsy. Still, for years she worked by day in finance, software development, web & graphic design, and marketing and promotions...until the fateful day when playing guitar in dank, sticky clubs by night lost its "charm." Which is when she realized she could incorporate all the best things about being in a band--namely drama, passion and men with unruly hair--into novels, while indulging her love of history and research. Since then, her books have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Romance Writers of America Rita, Romantic Times Reviewer's choice, the Bookseller's Best and the Quills, and reviewers have been known to use words such as "dazzling," "brilliant" and "impossible to put down" to describe them. Her latest, WHAT I DID FOR A DUKE, was chosen as one of Amazon's Best Book of 2011.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fun historical romance, May 27, 2005

By 

Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: To Love a Thief (Warner Forever) (Mass Market Paperback)

TO LOVE A THIEF by Julie Anne Long
May 27, 2005

Amazon rating 4/5

In Julie Anne Long's TO LOVE A THIEF, Gideon Cole is trying to woo the woman of his dreams, but instead finds himself falling in love with a pickpocket.

Gideon is a barrister, but tends to take on cases in which clients do not have much money to pay him with. In order for Gideon to secure a title and wealth, he needs to marry up, and Constance, who is beautiful and wealthy, is his ticket. He isn't just after her money, however. He truly believes she's the right woman for him and he thinks he loves her. And since his Uncle Edward, who is supposedly on his deathbed, is to pass on his estate to Gideon, Gideon feels he should look good in Constance's eyes.

Lily is the pickpocket that Gideon saves from going to jail, and he makes a bargain with her. He and his best friend Laurie (Lord Kilmartin) will coach her until she is presentable in society, and with her help, he will win Constance's heart by making her jealous.

It's a variation on the Eliza Doolittle story, and for me it worked. I enjoyed the characters and their shenanigans as they (and Lily) fooled society. Lily becomes the toast of the town, and of course Gideon finds himself infatuated by her. Lily also finds herself falling for him, but both know that this is a romance that can never be, as they are from different worlds.

Lily's young sister Alice is also a charming addition to the story, and as usual a child in a historical romance makes for a welcome subplot. Lily and Alice are orphaned, and so it is Lily who is looking after her ten-year old sister. Lily makes her living as a pickpocket because there was no other way. But stepping into Gideon's world makes her own world look even worse, and she dreads the day she and Alice will have to return to it.

For those who enjoy regency romances, I recommend TO LOVE A THIEF. It's funny and charming and the author did a good job describing the world of Regency London. It was a definitely fun book to read.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A funny, touching, steamy and wholly entertaining Regency!, March 26, 2005

By 

Mama Starfish (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Love a Thief (Warner Forever) (Mass Market Paperback)

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Julie Anne Long! This book is a treasure! My husband teased me because I carried it everywhere around the house with me so I could read it whenever I had a free moment. He said it was the first book since we've been married that I didn't ask him if he knew where I'd left it because I never put it down! In my opinion it surpasses Long's first romance "The Runaway Duke", which was my favorite book of last year. Long outdoes herself and is proving to be a unique and talented new voice in Regency romance. She is a master at developing charming, unique characters that you remember long after you've read the last page. The "intimate" moments between her protagonists are tender while being heated and lush at the same time. Even her antagonists are interesting and sympathetic in their own way. Gentle humor pervades her work, and she is quickly becoming my favorite romance write. The heroine and hero in this book, Lily and Gideon, are two of my favorite literary characters in recent and far memory. And I can see Lady Constance so clearly in my mind's eye! Her character is painted so vividly by Long's words. I wish Long wasn't so new so that she had a body of work that I could dive into while I await her next book.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To Love a Thief Will Steal Your Heart, April 3, 2005

By 

Where's My Glasses? (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Love a Thief (Warner Forever) (Mass Market Paperback)

.
I wish I could reach every reader of this genre to share the news that regency romance has an exciting new author. What enchanting stories Julie Anne Long tells!

I was charmed to my toes by Ms. Long's first book, "The Runaway Duke", and now I have read her second, "To Love a Thief", straight through while dishes piled high. It's one thing to read a good book; however, savoring each and every page of a delicious book is as satisfying as - well - chocolate! "To Love a Thief" showcases the author's ability to engage her reader emotionally in a seamless gentle way. And she does it to you before you even realize it...

It takes a word master to sweep you away completely. Nora Roberts has reigned supreme in weaving tales that completely captivate the reader - NOW we also have Julie Anne Long.

*whispering*I won't be giving anything away by revealing one of the main characters is a thief, plain and simple. She was not a sophisticated thief but merely a struggling, "not-so-common" , street pick-pocket whose luck, for better and worse, was about to undergo a major change. In spite of her efforts to gallantly rise, ahem, SINK to the level her high-risk profession required, anyone could tell this was not a long term solution. Not only was the ceiling on earnings, promotion & benefits woefully inadequate, she was placing herself in grave danger. This irresistible pick-pocket needed a mega-hero FAST.

Oh my, and what a hero Julie Anne Long created for her. He was everything a hero should be plus even more - sigh - & such is Julie Anne Long's writing skills, the inevitable magic between the two keeps you turning the pages.

When you've read a great book, what you want to do and shouldn't do is tell all the "good parts". I will say that in this book, it ALL seemed to be good parts.

Supporting characters in the book are so appealing that, really, I wished this was at least a triology. Another about his best friend and another about her little sister, a true minx. And some of those street urchins - so much left to build upon.

A promise: "To Love A Thief" will steal your heart one word at a time leaving you yearning for more.