Customer Reviews

To Love a Thief (Warner Forever)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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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.

I read this book, not knowing what to expect, I really enjoyed her first book...The Runaway Duke..and sometimes my expactations are high for the second book. Well, all I can say is that I was not disappointed. Ms. Long has another runaway hit on her hands. I found this story refreshing and funny. Gideon has his " Plan"...to marry Lady Constance, buy a townhouse and have a successfuly political career. All that is changed when he meets Lily, a pickpocket who he saves with his last 30 pounds. And then the fun begins, Gideon and his friend Kilmartin try to turn Lily into a lady to make Lady Constance jealous. But while teaching her he slowing falls in love with her. When Lily meets Gideon's Uncle Edward (who's always dying) she breathes new life into him. Kick back, grab a cup of coffee or soda and lose yourself in a enjoyable story that's laugh out loud funny. Plus you'll fall in love with Lily's younger sister Alice.

I thouroughly enjoyed this book and I don't say that too often. The author can WRITE! Her characters are well developed and you get to watch them fall in love BEFORE they hit the sheets. It was fun to watch the hero pursue the wrong woman for all the wrong reasons and then realize it. The secondary characters were also good. I highly recommend this author. I missed her first book but am going to go look for it and order it right now.

I like this book well but I was very dissapointed that the author just copied the two steamy escenes from this book and rewrote them in the book "what i did for a duke".

The books are well written and different but it was like not creativity at all when she just use the exact parragraphs from one book to another in one of the most important moment of the book.

Hello,

I just finished reading 'To Love a Thief' and I thouroughly enjoyed it! Ms. Long takes a classic storyline and adds her wonderful spin on it. There are possible spoilers in my review so caution!

Synopsis- The heroine Lily is a pickpocket and she takes care of her little sister Alice. The hero, Gideon is a barrister (yikes working man!) who is have aspirations of being upwardly mobile. That is, he wants to marry a moneyed title and be the man his father never was.

How does the pickpocket Lily fit in this? Well, Gideon , who has a soft streak, saves Lily from being carted off to Newgate (horrible prison)and in turn wants to use her to get his moneyed title (Lady Constance) jealous. The deal: He gets his heiress, and she pays off her debt and gets some compensation.

As fate would have it, they fall in love, and then Gideon has to make the decision as to what is more important- love or money.

Why do I like this book?
The interactions between the H/H was refreshing. There was no misunderstandings that went on for chapters.
The hero actually has to make the choice for what he wants, and for once he's not some rich titled lord.
They didn't have sex till the verrry end of the book, and I thought that was awesome. I actually felt them falling in love over the course of the novel.
Great supporting cast- Gideon's uncle who is always dying, the perfect Lady Constance, Gideon's loyal sidekick friend (can't remember his name
:( , but he was awesome!)
Very funny, I laughed out loud at many parts. I still snicker at the idea of reading dresses, tee hee hee.

I loved this book, definitely give it a try.

I'm going to have to track down everything Julie Anne Long writes, I'm beyond impressed. In this book she displays an exquisite gift for description and feeling - especially in quiet and introspective moments, in subtle and wordless exchanges between characters. So thoroughly real as to leave one breathless with the honest beauty of her words. At the same time, you'll probably laugh out loud as I did, repeatedly, because you cannot help but join the characters in the moment and FEEL their whole range of emotions as Ms. Long describes...from mirth, to annoyance, to awe.

Out of the multitude of books I have read in my life, songs I have heard, and movies I have watched in every genre, I have felt the need to copy down less than a dozen passages that I just needed to be able to "keep" because they touched me or appealed to me so strongly. This book contains one such passage. In this edition, it's on page 180. I will carry this passage with me for a lifetime. "Beautiful."

The publisher's description portraying this novel as a comedy is not false, but it's horribly inadequate. The value of this book is infinitely greater than the trite description.

I picked this new author (for me) on the strength of the reviews here, and so must thank everyone who raved about it for helping me find this definite "keeper"! What hooked me from the beginning, and kept me up reading way too late two nights in a row, was Long's ability to convey the emotional and physical tension developing between her characters. I despise when romance authors have their leads fall head over heels in love a quarter of the way through, and then complicate their lives to draw out the story. Long relies on a straightforward plot - lawyer who wants a better life cleaning up a pickpocket and using her to make his intended jealous - but takes her slow, sweet time building their relationship until I was agonizing for them both. Long does a masterful job of describing both characters thoughts and feelings - many authors are terrible at making their heroes feel real to the reader - and her descriptions of each touch, each glance, each spoken sentence are deeply embued with so much meaning that I felt I was right there with them. And even though I knew there had to be a happy ending for the pair, their moments of anguish and longing actually had me tearing up - and I can't remember the last book that made me cry (Bridges of Madison County, maybe?). I found myself very anxious for their hearts to be mended and all to be set right, and to me that is the sign of a great author - for a few short hours a day, I got completely caught up in the lives of her characters. Brava, Ms. Long, I look forward to more from you in the future.

Gideon Cole was a great talent and was making a name for himself as a barrister of some regard, hard working and vigilant he won most cases, unfortunately most of his clients were poor and unable to pay. While it certainly added to his reputation, it wasn't supporting his efforts in winning him the hand of the current reigning queen of the ton, Lady Constance Clare. With no title and little wealth his `master plan' to wed the wealthy daughter of a Marquis was running into roadblocks.

Lily Masters, also had a great talent - that of picking pockets and it was this talent that had her surviving the streets of St. Giles and able to provide for herself and her 10 year old sister Alice. She'd almost never been caught but that run of good luck was about to come to an end when she attempted to pick the pocket of Gideon. She escaped his clutches but a day later, it would be Gideon who came to her rescue and used his last 30 pounds to buy her freedom from a sure trip to Newgate prison.

Gideon offered Lily a proposition to repay her debt in posing as the cousin of his friend and pretending to be Gideon's new love interest. Gideon was hoping that Lily (who he'd noticed was ever so much more beautiful after she'd been cleaned up) would give Lady Constance a case of jealousy and make the way to his asking her to wed that much easier. Unfortunately, as Gideon molded Lily into her new role, Lily slipped under his hard shell exterior and found the caring and gentle man beneath that was just beginning to realize that his `master plan' had one great flaw in it - it hadn't allowed for a little thief to steal his heart.

*** With this latest novel by the author of RUNAWAY DUKE, Ms. Long proves that she is not a one-book wonder as she writes a totally charming and wholesome tale that will leave the reader sighing in great contentment. Her depiction of Lily, smart, strong and compassionate was brilliant and well quite literally, this `thief' will steal your heart. While Gideon kept up the pretense of wanting so much to triumph with his `master plan' the author softens your view of him with a deft hand that captures him in a perfectly poignant mood. I confess it brought tears to my eyes. In addition, she supports the story with a wonderful cast of secondary characters that will enchant the reader in this wonderful new entry. I highly recommend both this book and this author to be put on most romance lovers `auto-buy' lists.

--- Marilyn, for www.romancedesigns.com ---