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

~ (Author) "Come at once, Gideon, the missive said..." (more)
Key Phrases: coaching accident, reading dress, own bloody fault, Miss Masters, Lord Lindsey, Gideon Cole (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Lily Masters has a gift for picking pockets and telling stories—skills that come in handy for surviving London’s slums. She’s proud of providing for herself and her lively young sister, Alice, and she’s never been caught. Well, there’s always a first time. Gideon Cole is a brilliant barrister with an unfortunate weakness for clients who can’t pay. His latest charitable misstep: buying the freedom of a daring, beautiful thief. To repay the debt, Lily agrees to his proposition: pose as the object of his desire and help him snare a wealthy bride. All he has to do is transform the impudent Lily into a diamond of the first water. But the education of Lily could cost Gideon his carefully planned future. While she plays cards with his invalid uncle and Alice charms the servants, the honorable Gideon is harboring less than honorable thoughts. For sweet, stubborn, and sensual Lily has a way of slipping past a gentleman’s defenses—especially when she’s stealing his heart!

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: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #353,663 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 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

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.

10 of 11 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

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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.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'A My Fair Lady'.. at it's finest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, March 19, 2005

By	Danielle DeBuono (Wheaton, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.