Love can catch you red-handed.
He was her partner—both in crime and between the sheets. It’s been five years since professional thief Celeste St. Pierre laid eyes on Magnus Larsson. These days, she runs a Manhattan antique store, but her talent for stealing beautiful, shiny things hasn’t faded. And as a chance reunion over a locked safe proves, neither has the heat between her and the gorgeous, ice-cool Magnus.
For Magnus, only one thing beats the thrill of getting away with robbery—and that’s the woman he’s tried hard to forget. Their last job together ended in disaster. But if they’re going to honor their mentor’s last wishes to pull off the theft of the century, they’ll have to temporarily put their grudges behind them.
Crisscrossing Europe on a real-life treasure hunt, Celeste and Magnus quickly rediscover how well they work together. The higher the stakes, the hotter the sexual tension. But one slipup and it won’t be only jewels on the line, but a future that, just maybe, has been the ultimate prize all along…
Hellie’s Heeds
I had an advance reading copy (bound) and the pages kept falling out–which I could only surmise was from the level of steam and spice from the two main characters. This book is both emotionally introspective (and occasionally avoidant, at least at the beginning) while also being straightforward and frank (these two pull no punches when it comes to them on the mattress.) It’s a delicious mix of Ocean’s Eleven and Mr. & Mrs. Smith in its jewel-heist shenanigans and second chance lovers premise, but also very much its own story.
The characters are brought back together when a beloved mentor dies–and they reunite for what is essentially her memorial–and then are reunited for one last heist at the clever afterworld hands of said mentor. (Admittedly I kept hoping the mentor wasn’t actually dead, but she really is dead.) It was interesting to have two very different characters who got into stealing for very different reasons. Magnus comes from wealth–and doesn’t need the money. He simply does it for the thrill. Celeste, like her mentor, comes from more humble origins and has had to scrap for every bit of wealth she has. I was much more willing to root for Celeste–I could understand the motive–but it was very well-played how the author was able to get me to root for the privileged Magnus and why he was into stealing.
Rooting for thieves felt at times a bit weird–but Charish was able to make her characters flawed but very sympathetic. And of course there were lines (honor among thieves) that were not crossed. After all, stealing from rich people is one thing; killing people to do it is completely another. Despite my misgivings about a wholly satisfying happily-ever-after, I thought Charish did a fabulous job of making me believe these two would continue to be a couple much in love–and maybe, just maybe a bit reformed as well. In the meantime, Charish also set me up to fall in love with two of the secondary characters, Bea and Santi, and if they get a book where they go around stealing all sorts of things, I would read it in a heartbeat, but I was also happy with their little will-they-won’t-they side story they played in the book.
It’s a fun romp, sweetly emotional, and hot enough to take to the beach and enjoy the scorching love scenes.
Sounds like a fun story and an interesting concept. Thanks for the review. And the introduction to another new to me author. Y'all do seem to be building my TBR pile to be SO BIG.
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