Jaymie

“The Kiss Thief” by L.J. Shen first made me think of it being a “Beauty and the Beast” retelling with it's the big bad senator taking away the helpless princess away from her uncaring father who would do anything to save himself, not his family. As a hopeless romantic, this book is every hopeless romantic's dream; the big dark, brooding bad boy may be hot, capturing our hearts (and our lust), but what every girl dreams of, that this type of guy shows he's really a loving person in his heart. This book captures that. It does have some red flags you don't really want in a relationship, but I do like how Shen makes the characters acknowledge that there are issues and they do need to fix those issues – especially after the characters realize and accept they do love each other. My only big issue is the age of the characters, mainly Franchesca. I am fine with characters being 11 years apart, but I prefer them to be at least 20. I get that the reader needs to understand that Franchesca is still considered a child, Especially compared to Wolfe, and seem very childlike. But as a person in my 20's, I feel like 20 still means people are lost and confused without the “teen” controversy. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this book. Some of it is on the cheesy side, makes any romantic story a little bit better in my opinion. A little bit of a love triangle that could've been delved into a bit deeper, but it does put more of an emphasis on Franchesca's and Wolfe's unexpected love. This book kept me entranced from start to finish.