The Kiss Thief by L.J. Shen on January 6, 2019
Pages: 320
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
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AMZ US
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They say your first kiss should be earned.
Mine was stolen by a devil in a masquerade mask under the black Chicago sky.
They say the vows you take on your wedding day are sacred.
Mine were broken before we left church.
They say your heart only beats for one man.
Mine split and bled for two rivals who fought for it until the bitter end.
I was promised to Angelo Bandini, the heir to one of the most powerful families in the Chicago Outfit.
Then taken by Senator Wolfe Keaton, who held my father’s sins over his head to force me into marriage.
They say that all great love stories have a happy ending.
I, Francesca Rossi, found myself erasing and rewriting mine until the very last chapter.
One kiss. Two men. Three lives. Entwined together.
And somewhere between these two men, I had to find my forever.
❝I am a rusty barbwire, twisted together, knotted into a ball of fear.❞
With characters that leap off the page, THE KISS THIEF was a fast-moving, slow-burn romance packed full of sexual tension and passion!
Francesca Rossi is royalty. Mafia royalty, yet a princess all the same. She went to the finest boarding school and was groomed to be respectful and honorable. She’s reluctantly accepted her role in her family, but at age 19, she’s willingly accepted the expectation to marry Angelo Bandini, the boy she’s loved her most of her life. Their union will secure their family’s position in The Outfit. Francesa’s father, Arthur Rossi was the head of The Outfit. He held very high expectations for his daughter and rarely saw her anything other than a pawn to advance or keep him at the top.
❝I was born into a gilded cage. It was spacious, but locked, nonetheless.❞
Senator Wolf Keaton is a man set on revenge. He is determined to destroy Arthur Rossi and The Outfit, piece by piece. It is when he finally sets eyes on the gorgeous Francesca Rossi, that his plans truly take fruition. Marrying Francesca would not only make him the husband of the sole heir to The Outfit, but doing so will steal Arthur Rossi’s only child. This power move will prove to bring Keaton more joy than he ever thought possible.
❝He was not my playmate. He was my monster.❞
This book had most things I love in a story:
- An alpha male hero with a chip on his shoulder and a tortured soul. One who’s out for revenge, and can’t find it himself to be nice to anyone, let alone the woman whom he has chosen to be his wife.
- A strong-willed, slightly naïve heroine, who not only has the kind of beauty that keeps men talking about her, but has one hell of a backbone too.
When you combine characters with these traits and throw them into an arranged marriage, sparks are bound to fly.
- Mafia books are my catnip. But because I love them, I have high expectations for them and am often disappointed. While the focus was about a senator intent on bringing down the mafia and not necessarily focused solely on a mafia storyline, I loved it all the same!
I get it. I totally get why L.J. Shen’s fans love her writing. I understand now. This is the second book by this author I’ve read and I wasn’t blown away by the first. But I kept reading my friend’s reviews for each release and read their glowing words on Twitter and Facebook, and I thought, “Hmmm … this must be a case of ‘It’s not you, it’s me.'” But I was assured by a few friends that THIS book would not disappoint, and it was a must read. So I waited for a free moment in my schedule and decided I would try to read an hour before bed each night. BAHAHA, yeah, that didn’t happen! Instead, I was up until 1 am most nights and read on my lunch break a few days. Four days later, I finished this incredibly well-written book that I believed has lived up to the hype!
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