New Review! The Kiss Thief by L.J. Shen 5 Cranky Stars

The Kiss Thief by L.J. Shen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5 Cranky Stars


Who’s afraid of the big bad Wolfe? Apparently, Arthur Rossi is enough to give his only daughter and the sole heir to his fortune to his greatest enemy like she was an asset. In the eyes of Arthur, she was just a pawn even if it was his own daughter.


Francesca Rossi was a mob princess. She was groomed from her childhood to be an obedient wife and baby maker. She wasn’t allowed to go to college or have a job nothing a woman in current society was allowed. She had accepted her fate and centuries old tales in a wooden box determined who she was to marry, and she assumed it would be her childhood friend Angelo Bandini who she harbored a crush on. It’s at a gala she meets Wolfe Keaton. An emotionally stunted man with revenge running through his veins. He stole something from her and that is how he became the kiss thief.The next day she was told she was going to marry Wolfe no questions asked. She raged and mourned her loss. She was going to give Wolfe a fight even if it meant her own comfort and wellbeing. What started as hate slowly grew into something much more.


Wolfe Keaton had a personal vendetta against Arthur Rossi and what better way to slowly dismantle his life and his empire was to take his daughter. He thought Francesca was a spoiled brat and was entirely way too young for him. She is 19 to his 30. He sets out to break her will and her spirit when he learns lurking under all that proper uptight upbringing, she’s in fact a girl with a spine. They butt heads at every turn they push they pull they fight and then they do what comes naturally. He slowly starts to let his walls down and almost when it’s too late.


I was really rooting for Wolfe. I mean I liked Angelo but I thought he wasn’t enough. He was a pushover and naïve. I’m sure in his own way he loved Frankie but it wasn’t like she needed. Francesca and Wolfe were a powder keg and when they ignited holy heck it could light a kindle on fire. I was on the edge of my seat a lot of this book with their constant bickering it was stressful, yet you wanted to know the outcome. When you get to the crux of why her family warred with Wolfe you were finally able to take a deep breath and it flowed from there. I like that they grew as the book progressed. Francesca may have been 19 but in ways she was worlds older and, in some ways, still very much a child. I always know L.J. Shen will take me for a ride and this one didn’t disappoint.

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