Julianna is an intelligent and witty person. Who is a daughter of a thief and is becoming a thief herself. Alasdair Sharp is handsome ,domineering and a complete mess in several occasions. Overall they are a prefect match . The secondary character were delightful. There were some parts that I did question like when she just had sex and was open to try new things right away just days before like in another persons house, who she is a complete stranger. I felt that it was a little rush . I recommend overall it was fun to read and it did have funny moments.

Julianna started a foundling home in a bad part of London with her father some time ago and it’s now in dire straits. She hasn’t kept up with the rent, spending what little money they had to buy things for the children, like food and clothing. Now the building has been sold and the new owner is demanding the back rent or they will be evicted. Julianna doesn’t want to ask her father and his new wife for the funds fearing that she’ll be told to stop working with the children (she doesn’t really know her new step-mother so she’s unsure of her reaction to Julianna working in such a bad area). She takes matters into her own hands and turns to thievery.

This may seem like it’s a bit far-fetched, but her father was a thief and she learned the art from him. Now that he’s married to a respectable woman he has stopped his thieving ways, but Julianna decides she’ll steal this one time to get the money she needs. She decides to steal the Stewart Pearl (a pearl that has been in the Stewart/Stuart family for years) – owned by the man who lives across the street. Unfortunately when she’s exiting his room with the pearl in hand, she’s caught by the man himself.

Alasdair Sharp is shocked when he realizes the thief trying to steal his pearl is a woman. He’s intrigued, however, and though he can’t see her properly he decides that he’ll make a bargain with her. He tells her that he’ll give her the pearl in the morning if she spends the night in his bed. Even though Julianna already has the pearl she agrees to the night in his bed. Imagine how shocked Alasdair is when he wakes up and the pearl and the girl are both gone.

Julianna hocks the pearl to a very disreputable man. Since the pearl is so well known, however, it’s her only choice. When Alasdair starts following her (along with his friends) trying to figure out what she’s done with the pearl, they get to know each other better. This causes Julianna to have second thoughts about pawning the pearl and now she’s determined to get it back. Of course the only way to do that is to steal it.

This was a book that I requested from NetGalley back in August of 2012. I remember trying to read it back then and at that time I just couldn’t get into it. I really liked Kane’s Brothers in Arms series, so I was surprised that this book wasn’t working for me. I decided to try again and while I got through the book it really didn’t work for me.

The first scene where Julianna is caught and given the bargain was ridiculous. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Alasdair finds a thief in his room and instead of calling the watch he starts running his finger around her face and collar bone? Really? I don’t think so. He asks why she wants to pearl and she says she needs it to pay the rent. When he sleeps with her he gets immediately attached and in his mind is making plans to go shopping with her in the morning and make this woman his mistress. WTF? He didn’t even know her name yet but he’s making plans for the future? (I mentioned this to Holly and she said he has Captain Save-a-Ho complex. LOL) I guess he thought that’s his version of compensation as he had no plans to give her the pearl.

The sex scene is one of the most humorous I’ve read in a while. Yes, she was a virgin and doesn’t tell him, so he thinks she’s experienced. He doesn’t move gently and when he discovers that he just took her virginity he wants to pull away but can’t make himself do it. She doesn’t want him to stop so she wraps her legs around him. What happens then you ask? Well, “he slid farther into her exquisite cavern.” Cavern? How big is it in there? Is there anything less sexy? Then he immediately thinks about how tight she is. Make up your mind! Alasdair’s disgruntled because he feels she lied to him about her experience but she never told him she was a virgin, right?. He says to her that he thought she wanted it and she says to him that she did, indeed, want it. He then asks her if she only slept with him to get the pearl – like that was really in question. Duh! She was stealing it, of course she wants the pearl you stupid man! He is then shocked and says something like you should have told me that you needed it that badly. What? I WAS STEALING YOUR FAMILY HEIRLOOM, YOU NUT! How badly did you think I needed it? I laughed through this whole scene because it was just sheer entertainment – absolutely nothing sexy about it.

Anyway, the story involves Alasdair trying to find out who the thief is so he goes to his friends. It is mentioned that these friends were Saint’s Devils. Being book 1 in a series I have no idea who or what those are. Is this a spin-off from another series? No idea and nothing was explained about it. The friends play a big roll in the book but it kind of felt like Sherlock Holmes and Watson.

Alasdair was angry for a large portion of the book and then he was claiming he was in love. I personally didn’t see anything that would have caused these two people to love each other except lust. Their characters never talked about who they were as people or got to know each other better. I just didn’t buy the HEA I was given.

Rating: 2 out of 5

This will post as a guest review on Book Binge.
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Unfortunately. I was unable to finish this book and have to put it on my DNR list.
I was unable to connect with the character and therefore unable to get invested in this story.
I hope in the future I might try to revisit this series.

It wasn’t enough that Julianna Harte turned out to be inept thief or that she was going after the most perfect pearl in the world. It certainly was more than annoying that she took Mr. Sharp at his word and thought he had given the Stewart Pearl to her as fulfillment of their carnal bargain. No, Julianna Harte turned out to be a highly intelligent and very complicated woman and one that managed slowly to drive Alasdair Sharpe to look at himself through a whole different set of inner lenses helped along, of course, by the Saint’s Devils, men who were closer than brothers, bound together by their shared childhood boyhood experience and connected more deeply than even blood brothers. In this first novel in a new series, the reader meets Mr. Alasdair Sharpe for the first time, along with several other gentlemen who have tasted of life’s finer things, loved many beautiful women, faced some dastardly and evil people, all the while managing to maintain a sense of honor, a clear-cut sense of right and wrong, and determination to use their life experiences to right some fairly substantial wrongs.
However, at the core of this story is the budding relationship between Miss Harte and Mr Sharpe–her need for money to support her foundling home, and his need to recover a priceless family heirloom. In addition to meeting the fascinating heroine who prefers to move through society and its events nearly invisible, the reader meets Alasdair and several of his bosom buddies, some unsavory characters who put Julianna’s life in danger, a young man who has been locked into crime before he was able to walk, and some members of society who turn out to be surprising support for Julianna’s charity efforts. It is a story that could easily get bogged down in the repartee between the men who make up The Saint’s Devils, but in this instance I think such passages are important to establish the nature of the relationship between these men, what binds them together, the depth of their regard for one another as friends and their bond to one another, and the character and persona of each of the men as a foundation for the coming novels that will tell their individual story. There are also the humorous, maddening, and very erotic encounters between Alasdair and Julianna, most of which end up with them falling into each other’s arms and not always because they are madly in love. Often their encounters are couched in angry and adversarial conversation. I think this novel also challenges readers to look beyond the obvious, to try to see people beyond the prejudices we all carry around with us much as society did to Julianna in judging her as plain, ar at the very least, easily dismissed when compared to the young women who were often styled as the Incomparables
This is a novel that once again reeks with Ms Kane’s unique style and her evident expertise, with her commitment to detail, with a story line and intensity that are uniquely her own. It is a love story first and foremost, but careful reading of this first novel will, I fully believe, set the stage for all the novels to come. It is a fine piece of writing and readers who love historical romance fiction will find here a book that begs to be read and enjoyed, feasting on the historical context of that time, and allowing the characters to impress with their view of their reality. So I recommend this novel and hope you will take the time and make the effort to enjoy and learn.
I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

It's always fun to read about jewel thieves, so Kane's twist on the main character being the *daughter* of a jewel thief was interesting. It worked.