This book started off great and I was really enjoying it. However, the whole book changed when it suddenly became more of an erotica book. Very disappointing.

This novel is a combination of romance and heist style action. It has a really strong first half and had potential to be a really good story, however I felt that it slowly declined into pure smut and the actual plot being set to the side and it made me lose interest towards the end. I have nothing against this style but I would have preferred less smut and more action as the story had so much potential.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have torn opinions of this book. The cover and the synopsis is almost like clickbait. Our MFC is a thief from the slums of London and the MMC is a gentleman from the rich side of the tracks. He need her to urgently steal something that was stolen long ago (see the contradictions forming already). I thought this was going to be more historical mystery/heist story than all the lust and feelings, don't get me wrong I usually don't mind me some romance but this just seemed to take up too much space in the story and not enough heisting. More contractions- Della is told there are many rules to follow to able to fit in as a lady and has to learn them all but then when it comes to them as a couple, which would NEVER have happened or they would have been shunned out of London society in 1879, those rule just didn't matter. AND why put the "f" word in there it just didn't fit. While I liked the characters there were too many other hindrances that kept me from thoroughly enjoying this book, give me more heists!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this story in exchange for an honest review.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own opinions.

Reading the blurb I was expecting a pickpocket Eliza Doolittle, to practice her enunciation so she could pull a big heist. Allison Grey gave us a wonderful X-rated version and I'm here for it. The characters were likable and although I did end up skipping over some of the smut I am not unhappy I read this book.

Set in Victorian London this book is funny, exciting, romantic and surprisingly spicy. The story follows Della Rose an expert pickpocket.

Perfect for fans of Bridgerton who are looking for entry level or low end spice, with a compelling cast and interesting plot.

I was expecting a slightly different book based on the cover and marketing, and I hope it gets in the right hands! I prefer tons of pining and more closed doors in my regency romance, but I think many readers would love the frequent, relatively tame smut.

STORY: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
SMUT: 💦💦💦💦
SPICE: 🌶️🌶️

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for my free copy. These opportunities are my own.

I was really looking forward to this book based on the blurb but sadly getting into the story was really hard. I like the concept of people from different worlds but this went beyond a slight class difference that would shock people back then. Through reading this I found that it was not my preferred type of book and if it’s yours then by all means please give it a go. It has the bones to be wonderful for those who enjoy a kind of mystery romance that’s heavy on the romance. I wasn’t able to properly finish the second half.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I did enjoy this debut story, a very steamy romance, a mystery and two people from opposite sides of the tracks, what will happen when a very good pickpocket is asked to help a Lord regain some important letters?

Della Rose is known as Rosie Diver, the best pickpocket in Seven Dials, she has learnt in her life to not trust and to depend on herself, always, things change when she picks the wrong gentleman’s pocket to steal from.

Cole Winthrop, Earl of Bradford needs a clever smart female to help in his quest to retrieve some important papers stolen from The Home Office of England, these hold secrets that his father worked hard to get and could put a lot of people in danger, he has been watching Della Rose and is about to offer her a lot of money to become his off-sider.

Della excepts the offer reluctantly only because she knows that it will get her and her best friend Violet a new life, but to do so she must learn to be a proper lady, that means horse riding, playing the piano, talks and flirt because she needs to get close to The Duke of Salisbury.

Cole and Della get along well but it is not long before they cannot deny the pull they share and soon as well as danger building to retrieve the letters but it appears they are falling in love.

I did really like Della, she is feisty and strong and stands her ground and Cole is strong and caring and they make a really good team, I do recommend this one to any reader who enjoys a very steamy historical romance.

My thanks to the publisher, Storm and Netgalley for my digital copy to read and review.

As the blurb and cover suggest, I expected espionage and a cosy mystery with romantic elements. However, whilst there are elements of espionage and intrigue, the book centres on the sensual romance between Della and Cole, making this more romance than a cosy mystery. I like the characters; they are believably complex, and Della and Cole are likeable. The historical setting is evocative, but I wanted more details on Cole's life as a spy. The story should appeal to those who enjoy sensual romance with a twist of espionage.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book. Initially, I found the storyline interesting and I liked Rosie Diver. Her story of life as a pickpocket in Seven Dials was well written. Cole Bradford was also interesting when he tried to offer a way out of poverty to Rosie. However, I felt the story lost its way once it became all about the personal relationship between them, the sex.
No not a book I would recommend. I skipped much of the latter half to discover if the mission was successful.

"Sometimes we can't help who we love."

Love is the last thing on the mind of pick pocket expert Della Rose when she aims her talents on the pocket watch of the handsome Cole Winthrop. What she doesn't know is he's been watching her watch him the whole night. So begins the really enjoyable Regency romantic heist romp The Lady Thief Of Belgravia by prolific author Allison Grey.

Cole allows Della to steal his watch, with a bit of difficulty, to see how good she really is because he's very much in need of a thief. Once introductions are made Cole offers Della a great deal of money so she won't have to steal again if she can retrieve what was stolen from him by the notorious Duke of Salisbury.

The catch? Well it's a bit of a My Fair Lady scenario. He needs to train her to speak as an educated up scale lady. She must learn dances to attend the balls where they will "meet" the Duke. She will be taught the piano, to ride horses and be a Lady worthy of the Duke's attention and earn his trust. The hardest thing she will learn is hiding her growing attraction to Cole.

Reading and listening to voice actress Katy Sobey in her rich British accent do so many different dialects was so fun, not to mention her quick tone changes to some of the very spicy steamy love scenes that you must have earplugs in if listening in public.

This mash up of My Fair Lady and Bridgerton with a bit of Austin Powers is just a delight. Oh what is Della stealing back for Cole? Well suffice to say the pressure of the safety of the Queen and countrymen are at risk as is Cole's life and it all rests in the hands of, as Cole says, "the thief who stole my heart."

I received a free copy of this book/audiobook from the publishers via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis
When the dreamy Lord Winthrop hires pickpocket Della Rose to help him steal back stolen documents from an unscrupulous the Duke of Salisbury, his heart is stolen along with his pocket watch.

My Overall Thoughts
I fell for the pretty cover and the well-written blurb. I was expecting a mysterious adventure with a fun, quirky heroine with a bit of light romance thrown in. I don’t mind a little spice in my reading but this was never-ending smut with a little adventure thrown in. With this premise, it could have been really good, but the author’s focus was just not on the mystery.

What I Didn't Love
I could have done without the 80-or-so pages of sex scenes. I wanted to be in Della’s head a lot more, but that was not what she was thinking with for most of this book. She would have been much more interesting if Cole Winthrop was not in the picture.

Potentially Offensive Content
-Smut . . . lots of smut . . . in great detail

What I Loved
I really liked the characters, at least what I got to know of them. The plot was interesting. I would have loved more time spent of the details of the heist because it was really quite fun to read about.

The writing of this book was just not for me at all. It’s not necessary bad but just so repetitive and trying to write in like 1800s English but also modern?? I can’t.

Thank you Netgalley and Storm Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a fun book! I loved all of the characters and their storylines. Sometimes in romances, it feels like the romance comes out of nowhere but theirs really grew as the story progressed. The author also did a fantastic job of describing the setting and I could really imagine all of the scenes. So glad I came across this book.

Fairly predictable mystery, but it was still a good read that I enjoyed. I only thought it was predictable because I solved the mystery before the characters did.

i don’t have anything very positive or negative to say about this to be honest. i didn’t have to force myself to finish it but it’s not anything groundbreaking or amazing. had it been written in the 1800s, it would’ve been an amazing class commentary. the romance was fine is suppose but i wished we had gotten even more of the thievery aspect. that’s one thing i liked about della rose, although she seemed a little bit like a kleptomaniac at times. the earl was fine i guess, i don’t have anything against him. my only (small) issue is the whole conflict about them not being able to marry if society thinks they’re cousins… it’s 1879 (?)… cousins getting married was normal😭. the modern la gauge threw me off a bit but it was still readable in the end. 3.25⭐️

Della Rose is a pickpocket from the slums of Seven Dials - shrewd and quick. A chance encounter with the Earl of Bradford, Cole Winthrop, results in a proposition that would result in Della being set up for life, if she can pull it off: break into the Duke of Salisbury's safe and steal papers of the highest importance.

Della is a realist - out for whatever she can get in life, in order to better herself and pulls no punches in her speech or her actions. Cole, on the other hand, is a spy for the British Home Office, and full of smouldering looks and "golden/amber eyes". The Duke is the stereotypical rich bad guy who feels untouchable. The side characters were practically non-existent.

I really wanted to like this one - a historical heist novel along the lines of My Fair Lady meets James Bond meets Enola Holmes meets Jane Austen (yes, I know Recency != Victorian era!), would have been awesome, but after a strong first half (with the occasional hint of romantic longing) this spiralled very quickly into historical smut with graphic sex scenes and the actual plot being a vague side note. The actual climax of the story (the heist and the aftermath) was completely oversahdowed by multiple chapters of graphic sex that felt anachronistic to the time period (and status of the Earl) and made me lose interest.

I would have given this a much higher rating for a "clean" version - there was so much that could have been included: backstories, the Duke's shady dealings, a new career for Della as a lady spy, *detail* about the heist, and so on.

This could have been a really good, rollicking story, but it felt a bit like a bait and switch the way the tone shifted, and I feel the blurb wasn't accurate when it described the book as "irresistible charm, sparkling romance and an unforgettable heroine".

As a general note, (not just about this book) - If a book is going to be a smut book or have graphic sex scenes, it is up to the publisher to be honest and up front about it. Don't bait and switch us. Nothing about The Lady Thief of Belgravia - not the cover, not the blurb, not the entire first half - indicated that it was going to include graphic content. It's a disappointing trend I am seeing more and more.

~ Many thanks to NetGalley for a copy op this book in exchange for an honest review~
(edited for typos)

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

The Lady Thief of Belgravia follows notorious thief Della Rose, who is hired by Cole Winthrop to pose as his sister and help him steal back something that was stolen from him.

This was a decently solid historical romance. There was less intrigue regarding the thievery and trickery plots than what I'd hope for, but I think the book made up for it with a swoon-worthy romance plotline. It was quite a quick read, too, which I always love with stories like this as I can zoom through them in one cozy afternoon. Though I was a little let down based on my expectation from the premise, overall I did enjoy myself with this read, and I thought it was a solid debut.

3.5 stars.

This was a fun historical romance. I always like it when my historicals have some action added in to their plots so I enjoyed the heist/spy aspect of the plot. I liked our main couple together but do wish it had been a little bit more of a slow burn than it was. The steamy scenes in this one were well written but I do wish there were fewer just because I felt like some of that page time could have better been used either bolstering the heist plot or spending a little bit more time developing the romance side of their relationship.

The beautiful cover and the catchy title caught my eye.
I was expecting more of a regency spy mystery with a cute romance but it didn't really materialise. There are shades of My Fair Lady but I couldn't quite believe she was being made to learn the piano in order to pass herself off as accomplished at tonnish events.
All she had to do was steal a few papers I couldn't believe that the Home Office couldn't have dealt with that themselves without bringing in a criminal to help them. Everything she goes to do is accomplished straight away and she has no trouble stealing, making a mould of a key and replacing said key around the duke's neck all without him noticing. This just made him look dumb and not much of a villain to worry about.
I've seen a few reviewers complain that Della uses the F word a lot and that it wasn't used back then. It has actually been around for centuries and came into common usage in the 18th and 19th centuries.
I however, winced at the use of fall instead of autumn.
There are scenes upon scenes of sex so if you are into that you will be happy. Maybe a naked character on the front of the novel would give readers a better idea of what to expect.
The final few chapters where there is a lot of tense drama and action saved the blah storyline but I was still glad to see the end of this book.