Thanks to Stormy publishing for this ARC! A propulsive and steamy read, with a look into two very different worlds in Victorian London. I loved Della’s character and found her to be feisty, sharp, and compelling. The plot is fast-paced and gripping. The sex scenes are definitely open-door and frequent in the back 9, but the relationship between Della and Cole is lovely. Satisfying conclusion and overall lots of fun!

Narration at 2x speed was easy to listen to and posed no problems.

Lord Bradford chooses pickpocket Della Winthrop from a crowd--needing her to help him pull off a theft of epic proportions. Streetwise Della, who grew up in an orphanage and now lives in a brothel, doesn't have the background to pull off being a member of upper class society, but Cole Bradford doesn't care. Instead, he invests in a range of friends to help her learn to play piano, ride a horse, dress appropriately, and speak eloquently enough to fool everyone around them--and offers Della enough money to start a new life for helping him.

Della & Cole's love story seemed pretty heavy handed from the start. The unbelievability of Della fully learning every nuance of high society--and tricking everyone in her path--irked me, especially since so many people already seemed to know Cole's "secret" background. The "mystery" fell aside to the romance angle, and the ability of Della to enamor every person was also a bit far fetched. The story seemed to struggle to keep up interest, so some moments drug on, but still stayed on course to finish neatly.

Overall: 3 stars (I liked it, but it wasn't the best)

I'll tell my students about: language, sex, violence, alcohol, parent death (past tense)

**Thank you to Dreamscape Select, Storm Publishing for the free ALC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

Della Rose is a pickpocket, Cole Winthrop is the Earl of Bradford
Total opposites in need of each other. He needs a thief, she needs money.
#HireATheif She's in it for the biscuit! but falls for the gravy!
I will defiantly recommend this book to my bridgerton & romcom lovers!

Thank you to NetGalley & Storm Publishing for the ARC of this audio book for an honest review!

The Lady Thief of Belgravia
By: Allison Grey
Narrated by: Katy Sobey
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Release date: 01-18-24

I will not be sharing this review on social media sites or in my regular blog because as a writer, I maintain a policy of sharing only positive reviews. I could not wait to finish this book. I found--and I cannot tell you why, even as I have pondered this--myself totally indifferent to the fate of the characters. But more importantly, I found so many plot details to be totally ridiculous that I quickly began increasing the playback feed just so I could reach the end. A woman picked from the streets turns out to be so great a self-taught scholar that she has read the Greek classics. She has never touched a piano, but within two weeks is able to play "Fur Elise" and Shubert's "Serenade." (I'm a piano teacher as well as a writer. NOT POSSIBLE!) She's terrified of horses, but again, within a few short weeks, she's able to ride freely around London. But above all, she's a master thief who can steal just about anything from anyone without ever being caught. AND she's beautiful (of course)--so beautiful that Winthrop, who hires her for a convoluted reason involving his father's honor, is unable to resist her and ultimately (SPOILER ALERT!) gives up his career to stay with her. And then, of course, there was a least one instance of misused pronouns: "with Cole and I" and/or "to Cole and I." BLEH.

Genre: historical romance
London, 1879

Della Rose is a pickpocket - the best in Seven Dials. Cole Winthrop, Earl of Bradford, needs a thief to steal back some critical and sensitive encoded documents from the Duke of Salisbury. His plan is to train Della to be a lady and have her catch the eye of Salisbury. Cole’s life passion is to be as good a spy as his father was. His title and all its trappings are really a second thought to him. Even as Della is a quick study, they are running out of time before Salisbury will be able to crack the cipher on the documents. And Cole finds Della fascinating and intelligent, and isn’t far from falling head over heels for the thief who may be stealing his heart.

A little bit of mystery in a class difference/glow-up historical romance. The Lady Thief of Belgravia is well-grounded in the canon of historical romance, without trying to do too many new or different things. Della has dreams of leaving her pickpocketing behind to become a scholar, now that she’s learned that some universities will admit women to read, if not get degrees. The only thing I found unbelievable about that is the amount of time it would have taken for her to become versed in the classics she seems to love while also fighting for her survival on the streets. She’s also maybe a little too quick of a study in becoming a lady and losing her accent, but I was willing to suspend that disbelief for romance reasons.

The primary relationship conflict is the class difference, which gives the narrative a ring of honesty. Class difference romances are always hard to navigate, especially when the difference is literal worlds between an Earl and a pickpocket from the rookery. This book isn’t revolutionary, but was a pleasant read.

The audiobook narration from Katy Sobey was enjoyable. (As an aside, it’s weird to hear valet pronounced with a soft “t” rather than the harder “t” I’m used to.) For me personally, this would have been a little better read with my eyes, not because of the narration itself but because the middle of the audiobook dragged and I naturally speed through those parts in print.

Ultimately this was an innocuous open door historical romance. I was delighted that while it isn’t over-the-top spicy, that since we have a slightly older (24) more experienced heroine that they feel comfortable committing to a physical relationship earlier in the book.

Really enjoyed the story as it was brought to life by the narrator. It gave me vibes of My Fair Lady, but without some of the cringiness I always got from Professor Higgins. I enjoyed getting to know Della and Cole and watch them learn from each other.

Yet another book whose content is seriously misrepresented by the publishers summary. Sigh.

I was excited to read this, as a female Victorian thief getting mixed up in some light spy craft sounds like a great premise for a novel. I was expecting a sort of adventurous period piece crossed with a RomCom.

Alas, there’s very little actual thieving and adventure in this one, and the tone is largely dominated by lengthy, cringey, and very open door smutty romance.

I have no issue with a genre like this existing for those who enjoy it or with the inclusion of the occasional open door sex scene being present in books that occupy other genres. But I don’t like being misled, and it’s especially disappointing because the concept here (or at least the alleged concept according to the publishers summary) was a good one. I love the idea of a clever, light historical heist novel with a cute love story on the side.

But what happened here wasn’t that. We don’t ever really here how the protagonist plies her trade. The actual theft at the center of the novel feels like an afterthought in the end. And the schlocky romance that takes over the story seriously damaged the quality of what could have been a fun read.

What a debut! This audiobook is AMAZING! Narrator Katy Sobey does a phenomenal job with all the accents, character voices and keeping the listener immersed in the story. Espionage and adventure mixed with a blazing hot star-crossed romance. I hated having to turn it off and go to work. If this is Grey's first book, I'm more than excited to see what comes next! She has set the bar high.

The gorgeous cover caught my attention and the description as a historical romance-adventure was right up my alley. This is already one of my top books of the year and it is only January.

Cole Winthrop, earl and spy, hires Della Rose, notorious Seven Dials pickpocket, to help him steal back important government documents and take down a villainous duke in this "My Fair Lady" meets sexy spy novel. These lead characters have off-the-charts chemistry and the steamy bedroom scenes are numerous. Every interaction between them fogged up my glasses.

This was such a fun, escapist romance. How will two people from such different worlds find their way to each other? You have to find out! Fans of the "fish out of water" and "forbidden love" tropes should add this to their TBR pile now.

The narrator, Katy Tobey, absolutely nailed it! I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her narration and felt that her character voices added to my enjoyment.

This historical romance set in Victorian England combined subterfuge and spice.
The story line, My Fair “Ladyish” was charming and enjoyable.

I must admit that I was surprised by the graphic sex that occurred in the last half of the book. The detail of it was unexpected and a bit unnecessary. I think that the extent of the detail was not needed for the reader’s understanding of the story. For readers that are prudish, this might not be the story for you.

As a fan of Victorian mysteries, I look forward to more books by Allison Grey, hopefully not as graphic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the complimentary audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

I finished listening to the The Lady Thief of Belgravia by Allison Grey today.
It had a good start and I liked the idea of a pickpocket being hired to retrieve important documents.
It has a kind of My Fair Lady feel but somewhere it was derailed with too many bedroom scenes. It didn't take the story forward too and somehow didn't add to the romance.
Somewhere it became too romance-heavy taking away from what it could have been.

Still, it was a good one-time listen. Thank You, Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to the book.

Della Rose is a pickpocket with a reputation of never getting caught until the day she picks the pocket of a man who offers her a very lucrative job instead of reporting her. The man is Cole Winthrop, Lord Bradford, who just happens to be an agent for the crown. He needs help recovering evidence from the Duke of Salisbury and his plan is to present her to Society as his cousin and use her to get into the Duke's estate. Training Della to seem like she belongs with the Ton is easy because she's smart and determined, and her beauty is guaranteed to catch the Duke's eye, but what neither counted on was the slow opening up of each other's hearts and the deep affection that would grow between them.
It's a very basic story at its core, with almost every single historical romance trope making an appearance at one point or another. But there's something about the mix of spy thriller and two hurt souls finding each other that really works here. Even the predictable twists are forgiven when it's so easy to fall in love with the characters and wish for their happy ending.
I really enjoyed Katy Sobey's narration. She brings the characters to life and it's easy to tell emotions. Although there were times when it was mentioned that Della's accent was noticeable and I really couldn't tell the difference. It might just be me not identifying English accents, but it's a detail that stood out.

Dreamscape Select, and Storm Publishing

I really enjoyed this book. This was like if "My fair Lady" had spies and spice, and I was here for all of it. The characters were fairly well developed, though I feel like this book would have benefitted from an alternating POV between the MMC and the FMC. As it was, it was MOSTLY from her perspective with a few brief forays into his. I feel like his character would have been more well-rounded if we had been in his head more. I liked that the conflict in this one was driven more by the spy shenanigans than the unfortunate "we can't talk about our issues" trope that plagues so many Romance novels. That being said, there was a LITTLE of that, but that was not the main conflict. The spy plot was so entertaining, and I was anxiously awaiting finding out how that would all play out. Overall, this was a solid historical romance, and I highly recommend if that is your thing!

🎧 The narration by Katy Sobey was very well done! I really liked the way the characters were voiced, the accents they were given, and the way they sounded so full of emotion at the right moments. Everything came to life through the narration and it was brilliant. 🎧

📚 Della Rose is a thief, skilled at what she does, a realist with a dream, and very stubborn or direct when she needs to be. Cole Winthrop/Lord Bradford has a big secret of his own, and he needs Della's skills to finish what he started years ago. While she learns how to be a lady for the job, they spend a lot of time together—and catch feelings for each other.

I enjoyed following the characters on this journey and getting to know them through the dual POV. I just wish there had been a few more chapters from Cole's perspective.
The characters were unique, complex, and interesting. Their dynamic provided natural tension and drama, although at times I really wanted to shake them and tell them to just get over themselves.
Della's character and motivations worked well in general and for the story—I just couldn't quite warm up to her.
Cole's pining for Della was swoony and a bit heartbreaking at the same time (you have to read for yourself). And seriously, who wouldn't develop a crush on him.
Be warned that it gets very steamy from about halfway through and the sex is described in more detail. Unlike other books, it wasn't unpleasant or cringy to read through, and I felt like it generally had a more respectful undertone. So, if steamy is your thing, you'll enjoy this book.
The ending was okay, I had just hoped for a different one, and it left me a little disappointed.

But all in all, this was a solid story.
3.5 stars. 📚

I didn’t expect myself to like this one as much as I did. I loved that she was a crafty thief and that she could surprise him so much. I also like that they were able to find an intimate level of trust with each other and, ultimately, they gave up their old lives for each other too. The end was so sweet.

🌀Synopsis
To Della Rose, stealing is easy. She identifies a target and she doesn’t miss. It’s how she’s making a living but it doesn’t make enough. Which is why when the handsome stranger, Cole, approaches her with a business deal, she accepts. It’s her ticket out of the poorhouse.
The job is to steal documents back from a prosperous member of society. Posing as Cole’s cousin, Della is on a mission to get the documents. Only, someone is onto her and putting her in danger and then she’s putting herself and the mission in danger too. Cole is about to it all up when Della comes through with a major surprise.

A loose My fair lady retelling that sees a Victorian pickpocket recruited by a Lord who is secretly working for the government and in need of her particular talents to help seduce a scoundrel in possession of important documents.

I really enjoyed this dual POV, opposites attract romance. It was steamy, full of great banter and had the right balance of action, adventure and romance. Perfect for fans of authors like Evie Dunmore or India Holton and good on audio too.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review. This was a wonderful debut and I'm excited to read what the author writes next!

Steam level: open door, some explicit scenes

Book Title: The Lady Thief of Belgravia
Author: Allison Gray
Narrator: Katy Sobey
Publisher: Dreamscape Select- Storm Publishing
Genre: Romance/Mystery
Pub Date: January 18, 2024
My Rating: 3,6 rounded up
Pages: 334


Time Period 1879 London:
Della Rose is the thief in the title she is actually great at pick-pocking. When he spots a man wearing a gold watch he appears to be an easy target. The truth of the matter is the gentleman is Cole Winthrop/Lord Bradford has had his eye on Della as he has something taken he wants back. He tells Della that rather than turn her; he wants her to steal something for him and she can earn £5000; they negotiate the reward to £10,000.

Since Lord Bradford is an autocrat living in a glamourous world, he needs to prepare Della to act the role of his cousin who is a Lady; which requires more than fine clothes she also has to act like a Lady! Hmm this is going to take some work!

When Lord Bradford has transformed her into a refined lady and that he completely trusts Della he tells her a secret which involves the safety of the entire country.

Although there is a big of drama the story is a romance and some may say predictive which reminded me of what Romance author Katherine Center has to say about Romance Novels.
Reading romance stories is fun.
She goes on to say that all stories have an emotion this emotions fueled my anticipation
Mysteries ~ curiosity
Thriller ~ Heart Thumping
Horror ~ Fear
Romance ~ gives us the sense that something is going to get better; something to look forward to.
~ Awww so true!
So I am careful about describing a romance novel as predictive but one that satisficed my positive anticipation ~ and gives me a good feeling!

Want to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Select-Storm Publications for granting me this early
Audiobook Publishing Date scheduled for January 18. 2024.

Review of the NetGalley Audiobook ARC.

Does contain mild spoilers to the story.

Unfortunately, I could not get into the story from the start.

Della, a skilled pickpocket of Seven Dials is caught by a mere toff. Said toff, Lord Bradford, manages to follow Della into the back alleys and offers her a job. He needs a lady thief and is willing to pay for her services. Miss Della Rose is to live with him, so that she can be tutored and establish in society as Bradford's cousin, in the hope that their mark falls for her and she can steal the papers.

For an orphan from Seven Dials Della is actually very well educated, she likes reading and does have a lot of knowledge apart from how to survive on the street and still look like a debutante at 24 years old. Naturally, she takes to her new life like a duck to water. She learns all the etiquette rules, playing the piano, waltzing, etc etc basically over night. And from there on out it is nearly smooth sailing. She's accepted in society, she manages to ensnare the mark, she can easily outsmart all measures preventing her from stealing the papers back, and she and Bradford enjoy the carnal aspects of their insta-love.

If you can overlook the flat characters, the historical inaccuracies, the anachronistic phrases, the raunchy sex-scenes, the clunky plot, then you might enjoy this insta-love 'My Fair Lady'-ish romance.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙛 𝙤𝙛 𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙖 𝙗𝙮 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙮 🎤 𝙉𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮: 𝙆𝙖𝙩𝙮 𝙎𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙮

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵.”

Cole Winthrop needs a thief to help him retrieve important documents that were very important to his late father. He enlists the help of notorious pit-pocketer, Della Rose, known as Rosy Diver. She’s quick witted, charming, and absolutely beautiful, perfect for the task.

Della is constantly trying to find a better life for herself and her best friend Violet. When a handsome stranger offers her an obscene amount of money to steal some papers, she quickly says yes. Unfortunately for her, she has to undergo etiquette, piano, dancing, and horseback riding lessons all to fit the image of a “proper” lady.

During their time together, the two strangers from different walks of life, slowly begin opening their hearts.

This was a fun and quick listen! I did the audiobook and it was really well done! The accents and different character voices were perfect. Katy Sobey is an amazing narrator!

Overall, I enjoyed this book and its characters, I just needed more banter and buildup to their relationship. Truly, more banter and tension could have changed my rating. The climax was decent, but I felt like one character had to give up so much for their relationship to work. I wish there was more of a give and take between the leads.

🔥 This is a spicy, open door romance!

Tropes:
🏰 Historical Fiction
👑 Regency Romance
💞 Dual POV
🔥 Spicy Romance (3🌶️)

Overall rating: 3.5 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free audiobook so that I could share this honest review! This book will be available on January 18th, I would recommend it to all Historical Fiction readers!

🌟Audio Book Review🌟

🎧📚 The Lady Thief of Belgravia by Allison Grey

Della Rose is a master thief looking for a better life. Cole Winthrop, gentleman spy, might just be the man to give it to her, if she can steal back what was once stolen from him. Will they be able to keep things professional, or will their undeniable chemistry get in the way of their mission?

The Lady Thief of Belgravia was a an enjoyable listen. With elements of Pygmalion and Bridgerton, this novel brings to life fun characters and the thrill of the heist.

The audiobook of The Lady Thief of Belgravia will be published on January 18, 2024

Thank you, NetGalley, Dreamscape Select, and Storm Publishing for this ALC.

This book was pretty fun and I liked the narration. The book read a lot slower than I had expected given the exciting sounding plot. I enjoyed the romance and getting to know Della and Cole.