Stolen Pieces

Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for providing this book, with my honest review below.

The comparison of Stolen Pieces to Oceans 8 in the book description I read isn’t wrong - this is such a great read that is very heist-y. Beatrice / Shelby (Bee) is an ex con who has gotten into a pickle when her ex husband (a mobster - that’s her past life) stole from the wrong man (also a mobster), putting a price on her and her son’s heads. Her ex hires Adam, one of her old love interests and ‘co-workers’ from her past to protect them and what follows is a hilarious adventure.

I loved that Bee was owning the situation and using her craftiness to take control. I also loved her friends and how they added more color to the plot as they joined into the hijinks. My only wish was that while there are callbacks to the past to add context to Bee’s past life, and while well done, I think opening up with reference to the past (maybe showing what Bee thought was her happy ending in leaving her past life) would have gotten me into the swing of things a little faster. But with that said, this kept me glued and entertained throughout!

I hope there is a book 2 and this becomes part of a longer series (though it stands on its own with resolution) as I loved the characters and the premise!

This was an enjoyable book that I could not put down, quickly becoming a page-turner. The author did a terrific job in staging this fast-paced drama from the introduction of the eclectic cast of character, to the solid plot involving gangsters, double-crosses & thievery, to the conversational dialogue, to the various settings, to the non-stop action and to the visually descriptive narrative that kept me immersed in all that was happening on the page. When it looked like things were on an even keel, the author changed direction and the frenetic pacing racqueted up a notch and I could not go anywhere until the last page was read. This was a fun read.

Bee wants nothing more than to live quietly with her son Oliver and to open a bookstore but somehow,, somehow, her mobster ex gets her back into the crime scene when he steals from the wrong guy. The wrong guy who then takes Oliver, This is all about how Bea gets Oliver (a kid with a smart mouth, btw) back with the help of an eclectic group of characters, including a love interest. There's a lot packed into a well paced slim volume with snappy dialogue and just the right amount of twists. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

new-series, first-in-series, verbal-humor, grifter, mafia, ex-husband, ex-cons, friends, friendship, action, abduction, romantic, heist, family, family-drama, family-dynamics, thriller, cozy-crime, mystery, bulldog, situational-humor, nanny****

I expected to laugh and enjoy this story as much as the author's other books. BUT. Although the book is a good length it is NOT TTS ENABLED. That really bummed me out. The publisher's blurb is a good one that intrigues without giving anything away. I liked it even though it took me much longer this way.
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Severn House via NetGalley. Thanks

The blurb very nicely sums up the premise for this story. Bee is getting on with her life now she’s no longer married to Charlie – when his disastrous decision to steal an insane amount of money from his crime overlord boss suddenly puts Bee and Oliver in the firing line. Literally.

I really like Bee and Golden does a good job of presenting us with an apparently indomitable heroine who is at her very best when up against it. Her ex certainly misses her street smarts, for starters and would take her back in a heartbeat. We also gather, from the reaction of others around her, that Bee is also very good-looking. When a book is in first-person POV, that’s difficult to pull off without either having the dreaded check-in-the-mirror scene, or having the heroine coming off as a bit conceited. Golden managed to let the reader know without either of the above, which is a neat demonstration of her evident technical skill.

I also like the fact that Bee isn’t as Teflon-coated as we initially are led to believe. She’s had a tough upbringing. But early on, she decided that she didn’t want to live poor and struggling, so single-mindedly went after the people who would help her achieve the level of luxury she was aiming for. There was a cost to that – a very high cost. And when she thinks that Oliver will be added to that list of costs, there are times when she is overwhelmed. I appreciated that insight into her character. We need that, because when the adrenaline’s flowing and she’s in the middle of a scam, she’s got ice flowing through her veins. Not unlike Adam Gage, the only man she’s ever really fallen for…

The tone throughout is snappy, with lots of snark and humour in amongst the death and violence. The story trips along at a good pace, which is necessary in this genre, yet the characterisation of our main protagonist is sufficiently detailed that I really cared for her. The baddie’s were nicely nasty – and the one thing I appreciated was that despite being divorced, Bee and Charlie have managed to remain on reasonably good terms. Until Charlie messes up, of course… All in all, this is a thoroughly enjoyable heist adventure, filled with incident and plot twists and recommended for fans of this genre. While I obtained an arc of Stolen Pieces from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10