Monday, September 3, 2012

Short Story Review: Honor Among Thieves by Amy Gaertner

Honor Among Thieves by Amy Gaertner is a romance about a professional thief who falls in love with a reporter while working undercover.

It's a pretty straightforward adventure romance. It's not high art, but it's a decently paced, enjoyable romance that features an actual plot, a believably bisexual main character and a couple of short sex scenes to earn itself a place in the hearts of those who like a bit of sensual erotica in their undercover adventure.

Danielle is a very professional thief working undercover in an art collection, with her partner in constant contact. Liz is a pushy and idealistic reporter who's investigating the provenance of the collection that Danielle is planning to steal. Danielle falls in love pretty much on sight, but has to push Liz away; Liz hangs around to cover the exhibition and slowly works her way under Danielle's defenses, finds out that she's a thief, runs away, and then ... well, predictably they end up together, but it's the dramatic climax so I won't share how. The main tension of the book was between Danielle's desire to connect with Liz, and her knowledge that she has to abandon her fake identity and leave no traces of herself behind, and she must certainly not make any emotional ties.