Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for giving me an ARC. All thoughts and Opinions are my own!
I've heard good things about Charish Reid and a second chance romance between two thieves seemed like a good place to start!
Synopsis according to GJ: Dr. Celeste St. Peter has a secret. She's spent much of her life as a thief. Ballgowns, international travels, scaling buildings, all of it. After a job gone wrong, Celeste left her own team and went out on her own. Five years later, Celeste receive word that her mentor, Doris has tragically died and has a final request: One last job with the old crew.
Unfortunately, the old crew include the stoic (Some might call frigid) Magnus Larson, her old flame. That's fine. Celeste is professional enough to do her job and ignore the sexual tension and lingering stares between her and Magnus, right? RIGHT?!
Review: So I have weird feelings about this book. Don't get me wrong, I loved elements of this book! The heists, the quips, the crew interacting with each other after the disastrous last job, etc. I really enjoy it. Reid absolutely nailed the particular inner conflict for Black women of being hyper independent and struggling with letting someone take care of you. We also get to see three generations of Black femmes who are hungry for something more and the dangerous ways they might overcorrect because of their mentors' experiences and that just hit for me.
Throughout the book, we get diary entries from Celeste's mentor, Doris starting at the start of her life as a thief. Soon, a parallel between Doris and Celeste emerge and it makes the mission even more meaningful. Initally, Doris sending them on this last job feels like an act of vanity and slowly revealed to be a helpful nudge to the people she cares about the most. And yes, a little bit of vanity in there too. Allow a dying woman her proclivities, dang it.
Another thing I love is how Reid talks about intimacy in this book. Often when we think of intimacy, we think solely about sex but here, she touches on the more platonic side of it. The knowing looks, the things we only share with kindred spirits, even just cuddling and letting ourselves be vulnerable. While Celeste and Magnus are very familiar with each other in the bedroom, we quickly realize how little they share with each other outside of it. It's jarring when we see their chemistry and feelings while not knowing basic things about the other.
And that brings me to my issues with this book because I didn't really care about their romance. Yeah, the spice was flowing but I just wasn't feeling it. There's a scene in the book where Magnus meets Celeste's protégé and after interacting with him, she says "I don't get it" and I yelled in my head "Thank god it's not just me". I just didn't vibe with the romance parts.
I wished we got less Sex-Intimacy and talking about how much they wanted to sleep with other and more Platonic intimacy. There was literally a scene where things were heating up and I just didn't care. Which makes me sad because I like caring! I cared more about the romance between the secondary characters than the main. I'm not sure if it was my feelings about Magnus himself or my mood but I just wasn't feeling it.
That said, the roleplay towards the end? With them letting their real feelings show and be vulnerable with each other? Nicely done, chef's kiss.
Overall, I give this book a wobbly 4 stars. I largely stayed for the crew and the heists. That said, I do want to try another book from Reid and see if we started on the wrong note
TW: Off page death (Cancer), off page parental death, racism, sexism, non-fatal drowning, onpage sex scenes including some with BDSM elements, brief gun violence, brief blood, brief drug use
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