Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  How to  Steal a Thief

SERIES: Unholy Trifecta #2

AUTHOR: AJ Sherwood

NARRATORS:  Iggy Toma & Antonio Amato

LENGTH:  8 hours and 14 minutes

PUBLISHER: Podium Audio

RELEASE DATE:  August 30, 2022

BLURB:

Since when is playing Robin Hood part of the plan?

Pop into the unguarded apartment, find the multimillion-dollar Treskilling stamp, pop back out. That’s it, that’s the entirety of Ivan’s plan.

What’s not part of the plan?

• Meeting the cute Aiden Stalworth
• Feeling guilty about trying to steal from the cute Aiden Stalworth
• Becoming Aiden’s “Robin Hood” and buying him all the things
• Playing bodyguard while searching for the stamp
• Being trusted completely by Aiden

Ivan very quickly realizes he needs a new plan:

• Seduce Aiden
• Protect him
• Find the stamp

Oh, and lick him. Licking Aiden needs to be part of the plan too. However, Ivan’s not sure how having his heart get stolen made it onto his list.

REVIEW:

Ivan is in New Orleans for what he hope is an easy job and lucrative payday.  He is to retrieve a one of a kind stamp from the collection of a woman who has recently passed away.  But when he breaks into the apartment she lived in, it’s virtually empty.  A few clothes and some milkcrates for tables/dressers/desks.  There isn’t even a kitchen table.  It appears that Aiden, her grandson, is living there – but it’s a pretty meager existence. It’s clear neither stamp collection, nor the valuable stamp is there at all.  Then Aiden comes home.  Ivan feels terrible that he was going to rob someone who has nothing.  So he decides to make amends.  He buys Adien groceries and an apartment full of furniture to make up for his blunder.  It helps that Aiden is adorable of course 😉

Aiden is just finishing medical school and needs to apply for his residency program.  He wants to be a pediatrician and he was going to stay in New Orleans until his grandmother died.  He was abandoned by his mother and raised by her.  His uncle and his cousin have never wanted him and bullied and belittled him his whole life.  They wanted his grandmother to turn him out and she wouldn’t have it.  She was quite wealthy and left the stamp collection to Aiden her will with everything else to the rest of the family, but they came after that as well.  Ivan is furious!  He vows to get back for Aiden what is rightfully his 🙂  So of course he enlists his team – his family really.  He’s terribly protective and a little bit possessive of Aiden 😉  It’s clear he’s totally smitten.

Once K and Ari and Carter and Widow are on the job, it’s off the races.  It’s clear that Aiden’s family has it out for him. They are always accusing him of something while his no good cousin is generally the culprit.  It’s clear that for the duration of this job, Aiden must be protected.  So Ari and Carter and Widow come to NOLA as well.  Ivan has a house there and they all meet up.  Aiden still needs to finish his work at the university and figure out his next move for training.  The stamp is harder to find than they originally counted on though.  While K can take care of hacking into systems to keep an eye on Aiden, the rest of the team can look for the stamp.

Of course there is more to content with than just finding the stamp.  One of Aiden’s old rivals shows up at the house.  This causes some consternation.  Then there are some other bad guys who show up.  Nobody planned on them either.  Ivan and Ari decide to go for broke to try to keep Aiden safe and recover the prized stamp.  Nothing turns out as planned, but sometimes surprises are alright instead 😉

I liked this story even better than the first one.  First, Ivan was my favorite character from the first book so I was so happy to see him get his own HEA here.  Aiden is adorable and smart and funny and he really fits so well with Ivan.  I loved how the team just jumped right in to help Ivan and Aiden and that they accepted that this was the way it would be and they would all figure out the future as a family.  Remy continues to be a thoroughly entertaining character.  I loved how she bonded with Aiden and how much fun they had.  It’s pretty much a roller coaster ride from beginning to end.  It was thoroughly satisfying to see the bad guys get what was coming to them and for Aiden to get his rightful inheritance.  I really hope we get to see more of some of the supporting characters again – like Trixie and I cannot wait to see what will happen between K and Brannigan – the object of K’s obsession.  On the whole just a really fun and entertaining book with engaging characters, some humor and tenderness as well.

The one complaint I have about this audio is that I thought the narrators should have been switched.  I felt like Mr. Toma would have been a better fit for Aiden and Mr. Amato a better fit for Ivan.  That being said, I still absolutely loved the performances of both.  I especially loved their take on Remy, aka “Widow”.   Mr. Toma is a favorite narrator and I was on the fence about Mr. Amato from the first book, but I really really liked this interpretation of this story.  Both really injected the right amount of energy, warmth and passion into their performances of this varied character group.  Well done and highly recommended.

RATING:

BUY LINK: 

Amazon

Audible