Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: The Thief
SERIES: The Lost Boys
AUTHOR: Kelly Fox
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 79 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 1 , 2023
BLURB:
@theseguinbean: Joel Hays is a dirty rotten tweet thief.
Tristan: Graduation is coming up, I still haven’t squared away an internship, and now this. Joel Hays has been stealing my one-liners and spinning them into posts for the Watering Hole, the bar he owns with his best friend.
This thievery will not stand.
Just because he’s hot as fire doesn’t mean I’m gonna let him get away with it. I’ve half a mind to make my way next door and give that tattooed, bearded charmer a piece of my mind.
—
@thewateringhole: I plead the fifth.
Joel: Tristan works next door at the Seguin Bean, and man, do I have it bad for that adorable barista. Hoping to catch his eye, I’ve been stealing his sassy little quips for a month now, but he’s been too busy to notice.
Sure, there are more mature ways to get a hold of a beautiful man’s attention, but this was way more fun.
Oh, look. Here he comes now.
The Thief is the spicy-sweet prequel to the Lost Boys series. This novella features a short-lived rivalry, a group of friends like brothers, and the shop teacher who brought them all together.
REVIEW:
This is a really sweet setup for a new series from Kelly Fox. This series is set in Seguine Texas and introduces us to a new group of found family. Many of these men have been brought together under the auspices of a kind and accepting and gay shop teacher from the local high school. This group of friends has gone off to their adult lives. Some of them have left and then returned while others have stayed and opened businesses, found their life partners, or are still looking for love.
Joel Hays has stayed and opened his own bar. It’s a popular spot and his twitter “war” with Tristan Silver, full time college student/part time barista and social media guru is his way of trying to get the attention of the gorgeous younger man. Tristan is enjoying the banter until it’s pointed out to him that Joel is basically taking his witticisms and using them for his own gain and to get “likes” on his tweets 😉
When Tristan figures it out, he confronts Joel – in front of some of his friends – Beckett and Ozzie. The lightbulb finally goes off for him that Joel has been flirting with him the whole time – trying to draw him out. Well that is the horse of a different color! Their chemistry is sizzling hot. But the timing is not great. Tristan is not only finishing his degree and has loads of finals, but he’s interviewing for internships in Austin.
Between their crazy schedules, Tristan and Joel do manage to get together. They aren’t looking for hookups. They are looking for their person and to make a life. With Tristan headed for Austin, they are going to have to figure out how to do the longish distance thing. Neither man is willing to let this go though once they figure out just how good they are together.
This is a super sweet story about these two guys who truly “fit” each other. The introduction of the rest of the found family that I’m sure will feature in the rest of the series is well done. I can’t wait to see what happens next. Loved the townsfolk and Tristan’s family. There are plenty of steamy and also humorous scenes that made my heart swoon. Great start and can’t wait for the first full length novel coming soon! Recommended.
RATING: 
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