Monday 7 April 2014

Review: Thief


Thief (The Scarab Beetle #1) by C. L. Stone
 
Title: Thief
Series: The Scarab Beetle, #1
Author: C. L. Stone
 
Published: Arcato Publishing; 2011
420 pages, kindle edition
 
Source: Netgalley
 
 Description (from Goodreads):

Kayli Winchester is a dirt-poor girl living out of a hotel, forced to be the parent for a drunken father and teenage brother who she’s desperate to keep in school. The only way she scrapes by is to utilize her one skill: pickpocketing. But even though she’s a thief she has a moral code: no kids or old ladies, only targets who can defend themselves. Not that they see her coming…

Thinking she’s been working under the radar, Kayli has no idea The Academy has been watching and taking notice. Now a team that needs her skill has offered her a way out of her predicament and it’s her last chance: work with them, or face jail time. Kayli resists at first, but slowly the boys reveal they can be trusted. With Marc, the straight man, Raven, the bad-boy Russian, Corey and Brandon the twins as different as night and day, and Axel their stoic leader, there’s a lot Kayli can learn from these Academy guys about living on the edge of the law. If only she can stay on the good side instead of the bad.

Especially when the job they offer her is more than any of them bargained for. After it’s done, the hunters have become the hunted and their target is now after Kayli. The Academy boys do their best to keep her hidden, but a thief like Kayli will never sit still for long.


My Thoughts:

 1.5 stars

Where to start...?



Maybe I should start with how annoying the protagonist was? Or maybe I should touch base with the numerous clichés in this? Oh, how about I talk about the yawn-inducing [lack-of] plot? Whatever I chose to stay, there is one thing that I need to pinpoint clearly: this was bloody rubbish.

I don't know why I went into this expecting something fun, something light and fluffy - reminiscent of Heist Society and Alex Rider. This was anything but. Filled with nothing but cliché after cliché and a MC that made me want to strangle myself, I really don't why I bothered with this.



Kayli is a pickpocket. She is kidnapped by a bunch of normal guys amazingly sexy and to-die-for, oh-so-hot blokes looking to recruit her as an asset for a important job of theirs... this was where I began to stop paying attention. From here, Kayli makes stupid decision after stupid decision, only stopping to flirt with every breathing male in sight.

Why is it that all characters have to be so damn good-looking in the new adult genre? I don't see the appeal. How many times do us readers need to stress to authors that these characters don't work, that no one wants to read about another perfect protagonist? Its annoying and makes all the characters seems so superficial. Sigh. I am just not in the mood to go on this rant today... please just hurry up and get the message people.

Moving on to the romance. I can deal with love triangles. Yes, I know that most people cannot stand them but I have read so many that I am over ranting about them. This however went far beyond a mere love triangle, or even a love square. Kayli began acting like best buddies with her captors within the first hour of her kidnapping and constantly flirted with them, constantly - even the gay ones. She couldn't seem to help herself. Its so freakin' ridiculous! I have never read a book where the main characters kisses so many different guys - first there was Marc, then there was Raven, then Brandon, then Blake and then we were back to Marc again. You need to get it together Kayli and choose one of them. On top of that (yes, it gets worse!) she shares a bed with every single one of them. Every. Freakin'. Single. One.



To make it even worse, the plot was a drag. Nothing happened. It was dull, I was bored. The mystery that made this a "spy thriller" was so bloody stupid I could laugh at the absurdity of it all. Its was so pathetic, so lame, so plain old dull.

This ended up being the worst espionage book I have ever read. I doubt I'll read further into the series, even if this book stopped in the middle of a chapter and I want to know how it turns out. This was not good and I certainly wouldn't recommend it.


Note: a copy was provided courtesy of C. L. Stone and Arcato Publishing, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given or taken during this process.

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