L.J. Shen

The Kiss Thief

Levi-Mae 

“He is in hate with my father and in lust with me.” 

Linsey Mombert

 men don’t shit bricks when their wives gain higher education and the basic power to survive without them, pardon my language.”

They say the devil you know is better than the one that you don’t

“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.”

Fans of Vi Keeland and Christina Lauren will love this romance that starts as a marriage of convenience, throws in a bit of a love triangle and then adds a twist of revenge.

Keira 💫

last time i trust a tiktok recommendation

kels

honestly unbearable and i can’t believe i finished it lol

Megan Helberg Keiser

I’m sad its a short book, it was a great story

Emma Kamer

Sometimes it was pretty annoying, but overall a very good read. 

Jodie Reads

Faith Kitowski

** spoiler alert **
           1.5/5. okay not only did he say he doesn’t want kids and then she gets pregnant, AN ACCIDENTAL PREGNANCY MIGHT I ADD, but she also cheats on him and then HE IS THE ONE THAT GROVELS?!?! i’m all about girl power but make it make sense. at least the quotes were good

🧸

there are so many things wrong in this book and I really dont have the mood to list them up. it's not really worth reading it.

Trish

Can you tell I’m binge reading romance novels to pad my Goodreads challenge numbers?? lol It’s going just as expected.

Kathleen Tom

5 Stars! 

"Falling in Love was so tragic. No wonder people are so sad." 

Hi BookLovers, 

You know what? Screw younger man, I want older man.

I was so angry and frustrated at the beginning of the book when there's so many cheating scene, angry at how childish Wolfe and Frankie handle their problem but the deeper I get to the book the more I understand and love how the story really goes. 

With complicated storyline and hardheaded character this is one hell of a ride and I'm grateful to finally read this book after few times of stopping before I even get to chapter three haha.. 

It was my L.J Shen week and three books down in days! The sleepless night is damn worth it. 

Highly Recommended! :) 

xoxo.

Lover of Romance 

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance

The Kiss Thief is my first book that I have read by this author and what a book!!! Now I won’t say its as amazing as I was expecting, and I think that is partly because this is my first book by Shen and I haven’t read a book this angsty in a very long time and it took a while to adapt to the angst levels, you definitely need to be in the right mood for this type of story. I truly enjoyed the epic feel to this story though.

The Kiss Thief involves two characters that do NOT like each other at all. Our heroine, Francesca, grew up in a home where her father runs a crime mob. But she has always been sheltered and she has always known that she won’t have much choice in who she marries, but there is one man that she wants….Angelo. But at a official dinner, she meets with Angelo and she knows that she does care for him and is thrilled to begin her life with him. But then she meets Wolfe, a senator, one who is gorgeous but rude and views her as a spoiled rich girl. But then she finds herself engaged to him after that night when he stole a kiss from her. Her father has made an agreement with Wolfe and even though she hates him, she doesn’t know what to do. She has always been so sheltered and being Wolfe’s wife will offer many advantages even if she doesn’t like him much although she finds the sexual response to be overpowering whenever she is near him. But there is more to their marriage than Francesca realizes and that there is a man she can love once she gets beneath Wolfe’s tough exterior.

This is one of the best enemies to lovers romances I have read in a very long time. In this book, I found the angst to be very overpowering at times. Now about half way through, is where it really takes a back seat for the most part and we see some great development in their relationship. I really liked both of these characters, they both have explosive personalities so that brings some powerful fireworks that erupt between these two. We see how driven Francesca is, that she wants to go to college (which her father refused to let her do) and to make something of herself and does have a kind and sweet personality when you don’t rile her too much.

Wolfe, however, is full of anger and hate. He despises her father, and is out for revenge. But he never thought that he would love Francesca, the daughter of the man that destroyed his family. But Wolfe is driven to succeed and plans to eventually become President of the United States. So he has dreams to serve his country and help others. But what I loved most was seeing the softer side to his personality, he can be so rough around the edges so seeing more depth to his character was so rewarding as a reader. Seeing his hopes and dreams for life and that he has so much to give in a relationship.

Now I have to say that after reading my frst LJ Shen novel I will definitely be picking her up again for sure. The angst level is high (which I am assuming is what she has in most of her books) so fair warning, and the heroine does smoke in this book (so if that bothers you, fair waring on that---it’s not my favorite thing to see in a romance since its a turn off for me personally, but I was alright with it in this book).

Overall I found the Kiss Thief to be a stunning portrayal of angsty romance that makes you laugh and cry and the delivery of such empowering emotions is shown in such a unique and dynamic way that stuns the reader delightfully!

A good read, at least in my opinion. The book description is a little misleading and doesn't really captures what the book is about. 

It's packed with drama, and I love drama, however it would've been better with less drama with more details. I think the author tried to cover too much stuff and couldn't put it all together in a cohesive way.

Paola Marie

A good read, at least in my opinion. The book description is a little misleading and doesn't really captures what the book is about. 

It's packed with drama, and I love drama, however it would've been better with less drama with more details. I think the author tried to cover too much stuff and couldn't put it all together in a cohesive way.

Bhaavya Mishra

If you’re planning to read this book , DONT cause wtf was up with this one? Its so problematic i can’t begin to explain. 

spoilers-
he forced himself on her ( “not in eye of law” , yes exact words of our mmc ) then he felt sorry for not believing our fmc but then it was okay cause he did something sweet that he has never done to the half of the Chicago population he went through but then she learns the truth and cheats on him so our mmc “tries” to cheat on her but then our fmc is pregnant and suddenly our mmc is in love? Also the way he talks about fmc and women in general*puking* a 31 year old MAN TALKING ABOUT A 19yo like THAT

Habiba Herisha

I was very excited to read this books, but got disappointed.

Payton elizabeth fetner 

This was one of the first books I read when trying to get back into reading and I can just say I made a good choice. I finished it in a day. It’s very fast moving and keeps you on edge of what’s going to happen next. between her love hate relationship of the senitor or her constant want of her supposed love ther was no part that I didn’t love, or I di not think DIDNT contribute to the plot.

Megan Lowe

4.5 stars.

First off, mafia books aren’t really my thing but this one intrigued me. There’s shades of Sierra Simone’s American Camelot trilogy here (in terms of political overtones, not threesomes) but I would’ve like a little more.
I also think the blurb is slightly misleading. It leads to much more of a love triangle than I think there really was.
That said, I really enjoyed the transformation of both Wolfe and Francesca, even if at times Francesca’s immaturity did grate at me.
I also felt like the book moved in fits and starts. The timeline would all of a sudden shoot forward days or weeks, when previously nothing much had happened.
There’s also a few writing style things that bothered me, but I think they’re mostly overcome by the story.
I really did love the transformation of Wolfe and Francesca and that did redeem the book for me.
Give it a go!

Sheena

I've finally picked this novel up months after the initial hype and needless to say I'm slightly disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I actually thought L.J Shen's concept was rather refreshing with a good blend of characters but the dysfunctional relationship between Francesca and Wolfe was a turn off and to be completely honest, rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't find the heroine charming nor was she the strong independent lead character I tend to find myself leading more towards and furthermore, despite loving alpha males, Wolfe was just too ruthless and demeaning towards the young bride for me to even be charmed by his wild ways. Overall this romance novel was still a decent read and no one should defer from checking out "The Kiss Thief" if you're a fan of the author in spite of this not suiting my tastes.

Navya 

** spoiler alert **
           I dont fucking care if the hero didnt love her 
You dont fucking cheat . 'A moment of weaknesses '? Bitch u dont frickin cheat.and if i cant hate her even more she belives notes frm a dumb bitch who wrote them. Oh my freakin god i hate her . She starts berating the hero bcuz he is taking someone else as his date after she cheated on him.no matter wht happens u dont frickin cheat not bcuz ur husband is an asshole but u should be loyal to urself and not cheat ur principles.

2.5 stars

Tbh the pregnancy trope was a bit too much for me thanks

sophie <3

This book had quite a bit of potential and it didn’t live up to it… 

Beware, if you plan on reading this, it contains infidelity. I personally got so triggered by it?? The couple was happy and then we were slapped with that. 

Wolfe was a great character who had pretty good character development. He was still iffy in certain situations but I’d say he did very well for his character’s limited development arc. 

Francesca was not it. She had so much potential but she ruined it in that one scene. I hated her after that. 

So in general, this wouldn’t be on my recommended list. There are definitely better books out there. 

This book had quite a bit of potential and it didn’t live up to it… 

Beware, if you plan on reading this, it contains infidelity. I personally got so triggered by it?? The couple was happy and then we were slapped with that. 

It ruined the book for me. 

Wolfe was a great character who had pretty good character development. He was still iffy in certain situations but I’d say he did very well for his character’s limited development arc. 

Francesca was not it. She had so much potential but she ruined it in that one scene. I hated her after that. 

So in general, this wouldn’t be on my recommended list. There are definitely better books out there. 

Rebeca 

I chose it spontaneously. I wanted to read a romance book just for THAT feeling. I didn’t knew the plot. I just knew that this book is based on romance.

And what a book! The storyline was incredible. I think this is my first book with some sort of mafia. Francesca and Wolfe had such an interesting relationship, from not knowing each other to some sort of rivals, forced marriage to husband and wife to having some fights and then to lovers. 

Angelo. I hate him. He was the third wheel. I’m so glad that Francesca ended up with Wolfe and not with Angelo. While reading I thought that Angelo would have a bigger part in this story. That he wouldn’t be a side character.

But, in the and they all got their happy ending. And THEIR ending was the most beautiful one.

Mariam Mohsen

Wow, really wow, I didn't read any books from this author before, but it was so wonderful, the author has focused on the feelings more than any thing else, the progress in the story was pretty good and so real, I really enjoyed it so much, the book has been totally worth reading...

Aime Barcenas 

Loved it so much, couldn’t put it down!

joy cooper

Adrianne

This book was my choice for Muggle Studies for the OWLs readathon, and it was free on Kindle Unlimited.
Mafia romances are one of my favourites, and this one is right up there with the best of them. Kind of reminded me of Cora Reilly’s ‘Born in Blood’ series, which I loved. It’s an enemies to lovers Italian mafia story with lots of family drama and a slow burning love story with a bit of a violent start.

The Kiss Thief

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