Worse than a thief, is a liar.
Kayli Winchester can finally let go of her thieving past and for once walk on the right side of the law. She’s had enough of the hustle and is determined to become the good girl.
But her brother, Wil, is still missing. On the hunt for him, she discovers something worse than a missing sibling: Marc, Raven, Axel, Corey and Brandon. These aren’t just scoundrels with hearts of gold. They’re flat out criminals. But they’re criminals who need her.
In a ruse to draw them away from her brother and learn more about this so-called Academy, Kayli joins them on a mission to Florida in search of a missing little girl. Kayli will do anything to make sure her brother is safe. She’ll find their leader. She’ll discover their intentions. She’ll infiltrate their ranks. And if they try to threaten her brother or herself, she’ll burn them all.
But when these five hot Academy teammates all contend for her heart, her resistance starts to crumble.
Maybe she wasn’t meant to be the good girl, anyway. (Goodreads)
So, anyone who knows me, reads my blog on a regular basis etc. will know just how much I love C. L. Stone and anything Academy related. Whether that be the Scarab Beetle Series or the Ghost Bird – I love the books, I love the author, the characters… just everything. So this review may just be a tad bit biased.
Having said that, it actually took me a lot longer to pick up this book than it should have done. I received an ARC copy of Accessory (book #4) and realised that I hadn’t read the 2nd or 3rd instalments. Clearly I need a slap. Of course, the first thing I went and did after receiving the email from the author is pick up the second instalment of this series.
Considering it had been a while since I had read Thief, it was really easy to pick up where the story had left off without having to strain my memory back to what had happened within the first book. The connections that I felt with the characters were also very easy to carry on having, because the characters were easy to relate too.
Blake was, in this book, a character who I seemed to both love and hate. I loved the easy relationship that he had with Kayli. They had the sort of relationship that anybody would want to have with their partners – easy going, easy to talk to and a lot of banter. What bugged me about Blake was the fact that he planted the seed of doubt into her mind about the other guys. She let him do it too!! Which I think bugged me even more! After everything the guys had done for her and her brother, how could she think they are untrustworthy?!? *breathe*
What I was worried about was the characters or events that took place being too similar with those within the Ghost Bird series – considering both books are about The Academy. So, what made it more enjoyable to read was the fact that both were completely different, but still crossed over in a little way when characters cross over in the books. The crossing over of characters makes the books more relatable because it makes the world building more realistic.
This book was constantly fast paced, with easy banter and relationships between the characters. I loved this book and gave it 5/5 stars.
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