Book Review: To Kiss a Thief by Susanna Craig

Title: To Kiss A Thief

Author: Susanna Craig

Series: Runaway Desires #1

Genre: Historical Romance 

Publisher: Lyrical Press 

Pub Date: August 16, 2016

Pages: 264

My Copy: Courtesy of NetGalley and Lyrical Press

Book Summary:

Can a marriage made for money blossom into something more?

Sarah Sutliffe, Lady Fairfax, dreams of love—until she overhears her new husband proclaim his heart will never be hers. Devastated, she offers no defense when a sapphire necklace disappears during a ball and she is accused of its theft. Instead, she runs away from the scandal…and the heartbreak.

St. John, Viscount Fairfax, has sworn never to love again. How could a mousy merchant’s daughter tempt him to break that vow? Three years after Sarah vanished, St. John uncovers her hiding place. Now, he’s out to prove she’s a thief before she steals his heart. 

Book Review:

A really interesting take on what it means to make a mistake and then having to own up to that mistake. Sarah and St. John Fairfax definitely have an interesting start to their marriage. Totally found myself liking the way things fell apart and then had to be rebuilt.

When we start the book, we are at a party and then there’s this matter that Sarah over hears her husband with a woman, who we later learn is Eliza Harrington, someone who has her own desires. Then Sarah runs into a Captain Brice, and she is wearing these jewels, that are a family heirloom and are worth a lot, so when the jewels are not around her neck and the fact that she is caught in a compromising position with Captain Brice, she feels disgraced and is accused of theft. Yet her mother in law secretly arranges for her to disappear and sends Sarah on her way. I had a feeling when I read this that something would happen to Sarah or worse, we would fast forward in time to St. John.

Of course, after this happens, we are fast forwarded to the present, where St. John thinks that his wife is dead, because a body was found, but he believes that, it might not have been his wife. The jewels are the thing that he cares about the most in the beginning. He realizes that his wife is still alive when he goes through his stepmother’s things and finds that she has been living in a small village. 

During the course of the time he spends with Sarah, he realizes that he made a horrible mistake and misjudged her horribly. Plus he learns that Sarah has a daughter, possibly his daughter, Clarissa. Things happen during their time in the village. He starts to realize that Sarah has really become a part of the village and has a really good heart. He finds it hard to believe that this woman could have stolen the necklace. As things happen, he starts to fall in love all over with her again and she as well. Yet there is a level of trust that both of our characters still don’t have for one another. Things happen that make trusting awkward for them and both of them make mistakes and of course, things get even more weird for them when they go back to his family home.

There things happen and we learn that St. John’s father and him never received a penny of her dowry because thanks to Sarah’s father and mother’s cleverness, that there’s a clause in it, that says that they have to live under the same roof, not to mention,  St. John and his father get more money if she has a son. This means their might be hope for this relationship to grow into a love match. Which, gives Sarah and her parens hope for a wonderful future. Sarah is happy to be reunited with her parents. We learn that St. John really does have feelings and is falling for her husband again. Something happens that makes them realize how much they really care. The love making scene was wonderfully done.

Yet, the big reveal comes when we learn that the necklace gets found, and realizes that it’s nothing but a copy. We learn what involvement that St. John’s stepmother, Eliza, Brice all played in this necklace being copied and framing Sarah for the theft of the necklace. It really was good twist and you understood why it happened, how it happened and everyones motivations in their plot to do this. Of course, Sarah’s redemption was awesome. You felt a lot of sympathy for Eliza, and understood why St. John’s stepmother took the actions she felt necessary. 

I really loved that there was a happy ending for this couple. 

Rating:

4.5 Hearts