Review: Thief: The Academy by C.L. Stone

Title: Thief
Author: C.L. Stone
Series: Book One in the Scarab Beetle Series
Published: February 26, 2014
Source: ARC Copy Provided By the Author (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: NA Mystery/Romance
My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Book Description:
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.

Meet an all-new Academy team in Thief, the beginning of the Scarab Beetle series.

Warning: This is a new adult series. Readers of the other Academy series may need some caution as this series will contain mature sexual and violent situations and themes.

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A book all about being sneaky with a snarkish heroine and a room full of really hot tempting guys, what's not to love?

Time to be honest here, I picked this up because the premises sounded cute and fun and I wanted to check it out and see what it was all about. I didn't go into this thinking I would love it, I was only hoping I would like it and have a fun time while reading it.

I didn't expect to get hooked after the first chapter and have a really hard time putting it down. Maybe it was all the intrigue or the mystery, or maybe it was even the action, or, okay, maybe it was all the darn eye candy and sexual tension after only the first couple of chapters, either way, there you have it. I really liked this, a lot in fact. 

And here is the kicker, this has a ton of typical YA tropes that I usually abhor but yet, they worked in this one. Angst, love tri...errr, rectangle, pentagon? Main female character that all the guys want and yet she has no clue she is gorgeous....Whatever, you get the idea. Either way, this normally would have had me rolling my eyes and sighing in frustration but it didn't. 

For some crazy reason it just didn't. Instead I got wrapped up in the story and instead of throwing the book across the room, I wanted more.

I don't even understand the appeal myself honestly expect that I never quite knew who to trust and who was being honest. I couldn't tell who was sincere and who was just playing a game and most of all, I wanted to know more about The Academy. 

Having never read any of the authors other books I was completely clueless going into this one and while again, that might have bothered me with other books, it just didn't with this one. I liked unveiling the mysteries one by one and I even liked being left without all my questions being answered. Heck, I even liked the cliffie at the end.

I truly did get wrapped up in the story and I will definitely be picking the next one up without any hesitation.

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by an outside source. I was not compensated for this review.*