Tag Archives: Counterfeit Capers

To Catch a Thief by Sloane Steele – a Review

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To Catch a Thief by Sloane Steele – a Review

 

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Description:
It was the perfect plan…until he interfered.

There’s nothing Mia Benson wants more than to right her father’s wrongs.

She’s crafted the perfect plan—a Robin Hood scheme to get revenge while returning millions to innocent people. Five years of careful work and finally, it’s Go Time.

Only one thing stands in her way: a grumpy FBI agent doing a shoddy job of posing as an insurance investigator. Seducing Logan Ford, with his sexy grin, gorgeous body and irresistible charm, isn’t exactly a hardship.

In fact, keeping him distracted and away from her team becomes a personal pleasure.

But it’s impossible to hide behind a tangled web of lies and half-truths forever. Mia never counted on falling for Logan. And when he starts to put the pieces together, revealing her true feelings might be the most dangerous move of all.

Counterfeit Capers
Book 1: It Takes a Thief
Book 2: Between Two Thieves
Book 3: To Catch a Thief

 

 

Review:

To Catch a Thief by Sloane Steele is the 3rd and final book in her Counterfeit Capers series.  I enjoyed the first two books in this (Robin Hood Heist style) series, and looked forward to reading To Catch a Thief, as it was the final book.  Happy to say I loved the satisfying conclusion.  Refresher: Jared and Mia (cousins), plan their series of heists as payback against their fathers.  A number of years ago, their fathers were exposed for a Bernie Madoff financial scam, causing many people to lose their money; a number of those people were put into financial binds. The fathers are in hiding, leaving the children and their wives to suffer the backlash against them; even though they had no idea what was happening. Years have passed, and now both Jared and Mia have inherited from their mother’s trust funds, which they plan to use to help out all those people who were hurt financially.  The series revolves around those people who Jared and Mia hired to help them. Audrey (Data) is a hacker, Nikki is the thief and London is the forger.

In To Catch a Thief, Mia (the mastermind) is the lead in this story.  Mia has always been known as the Ice Queen (cold, bossy, determined to payback her father), but over time (previous books), she softened up, especially working with the three ladies that she and Jared had chosen to help replace paintings with forgeries (selling the good paintings and secretly giving those harmed by her father and their cronies money to help them recover).  I loved how Nikki and Audrey would walk Mia through her on site events, especially teasing her.  It was fun, and I liked the banter between them.

Logan Ford, is an FBI agent, who is undercover as an insurance agent to try and find out why all these forgeries are showing up.  He has Mia Benson on his list, as people who are art connoisseurs, and tries to use her to help him find out about what is happening in the art world.  Slowly, Logan finds himself attracted to Mia, and is determined to win her over.  What he doesn’t know is that Mia and her team, suspect he might be a cop, since his knowledge of art was poor.

Mia allows herself to open up to Logan, and eventually become romantically involved. However, part of her tries to keep him from knowing the truth about her involvement and her team’s safety.  Mia discovers her father has so many more hidden paintings that she can never keep up, and decides to work with the FBI (and Logan) in trapping her father, which puts her in the forefront of being behind the heist, even if she used the money to give to those who lost everything.  Logan was unhappy to learn that Mia was behind the heists, even if it was for a good cause, but he worked with her and the FBI for the sting against her father. He also wanted the names of those who worked for her, which she constantly said she worked alone.  Will Logan be able to accept that Mia technically was a criminal?

What follows is another wonderful exciting story, in the world of hackers, thieves and forgers, as well as playing robin hood (payback to the victims). There was plenty of action, intrigue, suspense and a couple we rooted for.  Mia in this book, turned into a great lead, who I really got to like. I did like Logan, though I was not sure if he would be able to stay with Mia.  I do not want to say too much more, since you should be reading this without spoilers.  To Catch a Thief was very well written by Sloane Steele, and I totally loved the storyline revolving around the heists; lots of fun.  To Catch a Thief was a fun, as well as suspenseful story, with a fantastic group of characters.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy supplied for Review

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Between Two Thieves by Sloane Steele – a Review

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Between Two Thieves by Sloane Steele – a Review

 

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Description:
She’s no stranger to theft—but this time, it’s her heart at risk of being stolen.

Get in. Get out. The two basic rules of thieving.

But when Nikki Russo runs into ex-boyfriend Wade Palmer, getting out gets mighty complicated, mighty fast. Burned by Wade before, her life was less difficult with him gone—even if it was less exciting.

Nikki’s working for the good guys now, trying to restore some ill-gotten gains to their rightful owners. Wade is doing one last job for his mentor—who also happens to be Nikki’s dad.

Now it seems they’re after the same high-value painting. And maybe a little of that thrill they used to share. Teaming up with a man she’s not sure she can trust won’t be easy, especially when Nikki discovers there’s a lot more at stake than Wade first let on.

But then, Nikki’s always loved a challenge. Where’s the fun in easy anyway?

 

Review:

Between Two Thieves by Sloane Steele is the 2nd book in her Counterfeit Capers series.  I enjoyed the first book, It Takes a Thief and looked forward to the second book, and happy to say I loved this one equally or even better. Refresher: Jared and Mia (cousins), plan their series of heists as payback against their fathers.  A number of years ago, their fathers were exposed for a Bernie Madoff financial scam, causing many people to lose their money; a number of those people were put into financial binds. The fathers are in hiding, leaving the children and their wives to suffer the backlash against them; even though they had no idea what was happening. Years have passed, and now both Jared and Mia have inherited from their mother’s trust funds, which they plan to use to help out all those people who were hurt financially.  They will aim at their fathers’ cronies, who have valuable art, and they plan to steal the various paintings/sculptures, replace with forgeries, and provide compensation to the victims; which they plan to do 12 heists.   But they need to find people who can help them perform the necessary deeds.

The series revolves around those people who Jared and Mia hired to help them. Audrey (Data) is a hacker, Nikki is the thief and London is the forger. In Between Two Thieves, Nikki is the lead in this story, as she runs into her ex-boyfriend, Wade whom she left a few years ago, since he refused to leave her father, the criminal who trained both of them. Nikki is the best at what she does, and seems happier working for Jared and Mia, since she loves being a thief, and this time its for a good cause.  When she meets with Wade, she discovers that he is trying to steal the same painting as her group is planning on.  Though she still has feelings for Wade, she doesn’t trust him, especially since he helps her father.  Wade still loves Nikki, but knows he needs to steal the painting to help her father out of a threatening situation.  Nikki learns that Wade has gone straight, being a partner in a security firm, but without telling her too much information, he pleads with her to let him get the painting.  Unfortunately for Wade, Nikki and her team manage to steal the painting before he can, and she learns why he needed it (her father owes money to a bookie, and they are threating him).  She then decides to help Wade get the painting (she will have London make a forgery) and work on stealing the original now at a museum.  

What follows is another wonderful exciting story, in the world of hackers, thieves and forgers, as well as playing robin hood (payback to the victims). There was plenty of action, intrigue, suspense and a couple we rooted for. Nikki was a great heroine, and Wade was a nice guy who was very much in love with her.  I do not want to say too much more, since you should be reading this without spoilers.  Between Two Thieves was very well written by Sloane Steele.  Between Two Thieves was a fun, as well as suspenseful story, with a fantastic group of characters.  I look forward to the next book in this series.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy supplied for Review

 

 

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It Takes a Thief by Sloane Steele – a Review

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It Takes a Thief by Sloane Steele – a Review

 

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / Google Play / Apple

 

Description:
When catching a thief requires becoming one.

Jared Towers has skills. One of them is being able to talk his way out of—or into—anything.

Audrey Abbott has skills, too. Need something hacked and only the best will do? She’s your girl.

He’s charming.

She’s reclusive.

They have absolutely nothing in common—except for a driving desire to take care of those who need it the most.

For Jared, that means assembling a team of thieves to steal back what rightfully belongs to the victims of a crime perpetrated by his own father. For Audrey, it means doing whatever she can to make sure her grandma never has to worry again.

And now they have something else in common: the art heist of the century.

It was supposed to be all business. Get in and get out, then move on to the next target. But when Jared finds himself falling for Audrey, artwork isn’t the only thing at risk of being stolen…

Counterfeit Capers
Book 1: It Takes a Thief
Book 2: Between Two Thieves
Book 3: To Catch a Thief

 

 

Review:

It Takes a Thief by Sloane Steele is the 1st book in her new Counterfeit Capers series.  We meet Jared and Mia (cousins), as together they plan on their series of heists as payback against their fathers.  A number of years ago, their fathers were exposed for a Bernie Madoff financial scam, causing many people to lose their money; a number of those people were put into financial binds. The fathers are in hiding, leaving the children and their wives to suffer the backlash against them; of something they had no idea what was happening. 

Years pass, and now both Jared and Mia have inherited from their mother’s trust funds, which they plan to use to help out all those people who were hurt financially.  They will aim at their fathers’ cronies, who have valuable art, for which they eventually will sell to allow the fathers’ to return home, cashing in on those invested art.  Jared and Mia plan to steal the various paintings/sculptures, replace with forgeries,  and provide compensation to the victims; which they plan to do 12 heists (in three books ?).   But they need to find people who can help them perform the necessary deeds; so, they need to find the best in those fields who will not get caught; a thief, a hacker and a forger. 

At this point, Jared takes center focus, as we meet the ladies who are the best.  Audrey (Data) is a hacker, Nikki is the thief and London is the forger.  It was great to see Data and Nikki, who are totally different, but who become friends.  Mia when meeting both of them, wasn’t sure she could trust them, but in time that will change.  Jared, who spent most of the time with Data and Nikki, started to fall hard for Data (Audrey), though she is a loner (buried in her hacking world), she too started having feelings for Jared.  London comes in later, when hired by Mia to forge a painting.  They were a very good group, and the three ladies helped each other plan their parts in the heists. 

What follows is a wonderful story, giving us a glimpse at how hackers and thieves work, as well as enjoying a slow build romance between Jared and Audrey. The romance closer to the end, has some hiccups, but we do love them together and hope they stay together.  It Takes a Thief was a fun and witty adventure, as well as being exciting and suspenseful when they were on the job.  I do not want to say too much more, since you should be reading this without spoilers.  Sloane Steele did an excellent job writing this wonderful suspenseful story, with a group of great characters.   I look forward to the next two books, which will continue with more heists to come. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy supplied for Review

 

 

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