August’s Thief
August’s Thief may be small, but it’s big-hearted and packs a lot of story into its sixty-two pages. It’s a heartwarming opposites-attract story about finding love while remaining true to who you are featuring a ray of sunshine who pushes through all the clouds surrounding him and a not-too grumpy man with a lot of love to give who quickly falls for said sunshine.
August Angel has almost given up on finding love and, in a last ditch attempt, has signed up with a new dating agency, CUPID, which has a 100% success rate. August is a thoroughly decent man who desperately wants someone to love, but the facial disfigurement he suffered as a child (in a car accident) has made that difficult; nobody has ever been able to see past it. He feels kinda stupid, frankly, sitting in CUPID’s offices talking about what he desires most in a romantic partner, but the bot insists it has found his perfect match, a guy called Dawson. August leaves with instructions to meet him for their first date, which has to be one of the best meet-cutes I’ve come across, because August has to collect Dawson from the holding cells at Bethnal Green Police Station.
It turns out Dawson has been arrested for shoplifting (not for the first time). August duly pays the fine and takes Dawson home – with a quick stop at the one supermarket he’s not banned from – expecting that to be that. But he can’t stop thinking about Dawson who is, the more August thinks about it, the man of his dreams.
The romance is a bit insta, it’s true, but it’s full of emotion and consideration and understanding and the two leads are immediately engaging and endearing. This is a sweet story, filled with the warmth and humour that are such strong characteristics of this author’s work, and despite the shorter length, still manages to have the emotional heft I expect from her. The reasons behind Dawson’s situation are heartbreaking (he’s the sole carer of his disabled twin, Mikey) and seeing his love and devotion to his brother is absolutely beautiful and brought a lump to my throat.
The story is told entirely from August’s PoV, but I didn’t miss hearing from Dawson because the author draws such a clear picture of him through August’s eyes. He’s a real force of nature, muddling through as best he can and determined to do the best for Mikey even though life is far from easy. That he sees taking care of his brother as a privilege and not a burden comes through so strongly and the love just radiates from him in waves. August is his opposite – privileged but solitary – although both of them have in common the emotional baggage which means they find it hard to believe anyone could love them, August as a result of his facial scars, Dawson because he and Mikey come as a package deal and he can’t see anyone wanting to stick around as a result.
I really liked CUPID, the wise, snarky matchmaking bot. We never find out exactly how it works (I guess we’re not supposed to) but it adds a nice touch of whimsy to the story and the interactions between it and August are fun to read.
August’s Thief is short, sweet and just a bit steamy, a lovely story about finding that special someone who sees you as you really are and will share your burdens no matter what.
Note: This novella was previously published in a Heart2Heart anthology; no new material has been added.
Recent Comments
I am so sorry about jumping this thread, but I’m going crazy here. You reviewed a romantic suspense years ago and I read the first 2 pages, thought this is awesome but didn’t have time to start it right then. I didn’t mark it down on my GR lists thinking I would get right back to it. Well, I didn’t or couldn’t. The scene I remember is the heroine going somewhere to hide, there’s a lake, she’s in a trailer or fifth wheel and she’s running away from it bc either it’s going to blow up or the bad guys have found her, something. The H is there, but I don’t remember if he’s watching from the sidelines trying to determine if she’s really the baddy or she needs protection. That’s as far as I got that day, but the opening scene was written so well and so riveting that it has stuck with me and I want to read it so bad. I’ve checked all your reviews here and as many on GR but I can’t find it. So sorry to hijack this thread but if you remember the book, could you please help me out?
No problem – I’ll definitely have a think about it, but I review pretty much everything I read here or on Goodreads… (What’s a Fifth Wheel? That might jog my memory!)
The only one I can find that has the heroine hiding out near a lake at the beginning of the book is Toni Anderson’s Cold Blooded.
I’ll keep thinking…
Thank you and a fifth wheel is a trailer pulled by a big truck that campers use. It may have been a trailer, but small one. I know you review everything here and GR and I have literally gone through all of your reviews with a fine tooth comb but I must be missing something. The Toni Anderson one isn’t it. You don’t need to worry about it, I’m going to start through your reviews again and hope I missed something while I read them the first time. I’m finding a lot of good books at least, but this time I’m tagging them. Thanks again, and Happy New Year
FH has so many top-notch ratings with us; she’s continuously solid.
She is – and she’s really going from strength to strength.
I’m behind with reading her books, but this looks like a nice way to get back on track. Thank you!
Yes, bump it up the TBR!
I realized once I started it that I’d read it as part of an anthology (forget which one) but I enjoyed revisiting it! Very well done.