Thief of Lies (Library Jumpers #1)by Brenda Drake
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads
Synopsis:
Gia Kearns would rather fight with boys than kiss them. That is, until Arik, a leather clad hottie in the Boston Athenaeum, suddenly disappears. While examining the book of world libraries he abandoned, Gia unwittingly speaks the key that sucks her and her friends into a photograph and transports them into a Parislibrary, where Arik and his Sentinels-magical knights charged with protecting humans from the creatures traveling across the gateway books-rescue them from a demonic hound.
Jumping into some of the world's most beautiful libraries would be a dream come true for Gia, if she weren't busy resisting her heart or dodging an exiled wizard seeking revenge on both the Mystik and human worlds. Add a French flirt obsessed with Arik and a fling with a young wizard, and Gia must choose between her heart and her head, between Arik's world and her own, before both are destroyed.
Review:
***Updated Review After Re-Read***
Thief of Lies was addicting and completely entertaining. And I’m so glad that I re-read this book! You see, the first time I picked this up, I struggled connecting to the characters. The story was so much fun, but I never felt as though I was fully immersed until Bastien appeared on the pages, and well I’ll talk more about him later. But this time around, it all clicked into place. I was so happy because Thief of Lies was an adorable story filled with adventure and magic! And I can’t wait to see how this series unfolds!
Time crept by as I waited for Bastien, and I closed my eyes. But the nightmare of where I was and who I didn’t know I was, strangled my breath. Gia Kearns didn’t exist anymore. She’d been lost somewhere on that first day when the gateway book ripped her from her world, dumping her in a dark hole. A fog surrounded me.
But to start, can you imagine what it would be like to jump from library to beautiful library? Well Gia and her friends accidentally jumped through a book and landed in a library in Europe. Yet it’s not all ahhh this library is breathtakingly gorgeous and I’m going to sit here and read some fabulous books. They become witness to the Sentinels, who protect the libraries with magic, kill a demonic hound that almost took out Gia, our heroine. Within the group of magical knights that saved them was Arik.
“Did you just check out my boobs?” I whispered. Please say yes.
“No.” He smirked. “Okay, yes. I am a guy.”
That you are. I yanked the covers up to my chin and suppressed a smile.
At first, Arik was everything I adore. Sexy, secretive, protective and with a wounded past. He had so much potential! Yet I had a love hate relationship with him. Luckily, this time around I got why he was being standoffish and cold to Gia. But at other times, he could be so sweet and charming. Yet, I never felt any electricity between Gia and Arik. Their moments together didn’t leave me all smiley and giddy, so I truly don’t feel like he’s the right guy for Gia. Especially when he said things like the quote above. So I nicely stepped off Team Arik.
I gulped down my fear, drew my sword from its scabbard , and kept it close to my side.
Gia had a lot on her plate, and she tried her best adapt while leaving her old life temporarily behind (I can’t say why, but you learn the why early on in the book). Yet it took me a while to warm up to Gia. At times, she got caught up in being jealous and boy obsessed. It came across as immature, and I wanted her to work harder on finding herself. But as I watched her deal with her new world and a new set of people/creatures I loved her resilience. Even though she kept getting thrown into situations that were way above her head, I loved how she reacted realistically while she also jumped right in to help others. Gia is someone who showed huge possibilities for growth, and I can’t wait to see how much she’ll learn and improve as the series progresses.
“With time, I’ll prove to you we belong together. Go ahead and have your fun with Arik, but it’s my arms you’ll end up in one day.”He kissed my cheek and headed over to the gathering crowd. – Bastian to Gia
I have to talk about Bastien now, or I will burst. Oh Bastien. From the first moment that he appeared on the page, I was captivated. He was a wizard who was confident, sexy and strived to do great things while dealing with a broken heart. He fascinated me. And whether it was his sense of knowing himself or knowing what he wanted, he felt so much more grown up than Arik. The words and manor that Bastien spoke to Gia always left the hugest smile on my face. He was respectful, caring and I loved that he seemed in control. So I truly hope Gia sees what I see and comes around. Please oh please don’t end up with Aric by the end of this series and break my heart.
“I take it you’re not used to rejection,” I said.
He lifted a smile. “I’ll admit it’s a rare occurrence.”
Arik took a step toward us. “All right, we’re finished here.”
Bastien stood and leaned over to my ear. “You not wanting nobility intrigues me. I’m curious to learn more about you, Gianna.” His whisper tickled my neck and sent a shiver down my back. I held my breath, every inch of my body at attention. He straightened, gave me a wink, and swaggered to the door with Arik on his heels.
Besides Bastian, Gia and Arik, we’re introduced to a lot of characters who range from witches, wizards, sentinels, fae etc. On top of that, we learn about many different places and kinds of magic. But I never once felt overwhelmed or lost. We’re slowly introduced with little bits of info here and there, except for a few info dumps that were relatively quick. So it was easy to take it all in. And ironically, I thought the story was somewhat simplistic a few chapters in, but I couldn’t be more wrong. It continually grew and become more elaborate and layered as each chapter went by. Especially when I started to discover clues and meet people err creatures? who were bent on not only revenge, but also ruling their world and the humans world too. It was so entertaining! So I can’t wait to see how the story proceeds, and here’s hoping you’ll join me and be on Team Bastien!
I grabbed a stapler and crouched behind the nearest cabinet. Nick and Afton ducked down beside me. I pulled the leg down on the stapler, held it up, and readied it to shoot.
“Yeah, that’ll work,” Nick said.
PS I have to give a shout out to her best friend Nick who could be grumpy at times, but I adored him. And Afton, her other best friend, was this lovable girl who warmed me heart! Ohhhh and Lei, she’s a Sentinel that is funny, sweet and kick ass. I can’t wait for you to meet all of them!
PPS I finished Guardian of Secrets (the 2nd book in the series) last night and LOVED! It’s 4.5 Stars and this series just gets better and better! My review will be posted on February 6th with the Blog Tour. ♥
| Reading Order & Links: Amazon (click on covers), iBooks (click on titles) & Book Depository (click on book #) |
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 Thief of Lies #1 Review: Jen |  Guardian of Secrets #2 Review: Jen |  Assassin of Truths #3 Reviews: Jen |
I really liked this book, but I understand the points you made. I’m totally Team Bastien!
I’m SO happy to hear that you are Team Bastien. Yay yay yay! I can’t wait to read more about him next year! 🙂
Fingers crossed that the next book is even better Jen.😊🙋🏻
Thank you, Kim! I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed! And I’m going to re-read this book when the 2nd come out, and hopefully I’ll have a better connection when I pick it up again.
Sorry it wasn’t as emotional as you wanted, but it still sounds so great! I’m glad you liked it and I hope you love the next one. I can’t wait to read it myself. 😀
AngelErin recently posted…Insane Genre Challenge Update #3
Aw, thank you Erin! I really hope I’ll like the next one also and I can’t wait to see what you think when you pick up the book!
Jen recently posted…TOP TEN TUESDAY – Characters Where We Don’t Agree With The Majority
That’s definitely happened to me – where I couldn’t quite figure out why I wasn’t connecting with a book. Sometimes there’s nothing specific, it’s just not clicking.
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…How Much Do You Read? Let’s Discuss!
It’s such a bummer when that happens. Here’s hoping we don’t pickup many books this year that we struggle connecting with. ♥
Jen recently posted…BOOK REVIEW – Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy #1) by Wendy Higgins
Oh, how funny! I went to go comment on your review and then saw my old comment. I was really puzzled by it for a minute before I realized that the comment was from when you FIRST published the review! Ha! Anyway, I think it’s interesting that a re-read made you like this book a lot better. It just goes to show how much random factors can affect our feelings about a book. Who knows what held you back from loving it last time? You could have been having a bad week, or you weren’t able to concentrate fully on the book, or it could have just been that it’s the type of book where you needed to have some familiarity with the plot before you could truly connect with the characters. I’m finding this idea compelling … I think I feel a discussion post coming on. 🙂 Maybe we should do a dual-discussion where we talk about it together? Would you be interested in that?
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…Top Ten Books Books I Missed in 2016
That would be confusing reading your old thoughts from a year ago lol. It made more since to edit my old review, instead of keeping two reviews for the same book, since my old thoughts didn’t stand true anymore. And I’m so glad that I enjoyed this book so much more the 2nd time around. It was the best feeling ever!
I would LOVE to do that! I emailed you a novel, from my person email account, this morning….well kinda last night. I can’t wait to see what direction we chose to take the post if we proceed forward. 🙂
This sounds like a great book, and a nice introduction to a series. I haven’t read them yet but I definitely plan to at some point. Interesting that it needed a re-read for you. I don’t usually give books another go if they aren’t to my liking the first time. Maybe I should? Thanks for taking the time to repost your review!
Karen Blue recently posted…What I Learned from Visiting 365 Different Blogs
A lot of times I won’t re-read the first book, unless it’s favorite author/series. So instead I read through all of the lines/paragraphs that I highlighted the 1st time I read the book (I’m obsessed with highlighting in my Kindle or using tabs for paperback/hardbacks). But I was really bothered that I couldn’t connect to this book, when my friends did, so I picked it back up a year later and everything clicked. It was so awesome! I definitely recommend trying it if you can’t connect to a book the 1st time around but still really want to read the 2nd book. Maybe I’m not the only one this will work for? 🙂
Oo Bastian sounds Fantastic. 😁 I’ve been wanting to read this one. Even though most of the reviews I’ve seen are pretty meh about it. Great review!!
AngelErin recently posted…Gilded Cage By: Vic James ARC Review
It seems as though it’s either meh or love! BUT two of my blogging friends loved and one of my goodreads friends loved. And only of my Goodreads friends was a dnf, so that’s pretty good odds. I think you would adore Bastien *sigh*!
This book looks so cute! I gotta admit, the library-jumper thing always interests me. I might wait until you review book III for me, though, before I jump in. I hate having my heart broken 😉 Although…I was basically team Gale until Mockingjay, so I guess things can change!
Well hopefully the final book will be released next year and then we can find out whether I’m on the winning or losing side of the love triangle. Oh man. I hope I’m on the winning side lol!
Oh noooooo! Here’s hoping you were okay with how the trilogy ended! I adored Gale in The Hunger Games, but then in the beginning of Catching Fire I lost my love for him. 🙁 Which is so sad because I adored Gale. It’s funny how our emotions can be twisted and tangled as the series progresses. 🙂
I know, I was totally Team Gale because they were friends…but then Peeta just clearly proves himself the better match for Katniss. Very skillful love triangle that I really enjoyed. Here’s to hoping that Library Jumpers ends that well! 🙂
I loved book 1. Glad to see your amazing review and so excited for book 2!
I’m so happy to hear that you loved this book!! And just a fyi – the 2nd book is BEYOND amazing! If you loved the first, then there’s a really good chance that you’ll love the 2nd even more. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you’ll love it too. 🙂
Yay! I’m excited now. And those covers are gorgeous!
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