Review: Thief

Note to Self

Love is patient; love is kind.
Love doesn't boast or brag.
There's no arrogance in love;
it's never rude, crude, or indecent-it's not self absorbed.
Love isn't easily upset.
Love doesn't tally wrongs.
Love trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what.
Love will never become obsolete.
I'll fight for her.

Thief

Title: Thief (Love Me With Lies ~ Book 3)
Author: Tarryn Fisher | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website
Publication Date: July 21 2013
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 232 Pages
Add it to your TBR Pile: Goodreads
Buy It: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Cover Love: Caleb is blonde.  Now normally when a book cover model doesn't match that of the description given for the character, I tend to dislike the cover.  However... Just look at that cover. Holy HOTNESS.  This is and forever will be my Caleb, dark hair, blonde hair, it doesn't matter.  That is Caleb Drake.
Point of View: 1st person, following Caleb.  However there are a couple of chapters in alternate points of views.

My Rating: 5 HUGE Stars

I am not a spoiler kind of girl.  I hate reading spoilers, and I hate giving spoilers.  But, I must start out this review with a spoiler alert.  There is absolutely no way to write anything about Thief, without giving away details of the previous books.  So, if you have not yet read The Opportunist or Dirty Red, my first question for you would be, why the hell not?  And then I would tell you to stop reading this review right now, go buy them and read them, then come back to read my review.

“She’s mine.  She always has been, she always will be.”

Well, now that I have that out of the way, where do I even start?  I guess I should talk about how excited I was to read Thief.  I finished reading Dirty Red on a Saturday morning and I immediately started wishing that Thief was already out.  I was in my own version of hell.  This is no joke.  I attempted to start no less than four different books, I didn't even make it past 2% on any of them.  My heart was still with Olivia and Caleb.  Since Tarryn had announced that Thief would be published sometime within that week, I knew I didn't have that long to wait but I am not one for just sitting around. I needed something to read.  So what did I do?  I re-read The Opportunist.  I had only completed it the day prior but hey, who cares?  Then when I was half way through my re-read of Dirty Red, it happened.  Tarryn hit the publish button.

Immediately my heart rate increased, my hands started to get a little shaky and I couldn't sit still.  I felt like a junkie waiting on their next fix.  Then it was there, I one-clicked it and a second later I had it on my Kindle.  This was at 9:30pm on a Sunday night.  Next thing I know it is 3:30am and I am reading the final page.  I didn't even care that I had to be up in four hours to get ready for work.

“You are worth fighting for.  I haven’t given up yet.”

However, with all of my excitement to read Thief, I also had a fair bit of anxiety and nervousness.  I mean why wouldn't I?  At the end of the Opportunist I was a broken woman.  At the end of Dirty Red I was shocked to my core.  And what about my favorite two people?  Things were not very rosy between Olivia and Caleb.  What was going to happen?  What lies and betrayal were going to be unsurfaced next?  How will Olivia and Caleb ever manage to have their happily ever after?  Hell, will they even get a happily ever after?

“The sum of all the things we shouldn’t have done in our lives is enough to kill us with the weight.”

So now that the dust has settled, the series is completed and my anxiety levels are back down to normal... was the late night reading session, nervousness and stress worth it?  ABSOLUTELY.  Thief is amazing, and the perfect conclusion to what I can now call my favorite series of books.  Every up, every down, every lie, every kiss, every look, every betrayal, every miscommunication, every twist and every turn was perfectly captured and brought to life by Tarryn Fisher's suburb talent.

“Maybe our souls touched underneath that tree.  Maybe I decided to love her.  Maybe love wasn't our choice.  But when I looked at that woman, I saw myself differently.”

One of the most unique aspects of the Love Me With Lies series is that each book is written in a different point of view.  Olivia got her say in The Opportunist, Dirty Red was Leah, and now finally Caleb.  What was going on in his head when he walked over to Olivia all those years ago under that willow tree, and later when he chose to walk away from her for what he thought would be forever.  And the biggest question of all, what the hell was he thinking when he married that bitch Leah?  Well finally we get to find out.  And man oh man are there some shocking moments revealed.

Everything comes together so perfectly.  Each of the books have always been told with a forwarding present storyline, but also with the use of flashbacks.  I can only imagine the type of flowchart that Tarryn must have had to use to ensure that each important moment is not only captured from the different points of views, but that everything on the time line flows smoothly and without effort.  Never did I have to stop to think at what point I was at in the story, and I never felt confused or found the story to be muddled.  It simply flowed perfectly.

“She has the kind of love that can stain your soul, make you beg not to have one, just to escape the spell she’s put you under.  I’ve tried to break myself of her over and over, but it’s pointless.  I’ve got more of her in my veins than blood”

Did I get emotional white reading Thief?  Without a doubt.  I am an emotional reader for sure, and I am not ashamed of that fact.  But I think the love that I have for Caleb and Olivia meant that I was even more emotional while reading Thief.  To give you an example, early in the story Caleb goes to take a Coke out of his fridge.  He has the thought that he doesn't even drink Coke, but that Olivia does.  And he always makes sure that he has some on hand in case she is at his house.  Now this might not seem like an important statement, but this is during a time period that Caleb and Olivia have not seen each other for a long time.  And I started crying.  I thought about the love that he has for Olivia and how such a small act shows how even when they are not together, he is always thinking about her.  So yes, I may be a sap but I want to get across how much you fall in love with these characters.  That even a small moment such as this highlights the deep emotional bond they have.

“You couldn’t get rid of the past.  You couldn’t ignore it, or bury it, or throw it over the balcony.  You just had to learn to live beside it.  It had to peacefully co exist with your present.  If I could figure out how to do that, I could be okay.”

There is continued heartache in Thief, but there is so much healing that takes place.  I think that this shows the growth and maturity that Caleb and Olivia are finally experiencing.  But, they have been so much, and the question that has to be asked is....

“How many times can a heart be broken before it is beyond mend?”

So do they get their happily ever after?  Have they managed to find their way back to each other after everything that has happened between them?  Look away now if you don't want to know...

I am happy to report that Caleb and Olivia do in fact get their own version of happily ever after.  Why do I word it like that?  Because the ending is not all rainbows and butterflies.  It's a real life ending.  Not everything works out perfectly, but they are together and they are happy.  And to me this made the ending beyond perfect, because this was Caleb and Olivia's happily ever after.  There is no other way I would have wanted it to end.  Just thinking about it now brings a smile to my face.

My request for you is to go forth and read this series.  I promise you that you will not be disappointed.  I loved every single word of it and I have forever fallen in love with these characters.  Tarryn Fisher has proved herself to be beyond talented, and I will be a lifelong fan of her work.  This is one set of books that I can easily see myself reading over and over again.

“I'll do whatever I have to do to protect you.  I'll lie, cheat, and steal to make you okay.  I'll share your suffering, and I'll carry you when you're weighed down.  I'll never leave you, not even when you ask me to.  Do you believe me?”

MORE QUOTES FROM THIEF