Review: Thief with a heart of gold...  Spoiler warning!!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 16, 2012
Spoiler alert******************************************************Note-edited for detail and to upgrade my rating, as the story held my interest, in spite of the reasons stated below.I downloaded this story because it sounded very intriguing.  Ciara is 31, a transplanted American, living in France. She's also a talented and smart thief.  Jean-Marc is the sexy detective who unknowingly falls for her while trying to stop her string of high profile robberies.  Ciara has become a sort of foster mother/older sister to several older teens, living on their own due to abuse, abandonment etc.  She pays the rent, buys food and pays (expensive) tuition for the "orphans."While the story was fairly well-written, I didn't enjoy it much because I wanted Ciara to be caught.  She actually had the nerve to be mad because the painting she stole was a forgery!!!  Reminds of the time I caught a pickpocket's hand in my pocket, and he told me that it was "my fault, he was just working," before walking away, presumably to find a less alert victim.I think I would have enjoyed the story if Ciara was just a thief, without the pulling of the heart strings, taking care of the poor orphans, who were all old enough to have jobs, anyway.  One of the teens is being terrorized by a rogue cop who previously abused her and who is now blackmailing Ciara to leave the girl alone.My problems with the story -Ciara and her "orphans" never considered getting off their behinds and making an honest living.  I couldn't get fully into the story because with certain limited exceptions, I despise thieves and found the thief with a heart of gold premise disingenuous (and Ciara too smart to act so dumb).  The villain was rather cartoonish (I could almost see him smirking while twirling his mustache).  Anyone with a brain knows that paying a blackmailer simply encourages  rather than stops them.  So why did Ciara and the orphans think that that paying him off would solve all their problems?  Why didn't they at least move from the area?  Ciara moved herself to get away from Jean Marc, but it never occurred to her to move the young girl away from her tormentor?