Check out this AMAZING trailer made by The Book Avenue here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4dORIZnrvgM

“Life does not accommodate you, it shatters you. Love is mean, but it’s good. It keeps us alive.”

I have agonized and stressed over how in the world I was going to review this book - this wonderful beautiful book. Thief is the final book of the Love Me With Lies series, an achingly poignant series that touched me so deeply. These characters have embedded their way into my heart. Caleb and Olivia are in me so deep that I there is no way I will ever forget them.

Thief was everything I was hoping for, but nothing what I expected. I had all these crazy theories floating around in my head, few of which actually came true (thank God). Leave it to Tarryn Fisher to make to take all of my expectations and throw them out the proverbial window. This series is a testament to Fisher's writing talent and staying power in the book world. Fisher is able to make her readers truly feel connected to these fictional characters. I know I am not alone when I wonder where they are now. I wonder what they're doing at this very moment. Not many books make me feel so rooted in their fictional lives. It makes me feel a little crazy.

Like Dirty Red, Thief started out with a bang. Caleb is sitting in his condo (yes, the same condo he had during he and Olivia's relationship) watching Olivia win Dobson's murder trial. He and Leah have been divorced for a period of time at this point. Even watching Olivia on the television he is transfixed and finds everything she does beautiful and enrapturing. His love for her is so deep and so raw even after all these years.

"Olivia is a piece of art. You have to know how to interpret her, how to see the beauty under the harsh lines of her personality...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."

Thief continues Caleb and Olivia's story, chronicling Caleb's unrelenting fight for Olivia. But this time Caleb speaks. He fights LIKE A BOSS and fights dirty. In fact, his methods reminded me of how dirty Olivia was in The Opportunist when she tried to win Caleb back. I thought this was interesting and showed just how similar these two actually are. Neither of them are perfect - not even our Caleb. The stunt Caleb pulled at dinner toward the beginning of the book had my jaw dropping on the floor in absolute shock. But that the same time, I was fist pumping him and cheering him on.

Underneath all their ugly lies is this beautiful burning love and intense connection - a connection that neither of them have had with anyone else, including their spouses. You could feel the electricity and the sparks between Olivia and Caleb. They didn't even need to be talking to each other. Their silence was enough to ignite the page and make it come alive. I loved every minute of it.

“When I’m with you, every emotion I can possibly feel comes spilling out. I drown in them. I want to run to you, and I want to run away.”

Despite all their jackedupness, I loved seeing them together. I loved all their "isms". I loved that they used the code word "Peter Pan" when one of them wanted to know what the other was thinking. I loved that they held onto their penny after all these years. Olivia uses to word "hook me" Caleb when she wanted one of his special hugs. I loved that llamas reminded Caleb of Olivia from when they first met under a tree. Most of all I loved how deeply Caleb GOT Olivia and Olivia GOT Caleb. After the truth came out and the lies were erased, they were finally bared to each other.

“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?”

In true Tarryn Fisher fashion, Thief is not all sugary syrupy sweetness. There are no hearts, rainbows or unicorns. This was real life. Real life is messy. Love is messy. I appreciate how relatable this story was. Thief is an ode to first love, broken hearts and the hope for second chances.

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Caleb's POV. "Thief" OMG!!!!!!! Do you know what this means? Do you? Do you? I don't either, but I'm all fired up!!! WAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I'd really, really like to know when we can expect this masterpiece!! Until then, read the teasers below!





04/01/2013
Teaser: The Penny
The door was slightly ajar when I arrived. I was about to knock when it swung open and a man came out carrying a garbage bag. I stepped back too startled to speak. My thoughts spun in a hundred directions. He wasn’t her type. I was going to kill him. Why was he taking out her trash? Did he sleep here often? I waited for him to look up, thinking every man deserved a chance to explain himself before he got the shit beat out of him.
He was mildly startled to see me standing in front of him. He looked past me to see if I was with someone else, and then said.
“Help you?”
He hadn’t pulled the door to Olivia’s apartment closed, and I could see inside.
Empty.
I felt the air leave my lungs. I closed my eyes tilting my head back. No, no, no.
I walked away, my hands in my hair and circled back to where maintenance was looking at me curiously. My instant jealousy had caused me to miss the uniform and name badge. Why had I left her? Why hadn’t I just stayed? I knew she did this. She ran when she was afraid. I thought—
What had I thought? That I could keep her because we’d made love? That her demons wouldn’t find her in the orange grove where I’d sold my soul to be with her?
I eyed the badge clipped to the front of his shirt.
“Miguel.” My voice sounded raw even to my ears. Miguel raised his eyebrows as he watched me struggle with a sentence. “When did she—? How long—?”
“This one’s been open for twenty four hours,” he said, referring to the apartment behind him. “We have a waiting list. Have to make it ready for next tenants.”
Twenty four hours? Where had she gone? Had she left right away? Had something scared her away?
I ran a hand through my hair. I’d left her just two days ago to go settle my affairs. I’d danced with her in the parking lot before I’d left. She’d tried to tell me the truth, but I’d stopped her. When she found out about the amnesia, she’d think of every possible reason to run from me. I’d planned on locking her in the apartment; making love to her again and convincing her that we could make it work. But, first I’d had loose ends to tie up.
I’d left Olivia and gone straight to Leah’s townhouse. When she opened the door I could tell she’d been crying. It took me thirty minutes to break her heart. It hurt me to do it. She had done nothing to deserve what I was doing to her. I told her I’d met someone. She didn’t ask who, though I suspected she knew since she’d followed me to Olivia’s apartment a few weeks earlier. Before I left, I kissed her forehead. I didn’t tell her about the amnesia. I didn’t want to hurt her any more than I already had.
I went to my condo next. As I stood under the shower I thought of our week together. I thought of the orange grove; of the way she tasted, the way her skin felt like cold satin beneath my fingers. When my mind went to that first moment of being inside her; of the way her eyes had widened and her lips had parted, I had to blast myself with cold water.
She’d given me everything—everything she’d held back before. She was different. She was also the same; stubborn, defiant...full of lies.
I’d tried to break her before. Now, I just wanted her as she was. I wanted every, last beautiful flaw. I wanted the witty one liner’s, and the coldness that only I knew how to warm. I wanted the fight and the friction and the make- up sex. I wanted her to wake up in my bed every morning. I wanted her shitty cooking and her beautiful, complex mind.
I’d gone back on everything I believed, to be with her. I threw truth out the window. I was so afraid she’d forget about me, I’d lied to sneak back into her life. Now, I had inordinate amounts of explaining to do.
I looked at Miguel. He suddenly seemed like my last remaining tie to her.
“Did she leave anything?—a note….anything?”
Miguel rubbed the back of his neck. “No, man.”
“Did she say where she was going?”
He sucked his teeth. “I’m just maintenance. They don’t exactly give me a forwarding address.” He looked around to make sure we were alone. “But, if she did leave something it would be in this black garbage bag, which I’m going to set right here while I do a run through of the apartment.”
He dropped the bag on the floor, and gave me a look before stepping back into the apartment and closing the door behind him.
I picked it up, weighed it in my hand. It was light. Had she left me something, telling me where she’d gone? Had Jim come back and scared her off? Had he told her? I knelt down and turned the bag over, dumping its contents on the concrete. I was sweating and my hands were damp as I sifted through the trash. Ripped up papers, broken glass, crushed flower petals….what was I looking for? A letter? Olivia would never write me a letter. It wasn’t her style. This was her style; leaving me without notice…throwing me in the fire to burn. I tossed the bag. Half of my heart was breaking, the other half was hell fucking angry. As the bag fluttered to the ground, I heard the slight tinkering of something hitting the floor. My eyes scanned the concrete, desperate for anything that would lead me to her.
I found it lying between my feet.
A penny.
Had she left it for me, or had she just left it? I picked it up, held it between my fingers. The once shiny surface had the slightly green tinge of aging copper. This was her goodbye? I felt anger and more than anger, I felt confusion. What had I done? The orange grove, the kiss in the parking lot before I’d left. I’d felt so sure of what I felt for her…what she felt for me. There was no way Olivia would have given herself to me if she wasn’t sure of us. Then why?
WHY?
I walked to the edge of the parking lot and lifted my fist, the penny pressing against my palm. Toss it. I told myself. My muscles tensed to throw it.
I couldn’t do it. My hand dropped to my side. I put the penny in my pocket and drove home.


02/22/2013

**THIEF TEASER HERE!!!!!**