Narrated by Avalon Kingsbury
Steal Me is book 2 in Lauren Layne’s New York’s Finest series, about the Moretti family of police officers. I listened to Cuff Me earlier this year which is actually a later book in the series.
Steal Me is the story of Maggie Walker and Captain Anthony Moretti. Maggie, an aspiring YA romance author, is a waitress at a local diner frequented by the Moretti’s and, unfortunately, she has a habit of spilling coffee or food on Anthony. Could this be a sign of true love??
Anthony was promoted to captain three months earlier and has ambitions to follow in his father’s footsteps and eventually become Police Commissioner. He believes he has to choose the job over a relationship and a previous bad experience with a girlfriend only cemented that view in his mind.
Anthony is lead investigator of “Smiley”, an audacious if idiosyncratic thief who has been striking householders in the West Side of Manhattan. Anthony is out of leads and under pressure to produce results. When Maggie provides a crucial lead to Anthony, both the case and their relationship take a sharp turn.
Maggie has basically reinvented herself after moving from New Jersey to New York. She was married and, after finding out her husband was cheating, she was then divorced. Her ex-husband was a moocher, her father is an alcoholic and also a moocher and her younger brother is 25 going on 14 (and also a moocher). She is used to being taken advantage of. She sees the close-knit Moretti family and looks on them with longing. Anthony is good-looking, if stern and hard to read but he also has a wonderful family. As much as there was a strong chemistry between the two leads, his family was also a big draw for Maggie.
Essentially the conflict in the book is about Anthony learning a bit about work/life balance and Maggie standing up for herself with the men in her life.
The narration had its issues. Ms. Kingsbury often sounded staccato in her phrasing which sometimes had the effect of losing the emotion of the text, instead coming across as abrupt. Also, her male character voices aren’t strong. Many of the Moretti men sounded a little like they had been inhaling helium.
However, there were other aspects which were good – particularly her female characterisations. I especially enjoyed Nonna, the outrageous matriarch of the Moretti family. Each of the women had a distinct personality and it came across clearly during the listen.
I can’t say I completely understood Smiley’s motivations (but maybe I wasn’t supposed to) but I did enjoy the romance between Anthony and Maggie and ultimately Steal Me falls into the win column.
Kaetrin
Narration: C+
Book Content: B
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence Rating: Fighting
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Steal Me was provided to AudioGals by Hachette Audio for a review.
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