The Heartstone Thief

What do we have here? Fantasy romance involving a dark, dangerous yet alluring love interest, shrouded in mystery and black leather. That would normally be the most common description for a paranormal heartthrob in this genre. The dagger-wielding, throat-slitting, permanently brooding type.

Only, in The Heartstone Thief, it's a woman!

Told from the point of view of swashbuckling thief Curtis Vance - and I can't remember the last time I read from the perspective of a male first-person narrator - The Heartstone Thief starts right with the "bonding" between the unsuspecting protagonist and arcane sorceress Shaianna, after she's been awakened from the artefact he has been paid to steal. In a world where magic is nonexistent, or rather persecuted, he's still not convinced of her powers and only reluctantly heads off to retrieve the gem she's after, if only for his own ulterior motives.

Now, supernaturally binding two characters to eachother is always a nice way of a) preventing them from being separated for too long, thus pushing on the plot, b) forcing them to work together, and c) building up romance. And, I mean, the blurb is pretty obvious about it.

The gender-reversal in this novel is amazing though. I chuckled to myself whenever Vance is absolutely terrified of, yet feels drawn to Shaianna, or every time he mentions her flawless, gloomy looks and deadly fighting skills in the same sentence. While he's not incapable of surviving by himself, most of the time he is the damsel in distress, and Shaianna rushes to his rescue. Once reading this book, I became painfully aware of the foreignness of this role allocation. The way the male protagonist refers to and is wary of the love interest, the inequality of power and even physical strength between them, the overall inversion of tropes, is just not the norm, and I loved it. I'd read a thousand books like this one.

[full review on goodreads.com]

*review posted on goodreads with 5 star rating on 03/30/17*

Curtis Vance is a thief for hire, with no care for anything except enough rubies to get him by in the outer circle, finds himself magically bound to a assassin sorceress. His only way to break the bond will force him to use his thieving to help her take the dragon eye gem. All Vance wants to do now is break the bond, sell the gem, and move on with his life, but will be be able to escape with his heart? The Heartstone Thief takes us on a heartbreakingly magical journey in ancient forgotten pasts, love, and forgiveness. 

This is my first book by Pippa DaCosta, and I have to say, it definitely won't be my last. The Heartstone Thief has my favorite elements in a book: A strong heroine, magic, slow-burn romance, mystery, and self discovery. 

"She is dangerous, young thief. You think you know her, but you can no more no her than a man can know the stars, or the wind, or the oceans depths. Do you think to steal her heart, thief?"..."No, she is not for you." 

As I said before, I really love myself a strong heroine, and that's exactly what we get with our awesome sorceress. We get to see many personalities for her, which seem polar opposites at times. It was nice getting to watch Shaianna and Vance grow more open with each other, and seeing their true personalities shine through.

The Heartstone Thief doesn't end in a cliffhanger, but leaves the story open for more books in the future. 

*ARC kindly provided by the author/publisher via Netgalley for honest review*