5 SMOOCHES!
SYNOPSIS:
To catch a thief…or fall for one?
All Nick Norton wants is to stay on the straight and narrow…and never get caught stealing again. Then he lays eyes on her: Stella Peretti—100 percent sexy and absolutely irresistible. Especially when he sees her smooth moves lifting a two-karat diamond. Nick realizes he’s found the sparkling woman of his dreams—one so perfect for him it’s almost criminal.
The Shimmy Shimmy Bangs are master jewel thieves who are planning the heist of the century. And Shimmy leader, Stella, isn’t about to let anyone—even if he is a hunky, tatted-up studmuffin—get in her way. But when two of her girls are put out of commission, Stella realizes that Nick isn’t just a red-hot distraction. He might be the answer to her pilfering prayers.
Now, Nick and Stella are putting everything on the line for one last job. But when two thieves have this much chemistry, it’s only a matter of time before somebody’s heart gets stolen.
REVIEW:
There hasn’t been a book that Nicola Rendell has written that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. Her writing style is quick witted, with an occasional splash of well-timed perfectly rude humor, and coupled with the way she spins a sultry, sexy, steamy romance, the result for me is utter perfection in romcom book form. Her stories completely entertain me, speaking to every single thing I hope for when I crack open contemporary romantic fiction. Her stories are smart, amusing and thoughtful, and I can’t get enough of them.
Shimmy Bang Sparkle is the latest gem from the talented Rendell. These characters stole my heart from the first page with their swagger and their magnetic chemistry. I’d like to say that Nick and Stella are a modern day Bonnie and Clyde, but they were so much more than that. Bonnie and Clyde were straight up thieves. Nick and Stella were the rarer than that – they were thieves with a conscience, a sense of justice. Sitting here, devouring this story, I was all in with them and along for the heist, and it didn’t take long before I was actually thinking it was the right thing to do! That is how wickedly creative Rendell was in her storytelling here.
This book was so much more than I expected it to be, and shame on me for that. I know to expect the unexpected from this author. I know this, she’s given that to me time and time again. Yet still, she managed to surprise me with how hard and fast I fell for this couple, for the fantastic side characters, and their engrossing, interesting and just plain fun story. The plot wasn’t the only thing capturing my attention, though. Falling in love right along with Nick and Stella was as swoony and romantic and delicious as it gets. They were two lost halves of a whole finally coming together after a long separation. They fit, they suited, they meshed, and they had me from the moment they first met. I was just as smitten with them as they were with each other.
Shimmy Bang Sparkle was three-hundred-plus pages of pure pleasure to read. Light-hearted and easy reading, Rendell delivered a fantastic story that was sexy, passionate, sweetly romantic and a whole lot of fun. I devoured this book in a day, and I simply did not want to put it down. I laughed and grinned, and as is always the case with one of Rendell’s stories, I was fanning the blush staining my cheeks. Five smooches from me for Shimmy Bang Sparkle by Nicola Rendell.
~Danielle Palumbo
