What a delightful and exhilarating story! This novel really captured my attention. The Lady Thief of Belgravia is an exciting blend of Victorian adventure and passionate romance.

Our heroine, Della Rose, is a likeable, strong, resourceful and determined woman who has had to fight for everything. After her mother dies she ends up in an orphanage and as an adult continues to fend for herself. She becomes known as Rosie Diver, a most accomplished female thief. Although she has a knack for stealing without getting caught, she discovers she has other more respectable talents after meeting Lord (Cole) Bradford. She learns quickly to play the piano, ride horses, dance, act, speak well—in fact to become a lady of high society. We cannot help but admire her. So, when she is discovered by Lord Bradford and offered a large sum of money to steal from his arch-nemesis, the Duke of Salisbury, she sees it as a golden opportunity to help make her dreams come true. It will offer her an escape from the dangerous life of Seven Dials, provide enough funds to set herself up in a nice dwelling where she can study books, become a scholar and help her best friend amateur painter, Violet, get her artwork out to the public.

Once recruited Della ‘trains’ to keep her real identity hidden and to make others believe she is a woman of high society. In fact, she becomes known as Cole’s cousin with a believable backstory to ward off any suspicions. She certainly adapts well to this fictitious life. One thing she does not prepare for or expect, though, is to have her heart fall for her employer. She gets emotionally lost in Lord Bradford’s charisma. He is described as being quite handsome, kind and private. But there is more to Cole than meets the eye. And his reasons for hiring Della are quite legitimate. We get to know him quite well and he is a perfect match for her (though society would disagree). So when these two unlikely pair begin to have great feelings for each other, Della fights it furiously as she knows his world is very different from hers. Yet the heart wants what it wants and this novel really showcases that battle. Love knows no social boundary. There are many intense romantic scenes in this novel that would make Victorians blush but it is, after all, a Romantic Victorian adventure story. It is also a revealing portrayal of the class differences. There are a few heart-racing danger moments that book end the sizzling attraction scenes. I loved the growth in Della— to see her finally appreciated. And that she realises she is worthy of love and that a man of higher social standing could truly care about her.

Allison really covers brilliantly the broad spectrum of rags to riches settings. We get a clear picture of the urban poverty of Seven Dials described by poet John Keats “where misery clings to misery for a little warmth, and want and disease lie down side-by-side, and groan together.” Then we are transported to the aristocratic fashionable gilded residential districts of Belgravia where dangers still lurk but are more hidden. These two worlds are showcased side by side through Della’s and Cole’s interactions as they travel back and forth while on a mission to take down the enemy. Della gets to live for a while in his world. And he gets a glimpse of hers but does it matter in the end where they come from if they want to remain together? The two realms eclipse and it is an exciting climax that carries forward a hopeful release to the conclusion.

I really enjoyed this novel and highly recommend it to those who love a strong Victorian heroine set against a rollicking high adventure. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Storm Publishing and Netgalley for my review copy.

Based on the description, I expected Allison Grey's The Lady Thief of Belgravia to be a Victorian heist rom-com. In reality, the heist-to-romance ratio skews VERY hard to romance; instead of Irene Adler, it was more like Pretty Woman with a cat burglary.

As a debut, Grey has done a great job crafting complete and interesting characters. It was a fun read, even if it was a little lighter on action than I expected. I'm looking forward to seeing Grey's future work.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Historical drama,a bit unbelievable,but a good read. A thief from seven dials is enlisted to help a member of the aristocracy find some incriminating papers.

Everything felt very anti-climatic for me.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this at the very beginning but I noticed everything started going downhill for me when Cole admitted who he was and why he wanted what was stolen from him back. Their relationship was cute but it felt rushed and I didn't get to connect properly with the main couple.

The main conflict with the couple is the miscommunication or rather, lack of communication.

It's in third person so you get an idea of what both main characters feelings are but it didn't give them as much depth as I expected it to.

From the blurb, I thought this was a fun heist romantic comedy but the heist part was not detailed enough for me. It felt a bit too easy and that's what also contributed to my disappointment. There were a couple times in the book where certain characters kept mentioning how 'dangerous' the Duke of Salisbury was but to me, he really wasn't. He honestly just sounded like a misogynistic prick.

I'm not a huge fan of spice, I can take one or two scenes but this had four scenes that contributed more to my frustration than it did to the plot. I couldn't really connect to the characters because of this.

This had just a promising premise and I feel like if the heist and character building was worked on more, I would have really enjoyed this.

If you're looking for something light hearted and fun, then this would be a quick read. I love the writing style though and I'm looking forward to see what the author's future releases will be like.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Lady Thief of Belgravia by Allison Grey is a fascinating mix of a period heist adventure and historical romance. The premise of a highly skilled pick-pocket being called upon to steal back documents from a high society traitor for a spy is original and fun, and the parts of the book that deal with this caper are fast paced and engaging.
I believe, however, that there is a point where romance crosses into love of a more graphic nature. From the description of the book, I did not expect the long and detailed love scenes in this book and found that they took away from the original premise. These numerous and lengthy passages unnecessarily detracted from the overall fun of the rest of the book, and now that I am forewarned, I will likely not read anything else by this author.
I received an ARC of #TheLadyThiefofBelgravia from #NetGalley.

This was such a promising book! A notorious London thief teams up with a gentleman spy to steal back some important documents. Unfortunately, it’s more insta-love and less plot. The characters all just seem a little flat and the ending feels quite rushed. A lot of potential, but I just couldn’t connect to this!

A notorious thief joins up with Belgravia’s most eligible gentleman to steal for Queen and country…

This was a decent enough historical romance. The characters were fun and the plot was nice and easy. Not the greatest book I've ever read, but a solid entry.

This was a sweet, clever read.

A thief and a gentleman! A perfect match. I really liked Della, her characters was fab and I loved the element of romance in there as well as the storyline. A clever read.

I think the writing shows promise. But the execution and even the ideas in this book were flawed.

I did not enjoy the insta-love because it was so unconvincing. Della is unbelievably horny for the circumstances she's in, which includes daily stress over food scarcity and boarding conditions and then meeting Cole, a stranger, who is offering her a job that will remove her from that poverty. I guess this means she's now allowing herself the luxury of having a crush...? But it would be more realistic if she was instead focusing on making sure she actually gets that promised paycheck.

It's also incredible to me that outsiders, such as the tutor Cole hires for Della or the housekeeper should be allowed to know about their underhanded scheme. It's a distracting and unnecessary risk. The attempt to make Della speak with a cockney accent is bad because it's inconsistent. In one phrase of dialogue, she says it "everythin'" and then in the next she's pronouncing it "everything" and this is among her poor friends, when she's not trying to be more correct. Could have been an editing error, but it kept happening.

Combining the Pygmalion-esque plot thread with a heist thread did not work. These ideas are so big that they would adequately serve as a primary plotline. Putting them in the same book resulted in a fight for attention and to make it even more crowded, the romance very obviously took precedence over both. Nothing was working together and the plot points really only supported the race to the first sex scene. The subsequent, repeated fussing over how Della and Cole couldn't ever be together was incredibly frustrating and boring.

The whole thing was a bit of a mess.

I loved this fast-paced adventure through the mansions and alleys of London. The characters were so exquisitely realised, and the emotional push-and-pulls, both internal and with other characters, were a few of the best I've read lately. This story sucked me in from the first page; it's both a Cinderella story and not, in a way, the author having placed the most "Della Rose" twist on it all so that it's purely her story, hers and Cole's.

This is a fast-paced, high-stakes adventure; the characters setting out for higher goals but unwittingly, a simultaneous voyage of self-discovery. Beautiful dynamics and worlds are set up here (along with impeccably, swoon-worthy romance and equally heated scenes on silk sheets), placed in a familiar-yet-unfamiliar London/England. I adored this story, truly, and I can't wait for more of this author's works!

A fairly solid historical romance, but while the first half was fun, the second half dragged more than necessary and felt rather repetitive - I was rolling my eyes as the characters went two steps forward, two steps back for so long before finally getting some development. If it had been about fifty pages shorter, I would have enjoyed it so much more.

What a fantastic read! A cross between My Fair Lady and Oliver Twist with a touch of Bridgerton thrown in for good measure!
A tale of courage, fair play and staying true to yourself. The characters were lovable and beautifully flawed, the dialogue was witty and charming and who won't love the combination of the good guy and the criminal?! The spy and the pickpocket would have made a fabulous sequel but I am happy with the ending it had.
A first read from this author but it definitely won't be the last.
Huge thanks to Netgalley and the author and publisher for a temporary copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun quick palate cleanser of a book! If you are looking for witty repartee, banter, and a male MC that I want to do some naughty things to this is the book for you. Now the writing isn’t Jane Austen but that’s not why you read a book like this. Over all enjoy!!!

If you're a fan of Julia Quinn, Lisa Kleypas, and Eloisa James, then this is definitely going to be a great selection to add to your collection. Allison Grey delivers an incredible tale of foes, deception, and historical romance in between. I love when the love goes beyond a first impression and I love when the leading role hero breaks all of society's barriers to prove love is beyond that measure. Great story, an absolutely fun story, and a thriller of nail-biting heist.

10/10

I devoured this story- a great combination of period drama at its best but with the thrill of there being a mystery to solve and something exciting to keep you hooked throughout. I loved the character of Della rose and I genuinely found the sneaky Lord Salisbury they were trying to catch to be quite unnerving- I was never sure what he might do. Plenty of raunch, plenty of laughs and generally an all round entertaining book- would recommend!

The premise of this story was interesting which is why it was chosen. However there were some parts of the narrative which struck me as highly unlikely. There is a whiff of Pygmalion to the story which I found hard to believe. A pickpocket from the Rookeries of London becoming transformed into a lady of the ton is a stretch. The author writes well but the characters were difficult to relate to, I found the instant dive into lust/love awkward and superficial as the hero's quick trust of Della. I can only give this book three stars for good writing. A bit more depth to the setting and less steamy interactions would provide the remaining two stars. Thanks to Netgalley and Storm for an ARC of The Lady Thief of Belgravia

I loved that the book is set in 1879. Definitely makes for an interesting story when there's no modern technology. But I didn't love that from the first page you're straight into Della stealing from Cole. It felt like it really needed a prologue to introduce the characters a bit more.

Overall, this was a quick and easy read that had multiple spicy scenes, however I was expecting it to be a little more historical fiction. Give it a go If you're a fan of Bridgerton!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book.

The story of a pickpocket (Della Rose) who, on the pretext of a mission in the service of the crown, is brought into the life of high society in 19th century London by a nobleman (Cole Winthrop), her partner on the mission.
The story has everything going for it, but the author ends up exploring little of the nuances and intrigue that the mixture of two such different facets of society would surely generate and ends up focusing more on the (impossible) love story of the two protagonists who, time and time again, remind us why this story can't have a happy ending.
In the end, the book is very entertaining and I spent a couple of hours reading this story.
I received an advance copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily, thanks to the author for it.

This book was well written, but although I think the writer has promise, the story itself was not as entertaining as I would’ve liked. It was a fun premise, but the characters felt a little flat and their love story progressed a little too fast at the beginning, while the back and forth towards the end was too long.

Great cover but a little misleading. This has happened a couple of times recently - publishers don't align the cover with the story inside. The cover led me to believe it was a humorous historical mystery and even references humorous titles in its sales blurb but it wasn't funny.
I enjoyed the premise, just think it could have been fleshed out a little more - I didn't like the insta love and would have enjoyed a bit more meaning in both of their reasons for beginning the ploy but overall a well written read.