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Like a Thief in the Night
She’s a heartless assassin; he’s an immortal thief. In another life, they would have been lovers. In this one, he’s her target and she’s his prize.
A Strangers in the Night story.
Death comes like a thief in the night. For reclusive thief Sevastien Aniketos, death comes in the form of slinky assassin Arden Black. But Aniketos has a surprise for his would-be assassin—he is immortal. And he is about to turn the tables on the pragmatic femme fatale.
Arden finds more than she bargained for when she sneaks through the window of Aniketos’s glass penthouse to take his life. The immortal thief is no victim; he’s a clever strategist who has set his sights on capturing the lethal lady and making her his own.
Trapped with a man she cannot kill, Arden slowly succumbs to Aniketos’s scheme of seduction, ceding her secrets, her loyalty, and eventually her heart. But when Arden’s wicked past catches up with her, Aniketos is faced with a choice.
An endless life without Arden, or a paltry mortal lifespan with the woman he is increasingly sure he cannot live without.
A Strangers in the Night story.
Death comes like a thief in the night. For reclusive thief Sevastien Aniketos, death comes in the form of slinky assassin Arden Black. But Aniketos has a surprise for his would-be assassin—he is immortal. And he is about to turn the tables on the pragmatic femme fatale.
Arden finds more than she bargained for when she sneaks through the window of Aniketos’s glass penthouse to take his life. The immortal thief is no victim; he’s a clever strategist who has set his sights on capturing the lethal lady and making her his own.
Trapped with a man she cannot kill, Arden slowly succumbs to Aniketos’s scheme of seduction, ceding her secrets, her loyalty, and eventually her heart. But when Arden’s wicked past catches up with her, Aniketos is faced with a choice.
An endless life without Arden, or a paltry mortal lifespan with the woman he is increasingly sure he cannot live without.
99 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2008
2 people are currently reading
271 people want to read
About the author
Bettie Sharpe
9 books129 followersBettie Sharpe is a Los Angeles native with a fondness for hot weather, classic cars, and air so thick it sticks in your teeth. When she's not busy attempting to metabolize smog into oxygen, she enjoys romance novels, action movies, comic books, video games, and every other entertainment product her teachers said would rot her brain. She loves to write almost as much as she loves to read. As a child, she dreamed of seeing her name in shiny gold cursive on the cover of a luridly titled paperback book.
Bettie and her husband share their house with two cats, numerous computers, and the possum in their palm tree.
Bettie and her husband share their house with two cats, numerous computers, and the possum in their palm tree.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
September 30, 2024
Yes ladies and gentlemen, I have done it! I have read another romance! Are you all appropriately (check all that apply):
✔ Mystified
✔ Astounded
✔ Dumbfounded
✔ Bewildered
✔ Astonished
✔ Flabbergasted
✔ Confused as hell
✔ Shuddering
✔ Wondering if this is really me writing this review
✔ Wondering if the apocalypse is near
Yes, you probably are. Well I'm still me and I did read this. Ha! Do you need a moment to compose yourselves before I continue? No worries, I understand. So just follow the sign and take your time. I'll still be here when you come back.
Feel better? Good. Moving on.
►► So YES this is ROMANCE but I have not one, not two but three very valid reasons for choosing to read this (this is where I try to justify myself):
① Because Bettie Sharpe. And because Bettie Sharpe wrote Ember . And because Ember is an evil Cinderella story. And because it was pretty fantastic.
② Because Fantasy. Or is it Sci-Fi? Or Futuristic Fantasy maybe? Or Fantastical Science? I've read the book and I'm still not sure. Oh well.
③ Because Erotica. Need I say more? Didn't think so.
I'm not fooling you am I? That's what I thought. Sigh. Okay, let's rearrange this a little bit shall we? So I'll just put ③ first, ① second and ② third. Happy now?
►► So YES this is ROMANCE but that's only a minor technicality. And NO I didn't give this a 2-star rating because of the romantic crap. Pretty amazing, I know. I gave this book 2 stars because of the great story it could have been but wasn’t.
▧ This story has fantastic 5-star rating potential:
● Sci-fi/fantasy/whatever setting.
● Ruthless woman assassin. Yay!
● Evil corporation that steals children, wipes their memory and turns them into merciless killers.
● Immortal thief.
● Telekinesis.
● Weird creatures.
● Death (as in Death not as in death. Ha).
● Gore and blood. Yay!
● Sex. Lots of sex. Yay!
▧ The problem is that Sharpe mixed all these great ingredients together, shook well (but didn't stir) and what did we get?
►► A big mess:
● Subpar writing.
● Badly developed characters.
● A plot that could have been fantastic but wasn't exploited to its full potential.
● Too many sex scenes. Yes this is me saying it *is* possible to have too many sex scenes in a book. Will wonders never cease? Don't get me wrong, the sex scenes here are pretty good (and some are pretty kinky) but they do get repetitive after a while. Sex without a purpose is all good and dandy but up to a certain point. I just wished there had been less sex scenes and more world building ← I promise this is me writing this and not some Hysterical Historical Romance fangirl who possessed my body and soul. Cross my heart, hope to die and all that silly nonsense.
● A ridiculous HEA *shudders* that didn't fit the dark atmosphere of the story at all. Ugh. Ridiculous. Did I say that already? I guess I did. Well it was. Ridiculous I mean. Completely ridiculous. Ugh again ← see, that's my HEA allergy kicking in. Which means this really is me writing this review.
►► This story could definitely do with a major rewrite. May I suggest asking for Pippa DaCosta's help? I'm pretty sure she'd turn this into a hell of a story. I'm sorry Bettie Sharpe, I realize this is probably not a very nice thing to say but I've used up my kindness quota this month. I no longer have it in me to be lenient.
↓↓↓ Simple maths time ↓↓↓
{Great potential} + {poor execution} = what a waste²
✔ Mystified
✔ Astounded
✔ Dumbfounded
✔ Bewildered
✔ Astonished
✔ Flabbergasted
✔ Confused as hell
✔ Shuddering
✔ Wondering if this is really me writing this review
✔ Wondering if the apocalypse is near
Yes, you probably are. Well I'm still me and I did read this. Ha! Do you need a moment to compose yourselves before I continue? No worries, I understand. So just follow the sign and take your time. I'll still be here when you come back.
Feel better? Good. Moving on.
►► So YES this is ROMANCE but I have not one, not two but three very valid reasons for choosing to read this (this is where I try to justify myself):
① Because Bettie Sharpe. And because Bettie Sharpe wrote Ember . And because Ember is an evil Cinderella story. And because it was pretty fantastic.
② Because Fantasy. Or is it Sci-Fi? Or Futuristic Fantasy maybe? Or Fantastical Science? I've read the book and I'm still not sure. Oh well.
③ Because Erotica. Need I say more? Didn't think so.
I'm not fooling you am I? That's what I thought. Sigh. Okay, let's rearrange this a little bit shall we? So I'll just put ③ first, ① second and ② third. Happy now?
►► So YES this is ROMANCE but that's only a minor technicality. And NO I didn't give this a 2-star rating because of the romantic crap. Pretty amazing, I know. I gave this book 2 stars because of the great story it could have been but wasn’t.
▧ This story has fantastic 5-star rating potential:
● Sci-fi/fantasy/whatever setting.
● Ruthless woman assassin. Yay!
● Evil corporation that steals children, wipes their memory and turns them into merciless killers.
● Immortal thief.
● Telekinesis.
● Weird creatures.
● Death (as in Death not as in death. Ha).
● Gore and blood. Yay!
● Sex. Lots of sex. Yay!
▧ The problem is that Sharpe mixed all these great ingredients together, shook well (but didn't stir) and what did we get?
►► A big mess:
● Subpar writing.
● Badly developed characters.
● A plot that could have been fantastic but wasn't exploited to its full potential.
● Too many sex scenes. Yes this is me saying it *is* possible to have too many sex scenes in a book. Will wonders never cease? Don't get me wrong, the sex scenes here are pretty good (and some are pretty kinky) but they do get repetitive after a while. Sex without a purpose is all good and dandy but up to a certain point. I just wished there had been less sex scenes and more world building ← I promise this is me writing this and not some Hysterical Historical Romance fangirl who possessed my body and soul. Cross my heart, hope to die and all that silly nonsense.
● A ridiculous HEA *shudders* that didn't fit the dark atmosphere of the story at all. Ugh. Ridiculous. Did I say that already? I guess I did. Well it was. Ridiculous I mean. Completely ridiculous. Ugh again ← see, that's my HEA allergy kicking in. Which means this really is me writing this review.
►► This story could definitely do with a major rewrite. May I suggest asking for Pippa DaCosta's help? I'm pretty sure she'd turn this into a hell of a story. I'm sorry Bettie Sharpe, I realize this is probably not a very nice thing to say but I've used up my kindness quota this month. I no longer have it in me to be lenient.
↓↓↓ Simple maths time ↓↓↓
{Great potential} + {poor execution} = what a waste²
November 18, 2015
So the last book I tried to read mostly because the protagonist was an asian girl was traumatic, so I wasn't sure what to expect with this. To not leave you in suspense, I was pleasantly surprised.
Basically this novella hinges on the concept that our heroine is a trained killer and the dude is an immortal who she is sent to kill but unable to do so. (Which is as good time as any for me to link one of my all time favorite Reductress articles: Why Do I Always Fall for the Very Man I’m Sent to Kill?) Anyway, she can't kill him but is horribly attracted to him and this is an erotic novella so a lot of the obvious happens. There's some scifi novel window dressing in the background that's actually pretty novel, even if it's mostly secondary.
This is the kind of thing where you will know if you will like it or not from the description and it was honestly kind of down my alley. The execution is good and I think Sharpe's writing is actually really lovely and a notch above. Our heroine doesn't become weak as the book progresses and is actually a ruthless assassin and, while the story ends predictably, idk if that's really a negative in this genre. I will say though, I've read other things by Sharpe, and I think that while she is good at selling lust, she's not as great at selling love, which in her works mostly can be summed up with "I'm twisted, you're twisted, we like to bang, so this must be eternal love."
Other note: the heroine speaks Shanghainese which is the best dialect.
Basically this novella hinges on the concept that our heroine is a trained killer and the dude is an immortal who she is sent to kill but unable to do so. (Which is as good time as any for me to link one of my all time favorite Reductress articles: Why Do I Always Fall for the Very Man I’m Sent to Kill?) Anyway, she can't kill him but is horribly attracted to him and this is an erotic novella so a lot of the obvious happens. There's some scifi novel window dressing in the background that's actually pretty novel, even if it's mostly secondary.
This is the kind of thing where you will know if you will like it or not from the description and it was honestly kind of down my alley. The execution is good and I think Sharpe's writing is actually really lovely and a notch above. Our heroine doesn't become weak as the book progresses and is actually a ruthless assassin and, while the story ends predictably, idk if that's really a negative in this genre. I will say though, I've read other things by Sharpe, and I think that while she is good at selling lust, she's not as great at selling love, which in her works mostly can be summed up with "I'm twisted, you're twisted, we like to bang, so this must be eternal love."
Other note: the heroine speaks Shanghainese which is the best dialect.
April 4, 2013
The sex takes up a huge part of the story and I wished for a bit more plot and character development, maybe some more information on the secondary characters, they were just kind of there. I like stories with a plot strong enough that even if you took the sex out you'd still be left with something and here you'd have very little left. Also, by the end sex scenes got kind of repetitive.
Like many others the first story that I read by Bettie Sharpe was Ember and part of why I really liked it was that there is a lot of great story and sex just fits naturally into it. Here it sometimes felt kind of forced.
Nevertheless, an enjoying read.
Like many others the first story that I read by Bettie Sharpe was Ember and part of why I really liked it was that there is a lot of great story and sex just fits naturally into it. Here it sometimes felt kind of forced.
Nevertheless, an enjoying read.
June 12, 2012
A higher sex-to-plot ratio than I expected, but an interesting read just the same. Didn't grab me in the same way as Ember did, but I enjoy her writing style and will keep Ms. Sharpe on my reading radar. (I'm hoping a novel-length version of her short-short Marked is on the horizon.)
April 12, 2022
Maybe more like 2.5 stars if we’re being honest.
DNF’d after about a third of the way in. I liked Ember well enough, partly because Ember had an interesting 1st-person voice and style of prose. Like a Thief In the Night, however…doesn’t.
There’s plot and world-building, but not enough of either so far, and what little there has been hasn’t exactly grabbed me. I’m not offended by the dark, kinky sex, but—similarly—it isn’t hot enough to keep me going, especially when the prose itself is so boring. In fact, dare I say it, that’s probably how I would describe the outing overall: boring. You’ve got a standard Edgy Female Assassin™ in Arden (though props to the author for making her Asian—representation is always cool and I can give credit where credit is due), and (despite the immortality) a pretty standard arrogant, alpha-ish bad-boy love interest in Aniketos, and while I do in fact buy their sexual chemistry, I am—unfortunately—bored by it. Dear reader, I am bored.
But yes, all that said, a nebulous 2-2.5 stars for it, because it isn’t truly terrible, more just not for me, I feel. Perhaps you will like it better?
DNF’d after about a third of the way in. I liked Ember well enough, partly because Ember had an interesting 1st-person voice and style of prose. Like a Thief In the Night, however…doesn’t.
There’s plot and world-building, but not enough of either so far, and what little there has been hasn’t exactly grabbed me. I’m not offended by the dark, kinky sex, but—similarly—it isn’t hot enough to keep me going, especially when the prose itself is so boring. In fact, dare I say it, that’s probably how I would describe the outing overall: boring. You’ve got a standard Edgy Female Assassin™ in Arden (though props to the author for making her Asian—representation is always cool and I can give credit where credit is due), and (despite the immortality) a pretty standard arrogant, alpha-ish bad-boy love interest in Aniketos, and while I do in fact buy their sexual chemistry, I am—unfortunately—bored by it. Dear reader, I am bored.
But yes, all that said, a nebulous 2-2.5 stars for it, because it isn’t truly terrible, more just not for me, I feel. Perhaps you will like it better?
June 29, 2022
3.5 starts!
Cute and short<3
Cute and short<3
November 30, 2015
Delightfully cross genre, Like a Thief in the Night is a dark fairy tale love story set in a distant future. Arden is one of the top assassin in Darkriver's stable, stolen as a child and reprogrammed through manipulation, memory wipes and neural reconfiguring. When she walks into a flat in Shanghai and strangles the handsome man sleeping on the silk sheets her life changes forever.
Because Aniketos is a creature myth, and he cannot die. The contract on Aniketos was a trap for Arden. Now she's a captive in a mysterious flat that has combined the magical remains of a fallen heaven and the technology of the modern world. No matter how lust-filled she tries to make their interactions she can't hide the fact that she's as much tempted by his offers of freedom from Darkriver as she's tempted by the man himself. Which only leaves the reason she was trapped in the first place to deal with.
Like a Thief in the Night is a fast read filled with hot sex and spy action. The futuristic and fairy tale feels are blended beautifully and the fierce, indomitable spirit of the characters bleed off the page leaving the reader dazzled and wanting more. This is a highly recommended read from a talented author.
Because Aniketos is a creature myth, and he cannot die. The contract on Aniketos was a trap for Arden. Now she's a captive in a mysterious flat that has combined the magical remains of a fallen heaven and the technology of the modern world. No matter how lust-filled she tries to make their interactions she can't hide the fact that she's as much tempted by his offers of freedom from Darkriver as she's tempted by the man himself. Which only leaves the reason she was trapped in the first place to deal with.
Like a Thief in the Night is a fast read filled with hot sex and spy action. The futuristic and fairy tale feels are blended beautifully and the fierce, indomitable spirit of the characters bleed off the page leaving the reader dazzled and wanting more. This is a highly recommended read from a talented author.
Read
July 22, 2011I don't know what kind of grade to give a book that is probably well written, but featured a kink that was very off putting to me. So I'm not going to grade it.
What was it that bothered me? Lots of violence and blood, even during sex. I know, I know, it's an assassin story, and the hero can't be killed, but it was too violent for me. . It was just too much for me.
I feel like I can't give it a fair grade. It would be no stars for me, because it was disturbing for me. It might really work for someone else where the violence isn't such an issue.
What was it that bothered me? Lots of violence and blood, even during sex. I know, I know, it's an assassin story, and the hero can't be killed, but it was too violent for me. . It was just too much for me.
I feel like I can't give it a fair grade. It would be no stars for me, because it was disturbing for me. It might really work for someone else where the violence isn't such an issue.
March 18, 2016
Arden is a trained assassin and Aniketos is her mark. This is very gory and bloody, with Arden decapitating and stabbing Aniketos several times. There was so much going on for a short story, that I didn't feel everything was truly fleshed out. Aniketos turns the tables on Arden by kidnapping her and holding her hostage in his magical penthouse. I wanted to know more about Aniketos and his past, he was so fascinating and so were his powers. He needs Arden to help him with a rescue mission, so to gain her cooperation she seduces her into compliance. This should have been longer, Arden and Aniketos are both kick ass and tough, watching them come together was entertaining and different.
Read
November 24, 2014The premise was interesting, but the story turned out to be pretty silly and so did the heroine. Much like a trashy porn video, the story is barely there and only serves to introduce opportunity after opportunity for many, many pages of sex.
Heroine tries to kill hero as per her contract. Is then captured. Very viable. But after that, apparently she--a hardened top assassin--is continually overcome with lust for the hero and instead of escaping, just kisses him or sexually assaults him.
Oh, and she runs around naked. Just because.
Ugh.
Heroine tries to kill hero as per her contract. Is then captured. Very viable. But after that, apparently she--a hardened top assassin--is continually overcome with lust for the hero and instead of escaping, just kisses him or sexually assaults him.
Oh, and she runs around naked. Just because.
Ugh.
April 22, 2010
I'll have to start by warning everyone that the adult scenes in this book were more intense than I bargained for, so just a heads up. That being said, the story was awesome. I really enjoyed it and it was quite different than what I am used to. Perfect for those who want a paranormal romance without having to live in the mind of a teenager, i.e. Twilight. I especially enjoyed the ending which I did not expect and could not have been happier about.
August 30, 2010
While early on the book comes off as a bit unnecessarily crude, when it hits it's stride it's a very intense and lovely dark, futuristic, fairy tale. I would definitely read more from this author especially since I loved her story Ember as well.
December 31, 2016
I liked Arden but I just didn't really like how the 'romance' came about, it's was all kind of stockholmy and violent, while it did hit a few of her kinks there's no way he could have known in advance that she wouldn't mind. (striping someone naked to question them just puts rape on the cards and made the whole situation creepy from the start)
February 6, 2016
this one had so much potential; the setup was perfect for a fun antagonist/protagonist romance and i liked the author's other story 'ember', so, i genuinely thought she could pull it off but unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment.
September 27, 2016
If you like your sex scenes with blood and violence this book is for you.
If you like reading about a guy choking a woman until she blacks out while driving into her until he climaxes then this book is for you.
If you like reading about a guy choking a woman until she blacks out while driving into her until he climaxes then this book is for you.
January 19, 2009
this book was good. I posted my review at http://readingromancebooks.com
Want to read
December 27, 2010Title reminds me of a Rhianna song. LOOL
July 20, 2011
Like a Thief in the Night is a raw, gripping paranormal romance that jumps off the pages. An action-packed thriller with dark fantasy and heart-pounding plot. :)
May 10, 2014
Had a bit too much going on for a novella; it either needed to be 50% longer or have fewer characters.
Also, the sex isn't nearly as graphic as the violence, imho. This *is* a Samhain title.
Also, the sex isn't nearly as graphic as the violence, imho. This *is* a Samhain title.
September 7, 2010
It reads like an erotic version of Nikita with a touch of Kill Bill thrown in. Fast pace and sexy.
July 18, 2013
Man, Bettie comes up with the most off-the-wall shit that I love. Recommended read.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews