Heart of the Steal

By: Roan Parrish, Avon Gale

Narrated by: Iggy Toma, Kirt Graves

Responsible, disciplined William Fox channeled his love for art and his faith in the rules into being an FBI Art Crimes agent. Right and wrong, justice and injustice - the differences are clear, and Will has spent his career drawing a line between them. Maybe his convictions have cost him relationships, but he’s not willing to compromise what he knows is right. Until the night he meets Amory Vaughn.

As the head of his family’s philanthropic foundation, Vaughn knows very well that being rich and powerful can get him almost anything he wants. And when he meets endearingly grumpy and slightly awkward William Fox, he wants him more than he’s wanted anything. Vaughn is used to being desired for his name and his money, but Will doesn’t care about either.

When Vaughn falls back on old habits and attempts to impress Will by stealing a painting Will admires, their nascent bond blows up in his face. But Vaughn isn’t willing to give up on the glimpse of passion he saw the night he took Will apart. Before Will knows it, he’s falling for the man he should have arrested, and Vaughn has to realize that some things can’t be bought or stolen. Love has to be given freely. But can a man who lives by the rules, and a man who thinks the rules don’t apply to him, ever see eye to eye?

Heart of the Steal is a standalone romance with a happy ending. It features a Southern gentleman who thinks he’s always right, a buttoned-up FBI agent who secretly likes his buttons unbuttoned, and wall sex. And desk sex. And picnic blanket sex.

©2017 Avon Gale and Roan Parrish (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Great narration! Great story!

I really enjoyed the story and narration made it even more enjoyable. The story was funny, sexy with good character development. Worth the credit for sure.

The beginning made me stop.

Not gonna lie, about an hour and a half into this story I stopped reading it.

SPOILER ALERT


I found it unrealistic that Will is this work-centric man and law-abiding yet he gets off for 5 minutes with a random stranger and is suddenly willing to cover up crimes for him?
I feel like if it was stretched out more, let us see them truly get to know each other instead of seeing them talk about how much they love each other when they met like 2 weeks ago and then I could understand William wanting to protect Vaughn from the law. But seriously, I couldn't take Will seriously after that. He's built up as this serious man who's determined to protect art, yet now all I can think about is "well if you suck his dick he'll let you go"

I ended up finishing the book because when I exchanged it for another I forgot to download that one, and working in a warehouse I had to listen to something for my 10 hour shift. So I grudgingly finished it. I liked it. It was cute. More in a fanfiction-y way than an actual novel.


The voice actors are pretty good, except I HATED when they would voice the other character during their chapter. Will's narrator when he imitated Vaughn's drawl made me cringe, and vice versa with Vaughn's narrator, although I grew to like his towards the end.


All in all, book felt really rushed. Could have been a lot better if more played out, stretched out, if we could really feel the transition in feelings, and not just jumping to "they fucked now they're in love".

I just couldn't respect or take serious Will's character after seeing the contrast of his described loyalty to his job to his opposite actions, he felt very weak and like a pushover, so I feel like the author really kind of did him dirty.

Charming

Vaughn made this book what it was...funny, charming, sexy. While some of the drama was predictable, the story was a fun listen. I found Vaughn utterly adorable with how he thought and acted on certain things and situations when it came to William. It had me laughing in my car because those little pieces of humor are just what I love in a story.

Cute story, excellent performance

I was happy with the pacing and the love scenes. Narrators did a great job. The characters were well balanced and I liked that they didn't fall into cliched rolls.

Great book - rotten audiobook

I bought the audiobook and started it while swimming (I have a waterproof i-pod I use) - regretfully - because the story is told from both protagonist points of view - and the narrator used the worst possible fake southern accent for Amory. It was one that never existed in the south (and I have lived in the south for almost 70 years, in 6 different southern states, and am a bit of an expert on all permutations of southern accents.)
But, I had heard the accent before - Warner Brothers made some racist cartoons in the 1940's with this old southern Colonel, and I swear, that is the accent the narrator was imitating. I kept picturing Amory as this horrible cartoon caricature. Had to give up on the audiobook and read the book instead

Sweet and Perfect

When I first started this book, I was on the fence about it, but soon I fell in love with William Fox and Amory Vaughn. Their characterization was done so incredibly well, that I happily overlooked any weakness in the plot. I just loved how besotted Amory was of Will and how much Will loved Amory. This book was incredibly cute and I would love a sequel.

The dual narration was AMAZING! I love Iggy Toma and Kirt Graves on their own, but together they were fantastic.

Never thought I'd say this

But Iggy Toma was the weaker narrator for me on this. Kirt Graves kept Amory's accent consistently, and did it better. Sadly the more emotional chapters were done by Toma. It was still good, but this didn't need two narrators (something else I never thought I'd say) and I would have given it five stars if Graves had been the sole narrator. I will be looking for more of Graves' work.

All the love!

OMG I loved this book. The rich guy and the "clumsy" guy. There were amazing together. Yeah some aspects of the story sounds unrealistic but then why are we reading/listening book other than to escape reality? William is just adorable in my opinion. And Vaughn with his long silver hair is just dreamy. Having been born rich he doesn't know how the regular folks live. His surprise at the lack of millions threads sheet in a hotel room was just out of this world.
There is a healthy dose of humor. And the dual narration worked wonders here.

Wasn't Ready For It To End!

I just adored this book. I stumbled upon it because of Iggy Toma, who gave a fantastic performance as usual. But Kirt Graves blew me away! Unlike some reviewers, I loved the old timey southern accent for Vaughn. Do people still talk like that in the real world? Maybe not. Do I care? Nope. It was delightful to listen to and made me chuckle. Toma and Graves did a good job of matching their narrations for the MC's, which you don't always get when there are two narrators.

Now, if you are looking for an art heist book, this isn't for you. There isn't actually much of that here, which made it a little more realistic for me (but again, I read fiction books as just that--fiction! In a fictional world, a cop can fall in love with a thief and they will live happily ever after and I'm happy with that. Real life can just go away while I'm reading/listening.) But what you do see here is a cute love story where the MC's grow as people and learn to live with each other. And they learn to love a kitten, which is too adorable. I was disappointed when the book ended, because I could have just kept listening to the adventures of William and Avery forever. But eventually it would have gotten boring, so I guess it's good it ended when it did.

warm, welcoming book

I loved the characters and how they learned to understand and grow into the person the other needed. the plot was unique and charming.