Novella Review: Thief of Lies by Bree Moore

Hey all, Sam here.

Did I switch up my review schedule last minute so I could write up this review? Yes, I did. And I did it because today is author Bree Moore’s birthday, so why not celebrate it with a review of one of her stories?

I actually read three books by Bree in January: Thief of Lies, Thief of Magic, and The Quill and the Vial…and yes, I will be reviewing them all, as well as working my way through the rest of her backlist. I focused on the Shadowed Minds series because book 3 will be released at the end of February, so it seemed like a perfect time to jump into the books.

And I guess I should also add the caveat/disclaimer that I do know Bree. We met because of being in the same region for NaNoWriMo, but we also live in neighboring towns here in Iowa, so we’ve met up a couple times for coffee shop write-ins and hang-outs. Even saying that, I am always honest when it comes to reviewing and rating books.

All right, let’s get started.

Love, crime, and magic don’t mix.

Lee can phase through alternate realms and jump across St. Louis in an instant. What she can’t seem to do is leave her down-on-their luck thieving crew and escape her overbearing cyborg boss.

When a handsome stranger offers to help her rob a magical antique shop, she agrees. After all, he only wants one thing from the haul: the odd black stone buried at the back of the shop.

Turns out, the stone is cursed. As soon as it’s stolen, horrible things start happening to Lee and her crew. To make matters worse, she’s falling hard for the man who took the cursed stone in the first place.

Can Lee find a way to destroy the ancient stone before it ruins them all? Or will her growing feelings keep her from doing what needs to be done? Thief of Lies is a prequel novella in the Shadowed Minds series.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4 stars

I thought that this was an overall interesting concept. That being said, to me it felt like there was a bit too much telling, too much just stating/info-dumping of information in the first few chapters of this novella. So it took me a little longer to really connect with the story and the characters. I think this is something that can sometimes happen with novellas, especially prequel novellas, because there’s a smaller page/word count to get everything accomplished, including setting up the world and the magic and the connections between characters. Doing all of that, while also having a fully developed plot arc and various character arcs, in only 120-ish pages can be difficult to pull off.

Overall the characters and abilities and setup were intriguing enough to keep me reading and get me invested, and there were many of the crew that Lee’s in that I want to know more about, and I’m sure we’ll learn more about them as the series continues. I definitely want to know more about Lee’s abilities, because they are interesting, especially considering that they might just be killing her.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Lee next. Since I’ve already finished the first full-length novel of the series, I can say that it builds on what we’ve learned here, and adds more nuggets of intrigue and drama, and kernels of revelations and developments that hint at even bigger things to come.

Oh, and this is an urban fantasy series, set in St. Louis, which I have driven past/thru, but haven’t actually been to, made more surprising considering that I live only three hours away now. I do want to go at some point, and I know when I do that I’ll be wondering if I can find some of the places in this series, because that would be kind of cool.

I guess I should also say that I don’t think you necessarily need to read this prequel novella before jumping into Book 1. Yes, I always try and read all of the additions to a series, because I want to understand the full scope of the characters and the overall plot, but Lee reveals enough about what happens in this story throughout the first book so it’s easy enough to follow along.

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But, hey, don’t take my word for how interesting this series starter is….give Bree an awesome birthday present and go buy/download her books. You can find them pretty much anywhere books are sold, and they’re even available on KU, or you can pick them up directly from Bree at her website.

Oh, and if you visit her website linked above and sign up for her newsletter, you actually get this novella for FREE. I decided to purchase my copy, but it is available for free, so why not take advantage of that?

Bree can be found on Facebook as Author Bree Moore, and on Instagram and TikTok at @breenovels.

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That is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.