Thief

The Academy: The Scarab Beetle, Book 1

By: C. L. Stone

Narrated by: Megan Tusing

Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

From USA TODAY Bestselling Author, C. L. Stone, listen to Thief, the first book in The Academy Scarab Beetle Series.

Kayli Winchester is a dirt-poor girl living out of a hotel, forced to be the parent for a drunken father and teenage brother who she's desperate to keep in school. The only way she scrapes by is to utilize her one skill: pickpocketing. But even though she's a thief she has a moral code: no kids or old ladies, only targets who can defend themselves. Not that they see her coming...

Thinking she's been working under the radar, Kayli has no idea The Academy has been watching and taking notice. Now a team that needs her skill has offered her a way out of her predicament and it's her last chance: work with them, or face jail time. Kayli resists at first, but slowly the boys reveal they can be trusted. With Marc, the straight man, Raven, the bad-boy Russian, Corey and Brandon the twins as different as night and day, and Axel, their stoic leader, there's a lot Kayli can learn from these Academy guys about living on the edge of the law. If only she can stay on the good side instead of the bad.

Especially when the job they offer her is more than any of them bargained for. After it's done, the hunters have become the hunted and their target is now after Kayli. The Academy boys do their best to keep her hidden, but a thief like Kayli will never sit still for long.

Meet an all-new Academy team in Thief, the beginning of the Scarab Beetle series.

Warning: This is a new adult series. Listeners of the other Academy series may need some caution as this series will contain mature sexual and violent situations and themes.

©2014 C. L. Stone (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved

Good first book in the series

I love RH books. I think it’s pretty much my favorite genre. The first book in an RH series is typically pretty PG as it takes time for the characters to get used to the situation and this book is on par with that. I liked the mystery of Blake and wonder if he’ll make another appearance in the next books. I’m a little worried about my feelings towards the main female character as some of her decision making is off. I hope the awkwardness with her and the guys is not too much in the next book. The narration is amazing. The different accents are great. It’s perfect that this series is on Escape so I hope this brings more listeners to this author.

Enjoyable

This book was very enjoyable. The characters where great and the storyline had me wanting more. Thanks

Polyamorous dream story

The narrator has such amazingly unique voices and a impressive range of accents. Her narration makes the story and characters come alive! The characters are hilarious and hot and so likable. Yes, the story has silly parts with eye rolling scenarios, but the boys and their antics are totally enjoyable.

Narration perfection!

The narrator did an excellent job on this book. She brings this fantastic story to life.

Awesome Story!

I loved this first book in this series! The storyline is awesome and I adore the characters! The Narrator did an amazing job with the audio version of the book! I cannot wait to dig into the next book!

The Thief with a Heart

Meet C. L. Stone's all-new Academy team in the Scarab Beetle series. Kayli Winchester has become a thief to provide for her brother. A thief with a moral code. A thief with a heart. A thief that flies under the radar. Or so she believes, but she is wrong. She has come to the attention of The Academy and they need her skills as a pickpocket. In exchange they will give her a chance at a new bright future. If she is brave enough to take it. The Academy team of Stoic leader Axel, Marc, the straight man, Raven, the bad-boy Russian, Corey and Brandon the twins embrace their little thief. And set out to show her she can stay on the good side instead of the bad. Unfortunately the easy job goes wrong and the hunters become the hunted. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the first book in what looks to have the potential of a very exciting series. The writing is compelling and the narration by Megan is engaging. I listened to this book for free with Audible Escape.

ONLY plus was the narrator!!

I trudged through the 1st, skipped to 4-5 and I'm done!! I guess I don't understand the whole "new adult" genre. This series was entirely juvenile and a VERY sad attempt at romance, character development, mystery, plot etc. Where to start with all the issue's with these books? The MC is the poster child of a tease! I have no idea how old she's supposed to be but based on the character's around her she's still in teens and so are they. Trust me when I say, they act like it! The author trying to pass her off as some kind of kick ass, jaded, smart irresistible temptress is laughable, not to mention the instantaneous feelings within a day of knowing each other. I didn’t find one thing likable about her. She uses ALL THE MEN around her to get her way and continually lies to all of them not to mention, leads them on. I'd have no issue with her getting with all the men in the world but be honest about it and stop teasing them all because you're SELFISH and don't want them to leave you. She gives women a bad name, Period!! The constant back and forth with her feelings was ridiculous! This is the worst RH ever not to mention the absurdity of teens in a RH theme. The dialogue was that of prepubescent teens that have no clue about sex. I understand this is fiction but even fiction has to have some semblance of real life which this does not!! I can't even buy the entire "academy " organization wannabe spies. I could better buy this if SpongeBob was the head of this organization! The 5, 4 and even 3 star reviewers are either paid reviewers trying to pump sales for the author or teenagers that have no concept of how adults really act in life. I could go on but I'm not going to waste my time more than I have, which I'm doing so other people will actually read a REAL review. So to end, I'll never pick up anything else by this "author" that doesn't even understand the difference between FLIRTING vs doing everything with everyone save actual intercourse!! Sorry, but NO female let alone a teenager acts like an inexperienced virgin one second and then an experienced prostitute in the next. No condoms used either, which is just so wrong when you're with multiple people! One thing Kayli was actually right about, she doesn't deserve any of them, especially Blake!

remarkable

Fantastic story!! So worth purchasing to add to your audible library. I highly recommend this book as well as this series!

Fell Asleep

I'm not sure if it's the narrator's tone, or the story itself, but it literally put me to sleep the entire way through the book. I rewound back several chapters, and I did this at least seven times. The story is silly, and the whole "I'm an independent woman and I'll do what I want, even at the risk of everyone's lives" thing is tired.

Comparatively, I would put my kindle on my nightstand and play the ghost bird series at night on my way to sleep...only, it was so exciting that I couldn't sleep. (The first six books,anyway. I stopped buying them because the "should I kiss him" thing just became monotonous and ridiculous.)

I can't truthfully say I DNF, but I can say I have no idea what happens, and even though I REALLY tried, I really just don't care about these characters.

Story

This book was amazing I love the actresses voice she plays raven very better than I did I love c.l. Stone just amazing thank you to everybody who was involved in getting this out

Struggled

This was Real trial to finish. I could not identify or like the heroine. Its well written, spoken dialog good, thought processes not so much, the story is fine but, its the characters especially her just did not do it for me.

Fantastic audio version of Thief

I really enjoyed this book; I had read it in pixels before (why be different?!) but I'm always on the lookout for audio versions of books I like so that I can re-experience them while doing other things (driving to work, washing up etc.) I'd enjoyed the two Ghost Bird audio books done earlier this year and so when the Scarab Beetle series was released I got Thief to see what it was like as the narrator was new to me. I thought the narration was well done, the characters well defined. Doyle's accent wasn't quite there for me but he didn't say that much in this book so it may have been difficult to do his part with it being short - either way it didn't hurt the story for me. I've bought the next three books in the series and I'm going to get the fifth as well. I like the characters and the way they're brought to life, the humour and tension comes through. I will definitely be listening to this again.