Thief of Hearts

The Complete Saga

By: D. L. Snow

Narrated by: Alex Tregear

Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

Wanted: Perhaps time and distance are the best antidotes for a vengeful heart. Nope, that's a lie. The pig must die.

Happily ever after? Zaina doesn't believe in it. Now revenge on the other hand...

All she has to do is: cut her hair, dress up as a boy, call herself Little John, join the traveling circus, guard her soul against the evil sorceress, battle dragons and avoid the lethal tip of the mysterious Lord Hood's blade. It's perfectly easy. Oh, but don't forget the potion, the one that's intended for the villain who ruined her. It ends up in the wrong hands, causing everyone to fall in love with her except the one she desires most.

If there is one thing Lord Hood is good at, it's sniffing out a lie. And the newest member of his troupe, the lad Little John, is lying about something. Hood just has to figure out what. In the meantime, he will continue to steal from the rich and give to the poor and evade the bounty hunters who pursue him. For one day soon he will return home to avenge the murder of his betrothed and perhaps that will ease the dark stain upon his heart.

Unmasked: How could Zaina have made such a horrible mistake? Lord Hood, her good and noble master, hovers between life and death because of Zaina's betrayal. In order to save him, she must make a deal with a scale-covered-dragon-wielding witch - a potion to heal Hood in exchange for a vow to assassinate a king. However Zaina may never get the chance to fulfill her mercenary task, for once Hood awakes - healed by black magic - darkness festers inside his soul and Zaina finds herself on the wrong end of the sharp tip of his sword. Not only is she fighting for her life, she must continue to keep her true identity a secret, no matter what her feelings are for Hood. If anyone should find out who she truly is, all those she loves will find themselves at the mercy of a horde of merciless dragons.

Avenged: Once a princess, now an assassin. How's that for a happily ever after? Heartbroken and disguised once more as Little John, vengeance is Zaina's whether she wants it or not. But in order to fulfill her oath to the dragon-wielding witch, she must infiltrate the court of Lorentia, which is no easy feat because she is not the only one hell-bent on revenge. There's the witch and her brother, a sheriff, a companion, a dragon-slaying queen and a horde of dragons. And then there's Lord Hood. He's controlled by black magic and is the most dangerous one of them all. Even if she can overcome these obstacles, Zaina is left with only one choice. She must kill an innocent king if she hopes to save the man she loves.

©2012 D.L. Snow (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Interesting concept. Poorly executed.

Firstly, this audio is for all 3 of the books, which I didn't know till after I finished my listen.

I will say that the narrator gave a solid performance.

The take on the Robin Hood story was innovative and the first third of the book was fun and entertaining, but then half-way through book 2 it got weird. I thought I missed something because all of a sudden there was a complete change in the dynamic of the characters. No build up. No explanation. Overall it just felt like "hot, hunky men trump all female reason".

::spoilers::

The point the story took a downward spiral was when Robin found Little John (Zeina) in the river. I got the whole emotional confusion and passion, but how did he get to the point that he was in love with her and NEEDED to marry her? It didn't make any sense.

From where I stood listening. It was creepy. In his mind the entire time he was in love with a boy (which Robin did admit was an abomination), but he reconciled all those feelings with, "well, he's a she, so it's all good! I'm going to mount her now." What?!

I like smut, don't get me wrong, but I want it intertwined with the story. The smut in this was just weird. Zeina questioned her feelings the entire time, but overruled all of her thoughts with, "well he's hot." I mean she married him after the way he treated, berated, and both physically and emotionally tortured her over a period of weeks, if not months. Just didn't make any sense.

glorified rape

I'm sorry, but the sexism was tough to plow through, but when our heroine molests an unconscious man, it turned my stomach. Gross and just wrong on all levels. I think the writing and narration were fine, but had to stop whdn the princess molests an unconscious man.

good narrator cannot fix a horrible story.

1. This is such a departure from the Robin Hood story there is no point in using the names Little John and Hood.
2. I couldn’t keep listening once we got to the molestation of an unconscious man by a woman disguised as a boy; even more disturbing as the unconscious man was sodomized as a boy and had sent the woman/boy away because he was terrified by his own attraction and didn’t want to repeat the crimes committed against him. As another reviewer states, this is glorified rape.

This book is weird

Basically there’s a woman who was raped by a wicked witches minion. She thinks it was a prince she had sex with consensually, so logically she is on a mission to kill said prince.

She goes about it by dressing up as a 12 year old boy and travels with a group lead by Hood. Hood thinks he’s sexually attracted to this 12 year old boy (probably cus he was raped by his stepdad at that age) and isn’t a huge fan of the uncomfortable feelings; mad apparent in the scene where he was going to spank “the boy” and felt aroused at the sight of “his” bare bottom.

As if this wasn’t already an awkward attempt at a forbidden romance, at the end Hood is unconscious and Little John rubs the man to arousal without his consent. Turned on, Hood wakes up blearily and and little John gives him a blowjob. When Hood gains more of his faculties, he realizes it’s the little boy who’s pleasuring and has a conniption.

There’s even more but fr. This was all around an uncomfortable read. What I did like was how many fairy tales were mashed in, from Robin Hood to Snow White and even Alice in Wonderland but this was ruined by some seriously creepy undertones

Ehhh

I struggled to finish this read. Put it down and came back a month later then listened at high read speed. I'm just not a fan of people finding true love at first glance or agreeing to disastrous deals immediately with no negotiation. The story just didn't flow well for me.

Good narration, poor storyine.

Liked the narrator but the stories main characters went in to many directions. Took up my time but could have found a better story.

It's enjoyable, but not great.

Enjoyable, but there's a lot of plot holes and things that don't make sense. It did suck me in, so that's a definite positive! And it was performed very well.

My truth

The story was great. Love all the drama thrill and romance through out. To short for me but still very much enjoyed it and recommend the read or listen.

Narrator was average her male voices were blah had to pay more attention to know who was who. But her acting still were on point.

Narration was great. Assault was bad.

Touching anyone without consent is not okay. Touching someone who is unable to consent is sexual assault. I stopped with the series and with the author when I got to that part.

started so interesting then just got wierd....

im going to reiterate what another person wrote bc its exactly how I felt. if this hadn't been in the "free" with membership section i would've asked for my money back. I couldn’t keep listening once it got to the molestation of an unconscious man by a woman disguised as a boy; even more disturbing as the unconscious man was sodomized as a boy and had sent the woman/boy away because he was terrified by his own attraction and didn’t want to repeat the crimes committed against him. As another reviewer states, this is glorified rape.