The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe

I picked up Shana Abe's book at the library on a bit of whimsy. I'm always looking for new things to read. This particular novel suited my fancy quite well.

This book is hard to shoe horn into a category; The Smoke Thief is part Regency Romance, part supernatural and part mystery and very entertaining. It begins as so many of this types of historical romances do, introducing the beautiful titled male and the spunky young girl who will eventually win his heart. From there things get a bit trickier, and less predictable. The spunky girl becomes a world class thief and the noble guy who will become her true love resolves to catch her, not knowing she's a SHE. I'm not spoiling things here as all of this is in the cover's description, including the real twist: both are able to shape shift into dragons!

I'm not sure this type of novel will ever be a man's cup of tea, but who cares? Statistics show that women buy the majority of books. If you enjoy the historical novels of Jude Deveroux, Judith McNaught or Julie Garwood I think you will enjoy this. The fantasy twist isn't so bizarre or sci-fi-like as to be annoying to someone who doesn't normally care for that drama; in fact it's a delicious spice that turns predictable into unpredictable.

Abe's sequel The Dream Thief will be out later this year.