LOVER OF BOOKS

How to Shield an Assassin by A.J. Sherwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So I first learned of A.J. Sherwood through her Jon's Mysteries series and kinda fell in love with her writing style. And then I read her Fourth Point of Contact and my mind was blown!
But this book... this book is a bit different from her others and yet oh so wonderful, It was a fun, delightfully amusing romp despite the main characters being an assassin, a mercenary, a thief and a hacker. Oh, and a seriously badass little girl who has them all wrapped around her finger!


Assassin Ari (Aristide) Benelli has lived his life in the shadows and alone. Sure he has a twin brother but that brother was as far from a career criminal as Ari could get so he stayed as far away from Luca as he could for his brother's sake. He had a few friends, a hacker and a thief, but he lived his life solo, doing the job he was good at. And yet a desperate and abused little girl named Remi had him doing the unthinkable - adopting her and settling down. Sort of.

With the help of Ivan and Kyou (the thief and the hacker) - Remi's adopted 'uncles' - Ari attempts to raise his very own little Black Widow in the making while continuing to work. Enter Carter Harrison - Mercenary with a soft spot for kids and a pretty honourable guy all around.

Carter has a job, one that needs a very specialized skill set - and the only one who has it is Ari. A stolen painting needs to be 'liberated' from a private collector with a penchant for illegal objets d'art and a Fort Knox like security system. Ari is the only one who's ever managed to get in and get out. But Ari comes with a crew, and Carter is blindsided by the attraction he feels for the assassin as well as being completely charmed by Remi and reluctantly impressed with Ivan and Kyou.

This book was lighthearted and _fun_. I enjoyed every gosh darned minute of it, from Ari's unconventional parenting, to Remi with her vulnerability and swagger, to the 'crazy uncles'. The romance between Ari and Harrison was sweet and nice but the story itself drew me in and kept me interested.

Can't wait til for book 2!

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