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A review by bookworm_panda
How to Shield an Assassin by A.J. Sherwood
4.0
I'm SO reminded of a quote from Leverage after reading this - "sometimes bad guys make the best good guys."
Ari is not a good guy - he's an assassin. He's also friends with a thief, a hacker, and befriends a mercenary. (See why I get the Leverage vibes, you guys?!) While on a job, Ari rescues a young girl and decides to keep her rather than have her get lost in the foster care system. She is renamed Remi and officially/unoffically (because, y'know, illegal!) becomes his daughter.
Carter is ex-military and now works as a mercenary and likes being a team leader. Problem is - he hasn't really had the best of teams. Now he has a new job to steal back a priceless painting, and he knows this is going to be a 2-person job and goes in search of Ari. After Ari calls in his friends Ivan and Kyou, the four (five, if you count Remi!) must work together to get the job completed.
This is a slow-burn in the romance department, and I would say Ari might identify as demi-sexual or grey-ace, based on some of his thoughts about previous experiences with men. It's also definitely a character-driven story. I LOVED the quirks and habits of all four of these men together. The jokes about Ivan licking things, Kyou having this mysterious man that he's stalking/protecting/watching (MUST know more about that!), and how after reading this I have a feeling Remi is going to be the most mature one of the bunch LOL.
I will say that Remi hovers that fine line of being a cute kid character and also a bit unbelievable - TOO precocious and TOO smart for her age. I think she'd have to be a child prodigy to pick up things as quickly as she does and to be as mature as she is. Yes, she's had an unimaginable childhood and has some serious trauma, but I almost wish she had been like 10 or 11 to help make things just a bit more plausible?
Of course, at the end of the story, these four now have to figure out what to do next. Carter wants them all to work together, and I can't wait to see how the next job with them all goes. I know the next story is Ivan's, but I do hope we'll get more of Carter and Ari as they were still in the early stages of their relationship, having to go slow and at Ari's pace.
As with movies and shows revolving around heists and illegal crimes (The Italian Job, Oceans 11, Leverage, etc) you definitely have to suspend some belief to make some scenarios work. I think you will enjoy this story if you can just enjoy the quirky characters and the journey!
Ari is not a good guy - he's an assassin. He's also friends with a thief, a hacker, and befriends a mercenary. (See why I get the Leverage vibes, you guys?!) While on a job, Ari rescues a young girl and decides to keep her rather than have her get lost in the foster care system. She is renamed Remi and officially/unoffically (because, y'know, illegal!) becomes his daughter.
Carter is ex-military and now works as a mercenary and likes being a team leader. Problem is - he hasn't really had the best of teams. Now he has a new job to steal back a priceless painting, and he knows this is going to be a 2-person job and goes in search of Ari. After Ari calls in his friends Ivan and Kyou, the four (five, if you count Remi!) must work together to get the job completed.
This is a slow-burn in the romance department, and I would say Ari might identify as demi-sexual or grey-ace, based on some of his thoughts about previous experiences with men. It's also definitely a character-driven story. I LOVED the quirks and habits of all four of these men together. The jokes about Ivan licking things, Kyou having this mysterious man that he's stalking/protecting/watching (MUST know more about that!), and how after reading this I have a feeling Remi is going to be the most mature one of the bunch LOL.
I will say that Remi hovers that fine line of being a cute kid character and also a bit unbelievable - TOO precocious and TOO smart for her age. I think she'd have to be a child prodigy to pick up things as quickly as she does and to be as mature as she is. Yes, she's had an unimaginable childhood and has some serious trauma, but I almost wish she had been like 10 or 11 to help make things just a bit more plausible?
Of course, at the end of the story, these four now have to figure out what to do next. Carter wants them all to work together, and I can't wait to see how the next job with them all goes. I know the next story is Ivan's, but I do hope we'll get more of Carter and Ari as they were still in the early stages of their relationship, having to go slow and at Ari's pace.
As with movies and shows revolving around heists and illegal crimes (The Italian Job, Oceans 11, Leverage, etc) you definitely have to suspend some belief to make some scenarios work. I think you will enjoy this story if you can just enjoy the quirky characters and the journey!