Rating: 
Summary: Words to devour...buy, borrow, beg or steal this book
Review: In a time of anxiety, here is a poetic, sensual tale of desire, folly, love and forgiving that updates The Bridges of Madison County brilliantly. The hero makes pictures with words of exotic locations and doesn't need to be an aloof loner whom the heroine, in a haze of post-coital euphoric insanity (a purely male invention), sets free to wander the world because, after all, he must not be caged. The heroine, dissatisfied with her life of routine that includes a successful career as a literary agent, falls deeply under the spell of seductive e-mails that rewrite her troubled past. But Annie Hollerman knows that words can betray as well as charm, and romantic journalist/divorced father Jack DePaul is part of a world she has succeeded in erasing from her past.
The boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-wins-girl-back plot seduces us, much in the way that Jack and Annie's words enchant, for a simple reason: it works. Like Annie, we want to believe in the stories that end, "and they lived happily ever after," the resolution of misunderstandings and the power of love and forgiveness. The romantic conventions are pleasantly familiar, but the plot really isn't the star of the story.
The main appeal of this sensitive novel, penned by an astute male writer, is, of course, the seductive words, filled with the hearts and souls of perfectly matched lovers Annie and Jack.
Rating:
Summary: A delectible tale for modern mid-life reading!
Review: All I wanted was a good, mindless read, but I fell in love with a tale about falling in love! Now I can't check my email without a small hope that someone has rewritten one of my not-so-fond memories and turned it into a sexy adventure! Anyone interested?
Rating:
Summary: Love and Caring Wins Out
Review: Annie Hollerman is a has-been star newspaper reporter banished into oblivion for unknown reasons to the reader as the story opens. Jack DePaul is the features editor at the Baltimore Star-News. Both Jack and Annie are divorced and both are in denial about much of their personal life. An arranged blind date by a mutual friend of the two, Laura Goodbread, leads the pair into a wonderful and continuing encounter of exploration and mutual respect...leading toward love. The mystery of Annie's fall from her reporters job hovers in the background, lending an interesting air of mystery during their courtship. As their infatuation deepens, author Jaffe creates a real and caring sense for the characters by the reader. As readers wend their way through this tale, they will be moved to laugh, cry, hope and believe in the genuineness of Jack and Annie. They will be caught up and immersed in the reality of the settings and events of those two lives. This is a really wonderful love story that transcends the usual in this genre and becomes compelling and mustn't-put-the-book-down reading. It's a love story that transcends the genre and is involving, moving and believable. Here's a true to life Romeo and Juliet story based on an actual series of events. The authors state John Jaffe is "a pseudonym for us: John Muncie and Jody Jaffe. We wrote the book together. In fact, our novel, Thief of Words, is based on our meeting and our romance. It's the prequel to our current lives. Now we're married and work together writing books."
Rating:
Summary: forever
Review: Anyone who doesn't like this book has forgotten those magic summer days that went on forever and the first time you rolled in free fall down a hill - the story is magic, beautifully articulated by someone who obviously remembers. It left me wanting more.
Rating:
Summary: Don't listen to the harpie at the top
Review: Clearly, the person writing the mean review has never felt the sort of deep-seated love found in John Jaffe's first book. They're just jealous. Even though I've never felt this kind of love before, either, I can revel in it instead of making snide comments about to style. I found Thief of Words light, refreshing, fun, sexy and surprising. I could care less if this is not haute literature. It is fun, down-to-earth and a charmer to read. Summer reading should be light and filled with delight. Thief of Words is, and Mr. Jaffe should bar the door for the women who'll come knocking on it looking for the sort of love he offers.
Rating:
Summary: An Enchanting 242-Page Poem of Healing
Review: Dazzlingly poetic, "A Thief of Words" has stolen my heart and has captured my literary attention. Penned by a new, soulful author, this book will deceive first-time readers with its cover's description of courting and romance; This book is a tool for healing. We all have painful memories which are seemingly impossible to forget, but Jaffe's exploration of healing allows readers to identify with characters who have not only "moved on" from their past struggles but have taken used their experiences as a sprinboard into a hopeful future and a refreshed past. The writing is captivating and descriptive, allowing readers to feel and visualize transformations along with the lovingly imperfect characters. Getting lost in this nurturing tale of reconnection with life's love and loss gives us a window not only into Jaffe's world, but allows us a glimpse into our lives as well. This is not the average romance novel- It is a soul-searching, thought-provoking, carefully crafted tale of rediscovering oneself through vulnerability, a lesson which we can all most certainly benefit from.
Rating: 
Summary: A Book For Romantics
Review: I am a mystery writer. I read mysteries, not romances or love stories, but I think I know a good one when I read it. When we are young and naïve, we have the energy to deal with the intoxication of romance and the inherent risks of courtship. But what about when we are fortyish, when we are wizened if not damage by experience? How do matters of the heart compete with defenses and baggage accumulated over twenty years of hard living? Thief of Words explores these questions in an highly personal way. Through e-mail exchanges, we are witness to the courtship of Jack and Annie, two adults who are must deal with the most basic--and mysterious-impulses. Thief of Words is a book for all who want to remember the joy - and the pain - of falling in love again. Elliott Light Author of "Lonesome Song" and "Chain Thinking"
Rating:
Summary: Poetry of words
Review: I borrowed this book from my local library and am about to buy one of my own. Reason? There is so much poety of language in this book - sentences and phrases that leap out and echo in your mind. I wanted to underline them! (not recommended for a library book, so I'm getting one of my own). What I particularly liked was that the book's title was reflected in different contexts in the plot and that it focussed on the intricacies of finding a love, not necessarily "falling" in love. This love story is well told and is refreshing and realistic in this too explicit, too over-the-top, writing era; a story about getting another chance to re-live a life where every regret can be replaced with a beautiful memory given an imagination, National Geographic :-) and a flair for words.. If you like words, you'll love it!
Rating:
Summary: Great Summer Read
Review: I'm a fan of novels about journalism, about fate-twisting romances, and about colorful characters. This one has it all. Throw in the clever utilization of e-mail as the 21st-century version of the Love Letter, and you have a rich modern-day tale of star-crossed lovers who, despite the advances of modern technology, have to confront the same issues that men and women have dealt with for centuries -- passion, jealousy, keeping secrets...and the fact that communication between the sexes can be difficult whether it's face-to-face or computer-to-computer. A good read for the beach this summer.
Rating:
Summary: A Well-Developed Love Story --- Extremely Funny at Times
Review: If you're thinking about purchasing a copy of John Jaffe's debut novel, THIEF OF WORDS, you'd better make sure you have plenty of tissues to stop the flood of tears you may experience. I didn't cry, really I didn't. But John Jaffe (a pseudonym for John Muncie and Jody Jaffe) knows how to pull a reader's heartstrings in this romantic-type comedy that, in many ways, resembles a writer's experience with love, life and the wacky profession of print journalism. THIEF OF WORDS is a love story, not a romance novel, so let's get that straight before we go any further, OK? The cover of the book is reminiscent of a Harlequin romance novel, though it isn't. At age 26, Annie Hollerman thought she had her love life and her career at a top North Carolina newspaper under complete control --- until one fatal mistake not only destroys her career at the paper, but also ends her relationship. The book begins in 1982 and then rapidly transports the reader 20 years later. Annie, now 46, runs her own literary agency, destined to never date another journalist again until her girlfriend, Laura Goodbread, decides she has the perfect guy for Annie: her boss, Jack DePaul, a longtime features editor at the Baltimore Star-News. Similar to the popular film You've Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, Annie and Jack start conversing via the Internet (doesn't everybody these days?) and viola! Before we know it, Annie and Jack are out on their first date, having the time of their lives. THIEF OF WORDS isn't just a well-developed love story that will give any Nicholas Sparks novel a definite run for its money; it's also extremely funny at times and is dead-on with its numerous machinations of newspapers, editors and reporters. While Annie and Jack do fall in love with each other, another interesting aspect of THIEF OF WORDS is how Jaffe dangles Annie's forlorn past from not only the reader but from Jack as well. Near the end of the book, I kept wondering if Annie's mistake at the North Carolina daily was as dire as former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair's. You'll have to read THIEF OF WORDS to find out because this reviewer has no comment. --- Reviewed by David Exum
|
