Rating: 
Summary: Debut novel has a way with words
Review: In 1982, Annie Hollerman had a great job at a North Carolina newspaper and, at 26, showed great promise as a journalist. With fiery red hair, she was not a great beauty but had enough looks and brains to make a difference. Until one horrible mistake changed everything.Twenty years later, Annie runs a literary agency in Washington DC. Two years divorced, Annie's long-time friend wants to fix her up with Jack DePaul, editor at the Baltimore Star-News. Jack is also divorced and has a grown son. He has a passion for good writing and loves words. "A part of Annie wanted to say yes. But there was always another part, a bigger part, that warned her to steer clear of her past and anyone who might pry it open." Stay away from journalists. Reluctantly, Annie and Jack have a blind date, which goes so well it surprises them both. Between dates, Jack woos Annie with eloquent and romantic e-mails, creating a new and imaginary history between them. But when the past and present collide, where will it leave Annie and Jack? What captivated me most was timing. Coincidentally, I stumbled across this book as I was getting to know someone new in my life. I could easily relate to the first date butterflies, flirtatious e-mails and first kiss anticipation. Witty romance written by a man? Well, almost. John Jaffe is actually a pseudonym for the husband and wife writing team of John Muncie and Jody Jaffe. This is their first book, which is also based on their meeting and romance. "It's the prequel to our current lives." A very good story that includes wit, romance, friendship and honesty. Just good writing from a new and welcome talent.
Rating: 
Summary: powerful contemporary romance
Review: In the early 1980s, Annie Hollerman worked as a journalist at a respected newspaper. The star reporter Andrew Binder was her boyfriend. Together they were dubbed A-squared and expected to run the NY Times soon. However, at twenty-six her rising career implodes due to an error on her part that leads to the editorial brass firing her and Andrew subsequently dropping her. Two decades later, Baltimore Star News features editor Jack DePaul, the divorced father of an adult son through a mutual friend meets Annie. He feels he has encountered his soul mate. However, the literary agent is wary of males so Jack begins a campaign to win her heart. Ignoring the classic courting with flowers and candy, Jack scribes a series of romantic emails that picture a life together if they had only met twenty years ago. As he rewrites their separate pasts into one of togetherness, she knows that he cannot reedit the scandal she caused back in Carolina. Annie ponders confessing her mistake that ended her reporting career though the risk of telling him could lead to Jack ending their loving relationship. Whoever said males can't do romance need to read THIEF OF WORDS. This is a terrific second chance tale starring two charming lead protagonists. Annie is a haunted heroine who the audience adores and will want her to find happiness or at least contentment. Jack is a closet romantic whose email courting seems so modern yet so old fashioned. John Jaffe has provided a powerful contemporary romance that shows love can happen to anyone, but especially those young at heart. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: A True Romance
Review: John Jaffe's "Thief of Words" is a damned good book. It details the blossoming love of two, world-weary, divorced baby boomers. In a culture filled with stories of romances between young, well-chiseled model types, it was wonderful to read about a love between two people who had lived in the real world, two people with all of life's wrinkles and warts and wisdom.
And what a couple! Jack DePaul is a curmudgeonly journalist, bitingly honest and witty. Of course, beneath the crusty exterior Jack is a die-hard romantic, still searching for true love" in a world that seems to have little but heartbreak.
However, it was Annie Hollerman who stole my heart. Despite a titanic mistake in her past and a rocky romantic history, Annie still manages to woo the readers with her self-effacing humor and passion. Annie Hollerman's beauty flows from inside as well as out. She has dazzling red hair but it's her wisdom and wit that makes her appealing.
By the end of the book, I felt a real connection to the destiny of these wonderful people. They, like so many of us, must conquer a past filled with mistakes and pain, in order to create a present filled with love and joy. Although it would ruin the book if I spelled out just how they triumph over their histories, know that it made me see email in a completely fresh way.
Mr. Jaffe's writing is humorous, rich, and filled with life. He is an alchemist of words, yet never did I feel that the writing was showy. But even more important than the charm of his words was the power they had - the power to convince me that maybe love doesn't die at 40, that it is possible to right our pasts.
I could rave about the wonders of Thief of Words for days, but they are yours to discover.
Let it conquer your cynicism like it did mine.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasic!!
Review: This book is delightful, the perfect antidote to what's going on in the world right now. It's charming, heartwarming, funny and wise. And I'm in love with Jack DePaul.
Rating:
Summary: as sensual and satisfying as a chocolate truffle
Review: This charming and intelligent novel is as sensual and satisfying as a chocolate truffle. I couldn't put it down. It's funny, witty, romantic, and subtly erotic. Jaffe seduces his readers with language, character and plot. Readers will fall in love with Annie and Jack, with romance and with words. Pick up a copy of ths book and crawl into bed or lie on the beach and savor.
Rating:
Summary: A great page turner with no empty calories
Review: This elegantly written page-turner is a must-read for anyone over 40 or others who wish to understand them. It is pure pleasure to read. The book lingers in your mind long after you finish. Great fun but far deeper than it first appears.
Rating:
Summary: A breath of fresh air
Review: This is the perfect book for a long, boring plane ride. You won't be able to stop reading it and you'll be sorry when you land if you haven't finished it.
It's heartwarming, romantic, funny and realistic. I fell in love with the characters and found myself rooting for them the whole way through.
It was refreshing to find a romantic book that didn't depend on explicit sex scenes. It left just enough to the imagination.
I'd give this book to my mother -- or daughter.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Waste Your Time
Review: While the author's style is inoffensive and carries the reader along from page to page, ther's little substance lurking beneath. I was reminded of the kind of fiction that once appeared in magazines like Redbook and Ladies Home Journal---romantic sturm und drang, with minute descriptions of everyone's clothing in every scene. I was so tired of the heroine's long, flowing, incredibly red hair, mentioned over and over again, that I would have gladly pulled it out by the handful. And if the female half of this two-in-one author is really a literary agent (which would certainly help explain how this thing got published), I hope she has by know come to the realization that the email novel as a genre is done, overdone, and needs to go.
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