Stolen Heat is Elisabeth Naughton’s second novel and confirms her place on my autobuy list. It contains all the elements I like best in a romantic suspense: an interesting mystery, compelling characters, and a believable love story. Actually, Naughton’s website describes her as an author of romantic adventure and I think this is a fitting description of her stories.
We met the handsome antiquities dealer, Peter Kauffman, in Naughton’s debut book, Stolen Fury. Although now a legitimate businessman, Pete established himself in the trade by making dodgy deals with unsavoury characters. Utterly ruthless, he would stop at nothing to obtain a valuable artifact.
Turning on the charm to seduce Katherine Meyer, a young Egyptolologist, is all in a day’s work. Pete has heard rumours of priceless finds on the dig she’s working in the Valley of the Kings. Kat is intended to be Pete’s secret ‘in’. Everything is perfectly planned and coordinated…until Pete falls in love with her. Determined to clean up his act for the sake of a future together with Kat, Pete can’t resist making one last deal. When the deal backfires and his lies catch up with him, Kat is horrified to discover that the man she loves has lied and manipulated her. Before Pete can make amends, Kat is killed in a car bomb in Cairo. Devastated by her death, and guilt-ridden at the role he might have played in it, Pete decides to leave his rogue trading behind him and start afresh.
Six years later, Pete owns a hugely successful gallery in Miami. While auctioning off some of his Egyptian pieces in New York, he is stunned to encounter none other than Kat Meyer - very much alive and on a mission. This time, it seems, the lies are not Pete’s alone…
Stolen Heat is a great read. I loved Pete’s character in Stolen Fury and he more than lived up to his promise in this book. He is morally ambiguous and ambitious to a fault. Yet he is fiercely loyal to the people he loves. Kat starts out young and innocent, but circumstances force her to toughen up. Despite spending six years undercover and receiving considerable combat training, Kat retains an endearing streak of vulnerability. She’s tough because she has to be, not because she truly is. I believed in Pete and Kat’s romance and thought they complemented one another. Personally, I find romantic suspenses work best when the hero and heroine are already acquainted. As most romantic suspense novels are set over a relatively short time span, a love story between characters who already know each other is more credible than one which develops over the course of a week amidst life-or-death action.
The book is only 320 pages long and I would have preferred it to be a little longer. There are some gaps in Kat and Pete’s respective backgrounds, especially regarding Kat’s childhood and where she was and what she did during her six years undercover. While this information wasn’t strictly necessary to the development of the plot, I was frustrated at its absence as allusions are made but never elaborated upon.
Naughton’s strong suit is subtle characterization. While her secondary characters play very minor supporting roles, she manages to imbue them each with a distinctive voice and make the reader hope to learn more about them in future books.
My criticisms of her first book lay in a superfluity of unnecessary secondary characters and uneven pacing. In this regard, Stolen Heat is an enormous improvement. The supporting cast is kept to a minimum and the story moves along smoothly. There was a moment around the middle of the book when I was getting irritated with Kat and Pete for constantly sniping at one another, but thankfully they stopped doing this soon after.
Stolen Heat is a strong romantic suspense and bound to appeal to fans of the genre, especially to those who prefer the emphasis to be on the love story. Elisabeth Naughton’s third novel is Stolen Seduction and will be released in January 2010. I definitely plan to read it. Grade: B+
Also Reviewed:
Stolen Fury (2009) by Elisabeth Naughton (Book 1 in the Stolen series)
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Great review Sarah
I have this one high on my TRP and can’t wait to find out what Peter Kauffman is all about!
@Leontine Have you read ‘Stolen Fury’? I wouldn’t say it’s strictly necessary as the books are connected but not a series as such. Yeah, ‘Stolen Heat’ is to be recommended, particularly for those readers who prefer less violence and more focus on the romance. It’s really more of a romantic adventure than a mystery.
I have yet to read this author but looking forward to getting this book. I may break my ocd habit and start with this one and not Stolen Fury.
@Mandi Didn’t you win a copy? Enjoy!
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