Stolen Fury [Mass Market Paperback]

Dr. Lisa Maxwell, is a brilliant archeologist who has uncovered a rare marble carving or `relief' that she thinks may well be one of the original three Greek "Furies". The origin of the carving is explained in the book so I won't spoil that with a discussion here. After she excavates the carving in Jamaica she goes to Italy to give a lecture and plans to have her find authenticated. At the closing of her lecture she is `rescued' from an unwanted suitor (not that Lisa needs rescuing from anyone) by a tall drop dead handsome Latin who introduces himself as 'Raphael Garcia', a history professor from the University of Barcelona.

Little does Lisa know but Mr. Latin Lover is actually Rafe Sullivan and he knows she has the relic and is intent on stealing it. Lisa hasn't enjoyed male company in a long time so needless to say one thing leads to another. Following a romantic dinner Rafe ends up back at Lisa's hotel room where he slips her a Mickey Finn. The scene prior Lisa falling into a drugged slumber is quite funny because Rafe gets more or less, so to speak than he bargained for. I couldn't help but laugh.

Rafe steals the Fury and is long gone when Lisa awakens in the morning with a vicious hangover. When she finds the artifact missing, she is frothing at the mouth angry. This heroine has a nasty temper, a sharp rapier wit, and a mouth to go with,that caused me to bark with laughter. Old Rafe has no idea what he is in for when Lisa tracks him to Florida and promptly reaps vengeance in front of a sweet young thing he is about to entertain on his pretty sailboat moored at a dock in Key West.

Following some rather terse verbal exchanges with respect to Rafe's actions in the hotel room in Italy, Lisa soon learns she isn't going to regain possession of the relief, unless she joins forces with the untrustworthy thief. He wants to find the third of the three piece set of marble carvings and knows Dr. Lisa Maxwell is the only one who may be able to help him find it. This sets the stage for a plot that is extremely fast paced and full of twists and turns. The really great thing about this story is that I couldn't identify who the bad guys were until the near the end of the book.

Rafe Sullivan is a complex character, at first, despite the fact the guy is the epitome of all I find outlandishly attractive in a hero, I decided he did do the heroine dirty after all AND stole from her. So, he therefore needed to be clocked in the chops or something equally painful preferably administered by our heroine. However, Rafe does redeem himself fairly swiftly, I couldn't, much like Lisa, stay mad at the guy.

Dr. Lisa Maxwell is my favorite kind of heroine, she is smart, feisty, doesn't give up and is completely comfortable with her sexuality. She is vulnerable and has a secret past linked to the carvings and her previous mentor Doug. I was flipping the pages to find out more about her.

The dialogue in this book is packed full of verbal sparring between these two lovers which is great sport and heightens the sexual tension until it crackles. This isn't a book that is laden with sex but the intimate scenes sort of sneak up on a reader, very intense and very hot. Their love story is much like a "slow burn" laced with action and near death experiences.

Rafe has a partner, his best friend Peter, who I will say is a good guy and another hottie to boot. Ms. Naughton wrote lots of mystery into the plot surrounding Pete. He is an Antiquities dealer and collector, I'm hoping he is a main character in one of the two sequels which are part of a trilogy of stories.

Lisa's twin brother Shane also plays a pivotal role in the plot and there is a lot of innuendo surrounding this interesting character as well.

Just when I thought I had the plot of Stolen Fury all figured out, Ms. Naughton would slip in another surprise that confounded me. Or the guy, who I thought was the evildoer turned up dead! I could feel the chills rocketing down my spine as Lisa and Rafe barely escape one scrape after another, then murders start, seemingly following their activities. Their quest to find the third of the missing relic's with bad guys on their tail is riveting and exciting.

FYI: Ms. Naughton has posted an Epilogue to Stolen Fury on her website which is wonderful!

I'm looking forward to the next book in Ms. Naughton's trilogy, "Stolen Heat", which will be available in July 2009.

Elisabeth Naughton's debut STOLEN FURY cost me precious hours of sleep, and it was completely worth it! I absolutely love this book - from the relatable and entertaining characters, to the settings I could vividly picture in my mind, to the action that kept my eyes reading as fast as they could into the wee hours of the morning.

STOLEN FURY has been called "Romancing the Stone" meets "Indiana Jones" by Publisher's Weekly. Those are films I love, and this book was even better. Here's a quick list of what I enjoyed about this book, and hopefully it will encourage you to give it a try.

1) Naughton has found a solid balance of action, romance and snarky humor. Personally, I prefer romantic suspense books that are more evenly split in those areas, books with much more suspense than romance don't keep my interest. STOLEN FURY is an even mix, and Naughton crafted the romance in a way that was believable in the midst of stressful, suspenseful situations.

2) The characters are likable, realistic and believable. One of many ways Naughton excels with this book is that the reader can see why Lisa and Rafe, the heroine and hero, belong together. They complement each other and help each other deal with their fears, insecurities, and flaws.

3) Although the best quality of romance novels is that they are usually character-driven, the plot of STOLEN FURY makes the read even more entertaining. I get frustrated when I love the characters of a story, but their situation is not believable, or doesn't fit the characters. You won't have that problem with this book. The pace kept me turning the page, needing to know what was next. I kept telling myself I'd stop reading at the end of the chapter and go to bed. But I couldn't! She kept me hooked and reading more. Anyone who enjoys Greek mythology or treasure hunting should give STOLEN FURY a try.

I usually prefer paranormal and contemporary romance, but Naughton has convinced me to add romantic adventure to my preferred reading list. I absolutely can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy. The characters she introduced in STOLEN FURY will appear in the later books, and I'm looking forward to it.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
On the book's cover, the story is compared to the movies Indiana Jones and Romancing the Stone - a lot of action scenes with stealing treasure and bad guys chasing good guys. It had the ingredients for romance, but it had no spark for me. It was missing something. The characters sounded like they should be interesting, but I wasn't drawn to them emotionally. I didn't find myself smiling, chuckling or being surprised enough. A minor point, but noticeable, was the use of artificial cliffhangers. On several occasions, the author stopped a scene in the middle of a dramatic moment, to be continued a few pages later. I'm willing to accept limited use of this by authors, but in this story, it bothered me. I also had problems with the ending which confused me.

STORY BRIEF:
Lisa is an archaeologist searching for three ancient Greek marble sculptures called the Furies. She found one. Rafe steals it from her. He offers to give it back if she helps him find another one of the Furies. She agrees. Bad guys chase and try to kill them during the process.

DATA:
Story length: 339 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 4. Total number of sex scene pages: 17. Setting: current day Jamaica, Milan, Italy, Chicago, Illinois, Miami, Florida, Bahama Islands, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Copyright: 2009. Genre: romantic suspense.

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