Stealing His Thunder by Sparrow Beckett (Masters of Adrenaline #1)

Released: June 21, 2016
Contemporary Romance
Intermix

Reviewed by Mandi

Nothing gives Addison Kennedy a rush like stealing cars. The Lexus was the perfect target, but before she can get its engine purring, she’s cold-cocked unconscious. When she comes to, she finds herself on a bed with a blonde, tattooed god standing over her.
 
Fox Larson is shocked to discover the thief he knocked out is actually a hot girl. Bringing her home may not have been the smartest move, but he wasn’t about to leave an unconscious and defenseless woman in a parking garage. Besides, if she’s part of an auto theft crew infringing on his territory, he needs to pump her for information.
 
However, Addison has personal drive that won’t be denied and she’s desperate to prove Fox’s group needs her skills. Submitting to his kinks in the bedroom is a hot yet complicated bonus. When a big job goes bad, and Addison finally gets her chance, will she succeed in stealing his thunder?

This blurb had me all excited – the hero is a car thief, but the heroine is one also! Ooooh, a villainous heroine? I wanted her to be bad ass and for there to be a need for her to be redeemed. We don’t get that.

I’ll say up front I decided to DNF this book at the 25% mark for two main reasons – first the heroine. Addison is a car thief – well let me clarify – she has stolen a car or two because she made some device herself that allows her to steal cars. But she has only done it for the adrenaline so far – no monetary gain. Her goal though is to sell these cars, or pieces of these cars to help her grandparents. One of her grandparents is in a nursing home, and the other doesn’t have enough money to live and be together. Addison feels sad about this so decides car thievery is the answer. She is going to put her “electrical engineering degree to the test” and as she says, “Busting her ass for her master’s was a waste of time and potential when, in less than ten minutes, she could drive off in a hundred and fifty thousand dollar Lexus.”

So far, she hadn’t resold any of them to chop shops or done anything that illegal. Ditching them on the side of the highway was enough to feed her adrenaline addiction. The whole thing was harmless and barely broke any laws. It was more of a prank, really. At least that was what she told herself as she went to sleep at night. She might have been slinking around in the dark, wearing black, stealing cars from rich people, but she had principles, damn it.

Eventually, she might travel down the cash-paved road of organized crime, but she had a plan to keep her karma scale in balance. She’d donate a large percentage of her income to charity. Steal from the rich, give to the poor. Like Robin fucking Hood.

I personally wouldn’t call stealing cars and leaving them on the side of the road a prank….but whatever she wants to tell herself. She didn’t feel like a car thief. To me, it felt like she had no idea what she was doing. But we are told that she invents and makes all of these gadgets that help her steal cars. She even puts a tracking device on the hero’s car because she wants in on his crime circle and he says no. But again, she didn’t feel like she would be the kind of person that would make these gadgets.

Instead of learning more about the heroine and maybe her background and why she is stealing cars, instead we get immediate intimacy with Fox. Which leads me to my second frustration. It felt like they immediately knew each other. There wasn’t really a build up of sexual tension or great chemistry between them. They make out, and I guess it’s hot but I needed more reasons for them to be all into each other.  I wanted car stealing and some action (granted I only read to 25% so I can’t complain too much) but all we get is a ton of make-out scenes – and then it started to veer here:

One by one, he tossed an array of implements and bindings – crops of different sizes, rope, padded handcuffs, even a large vibrator – onto the bed. The sheer number of items made her hope he was messing with her. Maybe she should have put mind fucks on her hard limit list.

And that felt out of place to me.

This heroine could have been any profession…but car stealing didn’t fit her.

Grade DNF

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