Stealing the Moon & Stars

Stealing the Moon & Stars

by Sally J. Smith & Jean Steffens

published by Camel

2014

ISBN 978-1-60381-984-8

Why Read?: Review

Challenges:  E-Book, 100 Books in a Year

In Stealing the Moon & Stars by Sally J. Smith & Jean Steffens, private investigator Jordan Welsh is called into the Moon & Stars Children's Cancer Foundation to find out who has been embezzling from the organization.  She immediately racks up a few candidates, but she'll need the help of her business partner (and love interest), security specialist Eddie Marino to crack the case.  Of course, things are bigger and more dangerous than Jordan realizes at first, and it turns out that there is more to Eddie than she ever imagined.

The suspense part of Stealing the Moon & Stars was good - not hard-boiled, but just a solid PI mystery.  The romance, though, left me wanting.  Many of the interactions between Jordan and Eddie lacked the correct tension, and Jordan's thoughts concerning him seemed confusing (I honestly thought they were a steady couple at first).  Things do heat up, but the beginning just felt off.  The characters also hit me the same way.  Jordan, especially, takes some time to get to know as I can never connect with a main character who first comes off as the type of woman I cannot stand.  This, though, is where Smith and Steffens do a great job of proving that appearances can be deceiving.

As the first in the Jordan Welsh & Eddie Marino series, Stealing the Moon & Stars has a lot to recommend it.  I look forward to see what Sally J. Smith and Jean Steffens have in store next for this duo.

Rating:  3/5