Sally J. Smith & Jean Steffens - Stealing the Moon & Stars - Review & Giveaway

About the Book

Jordan Welsh and Eddie Marino, Scottsdale private eyes, are hired to find out who’s stealing from the Moon and Stars Children’s Foundation. Foundation employees are suspected, but just as the pieces start falling into place, Jordan discovers a hidden agenda that puts her in the crosshairs of a crime lord. Who can she trust?

Everyone has a dangerous secret, and the bodies are piling up. Even her partner, Eddie Marino, has a dark and mysterious past. Does she dare act on their attraction? Will it destroy their partnership?

The two have landed in a hornets’ nest. Nothing to do now but stir it up.

Book one in a new series featuring Jordan Welsh and Eddie Marino.


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My Review

Jordan Welsh is one of those women who seem to have it all. She doesn't have to worry about money because she has a hefty trust fund. She doesn't have to work a mundane, nine to five job because she owns her own private investigating company. She doesn't have to worry about cleaning her house or cooking her meals because she has a sweetheart of a housekeeper to take care of her. But best of all, she doesn't have to worry about finding a man who makes her heart go pitter patter because her business partner, the oh so sexy Eddie Marino can't get enough of her. Oh, to be Jordan Welsh for a day!

But things aren't all rosy for our heroine. She's assaulted by a criminal thug until she's left sprawled on the pavement. She's nearly blown up by a car bomb. She almost becomes roadkill when a hit and run driver runs over and kills the person standing next to her. Yeah, being a PI isn't all that glamorous after all. It's about working a case until all hours of the night. It's about putting yourself in all kinds of danger. It's about depending on the one guy who can make everything right.

And Eddie sure is Jordan's weakness. He has ties to the mob. He's been in the army. He's done things he isn't proud of. But she can't resist her attraction to him. He's used to getting what he wants from women and she is well aware of that. She doesn't want to ruin their business relationship by getting involved with him, but he's just the kind of guy she's looking for. Someone willing to protect her against all odds. He wants her body, mind and soul and he won't stop until she gives herself to him completely.

Smith & Steffens have a knack for proving that appearances can be deceiving. To the outside world, Jordan might come across as a pampered princess, but the authors open up all different sides to her personality, showing how much she wants her independence from her family's money and their interference in her life. She's striving to make it on her own merits, and you can't help but admire her for that. She's gutsy, willing to do whatever it takes to nail the bad guys, no matter what they try to do to her. She's not afraid to plunge headfirst into the fray.

Eddie seems like he'd be the egotistical playboy, stringing women along for his own amusement, but buried beneath his macho persona is a real sweetheart. He cares about the women in his life from his mother to his sister to Jordan. He feels it's his duty to look after them. He'd do anything for them. He's devoted and loyal, and more of a one-woman man than you'd expect at first glance. He wants to commit to Jordan a hundred percent, but she's not as sure about them as he is. She wants him, she just doesn't know if she can handle him.

Their romance certainly had my heart pounding, and I can't wait to see how their relationship evolves in book two, especially since Jordan's left wondering if he's being completely honest with her about his actions. But throwing more obstacles in their way only seems to bring these two closer together. Do I think Smith & Steffens will have them work through their differences? As Eddie would say, no problem-o.

***

Stealing the Moon and Stars can be purchased at:
Amazon

Price/Format: $13.95 paperback
Pages: 242
Genre: Romance, Suspense
Release: May 15, 2014
Publisher: Camel Press
ISBN: 9781603819831
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About the Authors

Arizona native Sally J. Smith lives in Scottsdale with her husband. The rarest of breeds, an adult who was born in Arizona, she has been a writer since she could spell. These days she stays busy at her chosen professions of writing (novels, short stories, and articles) and freelance editing. When a free moment appears on the horizon, she’s out the door to a attend a play, a movie, a concert, or just take a long walk in the desert—if the temperature’s under a hundred. Other works include The Ghost Wore Polyester.

Jean Steffens also lives in Scottsdale with her family. She’s a mother, reader, movie fan, and the Steffens’ family chauffeur. She’s also active in church activities. Like Jordan Welsh, PI, Jean grew up in Chicago near Lake Forest. Jean’s mother, however, was nurturing—baking cookies, carpooling kids to school, kissing boo-boos—unlike Jordan’s mother, who’s allergic to the kitchen and thinks a carpool is a hot tub in a limo. Jean’s published work includes “The Night Before Christmas” in the Desert Sleuths Sisters in Crime Anthology, How Not to Survive the Holidays.

Work sessions between these two ladies generally result in a lot of laughter, noshing, and Internet surfing. Both authors are members of Romance Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

Links to connect with Sally and Jean:
Web Site
Blog
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