Stolen Seduction sounds like one of those generic Romantic Suspense titles slapped on to cue the reader in – Stolen=mystery. Seduction=sex. And it’s quite apt. Of course there certainly is mystery and sex, but just like the basis of the plot, there’s more than what immediately meets the eye.

Hailey Roarke is one of the heiresses to Roarke Resorts, but doesn’t want anything to do with the family business – until her father dies, and in his will leaves his remaining family each a clue to send them on a treasure hunt, with the prize being controlling shares in the company. As the Roarkes aren’t exactly a tight-knit family, competition, hostility, and even murder result. When Hailey becomes the prime suspect in her cousin’s murder, investigating detective Shane Maxwell knows that Hailey, whom he had met and been interested in several months prior, can’t be the murderer despite the evidence against her. When he risks his job to help her, they are thrown together in this race to figure out the clues, whether they like it or not.

I expected this to be a Da Vinci Code knock-off with cryptic clues and wild chases. While this is true to a certain extent, it’s still believable within its context. After all, eccentric billionaires can do whatever the hell they want, right? It kept me guessing and entertained, and while there were some leaps of logic, they weren’t outrageous.

Hailey and Shane worked well together. It was a good pairing of the self-sufficient heroine and over-protective hero. Shane has a dark past, and the way he dealt with it showed some depth and complexity. They had good chemistry; I just wish they didn’t circle around each other for as long as they did. They had a lot of false starts. And as much as I admired Hailey’s independence and tenacity, she comes to a sort of stupid conclusion regarding Shane toward the end of the book that bugged me.

One of my biggest problems with this book was the way in which people would just suddenly pop up. Multiple times people randomly appear in order to create drama in a scene or commit violence, with no explanation of where they came from. Or, if it was explained, it wasn’t explained well. Nor were all of the family sub-plots and dynamics articulated clearly. This is the third book in a series, and so there’s a lot of history to keep track of. I managed to figure most of it out, but there’s not a lot of introduction for new readers.

Overall, Stolen Seduction kept me entertained. It was a fast-paced suspense read that had me guessing. It just stumbled a few times in the race to the end.