Book Review: Flirting with Danger - by Suzanne Enoch

Synopsis: Flirting with Danger is the first book in a series of contemporary romances by Suzanne Enoch. The heroine, Sam, is a master thief who gets hired to steal an ancient Trojan tablet from an uber-rich antique collecting business tycoon (our hero). In the middle of the job, however, she gets double-crossed and the two of them have to work together to catch the real bad guys.

This was the first book by this author that I've ever read. And I don't usually read contemporary romance. However, my participation in a romance readers' group on LibraryThing has broadened my horizons so I picked this one up at Half Price Books not too long ago. The book jacket was kind of funny so I thought I'd try it out. Unfortunately, though, I did not enjoy it as much as I'd hoped.

I found the plot to be pretty interesting - there's danger and a mystery to it, which I like. And I liked the hero a lot - he's rich, British, and sexy (how can you go wrong with that?). But the heroine really got on my nerves. She is obviously supposed to be a strong character - highly intelligent, independent, can take care of herself - which I think are great qualities. But she's kind of, I don't know ... surly. She doesn't seem to have much in the way of vulnerability or approachability at all. It's hard for me to see why the hero likes her (except for the hefty dose of lust between them). And I kept thinking, if she storms out of the room in an attempt to run away from the hero and the situation just one more time, I'm going to scream. And the hero, of course, goes running right after her every time to talk her into staying. I repeatedly found myself wanting to shout at him, "Let her go!!! And good riddance!"

I kept hoping we'd eventually get to see a softer side to her, but it never really happened. And the characters' attitudes toward sex (and the dialog during the love scenes) was a bit cavalier and unromantic I thought. The plot was engaging enough to get me to finish it, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to read the other two books in this series. I'm not giving up on this author, though. I'm still a good enough sport to try out her highly-recommended historical novels.

I only gave this one 2 stars in my LibraryThing catalog