Customer Reviews

To Catch A Thief

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sussex, England, 1622. Viscount Draycott hid a piece of art, for safety. It was Leonardo's preliminary chalk sketch for the Mona Lisa, with probable oversketching by Michelangelo. With it was hidden a notebook from the hand of Leonardo da Vinci. The notebook stated, in poetry form, that the exquisite piece of art, as well as the notebook, was cursed. In the year 1785 the chalk sketch was stolen, but not the notebook. Few knew of the sketch's existence. Once stolen, it disappeared - until now.

Lieutenant Dakota Smith is a Navy SEAL. He works for a government department with no name, in a location that has no address, on jobs with no description. Those in his department call it Foxfire. Word has it that an undiscovered da Vinci is to be privately auctioned off to carefully selected collectors. Currently the art piece is in the possession of a delusional and ruthless millionaire named Martim Gonsalves. Dakota's mission is to retrieve it. To do this, he needs Nell MacInnes, an art conservator. Problem is that Dakota is not one hundred percent sure he can trust her. Nell's father is Jordan MacInnes, a well known art thief. Jordan has recently been released from prison. Everyone from the FBI to the head of Foxfire believes that Nell's father had orchestrated the complex theft of the art piece from the museum within days of his release. They also believe Nell is somehow involved.

Nell MacInnes is not a thief and refuses to believe her father has returned to his old life of crime. When Nell receives a quick call from her father, giving her strange numbers and telling her to contact their family friend for aid, she is confused. The family friend is Nicholas Draycott. Dakota and Nell travel to Draycott Abbey, where Nell begins to teach Dakota how to rock climb, without any safety equipment. The auction is due to be held at a castle on a small island north of Skye. It will take all of Nell's knowledge of art and climbing to help bring Dakota, and her father, out of the mission alive.

***** Christina Skye continues her exciting adventures with the men and women of the Foxfire group. This mission is just as dangerous, yet thrilling, as all the ones before it. I always find it fascinating to witness the fall of another SEAL into the web of love. Dakota put up a great fight though, I must admit. As for Nell, the author did a terrific job of creating the strong-willed female character a man like Dakota would need. The romance of Nell and Dakota blends in very well with the various phases of the mission. (Trust me, the mission keeps evolving and getting more complex.) Nell's personal life is just as difficult as Dakota's, especially her childhood years; therefore, she trusts people even less than Dakota does. Watching the clashes between this pair, in addition to their deep attraction for one another, is like watching a pressure cooker build up steam. Eventually, the explosion will occur. I guess what I am saying is that books by Christina Skye are hot and explosive. Truer words were never written. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

I hate books where the hero and heroine spend a lot of time apart. Several pages involved them being apart...and these pages were dragging. Well even the rest of the story....
Fast paced, snappish dialogue has become Christina Skye's trademark. After having read this type of dialogue in all of her recent books I am not a fan of it anymore. Its like she has carbon copies of all her heroes and heroines, they always sound the same - they always have the same character. What changes is the physical description, sometimes the woman is beautiful, sometimes she is not (such as in this case) however the men are always very well built physically, handsome, dark haired, blue or gray (or a mixture of both) eyes. As I said their character is always the same. Men cool and remote and distant and harsh. Woman resistant at first, feisty but soon falls in love with this harsh cold man. I also find her characters very one-dimensional. But this is just my opinon.

I am also fedup of Code Name stuff..ok this may have been marketed as a Draycott Abbey book but believe me it is not. Draycott abbey books are so much more fun to read, much more romantic, much more...everything!! This was just the same old formula of tough guy meets tough girl, the dark mysterious Izzy in the middle (I really cant understand the hype about him...what a boring, one-dimensional character). tough guy and girl have to fight alone an evil organisation. tough girl and guy fall in love, make love in a fast and "hot" way. bla bla bla. I litteraly skipped pages I was so bored with this stuff. Once again I say : if this is your first Skye book you may find it okay. But if you've read all her others this is just another version of the same formula...only more boring because less romantic and there was too much focus on the secondary character (Nell's father) in my opinion.

This book was ok, but it wasn't near as good as I thought it would be.

First, it was more of a Code Name book rather than a Draycott Abbey. For those of you that haven't ready books from each series, the Code Name series tends to be made up of heros with enhanced abilities who are very controlled and ruthless. The heroines vary a bit more, but most tend to be stronger women. Draycott Abbey is a bit softer, and there is more variation between the main characters.

The other thing I didn't like about this book (and many other reviewers have agreed) is how much time (both in terms of actual time and number of pages) the two main characters spent apart. It made it seem a bit rushed when they did get together, and it just didn't quite fall into place for me.

Dakota, our hero in this book, is a bit off for me. I don't know why, he just didn't do it for me. To be honest, all heros in the Code Name books are starting to annoy me. I liked our heroine. I wasn't as crazy about some of the other characters. We see Nicholas, but not his family (we never see his family anymore). We also jump from one character to the other so much that it slows the story down.

Regardless, it was still a decent light read. Just go into it expecting more along the lines of the Code Name series and not Draycott, and I think you will like it. Still, I just wish we had seen more between our two main characters.

Art restorer Nell and special agent Dakota climb their way up a Scottish castle to clear her father's name and to save a stolen masterpiece. Terrorists use American's tendency to panic at a threat to divert attention from the theft of a da Vinci sketch worth enough millions to finance real terrorist events. Skye's description of climbing and art restoration are a treat in this adventure-romance. Engrossing read

Pour your cuppa hot chocolate and put on your Pooh slippers...this is a good, satisfying read that lives up to its press.

When the Da Vinci sketch was stolen from the National Art Gallery, suspicion falls on art restorer Nell MacInnes and her father, a notorious thief just out of prison. Navy SEAL Dakota Smith is assigned to keep a close eye on Nell, which he knows is too easy to do as she is beautiful. They meet in the Isle of Skye where they work together to rescue stranded young climbers from treacherous Mt. Blaven.

Soon afterward an unknown adversary arranges to abduct Nell. Although they fail, her worried dad tells her to obtain the help of Nicholas Draycott and his Foxfire team. Even if she does not trust authorities who insist they are there to help she feels she has no choice so Nell goes for help; there she encounters Dakota again with the mission to recover the art treasure linked to a terrorist group.

Combining her "Code Name" saga with her "Draycott Abbey" escapades, Christina Skye provides her fans with the best from both. The story line is fast-paced and filled with non stop action from the moment the lead couple use body warmth on Blaven until the final dual rings. Readers will appreciate this fine romantic suspense thriller starring a strong capable heroine (just ask a Viet Nam vet about Nell's skills), a tough caring hero, and brilliant enemies.

Harriet Klausner

I enjoyed this book. Loveed our leading lady, Nell. She was everything strong women are inspired by, resiliant, courageous, fearful yet never flinched. This novel takes you through whirlwind of suspense, mystery, trickery,......death. ....near death? Christina Skye has written a great suspense thriller with a cup of romance. Aha, let me not forget the leading man, the Navy SEAL Dakota.

As with all of Ms. Skye's books this one was great! I almost read it from cover to cover in one day. I love Izzy and hope she writes his story soon.

I have never read this author before so maybe that was part of the problem. The other reviews give details of the books here are my problems. I never enjoy all the jumping around. They go to the hero, then the heroine, then the enemy, then the father...every few pages you were taken somewhere else and it all was very jumbled to me. I also get frustrated when the 2 main characters spend a large part of the book apart. I am supposed to believe that after 2 brief meetings they are so taken with each other they just fall into bed. And that was another thing that bothered me. She gets hit on the head with a large stone and he saves her then kisses her, they have sex, no forplay...wham bam no thank you...she was almost knocked out but is ready for one of the quickest love scenes I have ever read. I had to reread to make sure I did not miss something...I don't think they removed any of their clothes. I just did not get it. Then they spend half the book teaching him how to free climb a tower to get into the place that no one is supposed to be able to enter and it turns out everyone and their brother just walk on through the place. Also it turns out the hero keeps this big and painful secret from her, she is devastated and he takes her on vacation then leaves her to find out on her own....and she does not even get mad at him. She spent weeks upset and on her own. I don't recommend it and will not be reading anymore from her. My only other comment is there was some supernatural part to it...he was implanted or something with some chip that made him see colors. I never really understood that either.

I'm a huge fan of Christina Skye's books and I wasn't thrilled about this one. The main characters don't speak much and have very little interaction with each other so I couldn't see where Dakota was so taken up on Nell. Also there seemed to be more desire coming from Dakota then Nell. Overall her previous Code Name: books were a lot better and more indepth character wise than this one, and the main characters actually had more conversations with each other before becoming completely smitten