Stolen Hearts [Paperback]

Laura Hayden (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Zebra (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821769057
• ISBN-13: 978-0821769058
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 3.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,305,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Laura Hayden began her reading career at the age of four. By the time she was ten, she'd exhausted the children's section in the local library and switched to adult mysteries. Laura always wrote as a youth, but became sidetracked in college where differential equations were more important than dangling participles.
But one Capstone engineering degree, one wedding, two kids and three military assignments later, she ended up in Colorado Springs where she met people who shared her passion for writing. With their support, instruction and camaraderie, she set two goals for herself: to win the Romance Writers of America's GOLDEN HEART award and after that, to sell her first book.

Only Laura did it backwards.

Shortly after selling her first book, a romantic suspense called SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME, Laura won the GOLDEN HEART for her time travel/ Western/ mystery/ romance novel, A MARGIN IN TIME.

Laura has now published eleven full-length novels, four short stories published in anthologies, and one non-fiction book about Nora Roberts.

The wife of a career military officer, Laura has moved with surprising frequency and practiced efficiency from Alabama to Texas to Virginia to Colorado to Kansas back to Virginia to North Dakota to Montana, Colorado and finally back to Alabama.

When not at the keyboard of her computer, Laura can be found at the keyboard of her piano.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It will steal your heart -- Very highly recommended, November 5, 2001

By 

C. Penn "WordWeaving" (Greenville, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stolen Hearts (Paperback)

There's something winningly whimsical and marvelously magical about the premise of the power of a hope chest and equinoxes winging characters across time to find healing and love. A hope chest found in the historic Chesterfield, now undergoing renovation provides the focal point for the Hope Chest miniseries. In Karen Fox's Laura Hayden's STOLEN HEARTS, the forth book of the Hope Chest miniseries, it's the chain to a stolen emerald necklace that wings the King of Thieves back in time to discover love.

The King of Thieves known as only Delagatto is a twenty-second century Robin Hood, who redistributes the wealth of those undeserving to those in true need such as orphans. At thirty-eight, he's growing tired of being a cat burglar, of researching his marks, planning his strike, and executing his theft. But honor ties him to a family legacy, and he cannot retire without fulfilling the pledge. Like his father and his grandfather, Delagatto vows to find and steal back the family heirloom that had been taken from their royal family a hundred years ago. His need to prove his skill, and the promise of the heirloom, lead to his passage back in time.

Planning to leave on the next train after completing her two-year contract as a maid at the Chesterfield Hotel, Emily Drewett receives a telegram warning her not to come home due to a quarantine. With no money and no place to go, she accepts a generous offer to spend the holidays in a luxurious room compliment of the hotel owners. The upcoming Christmas masquerade ball will provide the opportunity for her dress in borrowed finery and flirt outrageously with handsome young men. While it might be the emerald around her neck that draws Delagatto, it's her stunning green eyes that threaten his heart. As she disappears among the masked and bejeweled, Delagatto makes plans to purloin the jewel later. Unfortunately, he doesn't know the beauty's identity.

Laura Hayden's STOLEN HEARTS provides a terrific edition to the Hope Chest Miniseries. Perhaps it would have benefited from an earlier release as it doesn't update previous characters. And Karen Fox's GRAND DESIGN indicates a renovation of the old Chesterfield Hotel, while Hayden indicates further deterioration. Those small details aside, STOLEN HEARTS is a marvelous read. While in previous books of the miniseries, it's the women who travel back in time, in STOLEN HEARTS it's the man who moves backward in time. And this is no ordinary hero, but a man of his own code of honor. An imaginative, sparkling edition to the Hope Chest miniseries, STOLEN HEARTS will steal the reader's heart. Very highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved the book, October 2, 2001

By 

Jenna P. (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stolen Hearts (Paperback)

This was a great book. The only thing that I didn't like is that the book did not give updates on the main characters from the last books. This book could have been read without reading the others but since I did read the others I was a bit bummed that she didn't reintroduce the characters. I was expecting to find out what happened to the characters from Grand Design. At the end she says that Delgatto is meant to be similar to Autolycus from the show Hercules. I can see that. Without watching the show I pulled up a site and saw a pic of the actor and that is exactly what I would have expected Delgatto to look like. That was interesting. Besides wishing she had brought back some of the other characters I must say that this was one of my favorite books so far in the series.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Accurate Review, April 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Stolen Hearts (Paperback)

Funny how some reviews contain no information whatsoever about the book reviewed-no names, no identifiable content. Just a trollish-attack...

I was coerced by a female friend to read this book and it's far from "syrupy." It's written primarily from a very strong male viewpoint which was a pleasant surprise to me as a reader. I thought most romance books were always female-led. The plot was unique--evidently this is one of a series of time travel romances centered around the same hotel. I'm going to pick up the others and see if they hold up as well as this one.

I found Delgatto to be an interesting and well-defined character and enjoyed his actions and reactions with respect to the plot (which was far from formulaic). Emily was equally well-drawn and true to her time period, yet had the right streak of independence to appeal to this modern man.

I enjoyed the adventure and the romance of the quest for the Heart of Saharanpur. I didn't really expect to like the book since this isn't my usual reading choice, but it was an inventive adventure, a neat plot and a good wrapup.

Now if only the cover hadn't been so--pink.