His Stolen Bride

Chicago Sons #4

by Barbara Dunlop

To love, honor and abduct a beautiful bride... Only from New York Times bestselling author Barbara Dunlop.

"Will you take this woman?" Yes. As a favor to his estranged father, investigator Jackson Rush agrees to kidnap Crista Corday from her high society wedding. His job is to stop her marriage to a con man, not seduce the alluring Crista himself. But two days together, on the run from her fiance's shady family, obliterate every rule...

Crista has no idea of the danger drawing near. Jackson can't reveal it without divulging who really sent him. And that's a risk that could cost him everything...unless Crista will put herself under his passionate protection forever.

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Desire, Contemporary Romance, Ebooks

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2016

About the author

Barbara Dunlop is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over sixty romance and romantic comedy novels, including the new Paradise, Alaska Romance series for Berkley and the recent Gambling Men series with Harlequin Desire. Published in multiple languages across a worldwide market, Barbara’s books have received numerous awards with a number of her stories optioned for film and television.

Reviews

[Vintage · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so promising, and then it just fell apart!

The h is kidnapped at her wedding by the H. He's a PI extraordinaire and has been asked by the h's father to break up the wedding. Turns out she is the unknowing owner of a diamond mind; the fiancee and his powerful family know about it and finagled the engagement and marriage to get access.

Instant chemistry between the H and h. He's pretty hunky, and she's sufficiently interesting. The bad fiancee and his even worse father add some nice evil dimension. Once the h finds out about the mine, she scoffs as her father is in prison for being a con man.

It all falls apart as with all this yummy well-done mystery/suspense it never goes anywhere. We never find out if the mine is worth anything as it would make the heroine worth millions; there is no comeuppance for a horrible fiancee and even worse potential FIL who threatens to kill the h unless she marries the worthless son.

I felt like I got 70% of a book.

Heck, she even had a real best friend who got a touch of her own romance. So much potential shot down due to word count.

[Melody Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

***2.5 Stars*** Hero gets 4 stars and the heroine gets 1 star!

I am truly torn on this book. How do you rate a book when you don't like the heroine and love the hero. In my mind it makes for a very uneven match.

Jackson is a wealthy PI. He hasn't been in a relationship for two years...don't get excited...I didn't say he was celibate but we weren't told about that. He was a good hero, but not great. He was too smart and too experienced to make as many mistakes as he did which made him seem a bit unrealistic. His father is in prison and his cellmate needs help asap. They have asked Jackson to protect his daughter from the slime ball she is marrying. Jackson was left with no choice but to kidnap her to keep her safe from said slime ball who was after something she owned but was unaware of its existence. One look at her and Jackson is ga-ga and within a few days he is in love with her! We have only heard bits and pieces of him in a past book but it seemed out of character for him.

Crista thought her love life was like a beautiful fairy tale and she, the princess, was convinced how much her prince of a fiancee loved her. That wasn't really the case. This gal was just plain ignorant...a doormat where her fiance was concerned and it turned me off this book pretty quickly although I finished it. So here we have Jackson and most of his men working on this case with picture proof of Vern's infidelity and later the scam he was running on her. YET, even though Jackson had a lot of pictures she refused to believe what was right before her eyes saying he would never cheat on her and claimed the pics had been photo shopped. Even when Jackson proved they were not photo shopped she came up with other excuses saying there could have been all kinds of things to make this wonderful prince of a guy look guilty. DUH!!! Really??? It seemed there was no evidence that she believed and just knew beyond a doubt that it was the investigator running a scam on her. I hated that part and it made her appear either stupid or ignorant...maybe both. Anyone with half a brain could have seen what was going on...except this supposedly smart and talented woman.

I have to be honest and tell you it was a very frustrating read for me and when it all came together it was just too little too late. Would I recommend it? No, this would have been a skip. The other couples weren't mentioned except for Tuck and when I found out he didn't seem to be working at the family business any longer after how hard he had worked...well it made me quite sad and it never told us what he was doing.

Definitely my least favorite of the series.

[Ju · Rating 1 out of 5]

Malísimo

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book with ups and downs of emotions combined with a bit of suspense. Jackson is a PI who gets a call from his incarcerated father. Jackson hasn't seen his father since he was thirteen and his father was imprisoned for embezzlement. His father's cellmate, Trent Corday, needs Jackson to stop his daughter's wedding. He claims the man only wants Crista for the diamond mine shares she owns - shares that she knows nothing about. His plan is to see her, tell her about it, and leave her to decide. Once he sees her, all his plans fly out the window.

Crista is a jewelry designer who fell in love with the romantic man who courted her. When Jackson kidnaps her from her own wedding, she refuses to believe the wild tales he tells her, about her fiance's cheating and plans to steal her shares. However, she can't deny the attraction she feels to Jackson. Returning to her fiance the next day, the reception she receives causes her to rethink her engagement. But her fiance isn't ready to let her go. Panicked by his attitude, she relies on Jackson to get her away.

I enjoyed seeing the relationship build between Jackson and Crista. As Jackson tries to protect Crista from her ex, he discovers that she has become more than a job to him. I liked seeing the lengths he went to in order to protect her and his determination to keep her safe. But he also knows that if she were to find out that it was her father who sent him, she would be furious. He struggles against his growing feelings for her, and it was fun to see his friends' reactions. Crista's reactions to Jackson are all over the place at first. Initially of course, it's fear and anger over the kidnapping, with a bit of unwilling attraction thrown in. Once she's convinced she's in no danger from him, the anger grows, especially when he tells her the things he's learned about Vern, and then about the diamond mine shares. While I understood her anger and distrust of her father, and her desire to believe in her fiance, her flat-out refusal to believe the evidence that Jackson produces really irritated me. She even tried to convince herself that Vern wasn't behind the attacks on her. However, she can't deny that she is starting to feel things for Jackson that are far stronger than anything she had felt for Vern. When they give in to the attraction the strength of their connection scares them both. Crista's discovery of her father's involvement adds to her confusion, and sends her running. A last ditch effort by Vern puts Crista in danger and both Crista and Jackson have to face their real feelings. There are still the diamond mine shares to deal with, and that whole issue is pretty amusing to see them handle. I liked the ending.

The suspense was pretty good with the whole idea of keeping Crista and her shares out of Vern's hands. He definitely wasn't the man she thought he was. There was an increasing amount of danger as shown by each attempt to get her back. I enjoyed seeing Jackson and his security coworkers as they dealt with each threat and uncovered more information. There was an interesting twist involving Crista's father. The resolution at the end was effective, but not necessarily satisfying on consequences for Vern.

There was a fun secondary relationship between Jackson's friend/coworker Mac and Crista's best friend Ellie. I enjoyed the back and forth between the two and their relationships to Jackson and Crista.

[Geraldine Sadiku · Rating 5 out of 5]

A roller coaster of a romance that was an excellent read.

[Ellen Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Con gets Conned.
Crista Corday is moments away from marrying into one of Chicago society’s finest families. Much of the success of her jewelry design business rests on the family, and she has little of her own, so it seems normal that they make the plans.
Taking advantage of the moment the bride is alone on the church steps, Jackson Rush scoops Crista into his arms and drives away with her. That’s the easy part. Persuading her to break the engagement because the family is out for monetary gain – and willing to kill to get it -- takes a little longer.
I enjoyed the glimpses of the Chicago area as Crista and Jackson go from strangers, to budding trust, and beyond.
Recommended for a summer weekend read.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this book had twist and turns in the whole book he didn't want this job he wasn't planning on doing anything about her but he found something out about her soon to be husband plus what he over heard before the wedding so he just kidnapped her from her wedding she didn't believe anything he was saying to her at first till evidence and things happening started piling up and they did work out in the end can't wait to read more books by this author can't wait to read more books in this series

[Dorel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is 2nd book I read by Barbara Dunlop. I liked the hot & steamy scenes. I liked Jackson's character. I didn't like Crista character, she didn't act like an adult to me. I don't think she was for Jackson.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story with strong characters. A bit of humor and an interesting ending after the confrontation with the "bad guys".

[Sarahi · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh.. al menos me entretuvo

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story wish the main character Crista wasn't quite so weak. As the story developed she did get better but took a bit to like her. Jackson Rush was in the other Chicago Sons books so it was great to see if story develop. He's a strong character this was a good read! Also liked how we got to see a relationship develop between Jacksons partner Mac and Cristas friend Ellie.

[Harlequin Books]

"The backdrop of Rush Investigations provides a cast of interesting secondary characters, plus the case involving the Gerhard family adds an element of suspense to the sexy strangers-to-lovers scenario" (4 stars @ RT Book Reviews).

Miniseries: Chicago Sons

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

[also posted to Smart Bitches, Trashy Books for their RITA Reader Challenge]

First off, the plot is needlessly convoluted.



Essentially Crista's father put shares in a diamond mine in Crista's name but never told her about it. The mine is now rumored to be worth millions, so Vern is marrying Crista without a prenup in order to get his hands on the shares. Crista's father hires Jackson to stop Crista from marrying Vern. While waiting for an opportunity to talk to Crista before the wedding, Jackson overhears the groomsmen talking about how Vern is cheating on Crista. This is meant to make the reader understand Jackson's sense of urgency when he fails to convince Crista (whom he has never met before) to not marry her fiance and decides to kidnap her until he can get proof of Vern's wrongdoings.



At this point, I am utterly confused at Jackson's urgency. Jackson doesn't think that Vern is going to physically hurt Crista to get the money. And in fact later Vern confesses that his plan was to divorce her within six months and without a prenup in place, he would get part or all of the diamond mine shares. So sure Crista is at risk of being heartbroken and losing the diamond mine shares she doesn't even know she has. But Jackson’s reasons for kidnapping her seem to have more to do with his insta-lust pants feelings for her and controlling nature rather than any real sense of saving her from marrying a jerk.



It goes downhill from there. The author seems to think that as long as Crista talks about Stockholm Syndrome, then she’s not affected by it. Crista has the same insta-lust pants feelings for Jackson the moment she first sees him, but that doesn't mean that her continued (and expanding) pants feelings for him aren't tainted by Stockholm Syndrome once he kidnaps her. Jackson kisses Crista even as he acknowledges in his internal monologue that it is probably wrong to make a move on her less than an hour after kidnapping her from her own wedding...but his pants feelings will not be ignored! This makes Crista's conflicted feelings seem even more disturbing. Her half-hearted attempts at backsassing Jackson and her ill-conceived escape attempts (one involved jumping into the ocean in a giant wedding dress with predictable almost-drowning results) don't come across as flirtatious or funny as I think they are meant to be. Post-almost drowning, Jackson leers at Crista while she is getting out of her wet wedding dress and it is the opposite of sexy.



It gets more convoluted from there, but eventually Crista believes Vern is a bad guy especially after he sends goons to follow her and then sets a hotel on fire to get her to come out of the hotel she's hiding in. Jackson’s co-worker Mac and Crista’s maid of honor Ellie show up to hook up with each other and defend Jackson’s status as an honorable man and push Crista to hook up with Jackson, respectively. Crista does hook up with Jackson but then freaks out when she finds out that Jackson was sent by her father (which Jackson never told her about). Crista eventually decides to forgive Jackson when she goes to see her father and finds out that Jackson isn't getting any money out of this entire situation. Yes, he kidnapped Crista, held her hostage for a few days, had a friend of his buy her jewelry business to keep it safe, and used tons of his company's time and resources to get dirt on Vern and keep tabs on Crista without getting a single penny for it. And somehow that doesn't raise the biggest red flag for Crista; it makes her realize he must really love her.



Jackson suggests they get married in Vegas RIGHT NOW to get Vern to back off. Because of course the man who tried to burn down a hotel to get at Crista is just going to walk away from millions of dollars and a year-long con if she marries someone else! But that is exactly what the book suggests: that all of their problems are over now that they are heading to Vegas to get married.



I will say this for the book: it kept me reading until the end. I was engrossed in it and it sped by really quickly. It was like a soap opera: a ridiculously convoluted plot but it sucks you in. In the end, I think the main problem was that the author was trying too hard to justify the ridiculous premise and she relied on telling rather than showing. Crista and Jackson objectify each other a whole lot, but there is little else to justify their love for each other at the end. Their actions speak louder than any words they say or think. Jackson’s escalating involvement in and control over Crista’s life sends up all sorts of red flags. Crista spends nearly all of the book without any agency and based on Jackson’s willingness to kidnap her when he disagrees with her choices, I don’t see her regaining that agency anytime soon.



I'm also more confused than ever about Vern. Supposedly his family is the con-man equivalent of the mafia, but he courts Crista very sweetly for a year. And then his plan isn't to dump her into the river a few months into the marriage but to quietly divorce her in six months and use the power of lawyers (and Crista's ignorance) to get the shares of the diamond mine. The hotel fire is the worst he gets and even that resulted in zero casualties. Now he’s going to abandon the scheme completely because Crista has married someone else. So it's like the only reason it might possibly be okay to have kidnapped Crista (Vern being violent) is completely off the table. In the end, Crista decides not to marry the man who was going to con her out of money in favor of marrying a man who kidnapped her, emotionally abused her, and displayed jealous and controlling tendencies within minutes of meeting her.



Whirlwind romances are hard to pull off and it’s even harder to buy the romance when someone is leaping from marrying a person they have known for a while to marrying someone they just met a few days ago. Add in the kidnapping and controlling tendencies of the hero and the whole thing just fell apart for me.