Stealing His Thunder isn’t the first book I’ve read by the writing team of Sparrow Beckett, it’s currently my favorite. I loved the Finding Master Right in their Masters Unleashed series, the following two books didn’t live up to the enjoyment I had in the first book. However, a new series means new characters and I’m loving the car-stealing, adrenaline pumping world they’ve created in their new erotic romance series, Masters of Adrenaline (are you sensing a naming theme yet?) And while Sparrow Beckett might not be an auto buy just yet, their titles will always guarantee a second look from me.

While criminal activity is a deal breaker for some readers, for me the car theft in Stealing His Thunder wasn’t something I felt bad about. The heroine, Addison, is an adrenaline junkie and engineering major. She designs gadgets to help get into cars and then she takes them for the rush, leaving them abandoned on some road without a scratch. Meanwhile, Fox, his brother Atlas, and cousin Luke run a car theft ring. They take orders from clients, lift the cars, drop them off, and done. I’m a bit fuzzy on the purpose of their operation, though they describe themselves as Robin Hood-esque.

They only steal from people who can stand to lose a fancy car (which…high end car thieves aren’t about to touch a junker – rest in peace to my silver 2000 Pontiac Grand Am Coup, named The Silver Fox). But no matter your income bracket, I’m sure it’s still pretty shitty to find out one of your nice cars has gone poof.

When I was younger, I was obsessed with the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds with Nic Cage and Angelina Jolie. The premise is a band of car thieves have a laundry list of expensive and rare cars they need to collect in one night to save the life of Cage’s brother. I love ensemble casts and I love cars. So I pretty much ate this premise up with a spoon.

I will also say that there’s an incident of violence in the book, but it didn’t bother me. Addison and Fox’s “meet cute” comes when Addison is stealing a car. She’s in dark clothing, with a hoodie pulled up and Fox coldcocks her thinking that she’s part of the rival car thief gang in the area trying to steal his mark (he’s trying to steal the same car she is). He doesn’t realize she’s a woman until afterward and when his brother and cousin find out he’s hit a woman, they’re pretty pissed.

After he knocks her out, he brings her back to his place to question her about who she works for and yada yada yada. Things end amicably with him believing that she’s just an adrenaline junkie and her knowing he meant her no harm. He even gives her a lift back to her car.

But their brief exchange has ignited Addison’s thirst for excitement; she wants in on his little car club. Plus, she really wants something that’ll turn her hobby financially profitable. Her grandfather has Alzheimer’s and lives in a facility, but her parents can’t afford for her grandmother to join him since married couple rooms cost more. Addison’s parents have offered to put her childhood home up for sale in order to get the money, but Addison is not about that idea at all.

So Addison keeps putting herself in Fox’s path in order to earn a spot on his team. He relents and gives her a trial. Sexy times ensue along the way with mostly BDSM play. They’re honestly really cute together. But a rival car stealing operation isn’t fond of another group on their territory and obviously, DANGER HAPPENS. Danger that forces Fox to push her away and Addison to misunderstand – she thinks he just wanted sex and never intended to let her on the team anyway.

They eventually work things out, but then it’s Addison’s turn to push Fox away since she’s been neglecting her studies because of Fox and his car operation and has been put on academic probation.

To be honest, this was the only part that bothered me and even then, I’m conflicted. They two major arguments that drive the two of them apart come from lack of communication. The first time, Addison wouldn’t let Fox fully explain himself and storms out of the house. The second time, she just sort of ghosts on him when she could have just said, “Hey, I need to focus on my school for a bit since I’m in danger of failing.” Fox is a pretty understanding and level-headed hero. There’s no overwhelming Alpha-ness to him and I’m positive he would have been okay with that. In fact, I bet he would have brought her food for her studying nights or given her spin in his Spyder to try and cheer her up.

GIVE THE DUDE SOME CREDIT.

But both characters don’t really seem well-versed in functioning relationships. They seem like they’ve been out of practice or that they haven’t been in a serious relationship before, which is totally plausible for people in their mid to late twenties. Modern dating is weird and after my last serious relationship ended – one that I had been in since undergrad – trying to navigate the world of liking someone when you don’t share classes can be tough. So maybe they were just struggling with the unwritten, oftentimes terrifying, made up rules of a new relationship.

Neither one really knows how to define themselves or what they are. They don’t have the exclusivity talk until later on, so they agonize over the fact that maybe he likes her more than she likes him, and vice versa. AND BOY HAVE I BEEN THERE. Communication is a minefield. Do you want to be open and completely honest about every aspect of your life? Or are things casual and you feel weird talking about serious issues? So on one hand, I get it. But on the other, I found it extremely frustrating.

What I truly loved though about Stealing His Thunder (though I will never forget Elyse telling me that the title sounds like a code term for a fart), is Addison and Fox as individuals and then how they are as a couple. These people weren’t broken. There was no trauma in either of their backstories. No one was looking to heal through the power or luuurve. They were just two people with their own personalities whose relationship only made them better and more complementary.

Addison goes a mile-a-minute. She’s mouthy and confident and most of the time, she knows what she wants. And I loved that about her. Fox was calm and playful, attentive and intuitive. They just paired really well and it gave me all the fuzzies.

Even during BDSM scenes, there was a tenderness there, which is one of the main appeals to me in terms of BDSM: the connection that comes with partners who really get each other.

“You should safeword when you can’t take anymore.”

“But I don’t want to disappoint you.” She hadn’t meant to say it, but she couldn’t seem to control those sorts of feelings around him.

“You won’t,” he whispered, and the words felt like they held more meaning.

Admittedly, a lot of things happen at the end and in the epilogue, and the conflict with the rival gang wasn’t full resolved to me. It’s possible they still remain the antagonists in the next book, but I’m not sure. But if you’re looking for a sweet, car thief hero with and tattoos (unf) and a heroine who loves making gadgets and can hold her own in a boy’s club atmosphere, definitely give Stealing His Thunder a test drive (see what I did there?).

So far, I’m liking the characters better than Beckett’s previous series and the next book has Luke stealing a car without realizing there’s a billionairess passed out in the back seat. Yeah, I’m here for that.