Diane Alberts

Steven has regrets, big regrets, and he's leaning on alcohol and women to get him through each day. He has three people he cares about, his brother Hoyt, Hoyt's wife Lydia, and his best friend Lauren Brixton. She's the girl he can count on and he'd never do anything to ruin it, until one night he starts seeing her in a new light. Lauren promised to be there for Steven always, but she's tired of ignoring her attraction and watching him go home with women who don't care for him and drown his show more sorrows in alcohol. Using a situation to her advantage, she convinces Steven to spend some time with her and when the attraction becomes too much for them, it tests their relationship as friends. They could become more or they could become nothing at all.

This is one fast read, this can be a positive or a negative for you, in my case it was just right. This is a fairly predictable story of friends to lovers, however it's the man who needs convincing after he's sworn of love. I was glad for that, because I am so darn tired of the girls not going after a guy friend because of his history. Get over it! Lucky for us readers, Lauren is a confident female character who takes risks and puts herself in situations that could work for or against her. I liked that the multiple POV allowed us to see each character as an individual and get to know them, similar to the other books in the Shillings Agency series. In this case, I liked knowing Steven's thoughts a lot, there's more to him that meets the eye. His willingness to risk everything for Lauren shows he had suppressed feelings about her all along and I like that Diane gave us a glimpse of their promises before war and who they became at thirty, after the war.

Unfortunately, this one suffers from several cliches and while the short length works for this book, it takes away from the romance that Lauren and Steven could have shared. I think a lot more could have been done between them on the transition from friends to lovers, however their smutty-sex scenes were certainly fun. The good news is, the drama isn't over done and is cleaned up in a good way. I didn't feel like it pushed under the rug like a lot of best friends to lovers books do, so that's a big plus.

If you're a fan of quick romances with some plot and a lot of sexy, the Shillings Agency series is absolutely for you. It can be read as a standalone, however characters from previous novels are main players in the plot line. I, personally, am looking forward to Mark's story, because the quick glimpse you get of him in Say You're Mine was just enough to hook me. show less

A sexy thief has just met her match.

Stealing His Heart is smartly written, wickedly sexy and part of my favorite series. All pluses in my opinion. What appealed to me is that the author veered off in a direction that has not been explored much in romance. Thievery, blackmail is a new scenario for a second chance romance. In Tara, there is a woman doing a bad thing for all the right reasons. Her heart is in the right place, yet her actions are wrong none the less. Jake was a jerk for using show more their past to control her future. I was not his biggest fan but the heat these two ignited made up for the irritation I felt for Jake. Tara is no wilting flower and Jake is no puppy dog. Both are opinionated and determined. Stealing His Heart is the culmination of attitude, steam and humor. Hard not to be impressed.

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I'm in love with love and authors like Diane Alberts are the reason why. The romance genre gets a bad rep. Not believable or serious enough. Too much sex, not enough story. Totally untrue and explicitly unfair. Romance authors tackle serious issues like rape, kidnapping, emotional and physical abuse, depression and in the case of His Best Mistake, how to deal with grief and the fear of loss. Daisy has already turned one tragedy in her life into a positive. Losing her mother brutally and show more senselessly at a young age, put her on a path to protect innocents. As a police officer she sees herself making a difference. When she suffers yet another tragedy, she decides that her heart can't take the beating and closes herself off from love. A friend on a mission, a sexy, drunken night with a stranger and her heart just might be open for business. If she can let go of the past and he can get a handle on his fears, this may be a match made in heaven. The message: Life is too fragile to miss out on every precious moment. show less

A tumultuous yet steamy and romantic love story with mild bondage and dominance themes about a broken ex Marine turned IT guy, Holt, who finds peace in the arms of his strawberry blond mind you, not red haired, nurse, Lydia. In spite of feeling that he is unworthy of her and the added complication of her being the baby sister of his best friend, Holt just cannot keep his feelings for her under wraps. And for Lydia the feeling is more than mutual, being instantly drawn to Holt.

The back and show more forth on Holt's part well portrays the conflict and confusion he feels even though he is falling hard for Lydia. I loved the Doctor Who references being a crazy Whovian myself and a HUGE fan of Ten. The Epilogue was especially cute and had me giggling, but it is a lovely HEA.

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