Say You’re Mine
Series: Shillings Agency #5
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Diane Alberts
Release Date: December 7, 2015
Navy SEAL Steven Thomas has only ever been able to count on three things: waking up in the morning, going to sleep sometime during the night, and Lauren Brixton. She’s been his best friend since grade school, and what they have is the only relationship he’s managed not to ruin.
Until one drunken night puts that all in jeopardy.
Lauren’s watched Steven flit from one-night stand to one-night stand, seemingly not interested in something more. So when the long-ignored attraction between the two of them blows up in their faces, she does the only thing she can—she pretends she doesn’t want him. But all’s fair in love and war, and Steven’s not about to lose the only person in his life who matters…
He’d die for her. Kill for her. Fight for her. But not love her. He didn’t do love. Didn’t want it. Hell, he didn’t deserve it. Guys like him didn’t get to be loved.
Diane Alberts remains one of my go-to authors in category romance for constantly delivering on the swoony and panty-melting romance with deliciously stubborn heroes. Her Shillings Agency series has been a favorite of mine from the beginning. I’ve been itching to get my hands on Steven’s book since a little peek of him in Taking What’s His. While this is book 5 in a series, it is also easily read as a standalone.
Steven Thomas is exactly the kind of hero I love to read about; a lot broody, broken, with a strong penchant for dirty talk. Still suffering from the remnants of his last tour as a SEAL, Steven turns to alcohol and women to heal him. But lately he’s become almost too numb for even the strongest alcohol to do the trick. But one night after too many shots, he gets a whole new perspective on life…when he realizes that his best friend of over twenty years, Lauren may be open to more than friendship with him.
Lauren has had feelings for Steven that she’s tried to deny for years. She’s been there for him though it all; his tours and the rock bottoms he hit after. But she’s never seen him quite like this and she knows if she doesn’t do something drastic soon it may be too late. So she tells a little fib to keep him close. But no good deed goes unpunished, and all of a sudden the fiery chemistry that’s been brewing between them comes to a head and becomes too much for either one of them to deny.
But what happens when the man that despises lies above anything else finds out that the person closest to him has been deceiving him?
This was a sexy little friends-to-lovers romp. I love me my dirty talkers and Steven certainly didn’t disappoint on that end. I enjoyed this thoroughly and read it in one sitting. I knew from the very beginning where everything was leading up to, but my issue with the book wasn’t the predictability. I just failed to see the main conflict as being much of a…conflict. It just seemed a little contrived and blown way out of proportion for what it was. While I can understand Steven’s issues, it just didn’t add up for me I suppose.
That being said, I most definitely enjoyed this recent addition to the series and would gladly recommend it to any lovers of a sexy friends-to-lovers trope. It’s a quick and entertaining read that’s bound to leave you satisfied.
When I heard that Tessa Bailey will be starting a new Brazen series, to say I was thrilled would be a mild understatement. Her dirty talkers are my crack of choice and I’ll never get enough. Seriously. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Tessa Bailey books make my ovaries happy. I absolutely loved the setup for this series, and I already know the next books in it will be on my auto buy list. Now about Crashed out…
You know what I love about Penelope Douglas’s writing? Well, aside from the obvious everything. It’s her consistency. She never fails to deliver an absolutely enrapturing read with a strong heroine and an absolutely to die for hero. Her writing is magnetic, her romances are scorching, and her characters unforgettable. Misconduct is proof that not only can she write amazing New Adult Like Bully, or scorching hot dark erotica like Corrupt, but she’ll bring her A game to contemporary romance. And bring her a game she did, because I loved absolutely everything about this book.
The one thing I’ve come to truly love about Penelope’s writing, is her ability to write a devastatingly intense hero. Because let me just tell you, the first time Tyler Marek makes an appearance on a page, not an ovary within a 100 mile radius will be safe. He captures your attention immediately, and he keeps it completely. The man is absolute sex on a stick. 
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I loved Maggie’s sweet but sassy personality. At first I thought she’d be another introverted little mouse, but she really grew into her own as the book progressed. Anthony was the epitome of an a-hole for much of the book, which is actually, what ultimately brought my rating down slightly. It took him a bit too long for my taste to finally remove his head from his ass. And let me tell you, when it came to relationships, it was very firmly planted up there. You have to know it’s bad when Vincent was giving him relationship advice.
What started in the erotically charged 
If you haven’t yet read EILU, my review will be absolutely spoiler free for both books.
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