Undercover Heist

by Rachel Astor

One last heist…
…brings them together again

When art curator Ruby Alexander’s former mentor disappears, she dives back into a criminal past she’s tried to leave behind—and reconnects with Shane Meyers, one of her crew and someone she hasn’t been able to forget. Sneaking into a secure facility, lifting a jewel-encrusted artifact and rescuing their former partner should be easy. But can Ruby do the job without risking her heart, or will working side by side with her old flame prove too dangerous?

Genres: Romantic Suspense

235 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 2024

About the author

Rachel Astor is a twin (yes, probably the evil one), a stepmother (not as wicked as you'd think), and a USA Today Bestselling Author who spends a suspiciously large portion of her days correcting the word "the".

She's had a lot of jobs (bookseller, realtor, 834 assorted admin roles), but none as, ahem, interesting, as when she waitressed at a small-town bar named after a dog. 🐶

When she’s not crafting romantic comedies that blend heat, humor, and heart, Rachel splits her time between the city, the lake, and as many made-up worlds as possible.

Reviews

[Teri-K · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm so disappointed in this book! Let's be honest, I didn't have super high expectations, it's a Harlequin not something from the best seller lists - but there are certain basics that have to be covered if you're going to write a heist story. This book missed two out of three, so though the writing was serviceable, it was a flop for me.

The rest of this review will be full of spoilers, so read at your own risk!

Requirement #1 - There must be an understandable motivation. This story had that covered, though the characters never came alive, so I only believed intellectually in their need to rescue their mentor.

Requirement #2 - There must be no glaring holes in the plot. You can't suddenly have characters appear somewhere they wouldn't normally be, etc. The author had this covered, until the MCs got to the location. Then they were separated, the heroine forced to go toward some different building. This was great for the reader - I wondered where they were taking her and how she would get back to where she needed to be - except in the next chapter she's back with everyone else, with no explanation of where she was or how she got to the kitchen to join everyone else! I kid you not - I looked back three times, and apparently she's transported from heading toward a strange building into the kitchen. That's a fail for the reader.

Requirement #3 - The heist story must have a daring plan, one that the reader can can puzzle over, seeing all kinds of places where things could go wrong, but knowing somehow the MCs will pull it off. The plan for this book? Sneak into the super-guarded mansion high on a mountain top where the high stakes auction is being held attended only by very rich people. Then, after the artifact is auctioned, assume that everyone else will look away so you can steal it and walk out of the building you know nothing about and get it off the mountain without being stopped, followed, or identified later! Seriously. Their plan was just to grab it at some point and make off with it. I really don't like to be mean in book reviews, but I used to teach Kindergarten, and those kids could have come up with a better plan.

Honestly, I don't blame the author so much as the editors. They should have gently pointed out the holes in this story and given her some suggestions to tighten it up. Then it probably would have been pretty good. As it is, I can't recommend this book to anyone, I'm afraid.

[Valeri Sullivan (vsulvn29)]

“This is even more fun than I thought it would be.”

This is the story of a small group of con artists with the best of intentions. Think the television show Leverage. When their mentor is kidnapped and the team is forced to reunite things aren’t all they seem and everyone has their own agendas. For Ruby it’s to save Max while not losing the legitimacy she’d finally achieved. And for Shane, not losing Ruby again. I couldn’t put this down any more than I was able to do so with this author’s first romantic suspense book for Harlequin. Rachel has flown to the top of my automatic buy list!

[Bob Mcbride · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book. It was more suspense and intrigue of the team running an operation and less the romance part of, but that part fit the story very well. The author handled all 3 parts in the best way possible because we knew the past of 2 of the characters were linked together.