Hard as Ice is a romantic suspense that might be a good fit for readers who don’t like a lot of violence in their books. Trigger warning: there is a brief discussion of sexual assault in the book.

Most of the suspense revolves around a jewelry heist: an extremely expensive red diamond known as the Crimson Amazon was stolen from an auction house in a manner that suggests an inside job. Sales manager Nia James knows that this puts her on the suspect list, and she’s afraid that she’ll be found guilty of a crime she didn’t commit for the second time in her life.

Evan DeCosta is former CIA, and now part of a team of investigators called Fortis. Evan goes undercover, selling his late father’s painting collection through the auction house in order to see if he can find the inside man/woman. He starts wooing Nia as an investigative technique, but the feelings he develops are real.

I love heist books, so the suspense angle of this novel worked really well for me. My only issue was that Evan spent most of the book lying to Nia about who he was. There’s a lot of work spent by both of them trying to recover from that, so I was glad that the author didn’t try to resolve that quickly, but that level of deception is still really hard to come back from.

– Elyse

When money is no object, discretion is essential, and time is of the essence, the police are not an option. That’s when the wealthy and powerful call on the men of Fortis—a trio of former government agents with elite military training—not to mention charm and good looks…

Now that Evan DaCosta has recovered from an injury sustained in his work with the CIA, he’s ready to continue his life of adventure, intrigue, and service. That means joining Fortis—and taking on the recovery of precious jewels stolen from a prestigious auction house. The list of suspects is long, but Evan is focused on the possibility of an inside job. Now he’ll have to go undercover and stay close to the gorgeous business manager, Nia James. That won’t be a problem….But if she’s the thief, she just may steal his heart in the process…

A gifted salesperson, Nia worked hard to get where she is today. Now, with her career at stake, she can’t afford to be distracted by a man. Yet when Evan walks into the auction house, all six foot three of solid muscle poured into a tailored suit, Nia can’t help feeling safe, protected—and turned on. The feeling is mutual, and soon, despite their private misgivings, Nia and Evan become intensely entangled. But can their relationship survive their secrets?…