His Best Mistake by Diane Alberts Series: Shillings Agency #6
Published by Entangled Publishing on October 3rd 2016
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
One night with a stranger…
Security expert Mark Matthews has loved, and lost, and has no intention of ever loving again—especially not a woman who thrives on her life being in danger. Now, hot, meaningless sex with strangers he had no intention of ever seeing again? That’s a whole other story. And it’s all life as a single father allows him to enjoy. But when he meets a woman who refuses to tell him her real name, the game is on, because she’s everything he swore to stay away from. Daisy O’Rourke has bad idea written all over her, but he’s in too deep to walk away now…
A short, pretend-role play in a bar leads to the bedroom where anonymity allows both Mark Matthews and Daisy O’Rourke a steamy night before parting ways. Except that having a common network of friends and colleagues piles on the strings neither had been wanting. A series of misunderstandings ensue because of the way Mark and Daisy assume things about each other that they shouldn’t and like most of the men in the Shillings Agency, screw up in some way or other because they cannot give enough until hit on the head with a meteorite.
‘His Best Mistake’ I think, would be best for readers who like to see a man with a broken past brought to his knees because of his own stupidity and then later fighting for what he’d mistakenly thought was easy.
It isn’t a difficult or unpredictable read yet my lukewarm reception of the story isn’t with Diane Alberts’s writing, but rather the romantic leads—particularly Mark’s—whose mind games and contradictory stance on relationships and casual sex all in the name of shielding his daughter and himself became progressively annoying as they form the bulk of the conflict. Which of course, also happens to provide a convenient excuse for having one-night stands with random women. He clearly wants Daisy, chases her, then pushes her into a friends with benefits situation before warning her not to expect anymore because of his apparent complicated family situation.
Conversely, it was easier to admire Daisy more who had her eyes more open than Mark’s own delusions and I liked her for finally calling out this sexist and hypocritical behaviour especially when he implied that she should have gotten a safer job even if his is just as dangerous as hers. I understood Daisy’s caution around Mark, yet knowing with dread that she would still take the fall for his indecision at the end.
Not that Mark’s rather spectacular grovel and the subsequent quick slide into a rather rushed HEA aren’t fun to read, but I think my preference for an emotionally smart male lead whose major flaw isn’t with commitment that is dependent on not dying or great sex is showing up a little strongly here. Even as my allegiance lies with Daisy and her stalwart partner Tim here, Alberts however, does throw a lot of effort into redeeming Mark Matthews, as her epilogue proves that much.
