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Will She Choose The Thief, The Detective, Or The Sapphire?

Lex Moore is a thief and a heart-breaker. She takes whatever she wants from men, especially when it’s expensive…

She picked the wrong target in Detective Byron Black. He’ll hunt her down, to make her pay for destroying his career and stealing his heart..

Luca Diotallevi is in deep with the Italian Mafia. He’s got to pull off an impossible heist, but Lex keeps getting in his way. He can’t let her take the sapphire, but he also can’t keep his hands off her…

Will Lex submit to the detective that chased her across the world? Or will she choose the one thief she can’t outwit?

“Sapphire” is a romantic thriller with a blazing hot love triangle, and twists and turns that will keep you guessing all the way up to the end. It’s Book 1 of the Colors of Crime series — a standalone novel complete with HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhangers. Includes steamy scenes intended for mature readers only.

187 pages, ebook

First published October 16, 2019

761 people are currently reading
4984 people want to read

About the author

Sophie Lark

46 books23.5k followers
Powerful Romance

Special Editions & Exclusive Stories:
https://sophielark.com/

Sophie lives in Southern California with her husband and three children. Her favorite authors are Emily Henry and Freida McFadden. She’s an Aquarius who loves fitness and looks forward to Halloween every year.

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286 (12%)
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85 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 246 reviews
Profile Image for mira.
901 reviews1,380 followers
November 16, 2021
1⭐️

i skimmed this because i just didn't like where it was going. i just felt sad for black the whole time.
Profile Image for sara.
805 reviews313 followers
June 27, 2022
‧͙⁺˚*・༓☾☆ 1 stars ☆☽༓・*˚⁺‧͙

so this would be a great thieves/cops movie, but as a ROMANTIC book it’s awful💀💀💀

romance? literally nonexistent
plot? all there is, kinda interesting kinda boring
MC? meh
Black? poor guy lmao


╭─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╮

Underworld Series

Ivan #1 — 3.75 stars
Snow #2 — 3.25 stars
Roman #3 — 3.25 stars
Dom #4 — 3 stars
Anton #5 — 2.75 stars
Nikolai #6 — 2 stars
Luca #7 — 1 stars
Black #8 — 1.75 stars

╰─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╯
Profile Image for Aղցela W..
4,456 reviews315 followers
May 19, 2020
This was my first time reading this author. This was good read. Lex Moore is a thief and a heart-breaker. She takes whatever she wants from men, especially when it’s expensive. She picked the wrong target in Detective Byron Black. He’ll hunt her down, to make her pay for destroying his career and stealing his heart. Luca Diotallevi is in deep in the Italian Mafia. He’s got to pull off an impossible heist, but Lex keeps getting in his way. He can’t let her take the sapphire, but he also can’t keep his hands off her. When Lex gets involved in a heist for the same object as another thief Luca she finds herself in the run. When a friend betrays her she finds herself seeking him out. This was a good read with a lot of suspense in it. This book was well written with no errors in grammar or spelling. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
Profile Image for Alaina.
7,261 reviews204 followers
April 6, 2020
I have received this book from BookSiren in exchange for an honest review.

Eh, Sapphire was an okay book. Don't get me wrong, the beginning was actually pretty good and kind of sucked me in. Yet, after that I just kind of felt bored with everything. The romance and the revenge were good though. Plus Alex, aka Lex, was kind of badass in a way. She was definitely one that was continuously underestimated during some things.

Besides her, we meet Luca and Black. They were both equally interesting to a point. Each chapter sort of brought on some twists and turns but they were super surprising to me. Don't get me wrong.. if I wasn't in a weird funk I probably would've enjoyed this a lot more.

Ugh, how do I get out of this weird reading funk. What book do I need to cure me?
Profile Image for Mireille.
748 reviews6 followers
October 28, 2020
I love reading Sophie Lark books and I found this book enjoyable but not as enthralling as her Bratva books. Lex and Lucas had good chemistry and I felt so sorry for Byron. I’m glad Byron gets his own story. As I said it’s an enjoyable read but there was just something missing. I received this book for free. I’m voluntarily leaving my honest review.
Profile Image for Tami.
407 reviews88 followers
October 24, 2023
This book actually sucked me in from the beginning. This book is about Luca Diotallevi, Alex "Lex" Moore, and Byron Black (Violet's brother.) Chronologically this book happens way before all the others in the series so we already know Black ends up with Holly but we don't know his story yet.

The book is told in the third person pov. And we get the povs of our three main players. There's a bit of a love triangle going on. Not really as Black loves Alex but Alex doesn't love Black.

Black and Lex have been dating for a year before he discovers she's a thief and was with him for convenience at first and then she had some feelings for him but never fell in love with him. She left without a trace. She made a fool out of him in front of colleagues and life has not been kind since. Two years later Black is still looking for her. Lex has become an obsession for him.

Lex has not really given Black another thought lol (I felt bad for him) She continued her life as usual stealing art.

Luca is a thief too though he steals pretty much anything not only art like Lex. He works for the Fratellanza. This organization has been wreaking havoc across Europe and Black is working on a case in Stockholm. He gets a job to steal the Romanov cross in Venice. Lex also has her eye on the cross and the two cross paths as they are stealing the cross. Lex manages to best Luca. Luca is in trouble with his boss because of this.

Once again there's Instalove. Luca and Lex pretty much just have chemistry and attraction from the get-go. There isn't a build-up. Luca is just compelled to protect her. Throughout their little time together they can deny their attraction to each other. Poor Black is pining away for Lex. Lex feels bad because she hurt him and didn't know it. Black wants Lex still. I don't think they would work because he's law enforcement and Lex is a thief. So unless Black were to quit his job or Lex becomes a law-abiding citizen it's pretty clear they are not a good match (I thought they did have chemistry.)

I liked the heist part more than the romance part. It was an entertaining read and it had a satisfying ending. Now I'm curious about Black and Holly's story in the final book in the series!
Profile Image for Grapie Deltaco.
831 reviews2,545 followers
December 25, 2021
I usually hate love triangles but leave it to Sophie Lark to create new exceptions.

Two thieves, one cop, and the messy history between two of them manifesting into new mess for all three in one big heist.

We begin the story with a beautiful couple with a strained connection with one another that manifests in pure physical compatibility and a major betrayal. The dynamic reminds me heavily of Brad Pitt's character in Ocean's Eleven with that one lady he abandoned.

High stakes, a constant chase, and a love story between thieves.

Although I wish we'd gotten to see more development between Lex and Luca, I always love a good crime adventure.

CW: explicit sexual content, drugging, manipulation, violence, reference to parental abandonment, reference to parental death,
1,672 reviews14 followers
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October 16, 2019
I am still trying to figure out how I really feel about this story. It starts off with Alexa Moore with Chief Byron Black the officer in England. Alex steals diamonds from a party at the Home Secretary's house but couldn't hold onto them because on the way home with Black they got side swiped by a van. which reveals to Byron Black that Alex had stolen the Superintendents wife's diamonds. He did not know she had stolen them and he did not know she was a thief until then. After she and the new guy Luca, real name Lucian, try to steal the same thing, it was a cross with one of the biggest Emeralds in the world in the middle, it was a little bit of history. They were in Venice, Italy. Luca Diotallevi was an Italian born orphan who did not know who his parents were. His mother left him outside of a dumpster, instead of at a church or something, someone heard him crying and took him and he got placed in a state home for orphans. Anyways he had no family so ended up after he got around 14 going out on his own. He stole things because he could and honed his craft. He stole a brief case and this mafia guy name Federico Bruni, the head of the Italian Branch of the Fratellanza, took him in and treated him like a son so he was the only family he had. Byron Black the cop fell in love with her and tracked her down. He eventually found her at her home in Lyon, France. The only place she could definitely say was hers was this house her grandmother had left her in France, where she kept all the things she had stolen. Bryon finds her and tells her to that he was in love with her and he wanted her to marry him and go away with him and leave her life of crime. She broke his heart of course because she could not do it. Luca and Lex ran a heist together for his boss and so called father figure Federico Bruni to get the Sapphire he wanted. To find out how Lex and Luca did or did not accomplish this and if and who she received her happily ever after with, Byron or Luca. Read this book it is good. After I finished the book as I received as an ARC, I decided I like it enough to buy the book and added to my Amazon Kindle.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Ta || bookishbluehead.
552 reviews32 followers
November 28, 2022
I’m really trying to find something good to say about this book, but I really didn’t enjoy reading it.

I couldn’t connect with the characters; they were bland, and we only get a very shallow insight in their world. There was a lot of insta-love and even if I could overlook that, their romance didn’t make any sense to me and to top it all there is a very weird love triangle in this book, that made even less sense.

The writing isn’t good, it’s obvious that this book is one of Sophie Larks first works, it was the first book in the colors of crime series, which would be fine. I actually like when we get to see the growth of a writer through their work, but it was so painfully obvious in this book, because it’s so late in the series and the first few books were pretty good. I think it was a mistake to change the order of the books, especially since I don’t see a reason for that. The story in itself would work much better, if the books would have been left in their original order.
Profile Image for Danielle.
83 reviews5 followers
May 31, 2022
Sapphire/Luca

The book started out very mysterious and because I like a good mystery, I did not hesitate to continue. The characters seemed so appealing right from the start. The book was kind of a heist book, a nice change of pace from the rigid mafia setting. The plot was interesting because they were attempting the impossible and I just really liked Luca for no particular reason at all.
The ending was magnificent and I was really sad to see the story end.
Profile Image for Gina *loves sunshine*.
2,195 reviews93 followers
May 28, 2024
I have had this author on my TBR for awhile, also this book series. The series is a bit to tackle in my mind as the author wrote it in one order and then rereleased it in another order and it is 8 books in total. which i always question why change the order?!?!?! I guess from skimming the other book reviews the order was rearranged so that certain spoilers were not made as the series jumps around in time with certain aspects. But....there is a reason the author may have made certain things happen and then went back and explained how it came to be, right???
Edited to add after I finished all the books - The first 2 books in my opinion are the weakest of the series. This one really lacks chemistry adn emotion even though the jewelry heist was probably one of my favorite storylines!!! book 2 Black was really boring - but I can see how moving those 2 to the back of the series gave it more promise for readers actually finishing it!!!

So I learned my lesson many times and have decided i will always read in the order they were written as that will ultimately make the most sense to see the story through the authors eyes as she develops a series and characters. Which makes it odd to start with book seven...but i did!! And I really enjoyed it!!! These are not super long and rather than this little romance focusing on the insta-love and subsequent love triangle - it actually focused on a really cool jewelry heist storyline!!! Off to read book 8 - Black.
971 reviews11 followers
October 17, 2019
A really entertaining book, well worth reading. Such an entertaining, different book from the run of the mill romance novels. Why do we love reading about jewel thieves? Maybe there is a Robin Hood sympathiser in us all. Without resorting to writing a detailed synopsis, which the author has already done, this is a book that surprised me. Judging by the cover, I expected the ending to be a happy love triad. Lex a very talented international jewel and art thief, adored by Byron Black, the handsome Chief of Police. Surprisingly, he is totally ignorant of her profession until she runs away when her latest heist goes sour. Byron spends 2 years trying to find the woman who broke his heart and who was the intended recipient of the antique ring he still carries in his pocket. Following the initial period when he was the laughing stock of the police force with his career almost in ruins, Black is now part of an FBI task force on organised international fraud and theft. In the meantime, Lex continues what she does best in Italy where one of her robbery attempts brings her in contact with fellow thief, Luca. The adventures that follow, results in a steamy love affair between the two thieves with Black realising that although '' Lex was the sun in his universe, he was only a star in hers''. What an incredible metaphor! All the characters are expertly described and the book has an easy-flowing, character-approrpiate dialogue throughout. The plot is kept entertaining and engaging to the end. Good editing enhanced the experience. There is an HEA for Lex and Luca and although I accept that an alternative pairing may not have worked, I am still sad that Byron was left broken-hearted and can't wait to read the episode where he too finds unconditional love. Sapphire is the kind of book that would land itself to being turned into a film, beautiful heroine, handsome thief, action-packed storyline, lovely jewelry and beautiful scenery. A recipe for a blockbuster.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Jo.
1,029 reviews
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October 23, 2021
...

heroine-sexual-stuff-with-om = Lex's sexual scene with Byron Black (H book 8) After reading how Byron felt about Lex, how he wanted to marry even her, how his betrayal turned him into an angry and bitter man ... how the hell am I to believe that his true love/h (Holly) is a girl from his past? If he was really crazy about Lex.

(...) (...) (...)

heroine-sexual-stuff-with-om: La escena sexual de Lex con Byron Black (H libro 8) Después de leer cómo se sentía Byron por Lex, cómo quería casarse incluso con ella, cómo su traición lo convirtió en un hombre enojado y amargado ... ¿cómo diablos voy a creer que su amor verdadero/h (Holly) es una chica de su pasado? Si estaba realmente loco por Lex.
Aclaración: Esta escena con Byron sucede en los primeros capítulos. Cuando Byron descubre que su "novia" es en realidad una ladrona de arte y que lo estaba utilizando para robar unos Diamantes, ella escapa y desaparece de su vida... y hay un salto en el tiempo de 2 años después. Es en el Presente cuando conoce a Luca/H.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Tayra Sanders.
2,313 reviews31 followers
October 20, 2019
This fantastic and well written book. An intense storyline that holds your attention as you get caught up in the fierce twists and hot chemistry. Lots of excitement. A thrilling must read.
Profile Image for Daisy Sauceda.
1,809 reviews21 followers
March 25, 2020
This was definitely not what I thought it would be, but none the less it was a good book. So in the beginning you meet Byron Black who is in love with Alex who, has different names throughout the book, he is seeing but not sure if she feels the same as he does. He is also a cop. Alex is a thief and pretty darn sexy one a that. Black and Alex get into an accident and that changes everything. He thought her knew her but was way off mark. Years pass by when their paths cross and this time there is a Luca. He is also a thief. So when Alex and Luca are out trying to steal the same item, Black is hot on Alex's trail. What will she do? What will Black do? How does Luca fit in all this. This is a huge cat and mouse game and someone's time is about to be up? What will happen? Overall this has the excitement of being caught, finding love and losing it. You will need to read to find out how it all goes down.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Profile Image for justonemorepage_.
810 reviews33 followers
September 30, 2022
Luca is different from rest of this series, because Luca isn't a Mafia Romance but instead it's a Heist Romance. Yes, you read that right, a friggen heist Romance. I didn't realize I needed this trope in my life, until I read it.

Lex and Luca are both thieves, but they run in different circles. The difference between the two is, Luca works for someone but Lex only works for herself. So what happens when they both end up at the same spot, trying to steal the same item? Well, let the better man win right? Wrong. Luca now needs to try and track Lex down to retrieve the item back for his boss.

I loved the chemistry between the two main characters. At first I hated Lex(you will too for what she did in the beginning) but the more I read, the more I came around to her. This is a go-go-go kinda book, where the chase doesn't end until the very last page. Also, we get a little love triangle, which I didn't love but didn't hate. Definitely a fun little adventure this one was
Profile Image for Lula Destructive.
179 reviews
September 7, 2024
Este libro tenía mucho más potencial del que le ha sacado la autora, pero no me atreveré a decir que no me ha gustado o que ha sido un "meh". Luca y Lex son dos personajes que me han atraído desde el primer momento y me han parecido con un poco más de profundidad que algunos de los otros personajes de los libros anteriores.
Si bien es cierto que, en este, ninguno de los protagonistas provienen de la mafia y eso le quita encanto, no me ha disgustado la trama. Eso si, ¿Byron?¿Qué pinta aquí él? Todos, y digo TODOS, los capítulos desde su punto de vista me sobraban de inicio a fin. Habría sido mucho mejor que descubriéramos sus pasos junto con los protagonistas, y no tener que tragarnos casi la mitad de la historia desde el punto de vista de un personaje que YA TIENE SU PROPIO LIBRO. En fin, eso ha sido lo más grave.
Aunque no haya mucha acción como tal, si me he creído un poquito la atracción entre Luca y Lex y ha sido interesante estar dentro de sus cabezas.
Profile Image for Vassa.
657 reviews35 followers
June 28, 2025
The book had SO much potential!!! I loved the slow-burn between the main characters so much, and then all my hopes for a deep, meaningful connection were ruined by an unexpected hook-up. The way Lex and Luca were gradually getting to know each other was absolutely immaculate... at first, because then it was put on x10 speed. Why are you running?!

I also liked the angst of it being a love-triangle, but not so much so. Byron Black (which looks NOTHING like the guy on the cover of the next book, hello??) was so obsessed, like, he had a real fixation on Lex. However, he is a cop, so that's kind of in line with his character. But I still felt sorry for him, my man did not deserve that. He is such a himbo for dating an international criminal with zero suspicions and being down so bad that he did not even snitch her out in the end.

Those earlier works are not half as good as Sophie Lark's later books, but there are still fun to read.
Profile Image for Ana.
100 reviews2 followers
May 11, 2023
Now THATS what I call a good robbery
The semi-love triangle was everythiiiiiiiiiiing
Byron, ohhhhhhhhhhhh I felt bad for him, but like come onnnnnnnnnn, 2 YEARS?!?!?!?!?
Thats a bit much, dont ya think?
Lex, I LOOOOOOOVE her honesty, back story (it was the bomb), morals, confidence, amazing
Luca, nooooooooooooooo, god, his back story was soooo sad, and then with this Bruni dude (man is meh), he had some hard decisions to make, but, hes sooooooooooooooo hot, we love a good old sweet and hot hard loving thief
Roma, damnnnnnnnnnnn, dude was scary as heck
It was a very good book. Good plot, jokes, story line, spice, characters. The only reason why I gave it 4 stars and not 5 is because there wasnt really an antagonist and if there was, I didnt know who it was
Overall, great book, would definitely recommend
Profile Image for Kimberly.
547 reviews13 followers
February 25, 2020
Romantic thriller

This is my first book by Sophie Lark, and I really enjoyed it.

This was a quick read about art heists, two thieves, and a cop. It was entertaining with suspense and some hot sex scenes.

Will Lex choose Black or Luca?

I recommend this book to anyone who wants a suspenseful thriller

I received a free copy via booksirens and am leaving a voluntary review.
Profile Image for Misty Schott.
4,225 reviews31 followers
November 27, 2024
Two thieves in a pod!!

Lex has always loved the thrill of the heist. She steals things for herself and no one else. When another thief tries to steal the same cross as her she gets the upper hand but she doesn't get away clean. These two are perfect for each other, but someone from Lex's past is trying to find her again and it may cost her her freedom.
Profile Image for Stephanie.
436 reviews21 followers
September 29, 2022
Huh. I’m glad I read this out of order (I read Black first) because I wouldn’t have liked him after reading his story here.

Lex and Luca were cute together. Two little thieves just running around the world collecting art. I kinda loved it.
Profile Image for Isa .
368 reviews14 followers
November 15, 2021
te quiero sophie lark pero me dormí en vivo
Profile Image for Yana.
71 reviews18 followers
February 28, 2022
I didn’t like Luca and Lex from the start tbh… Black deserves better 😶 the only reason why I gave 3 stars is because of Black 🤧 I said it, anywho reading Black’s book now
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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