Review: Reinventing Romeo by Connie Lane

Author - Connie Lane
Genre - Contemporary
Series - N/A
Format - Paperback (352p.)
Rating - 3/5 stars

Anything can happen when the world's sexiest bachelor and a beautiful FBI agent become "husband and wife"…

In a normal world, they never would have met. Millionaire Alex Romero leads a fantasy life filled with money, women, and excitement. FBI Agent Kate Ellison puts her life on the line every day. But now Alex has something Kate needs: his testimony to help her put some very nasty criminals away. Sounds doable...until a hired killer comes after Romero, and Kate gets a new assignment. It's bad enough having to baby-sit the world's sexiest single man—does she have to "marry" him, too…?

Alex had given up hoping that the right woman would come along, but from the moment he and Kate moved into this sleepy Midwestern neighborhood, he's been going through a sea change. Maybe it's the simple pleasures of life: nosy neighbors, bowling, or bingo. Or maybe it's Kate herself—a woman Alex could really get serious about. Now all he has to do is stay alive long enough to convince her that they're made for each other…

• Review •
Reinventing Romeo reads like a romantic comedy. It's cute, silly, fun with a dash of mystery. And I must say, the mystery part definitely surprised me. I was sitting through most of the book thinking it was so obvious, then BAM! Turns out to be someone completely different. I thought Reinventing Romeo was a good book overall. But there was a few minor issues that bothered me.

There was some problems with spelling errors and missing words and one or two sentences not making much sense. But I blame my divided attention this past week on letting those things bother me. There was a point at the end of the book where Kate turned into Gumby… that was a little disturbing.

For me, this book required the suspension of disbelief to be thoroughly enjoyed. There were times where I wanted to yell at Kate and Alex for their actions. It made it hard to believe that this man was in any serious danger. I admit to not knowing much about the witness protection program, but some things those two did had me scratching my head and asking "Really?"

As for the characters… Alex was really hard to warm up to. He was an elitest, narcissistic, pompous ass most of the time. But there were times where he was sweet. And despite all his bad flaws he was charitable and giving, which made him seem nice and human even. Kate is all business, no-nonsense, self-sacrificing and definitely career driven. She was certainly believable if not questionable.

Also, the tension between Kate and Alex is strong enough to qualify as another character. I never thought I'd call a book a tease… but Reinventing Romeo certainly qualifies. Normally, that wouldn't bother me, but then when they finally get down to business at the end of the book, it was very sedate. Not quite fade-to-black, but close enough that it may as well have been. I felt cheated!

So, yeah. For the most part, I did enjoy reading Reinventing Romeo. Even the things that didn't work for me, I wouldn't change because they did work for the story. The plot was good, well written, and moved along at a decent enough pace. It did have a sluggish moment in the beginning, but after that it was okay. Reinventing Romeo makes a great, light, beach read, that doesn't require much thought. I'd recommend it.

★★★