Customer Reviews

Reinventing Romeo

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Perhaps the only people to rival the power of multi-billionaire Alex Romero are the President and Bill Gates and many observers feel the latter duo fall short. The tabloids have dubbed Alex "Romeo" because he seemingly can have just about any woman in the world. When a group asks Alex to launder money for them, he goes to the police, offering to testify against the criminals. The FBI soon learns that the thugs ordered a hit against Alex.

Alex scoffs at the idea that someone wants him dead until a pizza deliveryman makes the attempt. Agent Kate Ellison saves Alex's life and he knows he must hide. Kate and Alex move into a working class neighborhood until the trial is completed. Alex struggles with life among the masses, landing in strange predicaments. As Kate and Alex begin to fall in love, they struggle to elude a dangerous individual trying to eliminate them before Alex testifies.

Connie Lane has written a hilarious romantic comedy that has readers laughing as they observe the sophisticated hero feebly bumbling his way through his new life. The heroine is a strong individual who serves as a stalwart role model. The mystery adds spice to the tasty story line of REINVENTING ROMEO.

Harriet Klausner

The story is about a guy dubbed "the world's sexiest bachelor" and the female FBI agent who is assigned to protect him. He has a hit man after him and it is figured the only way to do it, is to put him some place the bad guys will not expect him to be- Cleveland Ohio and a middle-class neighborhood. They pose as a married couple and must act just like their neighbors.
The premise of the story is good. However, I thought it used too many stereotypes of middle class life. Bowling, Bingo, Wrestling, among other things, was written for laughs and used every cliche about them in the book. I felt this overshadowed what the book should have been about...the developing romance between the couple and the danger they were in. There was little sexual tension between the couple most of the time. I felt the author did not develop the couple well enough. By the time they hit the sheets, I got the impression that the author suddenly realized the book was almost over and she better get them in bed together. I wish this would have been done sooner and letting the after effects of it be dealt with more by the characters.
The ending was very fast paced and well written. It is too bad the book got bogged down in using stereotypes for laughs.

Reinventing Romeo is a sure cure for the February blahs! It was great fun to visualize Alex Romero, an unwilling member of the witness protection program, whisked away by FBI agent Kate Ellison to a working class neighborhood in Cleveland. Life without gofers, yes-men, and limos - quite an adjustment for an entrepreneur used to getting his own way without any questions! Even more astounding to Alex is the fact that unlike most women of his acquaintance, Kate seems impervious to his wealth and charm. Kate isn't quite as indifferent to Alex as he thinks, but her first priority is keeping this crucial witness alive until he testifies at an important trial. The dialogue sparkles, the humor is delightful, and the secondary characters make the Cleveland neighborhood come alive. I'm a bookseller and have recommended this book to a number of my customers. Many of them have come back to ask when Connie Lane's next book comes out. It can't be soon enough for me!

This was the most enjoyable contemporary thriller romance I have read in quite a while. If you enjoy Janet Evanovich's "One for the Money Series", you'll love this book too. She has a similar tongue and cheek humor that keeps you laughing as you turn each page. The heroine was not a silly goose, while Romeo was a flawed but loveable hunk. A must read!

I love romance - I read everything from those bodice-ripping historical pieces to Harlequins to bestsellers Steele and Krantz....but I could not get through this book. Since I have become a "grown-up" I have little time to indulge my love of reading so I have very little patience if I feel a book is a waste of time. I took it on a train trip thinking this would be a great way to pass some time stuck in a small space but I was so bored that I would up reading the first 150 pages and then skipping to the last 30 or so. I totally didn't feel the chemistry between the characters and what little character development there was felt forced and shallow. I wound up hoping something exciting would happen like Kate getting shot so her stupid pride and irresponsible whining/foot stomping would end at least while she recovered in a hospital somewhere. The entire situation they were put in was so unrealistic I couldn't get into the story. The author spends so much time trying to set the scene and whip up a rapport between Alex and Kate that the plot moves like molasses and I lost interest. This book could have been 150 pages shorter and thus much better. Anyone interested in it contact me I will will GIVE it to you. In complete fairness I have read worse...but not much.

If you want a fun, fluffy read, this is it. The characters were fairly good, the story OK, minor characters were interesting, but had no presense, and were completely dropped much too soon. The inaccuracies were there, but not such a big deal in such a non-serious, light book.

It didn't stand out to me, either good or bad, but was somewhere in a gray area of "entertaining, but unremarkable."

I was sorely disappointed in this book, expecting something more after reading several reviews. I found it to be choppy, with poorly developed characters thrown into contrived situations. The "hero" sporadically swung between spoiled child stubbornlly wielding his power, with no concern for his own life, to sensitive man learning to enjoy the simpler things in life in forced comedic situations. No matter how good-looking the author wrote him to be, I just couldn't find him attractive. The "heroine" was equally unlikeable.

Two opposite people find they have more in common than eitherwould have thought. A trite plot? NOT when written by Connie Lane.Reinventing Romeo is a wonderful, fun, sexy read. I highly recommendit! Carly Phillips...

The writing was ok and the characters mildly entertaining, but I had a problem with the whole plot setup. The story revolves around FBI Agent Kate Ellison who is assigned the task of keeping millionaire businessman Alex Romero out of the sites of a cold-blooded hit man. The FBI decides that the easiest way for Kate to keep watch over Alex is for them to pretend to be married. Now this scenario is a great setup for romance, but it has a few "real-life" flaws. For one, I think it is very unlikely that the FBI would assign only one agent to a case of this magnitude. There should have been some other FBI agents in the picture. Even a surveillance van parked out of sight, or some agents posing as nosy neighbors would have added a touch of realism. A second problem was when Alex return home. The FBI and local police abandoned their watch of Alex and the surveillance of his property after a simple request. Very unlikely I thought.

I also found some of the conversations between Kate and Alex to be very immature. At a few points they sounded more like giggly pre-teens rather than highly successful adults.

On the whole it was a pleasant read, but a bit more research into the workings of the FBI and a few adult conversations would have been nice.

This book was a whole lot of fun. Good characters. Funny situations. Kept me interested and laughing. The book is set in Cleveland, my home town. Great fun reading about places I recognize and the author captured the flavor of the city perfectly. Bingo, bowling and pork and sauerkraut. It's that kind of place! I especially like the gutsy heroine of this book and the hero is to-die-for! A five-star read!