For The Love Of Pete [Mass Market Paperback]

For the Love of Pete by Julia Harper

Contemporary Romance Mass Market Paperback - January 5, 2009

5 Stars

In a typical cold Chicago morning, people are sharking for parking spots, snow is covering window shields and individuals are running late for work. Once in a while, the typical turns into the unusual as detailed in Julia Harper's For the Love of Pete.

The story begins when Zoey Addler's freshly snow-cleared parking spot is snatched by Special FBI Agent Dante Torelli. Dante is running late for work and while attempting to negotiate taking the parking spot; gun shots are heard from the apartment building across the street. In a matter of seconds and like a slow motion action scene, Zoey and Dante observe a man running out of the safe house where Zoey's sister, boyfriend and niece are being protected from the mob. The cold Chicago mornings gets even colder when Zoey and Dante notice that the man running from the apartment is carrying a bundle in his hands- Pete.

Without thinking twice, Zoey jumps into Dante's car and a chase to recover Pete ensues. The chase sets into motion a variety of twists and turns. Other characters join the chase which keeps the story moving quickly and the pages turning.

While all this is happening, an attraction develops between Zoey and Dante. This is written in a very sweet way. The story doesn't feel forced and neither does the interaction between characters. The development of the story is fast paced including the budding relationship between the two main characters.

This story is full of funny, quirky, twisted characters engaged in funny, quirky, twisted situations. One of the many reasons I enjoyed this story is because of the array of likeable characters. Even the bad guy is likable and that made me wonder how Harper would tie all ends. I was not disappointed!

Harper has a nice charming writing style. Her characters are well developed and relatable. I laughed out loud during some pretty funny moments. This book is highly recommended!

Reviewed by Cez from Bookaholics Romance Book Club

This is Julia Harper's (who also writes great historicals under the name "Elizabeth Hoyt") second book. The first, "Hot," was very promising, and introduced Dante Torellli, the well-dressed, by-the-book FBI agent that stars in "For the Love of Pete." Zoey, his love interest, is more of a free-spirit, but she's also very cautious when it comes to men. She and Dante are thrown into an extraordinary and dangerous situation together, and they must work together to save Zoey's neice, Pete, from some bungling kidnappers, corrupt FBI agents, and professional hit men.

There's a lot going on in this book, and to Harper's credit, the suspense story is well-developed and complex--you do have to pay attention to follow what's going on. And there are some nice surprises, too, along the way. Also, just as in her historicals, Harper proves herself to be a very good writer in a technical sense--her prose always flows and her dialogue is witty and believable.

The romance, in my opinion, is a little lacking overall, and for that, I blame the over-abundance of secondary points of view. The first half of the book is just too crowded, and so it took longer than it should have for me to really warm to the leads and start to root for them to get together. When the romance does come in the last quarter of the book it's passionate and sexy, but I would have liked more one-on-one chapters with these two in the beginning instead of so much time spent jumping back and forth between the mob bad guy, the FBI bad guy, and the two sisters who got caught up in the mess.

Grade: B

Special Agent Dante Torelli (Lips of Sin) has been assigned to watch over mob informant Ricky Spinoza and his family, which consists of girlfriend Nikki and baby daughter, Pete. Zoey Addler is Nikki's sister, and though she isn't supposed to know where the family is hiding, has moved into the same apartment building to be close to her niece.

When the FBI agents on duty are killed and baby Pete is kidnapped, Zoey and Dante team up to find the little girl. Throw in the Gupta sisters, some grade 1A very, very fine mangra kesar, a mob hitman and his baby son and what you have is a fast read with lots of adventure and some romance.

For me, this book was just okay. I didn't feel the chemistry between Dante and Zoey, some of their thoughts and actions seemed a little immature. Their characters also seemed a little flat. I was put off by the language of the hit man -- I get it, he is a hitman -- but in one paragraph it seemed like every third word was **** this or that. I felt it just went a little overboard. The Gupta sisters did grow on me as I read on, and their bickering and stubbornness provided some comic relief. It was a cute story and had some twists, especially near the end, but it wasn't one of my favorites. Since this is a new author for me, I will try her again.