Review: For the Love of Pete by Julia Harper

Posted January 23, 2009 by Casee in Reviews | 3 Comments

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN OPPOSITES ATTRACT?

Free-spirited Zoey Adler is about to hijack a federal agent. And not just any federal agent, but very Special Agent Dante Torelli, a man whose designer suits and Italian shoes are more GQ than FBI. But when her baby niece, Pete, is snatched right in front of her eyes, Zoey doesn’t hesitate to scramble into Dante’s spotless BMW. She needs his help to rescue the baby . . . if only she can ignore his Lips of Sin.

OH, BABY!

Dante’s original mission is down the drain and he’s dodging bullets with a loopy redhead by his side. He likes quiet. She never shuts up. He likes to follow the rules. She throws the rules out the window. But these opposites do more than attract—they ignite. With a henpecked hit man running wild, cooking-obsessed matrons chasing down contraband spices, and a relentless killer tracking them all, Dante and Zoey will risk everything—for themselves and . . .

FOR THE LOVE OF PETE

This book was so effing funny. It’s one of those books where you actually laugh out loud, it’s so funny.

The saying “opposites attract” really applies here. Dante and Zoey are as different as two people can be. That’s why they were so perfect for each other. I liked everything about this book. I liked the beginning, I liked the middle, and I liked the end.

Zoey never thought she’d actually meet the man she had dubbed “Lips”. But when he takes the parking space that she shoveled snow from, well, Zoey can’t help herself from confronting him. It’s when she jumps in front of his car that the shots start flying. Not only that, but the man shooting the gun has Zoey’s baby niece, Pete.

I first read about Dante in Hot. He wasn’t a very likable character, probably b/c he acted like he had a stick up his ass. He seemed like a by-the-book, never breaks the rules, kind of guy. So the fact that he doesn’t take Zoey in right after Pete is taken, shows how far Dante is out of his comfort zone.

Dante is in Chicago to flush corruption out of the local FBI office. Only a select few know what Dante is really doing there. As far as everyone else is concerned, he’s only one of the agents assigned to protect a material witness in the case against a local mob boss. His job gets harder when his investigation collides with the case he’s working on. Baby Pete is the daughter of the witness, who refuses to testify until he see’s Pete with his own eyes.

Part of what made the book so great was how different Dante and Zoey are. Dante is a man that looks like he stepped out of the pages of GQ. Zoey is a woman that works at a health food store and drives a Prius. I loved how Dante had a hard time reconciling the junk-food eating Zoey to the Zoey who works at health food store. You could literally feel Dante’s consternation over his feelings for her. He is so different than the type of woman he’s usually attracted to, yet he’s attracted to her more than he’s been to any other woman.

I loved the hit man and his wife. They added a perfect element to the story.

4 out of 5

This book is available from Grand Central. You can buy it here.


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3 responses to “Review: For the Love of Pete by Julia Harper

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