"Romantic suspense that thrills"

US Marshal Charlie "Zap" Zapalowski likes his work going after the bad guys for a lot of reasons, but mostly because he could live life as he sees it: good vs. evil. However, after four days of trailing infamous Riley Callahan, daughter of the self exiled rock star, Zap wonders what happened to his ability to peel away the bull.

Riley works for the service too. She is under suspicion of leaking information about those under protective custody ever since her father's former crooked financier was murdered while in the program. When Zap is forced to rescue Riley, sparks fly between them before love blossoms too. However, Zap struggles with the multi-colors of love and whether she is pure Pittsburgh or 200 proof rock glitter because he loves the steel town Riley. Still Zap concludes that the brave Riley is innocent, but how to prove she is not the leak without getting her killed means that they appear to have dangerous work ahead of them before they can get some satisfaction.

Zap and Riley are a strong duo whose divergent personalities shine throughout this romantic suspense and make the story line hum. Though Max's "troubles" and that of others are fixed too easily, ROMANCING RILEY engages the audience early on and never slows down. Readers will want encores after rocking and rolling with lyricist Connie Lane.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted February 5, 2002