For the Love of Pete

by Julia Harper

Rating 4

Back Cover:

Dante Torelli is an undercover FBI agent assigned to protect a mob informant and his family. But when the informant's hiding place is blown, a baby girl is snatched by a ruthless hitman. Now, Dante must save the toddler, uncover the traitor in his department, evade various bad guys, and deal with the toddler's sexy aunt, all before the biggest mob trial in Chicago history, set to begin in just three days.

When Zoe Adler's stepsister went into the witness protection program because of her sleazeball boyfriend, she wasn't supposed to tell anyone. Except the two sisters have always been close, and Zoe has been babysitting her niece, Pete, since her birth. What harm could it be to secretly get Zoe an apartment in the same building where the FBI is keeping the family under protection? So when someone inside the FBI turns and a hitman snatches Pete, Zoe is right there. During the shootout, she jumps into a sexy, uptight FBI agent's car and hangs on as he pursues the hitman. No matter what it takes, Zoe is going to bring her niece back.

My Thoughts:

I thought this was a fun solid story. I like quirky characters and this was full of them. I liked the Gupta Aunties. I did keep getting them mixed up, but they were fun. Neil was the bumbling hitman. He was ok, for me. I liked that he was the tough guy who was afraid of his wife and was therefore taking anger management classes. Then there is Zoe who is a hippie type and free spirit. Dante is the neat freak, hard core FBI guy!

The chemistry is great between the Dante and Zoe. There is mystery and intrigue and spice smuggling, and baby-napping. There was a lot going on and for the most part Ms. Harper does a great job of juggling it, but I do think that this could have benefitted from just a little less. Some of the extra stuff detracts from the romance, but it was a decent story. When I wasn't reading, I was wondering how certain things were going to get resolved. So, I guess that's the sign of a good story that you think about it when you're not reading it.