Isn't It Romantic?
Rhonda Thompson
Lion Hearted Publishing

Highly recommended, 5 stars

JKatrine Summerville and Trey Westomorland are sworn enemies and they haven't even met yet! The widowed Katrine is a romance writer who does not believe in happily ever after. She was first abandoned at age five and then faced going through her pregnancy alone at age eighteen. Matter-of-fact Trey Westmorland is a literary review columnist for a newspaper who carries a bitterness for the failed marriage he experienced along with a distaste for romance novels and what he believes is a warped expectation of love portrayed in them.

Katrine and Trey are brought together through the services of a Dating Service guaranteeing Katrine the perfect escort to squire her to an awards ceremony. As for Trey he is under the impression that he has engaged Katrine to be his companion for the evening. "My mom sells sex for a living" uttered by Katrine's precocious eleven year old while Mom is in another part of the house leads Tony to believe he may be in for a little more than he had anticipated. Katrine overhears the exclamation and is of course unaware that Shelly has neglected to mention the sex Mom sells is between the covers of her books.

Unbeknownst to these confused participants is the fact that they do have a bit of past history. Katrine the romance novelist writes under a pseudonym. Tony the reviewer also uses a nom de plume, flamed one of Katrine's books in the past after which she sued him and won. They are now both up for an award at this ceremony. Following their unpropitious meeting the scene is set for an extremely funny frolic through a labyrinth of spreading entanglement blistering physical fascination, and dog-eat-dog one up-manship. Following a series of boisterously entertaining mishaps the pair is assigned by Katrine's edior and Trey's boss to undertake a month of concentrated dating during which Trey is to provide businesslike critique and Katrine is write about how romantic the encounters are.

If you like romantic comedy prepare yourself for non stop giggles as you traverse this excellent work, Isn't It Romantic, by writer Rhonda Thompson. With a hunk of a hero on the order of Diana Garcia's handsome character in Stardust and a heroine as determined and attractive as Ann Bachman's Jonilee Hughes in Broken Dreams author Thompson has crafted a well wrought narrative peopled with likeable characters, scintillating dialogue and just plain fun. I am not overly fond of romances, I prefer mysteries, however in the case of writer Thompson's Isn't It Romantic I delighted to make an exception and look forward to the next by this talented writer.