Lori Wilde You Only Love Twice

You Only Love Twice

Lori Wilde

Warner, Mar 2006, $6.50, 360 pp.

ISBN: 0446615161

Marlie Montague was a Navy brat until her father was branded a traitor and killed. In her gut, she felt he was the victim of a government-industrial conspiracy. To that end, though she cannot restore her dad's reputation, Marlie created an underground comic that starred a kick butt heroine Angelina Avenger, who challenged the abuse and excess of the powerful when they did wrong.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Joel Hunter moves next door to Marlie as an undercover agent, because his superiors think she is a subversive using her comic book to perform seditious acts. He believes she is agoraphobic not a traitor, and this babysitting job is a waste of time and money, but his former father-in-law, Admiral Delaney wants him away from DC and his daughter. He revises that opinion when Marlie flees her house to his insisting that a UPS delivery person tried to assassinate her; she hides from Joel that she "channeled" Angelina's personality to escape. Now they team up in a dangerous mission that will most likely leave both dead with gravestones "marked" traitor.

The key to why this is a super fun romantic suspense is the cast, especially Marlie, who employs an alter-ego, the Amazonian animated Angelina, to help her in situations that she cannot cope with, and not just enemy fire, as Joel is as dangerous to her as the assassin. The quirky storyline contains plenty of woman in peril scenarios, but never loses sight of the crafty amusing satirical look at conspiracies and super-heroine females. On top of this, fans receive a fabulous romantic subplot, making YOU ONLY LOVE TWICE a fine humorous contemporary thriller worth reading.