Last year I read Lane’s debut, the contemporary romance Reinventing Romeo, and while I liked it, it was no great shakes. After finishing Romancing Riley I find myself with a similar opinion: nice story, but nothing spectacular.

Riley Callahan is the daughter of a rock star, Max, who is currently on the run from the IRS for back taxes. Riley thinks she’s found the chance to clear her father when his agent, whom Max claims embezzled the tax money, dies while in protective custody. Riley has been freelancing as a shopper for the U.S. Marshals (buying and returning goods that witnesses in custody ask for while awaiting trial) and while returning the agent’s unused goods finds a key that leads her along a trail that could end in evidence of her father’s innocence.

Unbeknownst to her, Riley is being trailed by U.S. Deputy Marshal Charlie Zapalowski (Zap to his friends), because a couple of the witnesses she’s shopped for have ended up dead. Zap is assigned to tail Riley because it’s believed she’s been leaking crucial information on the witnesses and he needs to learn who her contact is. He stakes out her apartment late one night and rescues her from an attempted murder. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Zap pretends to be a bodyguard hired by her father. Soon he and Riley are on a wild ride across Pennsylvania as they look for clues and try to stay one step ahead of a hit man.

Since I am a certifiable goody-two-shoes, I find it hard to identify with a bad girl like Riley. I am not bothered by her actions, I just can’t relate to them or see any sense in them, especially when she does something that seems really crazy. For instance, she knows she has a hit man on her tail and her picture is on the front page of every newspaper, so she takes off in a pink Cadillac dressed like a hooker – not exactly a subtle way to hide. There’s a big difference between rebellion and stupidity; Riley didn’t seem know where to draw the line.

Zap should’ve been an easier character to identify with because of his love of order and rules. Unfortunately I could never really get past the fact he lied to Riley about who he was – even after he knew she was innocent. Yes, he tried to tell her and he had his reasons, but it didn’t feel right after he began to trust Riley. Though he was quite cute when he found his inner Elvis while at a charity event in Graceland, I couldn’t really like him. Fortunately, Riley makes him pay for his falsehoods.

The rest of the characters were pretty much out of central casting, such as the struggling band that Riley invites to tag along and Zap’s All-American Family. While the clash of opposites attract was amusing, I had that “been there, done that” feeling through much of the book. I smiled, laughed in a few places, but overall it was pretty ho-hum.