The Odds of Getting Even is a cute, witty story with plenty of romantic life to it. Still, it doesn’t quite climb out of the C’s for me. That’s not to say it isn’t enjoyable, it’s just that it didn’t take ahold of me the way many other snappy contemporaries have.  Reading it was a an okay experience but not an outstanding one.

Jean Harrington really doesn’t like her job as a resort employee, but since she’s a starving artist she has no choice. She’s working the concierge position on an overnight shift when she gets a call from a bashful scientist asking for some fresh towels. Instead of leaving them at the door, she barges into his room, catches him naked, and then tells him he has a nice snake. She means the one tattooed on his butt.

It’s a fitting compliment because Charlie is a snake-obsessed scientist who can rattle off a zillion facts about herpetology. They get to talking about their interests, and Jean offers to teach him all she knows about poker. Friendship ensues, and it looks like things are going to heat up between them into something more – but then Charlie disappears, confusing Jean and breaking her heart. She may know nothing about him right now, but she’s determined as heck to find him – and get even for him leaving her behind.

But Charlie may not be who he seems to be, and Jean teams up with a journalist to suss out the truth. When she finds him in South Dakota attending a function connected to his family’s company, she takes on a fresh ID and begins involving herself in his real life. It seems he’s hiding away in his expensive hotel room for a reason. That’s fine – Jean’s determined to get her due either way. If that means pretending she’s interested in another guy, so be it.

The book has a great deal of frenetic fun that worked at first, by the end of the book, Sellet is juggling way too many ideas at the same time. Plus, a big mis rules this latter part of the book, leaving me yearning for the two to simply sit down and actually talk to the other party. I often wanted to strangle them both.

What ends up rescuing the book? The writing, banter and humor are all top notch, and Jean is a delight as a heroine (and Charlie was mainly a cinnamon roll of a guy), all of which boosts this to a high-end C. But I can’t gamble on giving The Odds of Getting Even anything higher than that.