Romeo '03 pens comic romance

 

The author: A playwright, Romeo has co-authored the humorous book 11,002 Things to Be Miserable About, and has written the plays Hungry — a comedy that deals with a high-school girl’s struggles with body issues and boy problems — and Green Whales, a romantic comedy about a philosophy professor who suffers from a genetic disorder that makes her look like a teenager and a man with pedophiliac tendencies. Dating the Devil is Romeo’s debut novel.

 

The book: The main character of this comic romance is Lucy, a 26-year-old public-relations assistant in New York, living in a small apartment with two good friends who are stunning and successful. After being dumped by her boyfriend, Lucy dates lots of guys — who have been underwhelming — and she is almost ready to give up on meeting someone special. Until she meets Lewis — he’s tall, handsome, and nearly perfect — though he sometimes tries to get her to do things she shouldn’t. Then she realizes that there’s a problem … he’s the devil.

 

Opening lines: “My friends and I play a game sometimes called ‘What’s Your Personal Hell?’

 

“If there were a Hell … and you were unfortunate enough to end up there … and the punishments were designed to be the worst possible thing for each particular person … what would yours be? What’s the worst thing you could imagine suffering for all eternity?

 

“For my friend Natalie, it would be a world without men.”

 

Review: Dating the Devil “isn’t a serious discussion on right and wrong, good and evil, God and Satan. You could substitute [Lewis’] job for any less than desirable, kinda sketchy one and the theory would be the same — what can you overlook to be with the one you love? If you like a little paranormal in your romance and enjoy stretching the bounds of realism just a little, this is a great pick. In the end, it’s a cute, entertaining romance about an everyday woman dating the devil,” wrote Julie Johnson for BookTrib.