Review: 'Renegade' by Rochelle Alers

Renegade by Rochelle Alers
Published by Harlequin on June 1st 2003
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
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four-half-stars

Driven by personal tragedy, DEA agent Summer Montgomery is determined to expose a ruthless Massachusetts high school drug ring. But her undercover role as a drama teacher puts her on collision course with a brilliant musician Gabriel Cole, whose simmering passion ignites her most secret hungers - and threatens to reveal her true identity. Now, in the last of the sizzling Hideaway series, Summer and Gabriel must uncover the most dangerous of truths...and play out a lethal endgame that only love can help them survive.

I recently got new bookshelves and was able to put up all of my books this week. I am finally settled into my new place. While categorizing my beloved Hideaway Legacy collection by Rochelle Alers, I came across a startling conclusion. I didn’t have Renegade!

Renegade was the tenth and supposed final installment in the Hideaway series. I literally have every book in this series, but it wasn’t until I was sorting out all of my books in order that I noticed Renegade was missing.

After realizing this, I quickly went to Amazon and bought this book. It was important that I rectified the situation immediately. After I stayed up all night reading this, it was necessary that I write a review. While this might be an oldie, it’s definitely a goodie. Renegade followed successful musician, Gabriel Cole, and undercover DEA agent Summer Montgomery.

Gabriel might be in the top five of my Hideaway men. After Michael, Merrick, Matthew and Joshua of course. I obviously knew how this story would end and since I read the many books after this one, I caught the gist of the relationship. However, it was still interesting to watch their story unfold.

Summer went undercover at a high school where she tried to find the mastermind behind several students’ fatal drug overdoses. Gabriel is an award winning musician but is teaching at the same school for a year as well. Summer plans to be all business but one look at Gabriel and all of that changes. Though she tries to resist it at first, she ultimately falls under the Cole spell. Gabriel never had any intention of marrying or having children but like the Cole men, once he found his “one” he couldn’t deny it. Summer was “the one woman who could lift his dark moods, offer him a gentle peace that had eluded him for years, and the one with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life.”

Obviously, their road to happiness wasn’t easy. There was the very important matter of Summer being an undercover agent with no one being the wiser, especially Gabriel. Once her secret was revealed, I can admit that I was hoping there would have been more of a reaction from Gabriel. He took the news a little too calmly for my tastes. Personally, I know I would have been very pissed that vital information like this was kept for me. I probably would have been betrayed even though I knew it was for the best. Now I am not saying that he would have never forgiven her but I at least wanted him to have a little time where he was upset.

Ultimately, the artistic yet broody and edgy musician was exactly what Summer needed to put aside all of the fears and guilt from her past to allow herself everything she deserved. Like most of Alers’ heroines, Summer had a very layered past and it was good to read about her evolution and to learn what made her the way she was.

Ultimately this book, as all the Hideaway series books do, reminded us that the Coles dare “to risk everything for love.”

You can buy Renegade here.

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Natalya

Natalya is an Account Manager by day and an editor and author's assistant to passionate creatives by night. When she is not adding to her enormous book collection or stationery supply, she is catching up on her favorite television shows.

Natalya is the author of All The Things I Never Said, a soul-stirring collection of short stories, prose and love letters for the soulful wanderers, the brokenhearted and the hopeless romantics.

You can follow her rantings and occasional sparks of brilliance on Twitter @NatalyaMuncuff.