If you are searching for a romance that is fun and light-hearted, The (Former) Predator and the Widow Next Door by Carolee Disney Roberts is the book you want. Despite the ominous title, there is nothing heavy or scary about this novel.

How would you feel if you found out that a former predator was moving in next door to you? At the start of the story, Kathy is faced with this problem. Her neighbors are leaving for a trip in their motor home when they yell out the window that they have rented out their house for the time they will be gone. Oh, yeah. The man they rented it to is a former predator. For some strange reason, they act excited about this.

Kathy, who is to give the temporary tenant the keys to their house, is not thrilled. She has a young son and there are other children who live in the neighborhood as well. Under no circumstances does she want a predator living anywhere near her. She is even less thrilled when she meets this man and finds herself attracted to him. Silently and quickly, she makes a vow to avoid him at all costs.

Kathy calls her brother who is on the police force and complains that there is a predator living next door to her. She is corrected by her brother, and the other police officers – Mike Leeown is a former predator. Her brother tells her to keep an eye on him for the police. The other officers asked her brother if he realizes he just set his sister up.

By this point in the story, it is clear that this temporary next door neighbor has a secret. Mike falls in love with Kathy, but never does anything that would cause one to lose respect for him. He doesn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize his relationship with this woman he has decided he wants to spend the rest of his life with, never mind the fact that she won’t even go on a date with him.

Mike Leeown is a former predator. Not a predator in the criminal sense, but a former member of a hockey team, the Predators. Kathy has stayed away from sports news for years. Her former husband, a motorcycle racer, died following a horrendous crash. Since she not kept up with the sports news since his death, she has never heard of Mike Leeown and doesn’t have a clue that he is a hockey star who makes 10 million dollars a year.

In her mind, predator is a bad word. A predator is someone who preys on children and hurts them. A predator is someone to be avoided, not someone you would want to be involved with or someone you would want for a neighbor.

The rest of her friends and family know exactly who Mike Leeown is, but none of them choose to tell her. They figure if he wants her to know who he really is, that he will tell her. Truth is, Mike has been looking for a woman who will love him for who he is, not for his money or his hockey playing. The fact that Kathy is attracted to him and hasn’t a clue what he does for a living is a major boost to his ego.

Kathy’s friends and family keep telling her that Mike is a nice guy; he is no longer a predator. They tell her that she needs to give him a chance. How could such a nice guy be a bad person?

Mike’s friends and family keep telling him that he needs to tell Kathy what he does for a living. He doesn’t want to do that until he is sure she loves him for who he is, not just because of what he does and the money he makes.

It is entertaining to read how Kathy’s ignorance of the sports world and her fear are overcome, while Mike’s stubbornness is conquered.

I’m not a sports fan, so it was easy for me to understand how Kathy might not know Mike Leeown was a famous hockey player. The one thing I did have trouble understanding was why she just didn’t look him up on the internet. She did start to do that one time, but stopped. Probably she was afraid of what she would find and didn’t want a reason to stop her from being attracted to this wonderful man.

There is a lot more to this story than I have disclosed here. I highly recommend this book to anyone even slightly interested in a great romance story.

The (Former) Predator and the Widow Next Door is the first published novel for Carolee Disney Roberts. This book was sent to me, free of charge, by the management at Bellaonline. If you would like to purchase a copy of this light-hearted romance to read yourself, I have provided an Amazon link below.