This didn't really work for me - and sadly it's the maths that I keep coming back to. Sadly I can't say what I didn't like without spoilers so her goes.(view spoiler)[First the maths. Quinn is a teacher. She has $11,000 in savings, yet is worried about buying a house for $70,000. Nick is a mechanic (albeit part-owner with his brother) but he can afford to lend Quinn $7,000 without batting an eyelid. And Bill can afford to make an offer on a huge house - yet he too is a teacher.This is a kitchen sink type of madcap romance. Quinn decides she has been the quiet boring one for her whole life and she is tired of it. She puts her foot down about rescuing a stray dog and the town implodes. She leaves Bill, her boring boyfriend, and he becomes seriously unhinged: stalking her; breaking into her house, calling the police about her dog allegedly biting people; booby-trapping her house; reporting her for numerous building violations; stealing her possessions - I could go on. Darla, Quinn's best friend, leaves her husband Max, who is also Nick's brother and his partner at the garage, because their marriage had become stagnant and he didn't respond well to her attempts to reignite the spark. That bit at first resonated and I found Darla's humiliation and frustration really emotional and I could connect but then the book reverted into Max being a stereotype male. Quinn's mother kicks out her father and moves in her best friend - yep they are lesbians. Again, that petered out and she allowed Quinn's father to move back in - apparently he knew she had been having an affair for years because she likes to experiment!Then there is a condescending plot about Barbara who is a serial stealer of married men.Nick was married to Quinn's older sister for about six months 20 years ago. He has always been attracted to Quinn (since he got back from the honeymoon) but has suppressed his feelings and they are good friends. When Quinn leaves Bill Nick and Quinn start to explore those feelings.Oh, and then there's BP the psychotic school principal who variously tries blackmailing, threatening, and aiding-and-abetting Bill to get Quinn to take Bill back. (hide spoiler)]
This book is like a well worn jumper that you pull on to keep you warm as the early winter chill starts to bite. I love it. I have it sitting permanently in my bedside cupboard, ready to drag out if I need a little pick me up. Its premise is simple but smart. Quinn, thirty-six, leaves her boyfriend, Bill and starts to lead a new, more spontaneous life which includes among other things, a (very) hot affair with Nick, her used to be brother-in-law now best friend. The only problem is that Bill still wants her and seems to be doing all sorts of things to get her back, like booby traping her new house. So here we have a nice little romantic comedy about two people who always, kinda liked each other, who know each other so well that when they start to have sex with each other, its fireworks all round. And there's that tinge of danger with Bill on the fringes. But what makes this one of my favourites, is Jennifer Crusie's writing. She knows how to write characters that are endearing, with all their foils and triumps. She could be writing about you. No flashy, glamourous jobs or jet setting around the world that the characters in many modern romance novels seem to do (Quinn is a teacher and Nick a mechanic). But the very best thing about this book, the thing that keeps it in that bedside cupboard, is the dialogue. Its witty, its sweet and where it needs to be, its very, very hot. If you like reading the odd romance but want something funny and well written, then you have to read this.
What do You think about Crazy For You (2004)?
Ah, what a pleasure, a book for which I have gladly suffered a day after an almost sleepless night - really I can't recall the last time when I went to sleep at 4 am, because I just wanted to finish the book.What else can I say, is there a need for more praise? Well, maybe the thing that it was funny and sexy and even smart. Every one of us have that time when we feel that we need change, and sometimes there comes the situation which triggers this change and after some perturbations everything gets all right. The love story was also very sweet - wasn't Nick cute, when he reasoned with himself and decided that he liked Quinn best, when she had a boyfriend, because he felt safe then? Or his Church and State division analogy - something maybe common for romance books, but delivered in a different, but a really nice package. But the best thing was the emotions and tension between Quinn and Nick, that is just what I like in my romance.The worst thing (really, it took much pleasure away from the reading of this book) was the translation. I've read a Polish edition and there were parts where I had to stop and reread a part because I didn't understand the meaning or the connection between the sentences. It seemed to me as if the first part of the translation was done through the google translator and then clumsily corrected. Or done by someone for whom Polish wasn't a first language. I really wish I had read this book in English, if that were the case, I would probably go to sleep about 3 am and with much more satisfaction.
—Jadzia
This book read in June of 2005 and I didn't attempt to write the book review until November. My mistake.Guess what? It's been too long. I can hardly remember anything about this book, except that I couldn't STAND Bill, and dogs are smart -- we should listen to them!Oh! I just remembered something else about this book -- the descriptions of Quinn's little house -- the one she bought all by herself -- were very interesting. I would like a house like that! But the Bill thing made it more like a "Stalker Lifetime Television for Women" movie than a light-hearted piece of chick lit. Odd.
—Antof9
Well, having read Getting Rid of Bradley, I was disappointed in this novel from Crusie. I believe this one came out first but no matter, it is almost the exact same plot. Boring girl leaves boring guy. She loves dog(s) and needs a change by way of a haircut. Meets a dark, rebel-type bad boy with a heart of gold who eventually falls in love with said character despite being a bachelor-till-I-die type. He saves her from mysteries threats from ex boyfriend. She has a close call with death/abuse. All of a sudden she is conviently left alone due to her "independent streak" and is attacked by said ex boyfriend. New boyfriend shows up just as she saves her self and attacks ex. Other than the different location and sub-characters, I thought I was reading the same book! Plus the sub-characters are not as fully developed as they should be - her mother is only in the book to prove a point then you don't hear from her again. The father leaves his daughter in the house all alone after being so protective the day before when she was attacked so he can date the town slut even though he knows he'll be moving back with the mother in a day. Just not a great book.
—Tiffany
