Review: Crazy People by Jennifer Crusie

Ugh, why is it that things never go according to plans? Isn't that just annoying? So I was hoping to have this post up way earlier today... obviously, it didn't happen ^_^; I have to admit though it was poor planning on my part, but still. Anyway, I'm going to go with the "It's never too late" motto :P

Before we get to today's review though, I want to remind everyone that the giveaway is open until noon tomorrow! You can get more details here :)

Crazy People by Jennifer Crusie
self-published in May 2012

For fans of Jenny Crusie, of witty and warm writing, and of contemporary fiction, this collection of short stories was the genesis for one of Crusie’s most beloved novels, Crazy for You. The stories focus on three women, Quinn, Darla, and Stephanie, and their mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends. Originally written for Crusie’s MFA in Fiction, they’ve been updated, edited, and packaged as a special collection for any reader who loves to laugh out loud.

Genre: Contemporary romance
Series: connected to Crazy for You

The Story: Crazy People is a compilation of short stories - not kidding, short stories - that Ms Crusie has written in the Creative Art Program while making her way through her PhD in feminist literature and which are connected to one of my favorite book of hers, Crazy for You.

In total, there are six stories as followed:

The Day My Sister Shot the Mailman and Got Away With It, Of Course - Ms Crusie wrote this short story as a writing exercise. Basically, she had to write a story consisting of 26 sentences, each sentence starting by the corresponding alphabetical letter, i.e. 1st sentence starts with A, 2nd with B, ...., 26th with Z. This was the start of Crazy for You because that's how Quinn and her sister Zoë got their names :P Clever of Ms Crusie to fill the two hardest letters with names right? LOL. For this publication, Ms Crusie has re-visit the story and expanded it :)

Sleep Cure - This story is about Quinn's mother when she was a young teen and how she got her stepfather to stop putting her down.

Meeting Harold's Father - This is the first meeting between  Zoë and her husband, Ben. Very cute story and my favorite of the compilation.

Necessary Skills - It's been a couple of years since I've re-read Crazy for You, so when I read Necessary Skills, I could not remember the protagonist, Barbara. However, a quick skim through Crazy for You and it came back to me LOL. Barbara is also known as the Bank Slut. She works at the bank and seems to have something for married men, "stealing" other women's husbands. Turns out, all she's looking for in a man who can take care of her and in her mind, it means being able to work with their hands. She can help it that they are all married men and are having marital problems!

Just Wanted You to Know - This short story is actually one long letter from Debbie, Darla's sister, to her husband who had just left her for Barbara. It starts out with how she'll be there when he comes back, but as she adds the post-scriptums, you can see Debbie is starting to get back on her feet and finding herself again :)

I Am At My Sister's Wedding - This one is interesting because we've never actually been introduced to the characters as they were cut from the final version of Crazy for You. Basically, Quinn was supposed to have two best friends: Darla and Stephanie, but in the end, Stephanie got the ax. I Am At My Sister's Wedding is actually told from Caroline, Stephanie's younger sister, as she attends Stephanie's five weddings. Yes, five :P

In addition to these short stories, Ms Crusie has added some thoughts and how these stories came to be which I thought was all very interesting :) Crazy People also includes the first chapter of Dog Days, what would later become Crazy for You.

My Opinion: Overall, I quite enjoyed Crazy People :) Yes, the stories were short, but they were entertaining and funny - hey, it's Jennifer Crusie after all LOL - and I loved the "behind-the-scenes." It was really interesting to know how these stories connected to Crazy for You and how they helped Ms Crusie writing the book :)

My favorite story was definitively Meeting Harold's Father, just because it was fun and random and yes, for the touch of romance :) Guess you can't take out the romance reader in me :) Another one that I really enjoyed was Just Wanted You to Know, I could just see Debbie getting back on her feet and becoming more and more confident after each passing day, realizing she didn't need her husband! The only short story I wasn't very invested in was Sleep Cure, part of it has to do with the story itself and another part is I was never really a big fan of Quinn's mother and seeing her as a teen? Just not interested.

Overall, Crazy People was fun and I'm really glad I got it :) I definitively recommend it to fans of Ms Crusie and readers who read and loved Crazy for You. Yes, I know, that was the targeted audience anyway LOL, but I'm telling people who falls into that category and had doubts, well doubt no more and get it! :)

My Grade: B.

Re-Read: Trust Me on This by Jennifer Crusie

Happy Halloween everyone!!

While I don't particularly like Halloween, I think it's great that we do end the month with a bang :) Makes it more exciting, I guess. In any case, I'm just happy the month is over. It's been a really tough month and I want it behind me :P

For this month's Re-Read challenge, I'm cheating a little bit, because Trust Me on This is not a re-read per se. See, I bought this book by Jennifer Crusie eons ago. At that time, I've just discovered Ms Crusie and tried to get my hand on all her backlist, but especially this one since apparently, it was hilarious. I remember reading somewhere that Trust Me on This was so good that the person thought she should buy a second copy and put it in a safe in a hermetic seal, open it 20 years later and make a fortune out of it, LOL. So after much efforts and money (I think I paid about 25$ on ebay ^_^;) I got the book, skimmed through it and put it on the shelves ^_^; I think that at the time, I was afraid to be disappointed because of too high expectations... and seriously, the cover wasn't that appealing as it turns out ^_^;

This month, Trust Me on This was re-released; I bought it and finally read it :) While I never truly read it previously, I have skimmed through it... and I have had years for my expectations to cool down. With such a history, I think Trust Me on This could be considered a re-read :P Well no matter, that's what I'm going to do...


Trust Me on This by Jennifer Crusie
published by Bantam Books in June 1997

Dennie Banks is an investigative reporter chasing down the biggest story of her career. Alec Prentice is a government agent working undercover to catch an elusive grifter. When they meet by accident, it's a case of mistaken identities at first sight. What they don't mistake is the instant attraction they have for each other, an attraction they'll do everything in their power to resist-because Dennie thinks that Alec is running interference for her interview subject, and Alec suspects that Dennie is linked to his swindler. As the confusion grows, so do their feelings for each other, and what begins as a romantic comedy of errors may just end in the love affair of a lifetime.

Genre: contemporary romance, category romance
Series: none

The Story: The book starts off with Victoria Prentice, a college professor who has dedicated her last 40 years to her career, feeling old. At 62 years old, Victoria feels the need to rejuvenate herself and decide to spend time with her favorite nephew, Alec Prentice, at a literature conference.

Alec is delighted to spend time with his aunt and might as well combine pleasure with work. Alec works for the Bureau of Fraud and with a pair of glasses, has practiced to be the perfect mark. While his field agent days are over and he sits behind a desk... Alec misses being in charge. Alec and his boss, Harry, are currently after Brian Bond, a conman who sells real estate to college professor, and his brunette accomplice. Alec figures there is a chance he'll find Bond at the literature conference and that'll put some excitement back into his job.

Dennie Banks is a brunette whose life has been stagnant. An investigative reporter, she's been covering the socialite events, dating men she could wrap around her finger and stayed at the same job because she knew how to handle her boss. Realizing she's been taking the safe path for too long, Dennie decides it's time to take some risks... To land a job at a better newspapers, Dennie has a plan: interview Janice Meredith - the expert on relationships and marriage - about her upcoming divorce. Luckily, Dennie knows just where to find Mrs Meredith... at a certain literature conference.

However, things don't work out as planned for Dennie. Instead of getting the interview she's hoping for, she is warned away for stalking. However, she quickly figures out that she can get to the Janice woman through Victoria through Alec...

My Opinion: Put together a lot of colorful characters and a few misunderstandings and in true Crusie-style, you get mayhem... and the best kind LOL.

Frankly, I felt like Trust Me on This was a wee superficial. Superficial in the sense that we never went deep into the characters as the storyline was very focused on what was happening during the literature conference (Four Fabulous Days! Three Glorious Nights!). All I know was that all these characters were dissatisfied with their current lives. I don't feel like I got to know Alec or Dennie very well and as a result, didn't connect with them very much. It doesn't help that the timeline of the book was very short, so the relationship was developing very quickly and sometimes, too quickly to be believable.

Still, Trust Me on This was a fun book. It's really a book that you take at face-value, the kind that you read to have fun. It'd actually be the perfect book to adapt into a romantic comedy movie :P What with the colorful characters, their hidden agendas and the misunderstandings. Throughout the read, I had a huge grin on my face because after all, this is a Crusie book. However, there were never really LOL moments, never a passage that I had to re-read again because it was so funny or read out loud to someone because I just had to share it.

In the end, I think it was a good thing I let years go by before really reading this book. I think that I enjoyed it more now than I would have in the past, when I've just binged on Ms Crusie's backlist. Still, what I want to remind everyone is what Ms Crusie writes is comedy romances and humor is very subjective. I might not find this one as funny as others, but you might find it more funny :P The writing is there, the characters and the situations and surprisingly, I thought that Trust Me on This withstood the test of time very well, it doesn't feel date at all. I mean, there are a few 80 and 90s reference... but the characters, their clothes and the settings are quite timeless :)

My Grade: B. Not my favorite Crusie book, but I am still glad I read it :)

Re-Read: The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie

Sigh, such an unproductive day. My plan for today was to clean and blog... but I guess the cleaning is not going to happen ^_^; At least, I still have time to blog... and I read. Actually, this week-end was filled with sports, watching tennis and curling :) Unfortunately, Justine Henin lost in the finale of the Australian Open... Of course, considering that it's only her 2nd tournament since her retirement, not bad... The only problem though is that I thought the match was not very exciting. Ah well.

End of the month already! I re-read Turn Coat by Jim Butcher earlier this month for the challenge... but instead, I'm going to review The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie which has just been re-issued this month. I'd do a two-fer, but Turn Coat is too complex to re-review LOL.


The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie
published by Bantam Books in September 1996 (re-issued in January 2010)

Daisy Flattery is an incorrigible free spirit with a soft spot for strays and a weakness for a good story and a bit of adventure. Why else would she agree to the outrageous deal offered by her button-down, workaholic neighbor Linc Blaise? The history professor is desperately in need of a fiancée to capture a dream job at a local college—and Daisy is up for the challenge. But something funny happens on their way to the altar that breaks all the rules and changes the game. Falling in love was never part of the bargain. Their little charade has taken in everyone—including themselves. Now with the proverbial midnight hour approaching will the fairytale finally be over or will opposites not just attract but live happily ever after?

Genre: contemporary romance
Series: none

You can read my original review here.

The Story: Linc Blaise is in a pinch. A history teacher, writing his second book, Linc is trying to get a new teaching position in a quieter environment which would allow him to focus on his writing. However, during the interview, Linc invents himself a fiancée and now has to bring her to his speech. So he turns to his neighbor, Daisy Flattery, a free spirit who is used to telling stories... His initial idea was to have Daisy help him get the job and then, he would come up with another lie about their engagement failing... However, once he gets the job, he realizes that he won't make full professor unless he gets married...

Daisy is the complete opposite of Linc. Four years ago, she walked away from her teaching position to focus on her painting. However, she's now having doubts about her decision... She's gone through her savings and is tired of worrying about money and scrambling for it, which in turns takes her away from her art. As a result, Linc's proposition sounds perfect... except she's not sure about him...

My Opinion: I'm really glad Bantam Books finally decided to reprint The Cinderella Deal because it's the only book by Jennifer Crusie I was missing for my collection. I had the chance a few years ago to read an electronic copy of it for Book Binge and thus my review. However, there's something special about owning every book by an author :P So I'm very happy...

Technically, this is a book I should love. It has the "happy-go-lucky heroine thawing the stuffy hero" plot that I enjoy so much, it's also a marriage of convenience plot and it's by Jennifer Crusie... but something was missing and it might have been chemistry between the H/H.

While re-reading The Cinderella Deal, I still felt like this was a re-visit of Strange Bedpersons, but not as good. I actually always thought that The Cinderella Deal was the precursor to Strange Bedpersons until I checked the release dates of both books for this review and found out that Strange Bedpersons was written before. The storyline is more complete and more interesting, considering that Daisy and Linc actually get married... but like I say, something was a little off: why did Linc choose Daisy to pose as his fiancée? I mean, he doesn't really know her, she's not his type... so why her? Why not a friend? Someone he knows better? So I felt this was a bit awkward and it does impact the book (the chemistry).

Don't get me wrong, The Cinderella Deal is an enjoyable book with a nice storyline and likable characters. However, I think the first time I read this book, I was simply just too happy to be able to read it that I overlooked some stuff. My main problem with this book was Linc's attitude towards Daisy. He chose her to pose as his fiancée... Yet, every time, he's afraid she's going to embarrass him and he's a bit ashamed of her at times. That really made me uncomfortable. I thought he was a bit selfish, always thinking of himself first and the consequences to him instead of considering Daisy and her feelings... especially since he gets to know Daisy and understand her pretty well at the end. Luckily, he does redeem himself, especially at the end in the scene where he throws out her dress because it wasn't "her."

In addition, I don't think this book is as funny as Ms Crusie's other works. There are some LOL moments, but not as much as you'd expected considering the author. Also, did anyone notice that Ms Crusie has interesting secondary characters, but she doesn't do much with them? She leaves it pretty open as if there's a possibility they'd have their story, but they never do.

Overall, I still enjoyed it because it is a cute story and I like the plot lines. However, this re-read kind of opened my eyes to some of its flaws. Basically, my opinion remains the same as before: between Strange Bedpersons and The Cinderella Deal, I'd choose Strange Bedpersons without hesitation. The good news though is for those who didn't enjoy Strange Bedpersons as much because they thought Tess was unreasonable should really like this one.

My Grade: I originally gave this book a grade of 3.75/5 which would be a B+... but now, it's more of a B read for me.

Review: Dogs and Goddesses by Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart and Lani Diane Rich

One of my all-time favorite author is Jennifer Crusie. I love her characters and the wacky situations they get into :) As a result, I pick up everything that has her names on it... even collaborations.


Dogs and Goddesses by Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart and Lani Diane Rich
published by St. Martin's Press in February 2009

Abby has just arrived in Summerville, Ohio, with her placid Newfoundland, Bowser. She's reluctantly inherited her grandmother's coffee shop, but it's not long before she's brewing up trouble in the form of magical baked goods and steaming up her life with an exasperating college professor.

And then there's Daisy, a web code writer, and her hyperactive Jack Russell, Bailey. Her tightly-wound world spins out of control when she discovers the chaos within and meets a mysterious dog trainer whose teaching style is definitely hands-on.

Finally there's Shar, professor of ancient history at Summerville College, who wakes up one morning to find her neurotic dachshund, Wolfie, snarling at an implacable god sitting at her kitchen table, the first thing in her life she hasn't been able to footnote. What on earth is going on in this unearthly little town? It's up to Abby, Daisy, and Shar to find out before an ancient goddess takes over Southern Ohio, and they all end up in the apocalyptic doghouse...

Genre: paranormal romance, mythology
Series: none

The Story: Hmmm, the backgrounds in the synopsis are correct, but I find the summary a tiny bit misleading. Let see if I can do a better job.

Basically, Abby, Daisy and Shar are brought together along with 3 other girls to the "Kammani Gula Dog Obedience Course" under different circumstances. Turns out that Kammani Gula is a goddess from the Mesopotanian era who has been 'revived.' She plans to reunite her seven prietess and take over the world.

Abby, Daisy and Shar are descendents of the priestess who used to serve Kammani Gula and actually discover that they are demi-goddesses. After drinking Kammani Gula's tonic, they seem to come into their powers which include being able to understand what their dogs are saying. Thing is, Abby, Daisy and Shar have no intention of aiding Kammani Gula to rule the world or to serve her... as a result, they have to find a way to send her back...

My Opinion: To tell the truth, the only reason I bought this book is because of Ms Crusie. I really enjoy her writing and I think it's unfortunate that she's been writing collaborations instead of coming up with solo books. Holly told me it's because Ms Crusie does not think she could surpass Bet Me... however, to be frank, none of her collaborations have come close to her older books, let alone Bet Me.

Anyway, Anne Stuart wrote Abby's storyline, Lani Diane Rich - Daisy's and Jennifer Crusie, Shar's. None of the storylines were perfect, I had issues with all of them ^_^; Then, when put together into the greater story... well let say the result is a bit confusing.

So let see... Out of the three, I enjoyed Abby's storyline and dog the most. Abby is new to town and seems to never have fit anywhere. She's looking for a place of her own and she finds it in Summerville. I think it would have been better if we were given a bit more of a background on Abby. I dislike how her mother said negative things about Abby and to stranger no less! Don't know though if what her mother said was true or not, since we were not given much on her background. Abby's hero was Christopher, a math college teacher who's a genius and socially impaired. He follows Ms Stuart's hero mold; however, didn't have time to be a complete jerk. My issue with this storyline was the relationship between Abby and Christopher. See, Abby was a virgin when she had sex with Christopher... and well, he reacted dumbly and as a result, Abby didn't want to have a relationship with Christopher and he had to try to win her back. Bleh...

Daisy's story was a bit meh... Basically, her mother skips town as soon as she hears about Kammani so Daisy will be chosen as the priestess instead of her. Talk about a selfish mother!! Thing is, it was never explained how Daisy's mother knew that Kammani was revived. There was no specific dates for Kammani's revival... so how did she know? I liked Daisy's relationship with Noah though... however, dislike how Daisy didn't trust Noah. In addition, I think Daisy's story was the one that had the most holes... like why did Mina (another prietess - the only one willing to serve Kammani and aware of the whole story) hate Daisy so much? In addition, I have to agree with Noah that Daisy was a bit self-centered :(

Finally, Shar... I think her storyline would have worked better if she wasn't 48 y.o. ^_^; All right, all right, I admit it, I've never been fond of older heroines. I like it when the heroines are between 25 and 35 y.o. I find I can relate with them better... At least, Shar wasn't a divorcee with kids, small blessings. Anyway, Shar is the lucky heroine and gets the god as her hero, Sam. Basically, Kammani needs to sacrifice a king (who also turns out to be a god) to start taking over the world. So when Kammani is revived, Sam is as well. Sam was yummy, but a bit superficial... I'm not sure how I feel about Shar and Sam together... I'm not sure they fit well. See, my problem is in the beginning, it was a big deal for Shar to be older... then as the story went, it seems like it was forgotten. I didn't feel like Shar was older by the end... and if you go through all the trouble to write about an older character, it shouldn't be forgotten right? Then, there's the fact that Shar thought that Sam was sleeping around, but she still went to him... because she loved him. Ugh. Woman, stand up for yourself and ask! Make it clear you don't want him to look at other women... So a bit frustrating.

Finally, I have to say that the overall plot was a bit confusing and felt like it was rushed. Actually, the pacing didn't feel right, probably because there are three authors trying to work on their own storyline. It didn't take too much time for the women to figure out what was happening... then, it seems the book went on pause in order to develop the characters and their individual storyline. Once it was "settled," the ending was rushed to wrap everything.

Personally, I could have overlooked a lot of things if at least, it's been funny... but it wasn't really. In the end, Dogs and Goddesses was a meh book, not as funny as I expected and with a few plot holes that left me wondering.

Grade: C-. If you didn't care for The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes, then you'll be disappointed with Dogs and Goddesses, because it's not really better :(

It seems like these collaborations aren't really working. Lucky for us though, it seems that Ms Crusie is working on a solo book. That, I'm looking forward to... but I think that I'll skip any other of her collaborations.

What's on my mind...

Hello everyone!

How have you been doing? I'm sorry I've been MIA since last Thursday ^_^; Been quite busy and also, a bit lethargic LOL :) Anyway, couple of things on my mind...

I turned 25 on Saturday :D I actually don't really care about my age, because well, it doesn't change me much. I am who I am, LOL, and age won't change anything. I was actually quite giddy and happy. Great thing is that everytime I'm going to want to rent a car now, I won't have to pay the surcharge LOL :) I had lots of fun with my friends on Thursday as we went for all-you-can-eat sushi :) Pretty good place. My friends gave me a purse! Tell you the truth, I didn't really want a purse ^_^; but I couldn't think of anything else (besides books) that I wanted and that was "easy" to buy... so a purse it was. I have to say, I love it though!!! Love the design, the color and it's sooooo soft :) Only downside is that I can't put many books in it... actually, I'm only allowed of one book. If there's more than one book, they'll be confiscated by my friends, LOL :)

I ordered some books last week-end and for some reasons, they were shipped from Vancouver. Now, that's the first time I've had orders sent from the warehouse in Vancouver, considering how much closer Ontario is. Anyway, long story short, when checking my order status, books were supposed to be delivered on Friday... but when I asked my mom and sister, they said we didn't receive anything... which was like impossible. I started worrying that the mailman put the key in the wrong box (mailman doesn't come to door to door in my neighborhood... we have commun mailbox with individual case for each house and bigger cases for packages...). I was expecting whoever got the key, opened the case and saw the package would return it to my house... Turns out, on Saturday m0rning, when I came down, I saw this big package, the size of a VCR or DVD player box, wrapped in newspapers... and on it: "Nath's birthday surprise" I thanked my parents and sister - my parents had no idea what it was and my sis said, "Don't thank us, you bought it" LOL :) Yep, the box was left in front of my hosue and my sister just hid it from me. She's evil sometimes.

Speaking of sister, she's gone for tw0 weeks... Went to California to hang out with my cousins... I think I'm really going to miss her ^_^; We've grown really close in the past couple of years and it's just going to be weird not having her nagging me about her tv shows and nobody to sneak food with. Ah well, lucky for me, it's only 2 weeks. I have a friend, her sis is gone for the whole summer.

Something else on my mind... I have a project for the summer and it involves my room, bookcases and my books. I'm thinking of buying some shelving units... but as I said before, I don't have anymore room in my place for furniture... so my plan is to exchange the computer desk for my nice desk. I have one of those big screen though and I won't be able to put the computer tower on the floor anymore... So big computer screen + tower + printer on a desk... not enough place. So I'm thinking of buying a new computer with a flat screen. My current computer is about 5-6 years old... It's not bad, but it has some bugs. Like the screen going black for few seconds at a time for no reason. My anti-virus on it is also dead for a long time. I can't open Adobe Reader with Mozilla Firefox without freezing it... and I almost have more space on my harddrive. I did think of buying the screen only, but the one I'm eyeing is already 300$ Also, the day before I changed computer completely is not far... so might as well get a good deal... but it'll still cost me >1,000$... the other thing is the actual bookcase. My parents have always gone for quality... that means all my furniture in my room are in teak wood (except my computer deak which is why I'm getting rid of it)... and I'd like for my new bookcase to match and be of teak wood... however, I have a feeling it's going to be quite pricey *sigh*

So I gotta find ways to be thrifty, LOL :) So I'm going to take a page out of Ames' book and try not to buy any books for a couple of weeks. Shouldn't be too hard considering that there's nothing really interesting coming out soon and lucky me, I've already pre-ordered Scream for Me by Karen Rose. In addition, I still have about 30-something $ on my online account at Chapters + a co-worker gave me a gift card :D So that should help :) and if I'm lucky, mangas will be arriving from France slowly... esp. since it's the summer. So yeah, I guess it's feasible. Pluse, I'm hoping that eating out less, as in not at all, would help.

Part two of my project, I've alredy mentioned... is to clean out the closet and put some cheap, waist-level, shelving cases. Just so I have space to put my stuff and all... but between you and me, cleaning my closet? Ugh, it's going to be a nightmare... of course, not as bad as cleaning out under of Holly's daughter's bed LOL :) but let just says I have lots of stuff.

Other things that are on my mind... Gas price. Ugh, I gas at 1.29$/liter this morning. It was 1.37$/liter at the highest last week. What doesn't help is that I live far from work :( and also, there's construction on the way for the rest of the summer. Gotta find another way to get to work... and also, I don't know... go out less? Again, not stopping and making detours to the bookstores should help... right?

Last thing, I have a review up at Book Binge!! This time, it's The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie. Click here for the review :D

Oh, and last last thing... i'm glad the hockey season is over in Montreal. I think the people went a bit crazy this year. I know it's been a long time since the Canadians haven't done so good, but still :P

Top 3 of Jennifer Crusie

I started this “feature” a couple of months ago, while I was bored and a bit in a slump… and then, forgot about it ^_^; Can we say, oups? LOL... but I won't anymore and so, the feature is back on! :)

So I have a friend that recently started reading romance novels and she loves it. Well I think she loves it, based on the amount of books she has ordered LOL. Lucky her, she has me to gives suggestions, recommendations, lend books… basically, guided her in the romance novel world. Seriously, I wished I had someone like that when I started off. I would certainly have come in handy and I would discovered all of those great authors faster instead of coming across them by chance. Oh well... So, she has recently discovered Jennifer Crusie and like so many of us, fellin love with Ms Crusie!

Seriously, who reads comtemporary and doesn't adore Jennifer Crusie? Not many! This author just has great ideas, hilarious characters and crazy animals and just enough romance! Definitively the perfect combination. Of course, I'd wished she'd go back at writing solo instead of collaboration, but if her next collaboration with Mayer is as good as Agnes and the Hitman, then I'll take it.

So here are my top 3 books by Jennifer Crusie! Don't be shy and share yours! :)

3 - Crazy For You

Quinn McKenzie has it enough. She's always been the good girl, living a quiet life and going through the motion. However, she thinks her life is too beige and thrives for excitment. When her boyfriend, the guy that everyone in town thinks is perfect and nicest, tells her of their future plan, she blows a fuse. She wants excitment and she wants to be the one in charge, the one to decide and she decides to go after the forbidden fruit, Nick - her ex-brother-in-law and best friend.

I love this book, absolutely love it. What can I say? I think that Quinn was a great heroine and I really enjoyed it, seeing her finally stand on her own. Nick is a great hero as well... takes him a while to realize that Quinn is the woman he's been waiting forever, but when he does and finally goes after her... wowzer! In addition to a great couple, the supporting cast is just hilarious and let's not forget Katie, Quinn's little neurotic dog.

I almost chose Crazy for You as no.2, it was really a close call between this book and no.2; however, there is one little scene - just after they made love the first time, that I'm not fond of. Of course, it works well into the plot and becomes a good reason for Nick to grovel.


2 - Welcome to Temptation

All Sophie Dempsey wants is a normal life and to stay on the right side of the law... not easy though when she comes from a family of crooks and her little brother and sister are very entranched in family traditions. It also might not have been a good idea to come to Temptation to film a movie for her little brother's ex-girlfriend, especially when the movie turns into a porn flick. So how to stay on the right side of the law, hide the fact that she's filming a porn movie to the curious and nosy townpeoples and fight her attraction to Temptation's widowed mayor, Phineas Tucker?

Another great book, but then, it's in the top 3 so what were you expecting. Again, all the elements are there: great H/H, plot, romance and wacky townpeoples. I like how the whole story unfolds. Sophie and Phin being attracted to each other, but not wanting to. Falling in bed and then in love with each other and how at the end, they just get together. Yes, there were some conflicts, but at the end, they got together relatively without fuss and sometimes, you have to appreciate it. Overall the situation is just too hilarious and wacky and the hero and heroine, great... and so, you just enjoys the book. I have to admit that I prefer Quinn and Nick over Sophie and Phin, but the storyline in this one is funnier and wackier.


1 - Getting Rid of Bradley

Lucy Savage is not a happy woman: her bastard, cheating husband, Bradley, stood her up in divorce court. Then, handsome and sexy cop Zach Warren scares the hell out of her - apparently to save her life, but he must be desillusional, because who would shot at her? However, he might be right when Lucy realizes that Bradley is involved in a much bigger scheme than she thought possible... but who cares about Bradley when Zach moves in her nice Victorian house to protect her and her 3 dogs?

This book was a Silouhette book, meaning that it's quite shorter than regular romance novels... however, it doesn't matter. It's everything a romance novel should be and even if it's short, Ms Crusie pulls it out. It was funny, Lucy and Zach's chemistry was good and just so sweet. I don't know what else to say besides: It's a great book - go read it if you haven't!


Honorable mention goes to Stranger Bedpersons - it was my first book by Jennifer Crusie and I think it will always hold a special place in my heart/mind. I heart Tess and Nick sooooo much and I think this book was funny. However, the plot was a bit simple compared to the 3 other books and that's probably the only reason why it didn't make the Top 3.

So what about you? What are your favorites Jennifer Crusie? I'm expecting a lot of ppl to say Bet Me for some reasons... LOL

Review: Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

So how was everyone's week-end? Mine was okay and I got to read some good books... one of them was Agnes and the Hitman... yes, I finally got my copy :D


Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

published by St. Martin's Press in August 2007 (hardcover)

Agnes Crandall, a food columnist better known as Cranky Agnes,knows she's in trouble when a dognapper invades her kitchen one night, seriously hampering her attempts to put on a wedding that she’s staked her entire net worth on. Then a hero climbs through her bedroom window... That’s Shane who has his own problems: he’s got a big hit scheduled, a rival trying to take him out, and an ex-mobster uncle asking him to protect some kid named little Agnes. Then Agnes turns out to be not so little and the problem turns out to be a missing five million bucks. Agnes and Shane have their hands full with a bunch of lowlifes looking for the money, a string of hit men coming for Agnes, a lot of wedding guests arriving for the wedding, and—most of all--with each other.

Genre: contemporary, romantic comedy
Series: none

Why did I get this book? Because Ms Crusie is an awesome author :D The books she wrote are so funny! Almost always great reads :D

My thoughts: Hmm, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been wondering why Ms Crusie has been collaborating with other authors lately to write books. I mean, not that the books aren't good, but to me, Agnes and the Hitman was quite a classic Jennifer Crusie and I didn't see much of Mr Mayer in it. Anyway, for those who were disappointed with Don't Look Down, Ms Crusie and Mr Mayer come back very strong with this book :D Agnes is an awesome heroine, Shane is yummy, the secondary characters are hilarious, the plot ties up well and there's a dog :D I LOL so many times while I read this book :) it's really what I needed.

The Characters: There were sooo many characters in this book, but I think they all contributed to the laughs :D First, Agnes was awesome :) and she's not called Cranky Agnes for nothing :) I really enjoyed her character as well as her anger management troubles LOL As for Shane, great hero. He's the serious, cool type... we know very little about his past, but you know, he's a man you can depend on... he's also very capable and sexy LOL :) I think that Agnes and him were really a match made in heaven :) I did have a little problem with Shane's job, even if it was for the government... I know I shouldn't feel this way. I mean, what's the difference btw Medina from Linda Howard's books and Shane... but I guess it's the setting. After all, this was more a comedy than a romantic suspense book... The other secondary characters were great and each had a purpose... none seem superfluous and all contributed to the laughs :D

The Story: I really enjoyed the story and the ridiculous situations... Ms Crusie is one of the few authors who can take outrageous and ridiculous situations and not only make them funny, but work. But seriously, the plot was really compact. I mean, everything fit and there was no loose ends, which was a great accomplishment, given that this plot was a bit complicated :)

What I liked? Pretty much everything. It was truly funny, without trying too hard... and I really felt like reading a classic Crusie. Also the cover, I think the cover was great and it represented the book well :D

What I didn't like? Well as I said, Shane's profession... and Brenda!! OMG! that woman, LOL, I loved it when Doyle/Frankie was bitching at her... she totally deserved it. such an unlikable character.

Grade: A-. Definitively a great book :D

By the way, anyone has funny read to suggest? I've been feeling like reading something funny, but haven't found anything really. I've read all of the Crusie and she's the only author with Janet Evanovich, whose books make me laugh out loud as much.

Howdy?

Hey everyone :D

Wassup? My day didn't start really well: 1) the weather is crap, 2) my sis stayed in my room till 4.30am this morning to work on her project, so I didn't get good sleep, 3) she needed my helped this morning with her poster, so I ended up late and jammed in traffic, 4) I wanted to be smart and skip work so I could stay home and work on my project - yeah, presentation is at the end of the month, and since I didn't have that much work, I thought, well why not? Why not? Because my father took the day off to go to a doctor appointment and he's like: no way, you can't stay home because you don't have much work at work... only if you're sick... (he was pretty angry, cos he thinks I'm lazy - I didn't tell him about the presentation, cos he'd be even more on my back... Then, 5 minutes later, he came back to me and he was like: Did you get lay off? Answer: Of course no!) 5) Spent an hour in traffic, came to work and guess what... yep, I don't have any compounds to screen... even worse, I have less. Urgh.

by the way, love my dad :D He's the sweetest guy on Earth, but sometimes, he worries too much :P and even sweet guy can hit a nerve sometimes.

so that's my life ^^; and it seems that I'm slowly catching the reading slump (pls someone, save me!)...

anyway, here are what I've been reading for the past 3 days...

Hot Toy by Jennifer Crusie: 3.25/5

So I thought that I was catching the reading slump-syndrome and to avoid it, I bought this anthology, thinking that a Jennifer Crusie is what I needed.

On Christmas Eve, Trudy Maxwell is stucked in a toy store looking for an action figure, sorreh, can't remember the name, that is able to spit toxic waste :) Unfortunately, the action figure has been sold out since Thanksgiving, but Trudy is not giving up. She absolutely needs to find one for her nephew, Leroy, because his bastard father has not kept his promise and Trudy and Leroy's mother, Courtney, don't want Leroy to be disappointed. So she starts looking in other aisle for the action figure. Unlucky for her, Nolan Mitchell shows up... Nolan is a chinese literature professor and has stood up Trudy a few months ago. Still angry at him, Trudy tries to ignore him and lucky her, she finds the action figure that she was looking for, only the previous generation... But what's weird is that suddenly, everyone is after her action figure...

Okay, so this is a novella and it's short. I knew that, but still I find it disappointing, cos well, it was too short. By the way, did Trudy Maxwell ever showed up in Crusie's previous books? The name doesn't ring a well, so I wonder, but it seems like I was supposed to know her. Anyway, I like Trudy and Nolan :D The only thing is that well, the story is a bit far-fetched... but I guess that's okay :) It wasn't hilarious, but still pretty fun (as in, I did laugh out a couple of times)... Anyway, I'm still waiting for a full Jennifer Crusie book (and her only, no co-writing)... It's been 2 years since Bet Me.

Winterset by Candace Camp: 2.75/5

Reed Moreland had a dream where Anna Holcomb seemed to be in danger. Although it's only a dream and even if Anna has turned him down, Reed sets out for his Winterset estate to make sure that the love of his life is all right. Ever since turning down Reed's proposal, Anna knew that she'd never be happy, but she could at least be content with her life. However, Reed's return is making it difficult to be content... At the same time, the Beast, who've been responsible for murders decades ago is back.

I thought the book was long. The beginning was quite entertaining, but near the middle, it started to seriously drag. Anna, if you cannot marry, then stay away from Reed. I know, if they stayed away from each other, there wouldn't be a story... but after the third eps. of Anna and Reed kissing or starting to get intimate and then, Anna stepping back and saying that she can't and running away, I was seriously bored. Anna and Reed were all right characters... I guess that I would consider Reed as a beta male... as for the reason why Anna couldn't marry Reed, I thought she should have told him, not just drive him away. Anyway, characters were all right, story was okay, but a bit draggy.

Billionaires Prefer Blondes by Suzanne Enoch: 4/5

The best book I've read since the week-end... This is part of a series, after Flirting with Danger and Don't Look Down. Although the last book bored me, I still decide to give the series another go and I think this one is the best so far.

Samantha Jellicoe is an ex-cat burgler... Yep, she's retired after hooking up with British billionaire Rick Addison. Now, she owns a security company... but troubles still follow her. It starts with the reapparence of her father, who supposedly died 3 years ago, followed by the robbery of Rick's latest art acquisitions... then, Sam is in more trouble than she'd wished for. Stuck between Martin, her father, and Rick, her lover, Sam is in an impasse... but she has to make a choice.

Lots of ppl have compared this series with the In Death series by J.D. Robb where basically, Sam is the equivalent of Roarke (seedy past) with Rick/Eve as the moral compasse. Although I don't think that this seires come close to the In Death, it is still rather enjoyable. I like Sam's character... she's bold, sassy and sexy and she knows her stuff when it comes to burglary. Rick is well, the richissism guy that's found his soulmate, you know, he's a bit cliched, but what can you do? Those are the ones readers swoon for. I guess what this series lack is good secondary characters. Anyway, I think that the three books happening on a timeline of 5 months is also a bit exaggerated... It would have been better if the story would've been spaced out a bit. The storyline was quite good, the action continued... the story flowed well and the pace was good. The characters were in-characters and still entertaining. So no major complaints except for the fac that the characters kept thinking: it's been 5 months we've been together and I'm still in lust and combust automatically. Hello, so what if it's been 5 months? 5 months is nothing... Of course, if you've changed months for years, than yeah, I would have understood why the characters were surprised... but again, 5 months, *insert roll eyes* that's nothing. So why keep repeating it? Also, I've always been a sucker for father-daughter happy reunion, but this one wasn't, so I was kind of bumped out. But definitively worth reading if you enjoy the previous 2 books.