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cathiedalziel's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. What's not to love about this?! A cute depressed looking loveable hound mix beagle named Fred and a sumptious single hot looking male who lives one floor down (and he's a Dr. to boot!). This was so funny in places I was laughing out loud. I think I have me a new favorite author!
tani's review against another edition
3.0
It's definitely easy to tell that this is early Crusie. It's got all the elements of her later stuff, but less of the plotting and pacing that she needs. Still, if you like the formula, it's a fun little read.
dmwmtgal's review against another edition
2.0
She wanted a perky puppy. What she got was a depressed dog; half beagle, half basset hound. She named him Fred because he looked like her uncle. Can I just say, I love Fred? If he wasn’t fictitious, I’d want him for myself. What a character. And any dog who loves oreos can’t be half bad, right? Although, technically not supposed to feed dogs chocolate. Probably wasn’t a well known fact at the time of the original publishing.
I liked Nina. She’s 40 ~ and she has all of the insecurities that go along with getting older. She’s self-conscious about her body, about her life. She’s hung up on her neighbor, Alex, who happens to be 10 years younger. I love the fact that she was real. Well, as real as a fictitious character could be.
Now, Alex. What to say about Alex. Fred likes Alex. I liked Alex up until the last 25 pages of the book. Then I thought he drank too much. And he was trying too hard to prove a point. He was trying too hard to take care of Nina who (hello!!) doesn’t need to be taken care of. Around page 208, I thought he was too stupid to live. Yes, that’s right. A hero ~ Too Stupid To Live. I almost stopped reading right there. For a wedding present, he wants to buy a house...in the ritzy neighborhood that she lived in with her ex-husband, who still happens to live there. I mean if she wanted a life just like she had when she was married, wouldn’t she still be married? If I were Nina, I’d dump him right then and there. I think he needs to go to Oz and get a brain.
I also noticed that both times anything significant happened ~ she initiated it. He was always waiting for the right time. Once again, Too Stupid To Live.
I liked the side characters ~ Max, Alex’s brother, and Charity, Nina’s best friend. I sensed some undercurrents there and was surprised that there wasn’t a book written with them in mind. And I’m a little disappointed. I would have liked to learn more about Max. I loved Norma Lynn ~ I’d like being her a neighbor. She’d kick my lazy butt into shape real quick.
I’d say the book is somewhere between Okay and Good. Yes, it’s choppy and yes, it seems Crusie skips around a lot. But, for a first novel, it’s not half-bad. And it’s not meant to be a Nobel Prize winner. It’s meant to be a light, fluffy read ~ and at that, it succeeds.
I liked Nina. She’s 40 ~ and she has all of the insecurities that go along with getting older. She’s self-conscious about her body, about her life. She’s hung up on her neighbor, Alex, who happens to be 10 years younger. I love the fact that she was real. Well, as real as a fictitious character could be.
Now, Alex. What to say about Alex. Fred likes Alex. I liked Alex up until the last 25 pages of the book. Then I thought he drank too much. And he was trying too hard to prove a point. He was trying too hard to take care of Nina who (hello!!) doesn’t need to be taken care of. Around page 208, I thought he was too stupid to live. Yes, that’s right. A hero ~ Too Stupid To Live. I almost stopped reading right there. For a wedding present, he wants to buy a house...in the ritzy neighborhood that she lived in with her ex-husband, who still happens to live there. I mean if she wanted a life just like she had when she was married, wouldn’t she still be married? If I were Nina, I’d dump him right then and there. I think he needs to go to Oz and get a brain.
I also noticed that both times anything significant happened ~ she initiated it. He was always waiting for the right time. Once again, Too Stupid To Live.
I liked the side characters ~ Max, Alex’s brother, and Charity, Nina’s best friend. I sensed some undercurrents there and was surprised that there wasn’t a book written with them in mind. And I’m a little disappointed. I would have liked to learn more about Max. I loved Norma Lynn ~ I’d like being her a neighbor. She’d kick my lazy butt into shape real quick.
I’d say the book is somewhere between Okay and Good. Yes, it’s choppy and yes, it seems Crusie skips around a lot. But, for a first novel, it’s not half-bad. And it’s not meant to be a Nobel Prize winner. It’s meant to be a light, fluffy read ~ and at that, it succeeds.
bikes_books_yarn's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the bones of this story, but the characters left me a little cold. The best friend was pretty harsh. The main character Nina was pretty insecure ... actually this whole book was filled with insecure people who were stumbling through life. I guess you need character growth and you don't get that without flawed characters. But I did think a few times that people needed a little smacking. Still - Enjoyable.
jendoyleink's review against another edition
4.0
Jennifer Crusie started me on my road to romance -- I devoured most of her books almost immediately and then, looking for someone once I'd almost fully exhausted her book list, I found my way to Nora Roberts, and then to Jill Shalvis, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and so on. I'm not sure why I didn't jump at this one the first time I saw it, but it might have been because of the dog. Although I know that's a huge appeal to some readers, I am not typically one of them.
But when I saw this a few weeks ago at the library and realized I hadn't read it, I picked it up and figured it wouldn't hurt. Knowing that I had a rough day ahead of me today, I picked this book out of the library pile knowing that, dogs aside, Jennifer Crusie is always someone I can count on for some mindless escape. And this book delivered.
It wasn't quite as layered as some of her other books, but it was exactly what I needed this morning -- I read the entire thing before noon, unable to put it down. Great characters (as always), some laugh out loud moments, and, of course, the perfect amount of heat. An excellent and quick fluffy read.
But when I saw this a few weeks ago at the library and realized I hadn't read it, I picked it up and figured it wouldn't hurt. Knowing that I had a rough day ahead of me today, I picked this book out of the library pile knowing that, dogs aside, Jennifer Crusie is always someone I can count on for some mindless escape. And this book delivered.
It wasn't quite as layered as some of her other books, but it was exactly what I needed this morning -- I read the entire thing before noon, unable to put it down. Great characters (as always), some laugh out loud moments, and, of course, the perfect amount of heat. An excellent and quick fluffy read.