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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
Andie Miller is about to get married to a nice, reliable writer, the complete opposite of her ex-husband North Archer. She just needs to sever any remaining connection to him by handing back all the alimony checks she's received since their divorce ten years earlier. Then she can get on with her life. Of course, seeing North again brings back all sorts of memories, and he's a very hard man to say no to.
North Archer is responsible for two young children. His cousin died two years ago, and the kids were orphaned. Once their aunt died, the kids were left alone in a huge mansion in the countryside in Ohio, with only nannies and an elderly housekeeper to take care of them. The third nanny just quit, claiming the house is haunted. She tried to take the children away from the house, but the little girl had a near-psychotic break and the boy was expelled from boarding school for setting fires. He needs someone sensible, stubborn and capable to sort out the children, get their grades up to scratch, and convince them to move in with him. Who better than his ex-wife Andie, who could always sort out anything? That this will take her away from her fiancee for an extended period of time is really just a bonus.
As North offers her ten thousand dollars to spend a month in the old house, Andie really doesn't feel she can refuse. She starts to wonder if she shouldn't have asked for more money once she sees the house and meets the inhabitants, though. The house is an old Victorian mansion, moved brick by brick from England, with furniture and brickabrack included. The driveway is falling apart, the garden is overgrown. The housekeeper is absolutely ancient, has lived there for most of her life, clearly drinks too much and refuses to listen to a thing Andie says until she hears the name Archer, forcing Andie to pretend she is still married to North. Carter, the little boy, barely speaks. Alice, a tiny, scrawny waif is more like a wild creature than a girl, and carries a mouldy, creepy doll with her everywhere. If Andie tries to make her do anything she doesn't want to, she screams hysterically at the top of her lungs.
While Andie finds Archer House unnerving and creepy, she is a practical and educated woman, and refuses to believe in any ghost nonsense. Even when she keeps seeing things out of the corner of her eye, Alice is clearly talking to someone in her room at night, when the rocking chair by Alice's bed seemingly rocks by itself and she keeps hearing voices as she drifts off to sleep at night. She also can't stop thinking about North all the time, and being in the run-down house means she keeps having to contact him for help. Then, just as she seems to be making progress, an unscrupulous reporter arrives on the doorstep with her ex-brother-in-law and a cameraman in tow, wanting to make a news feature on the "haunted house" and the poor, terrified orphans who live there.
Andie is similar to many of Jennifer Crusie's other heroines. Smart, self-sufficient, curvy, and in no desperate need for children of her own. She works as a teacher, but has never settled long in one place, having moved every year or so since her divorce to North. They got married after one day, and the marriage only lasted a year, before Andie bolted, as North puts it. She claims she couldn't take his neglect any longer, never seeing him because he worked sixteen-hour-days at his family's law firm. Now she is ready to move on, and marry the dependable Will, she just needs to sort out the Archer House mess, as she refuses to back down from the challenge.
North did not want to divorce Andie, and only suggested it because she seemed so unhappy. Still not over her after ten years, he has to acknowledge to himself that he sent her to Archer House to keep her in his life for a little bit longer, hoping that maybe something would happen to keep her from marrying the other guy. He's not entirely sure that Andie will stay with the kids for a whole month, as his experience is that she runs when things get tough.
Maybe This Time is first and foremost a ghost story, inspired by Henry James' classic The Turn of the Screw. Anyone reading it hoping for a fun and light-hearted romance like many of Crusie's other books (which I tend to adore) will be disappointed, as the romance is decidedly secondary to the suspense and ghost plot here. The kids have lived in their creepy house for a long time, surrounded by things that grown-ups don't believe in. They are not happy and cheerful and well-adjusted, having been orphaned, neglected and left to fend for themselves for far too long. There are actual ghosts in the story, and the majority of them are not nice. It's a good book, but in a different tone from most of Crusie's previous work, and I think I prefer her more easy-going romances to this one.
North Archer is responsible for two young children. His cousin died two years ago, and the kids were orphaned. Once their aunt died, the kids were left alone in a huge mansion in the countryside in Ohio, with only nannies and an elderly housekeeper to take care of them. The third nanny just quit, claiming the house is haunted. She tried to take the children away from the house, but the little girl had a near-psychotic break and the boy was expelled from boarding school for setting fires. He needs someone sensible, stubborn and capable to sort out the children, get their grades up to scratch, and convince them to move in with him. Who better than his ex-wife Andie, who could always sort out anything? That this will take her away from her fiancee for an extended period of time is really just a bonus.
As North offers her ten thousand dollars to spend a month in the old house, Andie really doesn't feel she can refuse. She starts to wonder if she shouldn't have asked for more money once she sees the house and meets the inhabitants, though. The house is an old Victorian mansion, moved brick by brick from England, with furniture and brickabrack included. The driveway is falling apart, the garden is overgrown. The housekeeper is absolutely ancient, has lived there for most of her life, clearly drinks too much and refuses to listen to a thing Andie says until she hears the name Archer, forcing Andie to pretend she is still married to North. Carter, the little boy, barely speaks. Alice, a tiny, scrawny waif is more like a wild creature than a girl, and carries a mouldy, creepy doll with her everywhere. If Andie tries to make her do anything she doesn't want to, she screams hysterically at the top of her lungs.
While Andie finds Archer House unnerving and creepy, she is a practical and educated woman, and refuses to believe in any ghost nonsense. Even when she keeps seeing things out of the corner of her eye, Alice is clearly talking to someone in her room at night, when the rocking chair by Alice's bed seemingly rocks by itself and she keeps hearing voices as she drifts off to sleep at night. She also can't stop thinking about North all the time, and being in the run-down house means she keeps having to contact him for help. Then, just as she seems to be making progress, an unscrupulous reporter arrives on the doorstep with her ex-brother-in-law and a cameraman in tow, wanting to make a news feature on the "haunted house" and the poor, terrified orphans who live there.
Andie is similar to many of Jennifer Crusie's other heroines. Smart, self-sufficient, curvy, and in no desperate need for children of her own. She works as a teacher, but has never settled long in one place, having moved every year or so since her divorce to North. They got married after one day, and the marriage only lasted a year, before Andie bolted, as North puts it. She claims she couldn't take his neglect any longer, never seeing him because he worked sixteen-hour-days at his family's law firm. Now she is ready to move on, and marry the dependable Will, she just needs to sort out the Archer House mess, as she refuses to back down from the challenge.
North did not want to divorce Andie, and only suggested it because she seemed so unhappy. Still not over her after ten years, he has to acknowledge to himself that he sent her to Archer House to keep her in his life for a little bit longer, hoping that maybe something would happen to keep her from marrying the other guy. He's not entirely sure that Andie will stay with the kids for a whole month, as his experience is that she runs when things get tough.
Maybe This Time is first and foremost a ghost story, inspired by Henry James' classic The Turn of the Screw. Anyone reading it hoping for a fun and light-hearted romance like many of Crusie's other books (which I tend to adore) will be disappointed, as the romance is decidedly secondary to the suspense and ghost plot here. The kids have lived in their creepy house for a long time, surrounded by things that grown-ups don't believe in. They are not happy and cheerful and well-adjusted, having been orphaned, neglected and left to fend for themselves for far too long. There are actual ghosts in the story, and the majority of them are not nice. It's a good book, but in a different tone from most of Crusie's previous work, and I think I prefer her more easy-going romances to this one.
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It started out very slow, and the romance element wasn’t as strong as I would have liked. It was okay,
I had fun reading this one. I was really interested in the ghosts that were haunting the castle "in the wilds of Southern Ohio." There was mention that the castle wasn't far from Cincinnati, which made me wonder if Loveland Castle might have been an inspiration for the setting of the story, even though the setting is fictional. Being that Crusie lives near Cincinnati, it is possible she might know about the castle. Anyway, I thought it was an interesting story and I didn't want to put it down.
This novel by Crusie is quite different from her others (that I've read) mainly because for the first half, our male and female protagonists hardly have any contact at all, and that little contact is confined to brief and phony phone calls. As such, it took awhile to get into it, but once North arrived at the house, the pace picked up.
I have several bad habits when it comes to books and reading. Owning and reading this fun novel actually encompasses two of my vices. First of all, I am a true believer in the idea that you can never have enough books. So even though I had three paperbacks and many Kindle books with me as I drove from Lititz, PA to Staunton, VA, I was not sure that I could survive. I was going to be on my own for two days. What if I finished everything?
Which brings me to the second vice. I can't pass a bookstore without going in to just look around. On my journey, I stopped at a mall in Martinsburg, WV. The mall had a Books-a-Million store. I don't have easy access to one of those anymore. This was a chance to see if these stores had changed.
So the only surprise to this adventure was I managed to leave the bookstore with only one book.
This romance was supposed to be my backup to all the other books I had with me. I had plenty to read and I am in the middle of several books. I could use my time to finish one of the other books I had schlepped on my trip. But of course, when I got to Staunton and was resting in my room, this book is what I started reading.
I had a good time with Andie, North, Alice and Carter. Their story was so full of holes that I couldn't think too much about what was happening. If I had the whole thing would have collapsed. In the meantime, I relaxed, laughed and forgot all about all the drama that had taken me to Staunton this week. Which is exactly what I needed.
If you haven't read Crusie before, I would suggest you start with Faking It or Welcome to Temptation. However, if you have read Crusie before and haven't read this, suspend your disbelief and sit down to a laugh out loud romance.
In the meantime, does anyone know of a 12 step program for recovering bibliophiles?
Which brings me to the second vice. I can't pass a bookstore without going in to just look around. On my journey, I stopped at a mall in Martinsburg, WV. The mall had a Books-a-Million store. I don't have easy access to one of those anymore. This was a chance to see if these stores had changed.
So the only surprise to this adventure was I managed to leave the bookstore with only one book.
This romance was supposed to be my backup to all the other books I had with me. I had plenty to read and I am in the middle of several books. I could use my time to finish one of the other books I had schlepped on my trip. But of course, when I got to Staunton and was resting in my room, this book is what I started reading.
I had a good time with Andie, North, Alice and Carter. Their story was so full of holes that I couldn't think too much about what was happening. If I had the whole thing would have collapsed. In the meantime, I relaxed, laughed and forgot all about all the drama that had taken me to Staunton this week. Which is exactly what I needed.
If you haven't read Crusie before, I would suggest you start with Faking It or Welcome to Temptation. However, if you have read Crusie before and haven't read this, suspend your disbelief and sit down to a laugh out loud romance.
In the meantime, does anyone know of a 12 step program for recovering bibliophiles?
A really fun read! It had it's darker moments (there's ghosts and gaslighting!), but it also has some truly laugh out loud moments (the first seance is hilarious). Andie and North have some amazingly hot chemistry, and the kids are almost cool enough to make me ovulate. The minor characters- Flo, Southie, Lydia, Isolde, Denis, etc are a great addition. I'm kind of hoping there's a sequel! I've read a few books by Crusie back in my chick lit days, and she's an author I obviously need to continue with.
I picked it up at 7pm last night,and finished it this morning. This has the usual excellent Crusie elements of great dialog, humor, flawed but worthwhile characters, a romance, and suspense. In this case, she's riffing off of _Turn of the Screw_, and manages to be scary, too.
Andie goes to take care of two orphaned children living in a huge house in rural southern Ohio at the request of their guardian, her ex-husband, North Archer. Things are far from normal at the house and the kids are uncommunicative and their only good relationship is with each other. Andie sets to work on their education and on getting them to open up to her. Things are complicated by the fact that she starts seeing ghosts. The house is descended upon by a huge cast of characters as Andie tries to figure out how to get rid of the ghosts and deal with her residual feelings for North.
I didn't feel like this is one of Crusie's best efforts. Her supporting characters are my favorites of any of the romance authors I read. I felt like we didn't see enough of them in this book. And while there were some funny moments, this book didn't make me laugh out loud nearly as much as some of her others. Overall, a fairly average novel from Crusie.
I didn't feel like this is one of Crusie's best efforts. Her supporting characters are my favorites of any of the romance authors I read. I felt like we didn't see enough of them in this book. And while there were some funny moments, this book didn't make me laugh out loud nearly as much as some of her others. Overall, a fairly average novel from Crusie.
It’s Jennifer Crusie writing The Turn of The Screw. Yes, yes, and HELLS YES. The ghosts, the Archers, the kids— all of this was the best. I’m so glad this exists. I needed a Crusie ghost story.
“Okay, look, Sparky, you gotta lose that anger or you’re out of here. Ghosts’ll grab onto that emotion like it was a porterhouse with a side of cheese fries. We want to talk to them, not feed them.”