Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie
Publisher: Harlequin, 1996
Genre: Romance
Sub-genres: Contemporary
Rating: 3 1/2 pints of blood
There's a whole lot of orange on this cover, and it's all clashing with the pink. Who put these colours together? And why do they hate my eyes so very, very much? The rest of the cover's actually ok. The dog is a nice change from the usual heaving bosoms of romance covers, and he's an important part of the story. The type fonts are ok, the heart in the middle of "you" is a little cutesy but I suppose we have to have some form of romance novel shorthand. Really, all they had to do was not put orange and pink together. If either was a nice shade of blue, for example, I would have had very little to complain about on this cover.
Which, of course, is why you're all glad the person who cobbled this together was completely colourblind. Yeah, I'm on to you and your sadistic ways.
Ok, I have a confession to make here. I'm really fond of Jennifer Crusie's books. I love the unorthodox twists she puts on the romance standards. Her heroines are always strong women who don't need a man to come rescue them, her heroes are genuinely likeable guys who don't want to punish or change anyone, and both sides have interesting and memorable friends. Oh, and a canine sidekick. There always has to be a quirky dog. (Personally, I'm more of a cat person, but I can deal with a quirky dog, too.) This is the stuff good romances are made of.
Anyone But You is about Fred. Fred is part beagle, part basset-hound, and all manic depressive. When freshly-divorced Nina hits her fortieth birthday, she decides to get herself a puppy to cheer up her lonely apartment. Instead, she gets to the animal shelter and locks eyes with Fred. She sees something familiar in him, and upon hearing that Fred has only one day left until he's euthanized, Nina gives up all her ideas of perky and takes Fred home. She teaches him to use the fire escape to get in and out of the apartment rather than having to let him out at all hours of the night, and the two of them settle in comfortably.
In the apartment downstairs, Alex is struggling with his life. His family, dissatisfied with his choice of becoming an ER doctor, keep trying to pressure him into picking a specialization where he'd make more money. His love life's not doing so well, either, since he can't find a girl who will let a relationship simply be a relationship. They all seem to want marriage and kids, neither of which interests Alex. Then he wakes up to find a strange dog in his bedroom, staring at him soulfully. After checking his collar, Alex returns Fred to the apartment upstairs, and finds himself quite taken with Nina. She's attracted to him, too, but is bothered by the fact that he's ten years younger than she is, and so in an effort to spend time with her, Alex arranges a regular movie night. The two share a love of oreos, old movies, and Fred, and habitually wind up rescuing each other from bad dates who follow them home.
Friendship aside, Nina remains convinced that while funny, charming, intelligent, and able to set her pulse racing from across the room, Alex is too young for her to ever actually hook up with. Alex spends most of the book trying to convince her ten years isn't the huge gap she seems to think it is. All Nina's friends (and her dog) seem to think she should ignore the age thing and give Alex a chance, but all her insecurities were brought out by her recent birthday. Will Nina be able to push her hangups aside long enough to find what could be the love of her life?
Well, since this a romance novel, the answer is obviously yes. But most of the fun is in getting there, and this book definitely has a lot of fun. As is her standard, Crusie took the romance standards and stood them on her head. I liked Nina, who has realistic concerns about the effect of aging on her body and her life, but still managed to be a powerful character. She had her insecurities and her hang-ups, but she wasn't going to let anyone else tell her what to do or how to live. She ended her marriage because she was unhappy, in spite of her ex-husband and mother's warnings that at her age, she was dooming herself to live the rest of her life alone.
By the time I'd hit the 30-page mark, I was already rooting for Alex. He was likeable, smart, and had a sense of humour. The chemistry between him and Nina was great, and Crusie spent enough time exploring their friendship dynamic that it was easy to see why they would make a great couple.
Also, there was Fred. Did I mention Fred? Because he was pretty much made of awesome.
My big complaint, and the thing that brough this book down from four pints, was the length. Anyone But You is 283 pages long, and while I like short and zippy sometimes, this felt like there were pieces missing, as though the editor said "this book is great, but it's about 50 pages too long. Hack a little away from the ending, would you?" I was a little more than 200 pages into the book when Nina agreed she'd maybe give Alex a shot, and then suddenly two months had passed, and Alex was the one suffering from insecurities. His issues were all valid enough, but they were brought up and resolved so quickly that I felt like I'd really been missing something, and the entire ending was less satisfying than I would have expected from the first two thirds of the story.
Anyone But You is a fun, quick read, with some really interesting and memorable characters, but it falls a little flat for me with a too-short ending. Not Crusie's best, but still worth a read if you happen upon a copy.
Genre: Romance
Sub-genres: Contemporary
Rating: 3 1/2 pints of blood
There's a whole lot of orange on this cover, and it's all clashing with the pink. Who put these colours together? And why do they hate my eyes so very, very much? The rest of the cover's actually ok. The dog is a nice change from the usual heaving bosoms of romance covers, and he's an important part of the story. The type fonts are ok, the heart in the middle of "you" is a little cutesy but I suppose we have to have some form of romance novel shorthand. Really, all they had to do was not put orange and pink together. If either was a nice shade of blue, for example, I would have had very little to complain about on this cover.
Which, of course, is why you're all glad the person who cobbled this together was completely colourblind. Yeah, I'm on to you and your sadistic ways.
Ok, I have a confession to make here. I'm really fond of Jennifer Crusie's books. I love the unorthodox twists she puts on the romance standards. Her heroines are always strong women who don't need a man to come rescue them, her heroes are genuinely likeable guys who don't want to punish or change anyone, and both sides have interesting and memorable friends. Oh, and a canine sidekick. There always has to be a quirky dog. (Personally, I'm more of a cat person, but I can deal with a quirky dog, too.) This is the stuff good romances are made of.
Anyone But You is about Fred. Fred is part beagle, part basset-hound, and all manic depressive. When freshly-divorced Nina hits her fortieth birthday, she decides to get herself a puppy to cheer up her lonely apartment. Instead, she gets to the animal shelter and locks eyes with Fred. She sees something familiar in him, and upon hearing that Fred has only one day left until he's euthanized, Nina gives up all her ideas of perky and takes Fred home. She teaches him to use the fire escape to get in and out of the apartment rather than having to let him out at all hours of the night, and the two of them settle in comfortably.
In the apartment downstairs, Alex is struggling with his life. His family, dissatisfied with his choice of becoming an ER doctor, keep trying to pressure him into picking a specialization where he'd make more money. His love life's not doing so well, either, since he can't find a girl who will let a relationship simply be a relationship. They all seem to want marriage and kids, neither of which interests Alex. Then he wakes up to find a strange dog in his bedroom, staring at him soulfully. After checking his collar, Alex returns Fred to the apartment upstairs, and finds himself quite taken with Nina. She's attracted to him, too, but is bothered by the fact that he's ten years younger than she is, and so in an effort to spend time with her, Alex arranges a regular movie night. The two share a love of oreos, old movies, and Fred, and habitually wind up rescuing each other from bad dates who follow them home.
Friendship aside, Nina remains convinced that while funny, charming, intelligent, and able to set her pulse racing from across the room, Alex is too young for her to ever actually hook up with. Alex spends most of the book trying to convince her ten years isn't the huge gap she seems to think it is. All Nina's friends (and her dog) seem to think she should ignore the age thing and give Alex a chance, but all her insecurities were brought out by her recent birthday. Will Nina be able to push her hangups aside long enough to find what could be the love of her life?
Well, since this a romance novel, the answer is obviously yes. But most of the fun is in getting there, and this book definitely has a lot of fun. As is her standard, Crusie took the romance standards and stood them on her head. I liked Nina, who has realistic concerns about the effect of aging on her body and her life, but still managed to be a powerful character. She had her insecurities and her hang-ups, but she wasn't going to let anyone else tell her what to do or how to live. She ended her marriage because she was unhappy, in spite of her ex-husband and mother's warnings that at her age, she was dooming herself to live the rest of her life alone.
By the time I'd hit the 30-page mark, I was already rooting for Alex. He was likeable, smart, and had a sense of humour. The chemistry between him and Nina was great, and Crusie spent enough time exploring their friendship dynamic that it was easy to see why they would make a great couple.
Also, there was Fred. Did I mention Fred? Because he was pretty much made of awesome.
My big complaint, and the thing that brough this book down from four pints, was the length. Anyone But You is 283 pages long, and while I like short and zippy sometimes, this felt like there were pieces missing, as though the editor said "this book is great, but it's about 50 pages too long. Hack a little away from the ending, would you?" I was a little more than 200 pages into the book when Nina agreed she'd maybe give Alex a shot, and then suddenly two months had passed, and Alex was the one suffering from insecurities. His issues were all valid enough, but they were brought up and resolved so quickly that I felt like I'd really been missing something, and the entire ending was less satisfying than I would have expected from the first two thirds of the story.
Anyone But You is a fun, quick read, with some really interesting and memorable characters, but it falls a little flat for me with a too-short ending. Not Crusie's best, but still worth a read if you happen upon a copy.