Recommended by: Well, I think everyone’s either reading it now or just finished. Seems this book has been everywhere lately.
From the Back Cover: Part basset, part beagle, all Cupid . . . can a matchmaking hound fetch a new love for his owner?
For Nina Askew, turning forty means freedom -- from the ex-husband whose career always came first, from their stuffy suburban home. Freedom to have her own apartment in the city, freedom to focus on what she wants for a change. And what she wants is something her ex always vetoed -- a puppy. A bouncy puppy to cheer her up. Instead she gets . . . Fred.
Overweight, smelly and obviously suffering from some kind of doggy depression, Fred is light-years from perky. But for all his faults, he does manage to put Nina face-to-face with Alex Moore, her gorgeous, younger downstairs neighbor.
Alex looks great on paper -- a sexy, seemingly sane, surprisingly single E.R. doctor who shares Fred's abiding love for Oreos -- but a ten-year difference in age, despite his devastating smile, is too wide a gap for Nina to handle. Ignoring her insistent best friend, some interfering do-gooders and the ubiquitous Fred -- not to mention her suddenly raging hormones -- Nina thinks anyone but Alex would be a better bet for a relationship. But with every silver-haired stiff she dates, the more she suspects it's the young dog-loving doctor she wants to sit and stay!
My Thoughts: 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.
(Oh ~ and Holly. She called him “the rat bastard”. Why did that make me think of you?)
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.
Labels: Contemporary Romance, Jennifer Crusie, Okay
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Ames ~ Fred is was the draw for me to read it. It just sounded cute. Now, is your dog really a mooch or is he just spoiled?
Rosie ~ Exactly! I enjoyed the book until the last 25 pages or so. Then it was a bit of a wallbanger for me. I'd never read a book before where I thought the hero was too stupid to live. -
I'd forgotten about the dumbass things the hero did too. Isn't it funny how with some books, a year after reading it you remember only the good parts? And some others I only remember the bad parts.
Didn't you say this was your first Crusie? Well, don't worry because she's got much better heroes. Phin in Welcome to Temptation, Cal in Bet Me. Hmmm. Yummy. -
At 1:58 PM,
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At 1:59 PM,
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LOL, Zeek. Well, I may or may not get to another Crusie book until next year. I've got 42 books in my TBR and none of them are by her.
Mailyn ~ I don't think 10 years is bad, but usually anymore if the age different is more than that I most likely will stop reading it. Now, when I was younger, I bigger age difference didn't bother me...but as I get older, the smaller I want the gap in ages. -
It took me two tries to get through the beginning of Welcome to Temptation. It was so worth the confusion I felt at the beginning, because I really liked it in the end.
But I don't know why the beginning was so hard for me! LOL
Devonna-I think Max is a mooch, and I know I spoil him too. LOL But he just looks so cute and I can't deny him. -
At 7:27 PM,
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I loved Crazy For You and Bet Me the best of all Crusie books. I thought Welcome to Temptation was good, too, but I wouldn't put it as one of my faves. Faking It, too. (Partly 'cause I loved the cover of that one!)
I haven't read this one yet, and I'm not willing to buy it in hardcover--especially now after reading your review! -
Ames ~ You're a better reader than I am. If a book doesn't grab me within the first chapter, I usually give up on it. That's why I never finished Outlander.
Zeek ~ That sounds like what I would have done.
Colleen ~ This was my first Crusie and from what I hear her writing got better. This is one of those books that you either love or you don't, from what I hear. I am looking forward to reading some of her later stuff.
Oh yeah, I forgot about the hero's dumbass stuff at the end. Was it better than reading about that heroine who was a piece?
Max was hot.
Also, the couch scene with the hero and heroine was just hot.
CindyS