skygiants | (no subject)

Before my last big work trip, I got out a Jennifer Cruise four-in-one bundle from the library, because the library had it in e-book and I figured I would need something escapist to read on my travel adventures.

...that was a much simpler time, when I really believed my biggest stressor this fall was going to be too many transcontinental flights, but we'll let this pass for now. Anyway! Jennifer Crusie, her earliest endeavors. This four-pack includes:

Getting Rid of Bradley: in which a woman who has finally ended her relationship with her ex-husband, Terrible Controlling Bradley, finds out he might be involved in Shady Dealings by virtue of accidentally attacking the policeman investigating the aforementioned Shady Dealings. The policeman then moves into her house as a bodyguard and decides he loves a.) her, b.) domesticity, c.) her dogs, in approximately that order. Eventually they adopt more dogs. It's quite cute.

Strange Bedpersons: in which a liberal teacher becomes the fake fiancee of her conservative lawyer love interest, with a side plot about our heroine Tess taking on a neoconservative author who's written a book making fun of the activist fairy tale that inspired her as a kid. I was kind of :/ about this one even before political happenings in the US made it completely impossible for me to find Conservative Lawyer Nick in ANY WAY appealing as a love interest for Tess. On the other hand, all the scenes in which Nick attempts to do something that he thinks he is helpful that in fact is wildly contrary to Tess' interests or style while his uber-efficient secretary is like 'this is a bad idea, she won't like this, LET ME JUST DO SOMETHING FOR HER THAT SHE'LL LIKE' gave me a great alternate ship. Has anyone written the billionaire romance novel in which the billionaire's uber-efficient secretary who is effectively running the romance for him ends up stealing the heroine out from under his nose? Someone should write that billionaire romance novel.

What the Lady Wants: a love letter to noir, in which a femme fatale hires a PI to investigate her uncle's murder!! ... except she's secretly pretty sure that he wasn't actually murdered, she just wants to find a missing document, and the PI is actually just a real estate agent who's taken a year off to play PI on a bet. Also, gangsters. The noir trappings in this one are fun even if I did not like the hero at all; I think Jennifer Crusie was going for 'fun forties banter' but he tipped a little too far over into asshole early on for me and never quite pulled himself out enough.

Charlie All Night: in which love and hijinks among the oddballs who work at a local radio station! So of course I was going to like this one. Our heroine is a producer; our hero is the new late-night radio host who is secretly only there to investigate crimes at the station and does not actually want to be famous or successful at all, but it is TOO LATE, curse his velvety chocolate voice! Also notable for the fact that a.) it includes an actual gay character and b.) notably in a collection that also includes Getting Rid of Bradley and What the Lady Wants (theft! gangsters! murder!), the crime in this book just turns out to be that the sweet hippie late-late-night host has been giving pot away to nice old ladies recovering from cancer, a crime for which he is willing to go to jail on principle! Way to go, sweet hippie late-late-night host.

Over the course of reading these four books -- plus Agnes and the Hitman, which I also read, on which more anon -- I have learned that Jennifer Crusie really likes the following tropes in her romance:

- evil ex-boyfriends
- adorable failboat dogs
- murder
- fake dating
- screwball hijinks
- surprise bodyguarding
- weird but lovable gangster uncles
- women who have a Personal and Easily Identifiable Style (this one stood out to me just because, while I think I have a style, it encompasses a WIDE ARRAY of types and shapes of garments, so 'only ever wears twirly sundresses, looks super notable in a fitted skirt!' stood out to me because .. I wear both ......)
- dudes who have emphatically zero interest in long-term romantic commitment with anyone on page one, and have decided they're definitely going to marry the heroine by page one hundred (well before the heroine has decided she has any interested in marrying them back)

And for the record, yes, I know, I have it on everyone's authority that Faking It and Bet Me are the best ones, I have Bet Me out from the library now (see: stressors, escapism, YOU ALL KNOW WHAT'S UP), but at the time I needed the maximum amount of Jennifer Crusie for the minimum amount of hassle. It was a very long plane ride.

Crossposts: http://bookelfe.livejournal.com/457195.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

jadelennox

Yes, and this means you are headed toward the BEST ONES.

From:

skygiants

Right? Much better than starting with the top-tier and being constantly disappointed afterwards!

From:

bookblather

I am such a huge fan of What the Lady Wants and Agnes and the Hitman for exactly the weird but lovable gangster uncles reason that you mentioned. Also fake dating has been my kryptonite for a while, so maybe it's not a huge surprise that I fell so hard for Crusie's writing...

Anyway, regarding the styles, wait 'til you get to Min's shoes. I think Bet Me is somewhat notable for not having an adorable failboat dog but, in fact, an adorable failboat cat of death.

From:

skygiants

I am in the middle of Bet Me right now, and admiring all Min's shoes tremendously!

From:

sovay

Charlie All Night

That is a great title. The plot also sounds generally delightful.

From:

skygiants

MORE BOOKS SET IN BROADCASTING STATIONS. I now have a list of two!

From:

sovay

I now have a list of two!

Ask the internet? (And then tell me?)

From:

minutia_r

Well, Gordon Korman wrote Radio Fifth Grade, although that's not an actual broadcasting station. (I'm pretty sure. It's been a while since I read it.)

From:

pedanther

Can I suggest Death at Broadcasting House, written by two actual BBC Radio employees, Holt Marvell and Val Gielgud. (Holt Marvell was also a songwriter, and wrote "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "These Foolish Things".)

The official plot involves an actor getting murdered live on air during a radio play (at the exact moment his character gets killed, and he's off in a sound booth by himself, so it takes people a while to notice), but there are lots of fun diversions into showing off 1930s radio production and the eccentric people who made it possible.

From:

plinythemammaler

Human voices, Penelope Fitzgerald! Post war BBC!

From:

mme_hardy

WELCOME TO TEMPTATION is one of the best ones. Sexy as hell, and funny.

From:

skygiants

On my list for whenever I can get my hands on it!

From:

evewithanapple

Getting Rid of Bradley and Charlie All Night both sound delightful and right up my alley; the noir one sounds more eh-ish (though I do love noir!) and even without recent events complicating things, I can never abide conservative heroes whose conservative-ness is meant to be a major character trait. I didn't like it on The Good Wife (and they gave their conservative love interest my last name; THANKS, THE GOOD WIFE) and I doubt I'd like it here either.

From:

skygiants

Yeah, Getting Rid of Bradley and Charlie All Night are definitely the cream of this particular crop. But my understanding is her books only get better as they go on!

From:

alias_sqbr

I would read that romance novel.

The dating sim Mystic Messenger has a female "love interest" (whether it's romance or friendship is apparently ambiguous) who is the hard working secretary of a rich business man. The business man himself is also a love interest but she seems to be more popular :D

I haven't played Mystic Messenger myself because it makes my phone crash, but everyone I know who's played it has enjoyed it and I liked the few minutes I managed to see between crashes. Meanwhile I would read more Jennifer Crusie but her ebooks aren't available in Australia ;_;

From:

skygiants

Oh, is that what she does! I've seen screencaps/memes of Mystic Messenger popping up all over my dash but I have very little sense of the actual ... storyline ...... but I did manage to gather that one of the options might be lesbians!

I am sorry you cannot find Jennifer Crusie in Australia :O

From:

alias_sqbr

I'm a little fuzzy on the story myself past the prologue. I know you plan a party but there's also DARK SECRETS of some kind.

After writing my comment I decided to add some paper Crusie books to a Book Depository wishlist along with a bunch of other stuff it's hard to get here digitally, so things didn't turn out too badly :)

From:

china_shop

Getting Rid of Bradley is my favourite, mostly because the leading man reminded me so much of Ray Kowalski from Due South that it read like DS fic to me. (His partner even has many Fraser-like qualities.) :-)

From:

skygiants

Ha! I've never seen any DS/read DS fic, but from fandom osmosis that seems super plausible to me.

From:

rmc28

That billionaire romance novel would be fabulous.

From:

skygiants

RIGHT? You know the secretary's doing all the work in those romances anyway!

From:

kate_nepveu

I often find the murders jarring in these. Which means I cannot explain my love for AGNES AND THE HITMAN. But there you go.

From:

skygiants

There are SO MANY MURDERS in Agnes and the Hitman! But, I mean, Agnes and the Hitman is designed to be a wacky murder comedy, whereas the others are more straight-up romance, in which one does not necessarily expect quite as much murder as one turns out to have got.

From:

rachelmanija

Is Getting Rid of Bradley the one where the heroine's hair keeps mutating?

From:

skygiants

Yes! At one point it turns green.

From:

vass

Has anyone written the billionaire romance novel in which the billionaire's uber-efficient secretary who is effectively running the romance for him ends up stealing the heroine out from under his nose? Someone should write that billionaire romance novel.

Ooh. Yes please.

From:

skygiants

IDEA FREE TO A GOOD ROMANCE NOVEL WRITER

From:

dhampyresa

Has anyone written the billionaire romance novel in which the billionaire's uber-efficient secretary who is effectively running the romance for him ends up stealing the heroine out from under his nose?
I WOULD READ THAT SO HARD.

Aww, sweet hippie late-late-night host!