Maybe This Time
Jennifer Crusie
St. Martin’s Press
342 pages
All Andie Miller wanted to do was give back the alimony checks to her ex so she can get on with her life, it’s too bad that one look at him brings back all the good times they shared along with the bad, but he begs her for one favor, just one small tiny favor. North Archer hasn’t seen the bane of his existence in 10 years, his ex-wife Andie still stars regularly in x-rated dreams, then one day there she is sitting in his office trying to hand back his alimony checks. In the mean time North has a problem not easily solved, a problem with Andie’s name written all over it now if he can just convince her to grant him one little tiny favor. Two young orphans alone in a wreck of an old house the only family left is one far away (in more ways than one) distant cousin who happens to be their ward then in blows a wind named Andi and everything changes, can she get the kids out of the house safely, can she put herself high enough on the shelf that North won’t touch her, does she want to.
This is classic, wonderful Crusie with her trademark characters you’d find in the dictionary under the definition of quirky, her uniquely imaginative story line with solid realism with just a touch of woo woo. This plot will wow the staunchest unbeliever as the reader winds and weaves through all the mystery, mayhem and intrigue of this one family, a family with secrets and maybe not skeletons in the closet, but would you believe ghosts. Her dialogue is flowing and descriptive at times and at others to the point and matter of fact. Her characters are a group of the most unlikely people to be found under one roof that you will ever have the pleasure of meeting, from the I’m too sexy for my shirt ex-brother in law, to the will sleep with anyone to get ahead TV reporter, to the open minded hippie in her heart mom (of Andie) and the never a hair out of place mom (of North). Then we have the happy couple, well maybe not so happy, but boy do we want them to be, these are one of those couples who you know want to be together, but will beat their heads together, against a wall or anywhere else to avoid having to admit they were wrong, but at the same time they really want to be together and we readers will feel their struggle, struggle with them and hope for the best. The romance is one of my very favorite types, that of second chances. The love scenes are inventive, sensual and we are kept enough outside the door that we have to imagine the scene.
So if you crave the next Crusie, why wait. If you can’t get your fill of crazy characters, you only have to go as far as your nearest bookseller, if you yearn for that all elusive happy ever after, come get it inside the pages of Jennifer Crusie’s latest novel “Maybe This Time”, you won’t be sorry you did.
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