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Title: Manhunting
Author: Jennifer Crusie
Genre: Contemporary romance
Thingummies: 4.5
Synopsis: Kate, an ambitious businesswoman, goes on vacation to a fancy golf resort to find herself an ambitious man. But her plans fall apart when she finds herself falling for the laid back groundskeeper.
Thoughts: Crusie is hands-down my favorite romance author. This is her first book, and it's pretty straightforward--there are no spies, terrorists, Navy SEALS, disinherited heiresses, demons, amnesia, unwanted pregnancies, time-traveling Vikings, or any of the other things most romances include to provide a plot. Just a man and a woman who don't think they are going to fall in love, until they do.
It's obvious where it's going from a few pages in--it's a romance. But getting there is all of the fun, in this case. The dialogue crackles, the minor characters are endearing, and everything zips along. No one is mind-blowingly stupid, which is refreshing. Both of the leads are looking for the wrong thing to make them happy and have to learn better--but their reasons for looking for the wrong thing are logical and sound and would probably be true for someone else. They just need to find their own way, is all.
Kate goes on a series of dates that are somewhat ridiculous--but increasingly hilarious. For something this light, I'm willing to waive realism in the name of entertainment.
I'm not claiming it's a perfect book. The romance conventions of falling in love for life with someone over the course of a week are just as ridiculous as ever. The brother's fiance is a complete caricature and quite a bit of the resolution is fairly unrealistic. It's not going to yank your heartstrings or make you think. And poor Jake's final career choice looked like a fine one when this was written in 1997 and now looks rather ill-fated. But if you pick up this kind of book with expectations such that these flaws will leave you disappointed, you're kinda looking at the wrong genre. This book sets out to make you like two characters, root for them to end up together, celebrate when they do, and laugh along the way. It succeeds winningly at every step.
Author: Jennifer Crusie
Genre: Contemporary romance
Thingummies: 4.5
Synopsis: Kate, an ambitious businesswoman, goes on vacation to a fancy golf resort to find herself an ambitious man. But her plans fall apart when she finds herself falling for the laid back groundskeeper.
Thoughts: Crusie is hands-down my favorite romance author. This is her first book, and it's pretty straightforward--there are no spies, terrorists, Navy SEALS, disinherited heiresses, demons, amnesia, unwanted pregnancies, time-traveling Vikings, or any of the other things most romances include to provide a plot. Just a man and a woman who don't think they are going to fall in love, until they do.
It's obvious where it's going from a few pages in--it's a romance. But getting there is all of the fun, in this case. The dialogue crackles, the minor characters are endearing, and everything zips along. No one is mind-blowingly stupid, which is refreshing. Both of the leads are looking for the wrong thing to make them happy and have to learn better--but their reasons for looking for the wrong thing are logical and sound and would probably be true for someone else. They just need to find their own way, is all.
Kate goes on a series of dates that are somewhat ridiculous--but increasingly hilarious. For something this light, I'm willing to waive realism in the name of entertainment.
I'm not claiming it's a perfect book. The romance conventions of falling in love for life with someone over the course of a week are just as ridiculous as ever. The brother's fiance is a complete caricature and quite a bit of the resolution is fairly unrealistic. It's not going to yank your heartstrings or make you think. And poor Jake's final career choice looked like a fine one when this was written in 1997 and now looks rather ill-fated. But if you pick up this kind of book with expectations such that these flaws will leave you disappointed, you're kinda looking at the wrong genre. This book sets out to make you like two characters, root for them to end up together, celebrate when they do, and laugh along the way. It succeeds winningly at every step.
