Title: Maybe This Time
Author: Jennifer Crusie
Genre: Contemporary (paranormal) romance
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: Andie had meant to finally cut ties with her ex, but somehow she ends up agreeing to do him a favor by looking in on two orphans he's accidentally inherited. But when she gets to the seriously creepy house, she discovers that the ghost stories used to frighten off all the previous nannies might just be real.
Thoughts: This is yet another Crusie charmer. There are certainly some patterns that emerge, if you've read enough of them. That isn't a flaw--the plots and personalities vary enough not to be monotonous, and if you liked one, you'll probably like the others, too. Consistency is not at all a bad thing.
Once again, we have a fairly smart and definitely spunky heroine, who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to charge after it, but isn't always quite sure what path will get her there. She figures it out without looking like an idiot. The leading man is an older brother as usual, and his interactions with his own family round him out nicely. He comes with an overbearing mother (who in this particular case is somewhat more redeemable than some of the others). There's the spunky mystic to give advice and the ice queen to get comeuppance. Mercifully, these kids, like most of Crusie's, have actual personalities. They're a little precious, but they're not just plot moppets.
Like most Crusie books, it's the snappy banter and the delightful minor characters that carry the book along. Andie is charmingly snarky, and her encounters with a host of strange folk ranging from a morose ghost debunker who only wants to see a real ghost to the medium with her Ponzi-scheme-deploying spirit guide make for wildly entertaining reading. Andie and North have excellent chemistry, and a convincingly screwed up past that makes the plot make sense--both that they could not stay together back then but that they might be able to make it work now.
Really, what keeps this from getting a five is that there are some plot issues that, while they did not really dim my enjoyment of the book, don't really make sense. Apparently, the longer you're dead, the more likely you are to be evil and insane. This isn't applied evenly, however--the really old ghosts are soulless nightmares, but some of the recent ghosts are told that they must leave immediately while others are allowed to stay. There are temperament differences between them, but basically it boils down to ghosts we don't like need to leave before they lose their souls, but no one's particularly concerned about the ghosts we like. It doesn't really make a lot of sense.
Other things that, if they were explained, it was too brief--this story clearly takes place in September/October. How can a high school English teacher possibly be gallivanting around as a live-in nanny half a state from her home and not lose her job? Why did North think it was ok to leave two small children with a nineteen year old? And what was up with the valet ghost--half the time he appears to be the ghost of a servant and half the time, he appears to be the ghost of the master. I can't help but think that he started as one and a draft or two in was changed incompletely to the other. There are implications to the relationship between him and the governess that never really jell as a result. And since it's unclear how trying to affect their graves would hurt them when they're tied to the house, the creepy descriptions of the deaths of previous house owners don't make a lot of sense, either.
So there are some fridge-logic issues here. But despite that, it's still a funny, charming love story with a deeply satisfying (if not entirely logical) ending. More than worth your time.
Author: Jennifer Crusie
Genre: Contemporary (paranormal) romance
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: Andie had meant to finally cut ties with her ex, but somehow she ends up agreeing to do him a favor by looking in on two orphans he's accidentally inherited. But when she gets to the seriously creepy house, she discovers that the ghost stories used to frighten off all the previous nannies might just be real.
Thoughts: This is yet another Crusie charmer. There are certainly some patterns that emerge, if you've read enough of them. That isn't a flaw--the plots and personalities vary enough not to be monotonous, and if you liked one, you'll probably like the others, too. Consistency is not at all a bad thing.
Once again, we have a fairly smart and definitely spunky heroine, who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to charge after it, but isn't always quite sure what path will get her there. She figures it out without looking like an idiot. The leading man is an older brother as usual, and his interactions with his own family round him out nicely. He comes with an overbearing mother (who in this particular case is somewhat more redeemable than some of the others). There's the spunky mystic to give advice and the ice queen to get comeuppance. Mercifully, these kids, like most of Crusie's, have actual personalities. They're a little precious, but they're not just plot moppets.
Like most Crusie books, it's the snappy banter and the delightful minor characters that carry the book along. Andie is charmingly snarky, and her encounters with a host of strange folk ranging from a morose ghost debunker who only wants to see a real ghost to the medium with her Ponzi-scheme-deploying spirit guide make for wildly entertaining reading. Andie and North have excellent chemistry, and a convincingly screwed up past that makes the plot make sense--both that they could not stay together back then but that they might be able to make it work now.
Really, what keeps this from getting a five is that there are some plot issues that, while they did not really dim my enjoyment of the book, don't really make sense. Apparently, the longer you're dead, the more likely you are to be evil and insane. This isn't applied evenly, however--the really old ghosts are soulless nightmares, but some of the recent ghosts are told that they must leave immediately while others are allowed to stay. There are temperament differences between them, but basically it boils down to ghosts we don't like need to leave before they lose their souls, but no one's particularly concerned about the ghosts we like. It doesn't really make a lot of sense.
Other things that, if they were explained, it was too brief--this story clearly takes place in September/October. How can a high school English teacher possibly be gallivanting around as a live-in nanny half a state from her home and not lose her job? Why did North think it was ok to leave two small children with a nineteen year old? And what was up with the valet ghost--half the time he appears to be the ghost of a servant and half the time, he appears to be the ghost of the master. I can't help but think that he started as one and a draft or two in was changed incompletely to the other. There are implications to the relationship between him and the governess that never really jell as a result. And since it's unclear how trying to affect their graves would hurt them when they're tied to the house, the creepy descriptions of the deaths of previous house owners don't make a lot of sense, either.
So there are some fridge-logic issues here. But despite that, it's still a funny, charming love story with a deeply satisfying (if not entirely logical) ending. More than worth your time.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-16 11:23 am (UTC)From:Also, this sounds like a book I should read. A reunion story and an older brother? Sign me up.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-17 03:20 pm (UTC)From:I've drastically oversimplified the ghost mechanics and didn't watch Supernatural, so I can't say how much they compare. But you probably would like this one.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-16 11:25 am (UTC)From: