Cannonball Read 15

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“If you wanted a thin daughter, you should not have married a man whose female ancestors carried cows home from the pasture.”

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

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A relationship that starts with a bet is a really, really hard trick to pull off.  Crusie manages to pull off a non-problematic bet trope, which would have surprised me now, and certainly surprises me with a book published in 2004, or the Decade of Problematic Nonsense With The Added Indignity Of Low Rise Jeans. Plot: Calvin is a small business owner that knows that the only way a small business succeeds is keeping his clients happy. So when one of his client challenges him […]

“Hi, I’m Phin Tucker, and I’m inside you. I know how these things slip your mind.”

Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie

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One of my goals for 2022 has been to go back to some of my old romance favourites and see if they’re still good after I’ve read more than a handful other romance novels. Crusie is known for writing punchy dialogue, ridiculous plots, and unabashedly feminist heroines. Ten years after publication (it was published in 2000, which was 10 years ago, fight me) it mostly still holds up. Plot: Sophie Dempsey comes from a family of crooks, but she’s worked hard to be the one […]

The dog on the cover doesn’t really feature much in the story

Trust Me on This by Jennifer Crusie

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3.5 stars Official book description: Dennie Banks is an investigative reporter chasing down the biggest story of her career. Alec Prentice is a government agent working undercover to catch an elusive grifter. When they meet by accident, it’s a case of mistaken identities at first sight. What they don’t mistake is the instant attraction they have for each other, an attraction they’ll do everything in their power to resist—because Dennie thinks that Alec is running interference for her interview subject, and Alec suspects that Dennie […]

A fun, but forgettable detective romp

What the Lady Wants by Jennifer Crusie

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From Goodreads: Mitch Peabody was learning pretty fast that the life of a private detective was nothing like the movies. He’d envisioned a world of tough-talking detectives and smart-mouthed, stunning dames. Instead he saw case after case of cheating husbands, suspicious wives and unsuspecting mistresses until she walked through the door. Right down to her stilettos, Mae Sullivan was a knockout with a lethal body–and a lethal family to go with it.  There was something not quite on the up-and-up about her, but she came […]

A Great Book for a Bad Week

Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

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Last week was terrible for the PTA I run.  The event coordinator for one of our biggest fundraisers of the year quit, and the event coordinator for the annual talent show also quit.  By Friday, I was ready to curl up on the coach with a bottle of rosé and a book, so I drove over to the library and hit the romance section hard.  My first selection — and the novel I’m reviewing here — was called Agnes and the Hitman. This book was […]

The spinster, the rake and the chicken marsala

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

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This is the story of Min and Cal, a contemporary romance that has a lot of parallels to historical romance, in my mind.  It’s the spinster bluestoking and the rake with a heart of gold, updated to current models. First we have Minerva Dobbs – she’s single and doesn’t have much luck with relationships.  I don’t know if she’s a virgin, that point isn’t mentioned, but overall she doesn’t have much experience.  She’s been dumped by her latest boyfriend and is reluctant to try again, […]



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