Category: Rated

Fake Marrieds Meme

The Cinderella Deal

Desperate for a position at a conservative college Lincoln invents a fiancee. Daisy’s life is in chaos – her plans to become an artist have hit the skids and her savings have run out.
Linc offers a way out – her back rent paid if she pretends to be engaged to him until he gets the job. Of course events conspire and to keep his new job they have to follow through and get married.
I’ve read a lot of Crusie’s books recently and while they’re all reliably enjoyable this is the first one I’ve loved.
By far the best execution of the fake marrieds meme I’ve come across so far, Crusie nails the transitions from dislike through to committed love perfectly.
I particularly loved the whole section from “my house is suddenly full of good people doing interesting things and I kind of like it” through the “looking after each other while sick” bit. So sweet and perfectly nailing what a fake marrieds story should be.

Rating: B+

Trust Me On This

Alec’s attending an academic conference to hear his aunt speak. As a federal agent he’s delighted when a most wanted con man turns up on the scene.
Dennie’s also at the conference having found out a famous academic is getting a divorce. She’s hoping to get the big interview that will advance her career.
Of course there’s a comedy of misunderstandings and Alec thinks that Dennie is in cahoots with the con man.
There’s lots of fun dialogue in this one but the con plot is woefully underdeveloped – a great con is something to be cherished – and most of the side characters are barely one-dimensional. I still don’t really get the point of including the con man’s real assistant at all since she’s barely in the book and the only important thing she does is mentioned in passing by another character.
Also the romances are incredibly perfunctory in this one. Characters meet, are attracted, briefly resist it, have sex and then are absolutely ready for the commitment of marriage to the extent to changing the rest of their lives to make it happen.

Rating: B-

Getting Rid Of Bradley

Lucy has just had her divorce come through. Moving on with her life gets complicated when a police detective turns up saying that her life is in danger from a dangerous embezzler who happens to share her ex-husband’s name.
This is a decent but slightly disappointing effort from Crusie – it’s just a bit lacking in terms of sparkling dialogue that her other books excel at.

Rating: B-