Customer Reviews

Charlie All Night

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Plot Synopsis: Dumped by her boyfriend and dropped from WBBB's prime time, radio producer Allie McGuffey had nowhere to go but up. She planned to make temporary DJ Charlie Tenniel a household name -- despite his objections. Footloose Charlie shunned fame. He wanted to kick back, play good tunes, and make love to Allie -- despite her objections.

Throw in a little mystery, a lot of meddling townspeople, a little work sabotage ... and Allie and Charlie are hooked.

When you read older works by many authors, you can clearly see their development as authors -- their early works pale in comparison to their newer stuff. Crusie is an exception. Her older titles are delightful, full of sparkling wit and wonderful characters.

"Charlie All Night" contains all the great Crusie elements -- two sensational characters drawn together despite themselves, great witty banter, and marvelous and -original- sensual writing. Throw in some meddling secondary characters and a cute puppy who only drinks his milk to Billy Joel, and you have a hoot of a story.

Loved it! Allie's a radio producer, Charlie is her new DJ. She's determined to make him a star and he's determined to keep a low profile. It doesn't help anything that they are living together (as platonic roommates, which lasts for about 10 minutes) after the first chapter. The interaction between the two main characters is witty and funny; the subplots are not at all rote; and unlike many category romances, there is a large-ish supporting cast who adds to the mayhem. And kudos to Jennifer for including a gay character--the first in a category romance that I've seen.

When her ex-boyfriend hires his girlfriend to produce his morning radio show (taking Allie McGuffey's job), Allie decides to pick someone up at the bar. She needs a fling to get Mark's memory out of her system. But she picks Charlie--the man who is just starting a late-night show she's going to be producing and a man who flees from even the first hint of success. Sure the sex might be great, but Allie has big dreams--and Charlie is the kind of man who hates just about everything she stands for.

Chemistry only carries them so far. But when Charlie's show starts to take off, Allie redoubles her efforts to make him a star. Charlie has other plans--and other goals. He's been hired to investigate rumors that there's something strange going on at the radio station. Once he figures out the truth, he's so gone. Even if he will miss Allie.

Author Jennifer Crusie broke into the category romance market a decade ago and single-handedly created a demand for funny romance books--a demand that publishers have tried and mostly failed to capitalize on. CHARLIE ALL NIGHT shows both the appeal of Crusie's writing, and why so few people have been able to follow her example. Despite its short length (CHARLIE was originally written for the Harlequin Temptation line), the book manages to combine sexual attraction, a rejection of a relationship based wholly on sex, a hint of mystery, some rather sophisticated thinking on law and justice, a strong argument in favor of drug decriminalization, and a gay secondary character (remember, CHARLIE was originally published in 1996--this was not done back then).

Crusie stirs these elements together into a well integrated story, and writes well enough that I had to tear myself away from the book to get to bed last night. CHARLIE ALL NIGHT is a great example of why Crusie became such a star--and definitely highly recommended.

Dumped by her boyfriend Mark, who she turned into a star radio personality, Allie finds herself without a job when Mark demands that his new and inexperienced girlfriend to be his producer. Allie celebrates her misfortune by going out to a club where she runs into Mark and decides to pick up on a guy. In walks sexy Charlie Tenniel, the laid back late night DJ. The two enter into a steamy "one night at a time" stand until a bet halts them.

Her bosses throw her a bone and offer the late shift with Charlie. But Charlie shuns fame and prosperity at every turn - what's a producer to do? As she makes his show more and more popular, Charlie becomes more difficult. What Allie does not realize is that Charlie is not a DJ - he is actually investigating some shady drug related happenings at the station, and has every intention of leaving his radio program (and Allie) behind. Or will he?

This is vintage Crusie re-packaged a decade later. But unlike so many authors that re-release material, Crusie's is not dated, and her writing style maintains a fresh voice.

I picked this up at the Library and what a find. This is a fun little (250 page) book about Charlie Tenniel who comes to a small town to solve a mystery undercover as a Radio DJ. Allie McGuffey is looking for a one-night stand and finds much more. I love Jennifer Cruisie book and will keep reading everything she rights. Take a chance on this book and also buy 'Welcome to Temptation," 'Faking it' and her newest 'Bet Me'.

Although the narative was cute and at times sharp, the dialogue during the intamacy was laughable. I went from, "Wow that's hot!" to "Why would he say that?" or "Who says somthing like that??"

You're killing me Crusie...you go from smoking hot to definately not during the love scenes.

All in all cute book, but the dialogue really threw me off.

I agree with the previous reviewer - it makes me crazy to buy a book I think is new by a favorite author and find it is an old one. I don't mind so much that the publisher is reprinting these books; someone who is new to these authors (Nora Roberts is a good example) may want to buy older books. However I am REALLY disappointed in Amazon for not listing the old copyright date, with the new; as it is listed in the book. I almost got stuck with this book. I hope Amazon reads these reviews and changes how they list reprints. Thank you to the reviewer who saved me from paying for a book I had already read - a long time ago. As a note, I've noticed that Nora Roberts has started putting an emblem on her books that are REALLY new (NR). Also, please don't misinterprete this as a bad review for Jennifer Crusie. I LOVE her books, all of them. So if you haven't read this one, go ahead it is pretty good. My favorites are Welcome to Temptation and Bet Me.

I am one of those people who can't sleep on a plane no matter what. How sad for me that I'm on so many red-eye flights! Of course, I'm not really all that coherent either, so I can't bring along anything too challenging to read. On a recent flight, I packed Jennifer Crusie's Charlie All Night. It sounded perfect!

The novel itself is a light romantic comedy about a DJ on the late-night shift and his female producer. There are all sorts of subplots, but I can't muster the enthusiasm to write a synopsis. I've enjoyed Crusie's work in the past, but this particular story started out dumb, moved on to contrived, and traveled downhill from there. The plot got more and more silly--not funny, silly--and the behavior of the characters was simply unbelievable. Oh, I finished the book, but not even the ending was all that satisfying. As you can see, I was pretty "meh" about the whole experience. Unhappy skies for me!

I wonder if JC can do a sequel to this book...I wanna see what happens to Grady and of course Allie and Charlie! All-in-all, a good book. Can't wait for another!

After reading Welcome to Temptation, I was a huge Jennifer Crusie fan. I gobbled up everything that she had written earlier - Crazy For You and Tell Me Lies were fabulous! So, my expectations were high when I read Charlie All Night. I was disappointed. The writing is solid and the romance is good, but overall it doesn't have that Crusie sparkle that I've come to expect.