Customer Reviews

Crazy for Love (Hqn)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Crazy for Love is a light, funny, read for the summer. Victoria Dahl brings to life the joy of finding romance in a crazy, quirky, fun way.

I had a hard time placing my feelings for this book. While I enjoyed it a lot, I was not in love with it. Sure it had some of my favorite elements: humor, hot steamy love scenes and a cute quick side romance. However there were some things that just did not gel together well enough for me.

Chloe Turner has had a rough past. She found out her fiancé did not die in a plane crash but instead faked his death, claiming her "bridezilla" attitude was the reason for his outlandish behavior. Since then she has been hounded by the media and resorted to an island with her best friend, Jenn to escape and gather her wits. What Chloe found was Max Sullivan, a hot treasure hunter, looking to untangle himself from his complicated life.
Max had a hero complex. He felt the need to help and save the people in his life. He had this real annoying way of making sure people around him never got hurt physically, emotionally or any other way. At one point, I had to wonder if this was a serious illness and why didn't the author go further into his problems. Sure, Chloe was the only one to spot his issues but once they were acknowledge, there was no resolution or outcome to it. Even when their romance continued on the mainland, Max's OCD was brushed aside as something he will eventually work out.

I enjoyed the premise of the story. I have never read a contemporary about a woman escaping the paparazzi because her fiancé claimed she was a lunatic bridezilla. The whole scenario was quite amusing. It was a great way to get the main characters to meet. The characters had an immediate chemistry but their own personal issues sometimes clouded the romance in the story. After a while, I was tired of hearing about Chloe complaining over the issues with the media and Max complaining how tired he was of taking on other people's burdens and responsibilities. I wanted to learn more about the characters and I was slightly disappointed.

Some of the more interesting story parts were between Elliot, Max's brother who went on the vacation with him, and Jenn. The nerd and the shy blonde bombshell seemed to be a perfect match. I actually wanted more time to develop their romance. Since Jenn was so shy, it took some time to see any action between them. Elliot had experience a painful divorce that had left him a little unconfident. It just felt like it was something the author added onto the bigger storyline and left hanging a bit.

Overall the story was interesting. It gave me a new take on Victoria Dahl. I would recommend Crazy for Love to contemporary fans. I plan to read more from this author in the future.

Chloe has been dragged off by her best friend Jenn to a remote island off of Virginia - for some rest and relaxation that is much deserved. A month ago, Chloe was planning her wedding to her beloved fiancé Thomas. But that abruptly ended when he went into a plane, crashed it and faked his death. Since then, the paparazzi have unfairly named Chloe the biggest Bridezilla there is and have been hounding her relentlessly.

Chloe, who is actually very nice, plain and simple and Jenn are not alone on the remote island. Their neighbors Max and his brother Elliott are also looking for some quiet time. Max is a professional diver, usually in the middle of the ocean somewhere looking for sunken treasure. His brother, a scientist recently divorced, wants to learn how to boat so Max, home on break has brought him to this location to show him the ropes. Max has a secret though. He constantly feels the need to be in control of every situation and worries about every single person around him. Which makes being a in charge of a dive team extremely stressful. When teaching Elliott how to boat, he worries about every aspect, and the Elliott's' safety the entire time.

Even with his worries, Max, who has swore off women for the past nine months, can't help but notice the very attractive Chloe. As he flirts, cautiously of course, a very tentative relationship develops. Chloe is desperate to escape the public eye and Max is panicked he is only in a relationship to "protect" Chloe. Max and Chloe both have secrets - is it too much for a simple summer fling?

Crazy for Love is such a fun and enjoyable read! Victoria Dahl knows how to write a very sexy, funny book that is the perfect summer reading. I once had a friend tell me that she thought Victoria Dahl wrote books just for me. And I have to agree - her humor makes me laugh, and her romance makes me do a dirty swoon. I was worried when I first started this book because Max could have easily reached that annoying level. When we first meet him he is worried Chloe's' campfire is too high and that she is taking diving lessons from an unknown trainer. He feels responsible for everyone he meets. I usually like my heroes to take charge and roar! Right ladies? Max is an obsessive worrywart. BUT - Victoria Dahl throws in a great twist. Chloe recognizes Max's "must be in control" behavior and totally calls him out on it. Actually, she is the first to have ever recognized it. He is astonished she actually sees the truth, but he is also absolutely relived. He no longer needs to be fake and charming. Even better, Victoria Dahl makes his weakness sexy.

I also thought Elliott and Jenn brought a lot into this story. Jenn is very nervous and awkward around men and Elliott is very unsure of himself. The two of them together, both attracted, but both very hesitant to make a move becomes a very endearing relationship.

My only problem with the book is Jenn has a secret pertaining to Chloe's embarrassing bridezilla accusation. That seemed to play out predictable and a bit foolishly. I get that Jenn wants to do everything to protect Chloe and not give up this secret that will in the end hurt her. But I think Chloe would have realized it or somehow this information would have reached Chloe in some capacity eventually. Otherwise, this really is a sizzling, fun summer read. I highly recommend.

Originally posted at: [...]

On a small island off the coast of Virginia, four troubled souls arrive seeking a refuge to lick their wounds and heal enough to face their challenges in their real world.

Victoria Dahl, with finesse and charming style, weaves the lives of two accountants, a dive supervisor on a treasure hunting ship, and a workaholic scientist together creating love stories that are breathtaking and beautiful at times and full of angst at other times. Exquisite imagery, subtle humor, and remarkable character development make Crazy For Lovesparkle with life and energy.

Max Sullivan, with his image of a fun-loving, carefree treasure hunter, has hidden his true personality for years. When Chloe sees through this guise, he finds himself struggling with his control issues that rule his actions.

To him the pretty, curvy Chloe pulsates with warmth, peace, calm and normalcy--things so far from his life. However, the paparazzi depict her as the crazy, worst bridezilla on earth. They have made her life a torment for weeks. She has declared they will not control her thoughts and action while she is on her island respite. But, the ugliness invades setting her trust issues and Max's control issues on full alert.

Chloe's protective friend Jenn lives her life being afraid of becoming like her mother who believes all men cheat. The good ones are just more discrete about it. Consequently, Jenn is shy and off-putting around men while longing to be loved. When Max's brother Elliott makes awkward overtures, Jenn is smitten but flounders in connecting with him.

Back in Richmond where the bizarre situation created by Chloe's ex-fiancé's antics started a media feeding frenzy, emotions, manipulations, and secret dealings create an atmosphere of intrigues.

However, the transporting love scenes make Crazy For Love a sizzling, satisfying story while giving the reader a glimpse of the deep emotional needs being met by soul mates that chance to meet on the beach of a little island.

PLOT: Chloe has escaped to a remote island with her best friend Jenn. Her life has been hounded by the media since her fiance faked his death and labelled her a bridezilla. On the island, Chloe meets Max and for a while, she manages to forget her troubles.

PROS: Crazy for Love is a light, easy read. I consumed the first 100 pages without even noticing it. The story moves along at a nice smooth pace.

CONS: While I liked secondary characters, Jenn and Elliot, their story took time and focus away from the main story. They deserved their own novel.

I could have wished for more dimension from Max and Chloe. Max was an anxiety ridden control freak who'd managed to hide it from everyone except Chloe. Chloe was a good person who stumbled into misfortune due to no fault of her own. There isn't much more to them.

3 STARS: Crazy for Love is a quick decent read but not a terribly exciting one.

Chloe was just a normal, average, everyday kind of girl. She was planning a wedding and everything was going relatively smoothly until her fiance's plan crashed and it was discovered later that he had planned the stunt trying to escape his Bridezilla.

Now the press wont leave Chloe alone. Everyone wants a piece of the woman who was so horrible, that her fiance would rather fake his death then spend another moment with her. Chloe doesn't deserve the criticisms, and her friend Jenn takes her to an island to escape it all.

Chloe finds a little escape, and a whole lot of heat in Max Sullivan. Max is known as an adventurer and has quite a reputation and like Chloe's, most of the worlds perceptions are false.

This was a breezy and sexy little read. Max is as quirky as Chloe is normal and they fit like two puzzle pieces. There is also a side story with Chloe's best friend, Jenn, who also finds a little romance on the island. The storyline wasn't the strongest. I can't imagine paparazzi camping out on some Joe Schmo Brides lawn so relentlessly for a stunt the Joe Schmo fiance played, but whatever. It's not a deep read, but it's fun and funny and definitely served its purpose with me.

Cherise Everhard, August 2010

Contemporaries are especially hard to write. You are confined to the "real" world and for some authors that confinement becomes a prison from which they are unable to write themselves an exit. Not so this author. By sticking close to the ridiculous reality which is modern life--tabloid news hounds, lack of privacy--a lot of funny conflicts, reasonable misconceptions arise needing solutions. Plus the entire concept of a control freak working in an uncontrollable environment brings a lot of hilarity too. Terrific chemisty and love scenes to swoon over and this is a delectible treat of a book. This author has never disappointed me with her modern day romances and has become an auto-buy for me.

This was a very refreshing change of pace for me. I'm not a big contemporary reader, but when I heard a new contemporary Victoria Dahl was released I just had to have it.

Max was so adorable. I just wanted to grab him and cuddle him. I loved the scene where he was busted by Chloe! He was such a faker. Everyone thought he was such a bad boy because he always hooked up with "bad" girls and had an adventurous life. No one ever saw how he joked and laughed and flirted his way into getting people to do what he wanted. And what did he want? Safety for everyone! He couldn't stop involving himself in dangerous situations because he felt responsible for everyone's safety. The facts about danger that he knew were hilarious. Especially the one about sand tunnels. I thought it was cute, but sad that he was so afraid to be a father because he knew he'd be the worst type of freak with his kid.

I'm so glad that Chloe was so accepting of Max. Yeah, she kept calling him a freak, but she thought it was cute too. When we first meet Chloe, we learn about the recent scandal, but she seems really together about it. I'm glad that we got to see her vulnerability about the situation later in the book. Being stalked like that would give anyone issues. I don't blame her for wanting to pretend she was normal. What a horrible situation to find yourself in, especially when none of it was your fault. I felt so bad for her when she started to analyze her previous actions because of her reputation.

Even though I could see Chloe's side, I could also see Max's side. I know that was a nightmare to him when he finally thought he had escaped his bad habits. I really appreciated getting a hard look at his feelings on the issue. Even though some of them were hard to take I'm glad we got to see them. I could really appreciate what a vicious cycle he was part of. The best part was Chloe realizing exactly what role she started playing in his life the minute he found out about her. I loved the conflict she had about wanting to be that girl he helped and hating it too. I was so glad the situation turned out how it did.

I am not usually a fan of books that take place in a short amount of time. I don't enjoy watching them fall into bed quickly. Having said that, I have to admit that I was totally sold on it with this book. I felt that the time line was perfect and the feelings following that time line didn't outpace it.

I liked the little side relationship we got to see. I was really nervous about the hints we were getting about Jenn. I wasn't disappointed with how it turned out, but I've got to admit Jenn was a piece of work. The scene where Jenn bursts into tears - It was so horrifying, but so hilarious! It was like watching a train wreck!

If you're looking for something fun, but still complicated, I recommend picking up this book.

*One last thing: I really preferred the covers on this author's other contemporaries. I always recognized her work, the covers were distinctive. This cover was a bit of a shock to me, and I'm still not sure it I like it.*

Chloe is experiencing a much unwanted fifteen minutes of fame. She is being ruthlessly pursued by the paparazzi, not because she is pop-tart-of-the-month or the latest hot mess of an actress. No, she is America's most famous bridezilla , or at least that is how the media is portraying her. While she was planning her dream wedding, her fiancé faked his own death in an effort to avoid marrying her. She's basically just the girl next door, an average low key kind of girl but that's not newsworthy and now her life is a disaster and is being played out on gossip blogs and the nightly news. Chloe's ex-fiancé is being charged with fraud and before she has to face court proceedings, she and her best friend Jenn escape for a brief vacation on a little island where they meet Max and his brother Elliott.

Max is a treasure hunter by trade and he has a few issues. He feels responsible for the safety and well being of everyone around him. He's not just protective, he is compulsive to the point that is it disruptive to his well being and happiness. His need to care for others makes him very attractive to needy women with complicated lives and his love life has been a succession of one bad, unsatisfying relationship after another. After his last relationship he swore off women all together--that is until his meets the sweet, average uncomplicated girl next door.

Crazy for Love is a funny, entertaining, light read. It's one of those books that makes you smile while you read. You know that one that makes your hubby ask what you're grinning about and you didn't even realize you were grinning? Then you blush a little and he gives you a little knowing nod. Yes, that kind of book. I spent some good quality time, sitting in my comfy chair with my Kindle, grinning with with this cute, quirky, contemporary romance.

Max is the type of hero I wonder if I might not like if I actually I had to deal with him in the real world. Maybe I'm just not "that girl". But somehow his quirkiness comes across as charming and adorable in this story and I fell in love with him the minute he and Chloe got horizontal on the sand--yes, apparently I'm that shallow. :) Although Max appears to live the life of a free living playboy, he is anything but. When he meets Chloe she puts him at ease and he realizes he can learn to be himself around her.

Chloe is down to earth and really nothing like how the media are portraying her. She's just looking for a little reprieve from the nightmare her life has become and wants to spend some down time with her best friend eating donuts and Lean Cuisine on an island. When two sexy brothers take up residence in the cabin next door, it seems perhaps a summer fling has been added to the menu. Every girl needs that now and then right? But Chloe can't escape her reality for too long and the truth might not only ruin the good thing she has going with Max but she may have a little more truth to face that she bargained for.

This really was such a fun, entertaining story. Chloe and Max have good chemistry and the build up to their romantic relationship is not only sexy and steamy but laced with plenty of laugh out loud moments.

Max: "Come up to the beach," he murmured. "I want to show you something."

Chloe: "Really? Is it in your pocket? Because that sounds a little creepy."

Although Chloe has some unpleasantness hanging over her head, the romance is still fun and exciting and the drama doesn't really kick into gear until the later in the story. That's where I ran into a little hiccup. Aside from the betrayal by Chloe's fiancé, there is a secret hanging in the air that could affect some of Chloe's other relationships. It was fairly obvious to me what it was there was really no mystery or surprise here. I just wanted the secret--that should have been obvious to Chloe--to come out so we could get on with the story.

There is a fun little secondary romance included for the price of one. Jenn, Chloe's best friend and Elliott, Max's brother spark up a little heat together. Jenn is painfully shy around men and Elliott is recently divorced but they manage to spend some fun, if somewhat awkward time together and they provide even more funny moments in this already comical read. I hope they will eventually get their own book.

Victoria Dahl combines smoking hot chemistry with quirky humor to create a love story (or two) that will make you alternately fan your face and then laugh out loud. Her characters are funny, and maybe just a little crazy but who am I to judge anyway? This is the second contemporary romance I've read by Victoria Dahl and I am officially hooked!

I have read her Start Me Up series and liked it so I wanted to try this. Let me say there are some truly funny parts and a lot of witty dialogue. However, the main characters did not draw you in and you never felt like Max truly dealt with his problems. Often the story moved slow and I found myself bored. It took a while to finally learn the secret behind her finance disappearance and by the time it was revealed I was kind of thinking "who cares, just tell us already." I just did not think this was that great of a read. That being said, I still very much like the rounded characters Ms. Dahl creates and still plan to read her books.

This is truly what I think of as a classic fluff romance. I enjoy a good love story every once in a while, and this is OK, but not a standout.

The book is well written in the technical sense - I didn't find awkward sentences or poor grammar. However, it's very, very formulaic. The heroine is fairly appealing, but her friend is annoying. The hero - I'm trying not to give too much away - has an issue that really, really should be dealt with by a professional therapist, but oddly no one ever seems to suggest this, and I was not a fan of him at all. The heroine is classically understanding and loving anyway, but I would have given him a swift kick to the rear and told him to get over himself, and get some help.

This could be a fine read on a vacation or airplane, where you don't want much to think about, but there are plenty of great romance authors out there that will give you a better story. I'll go with 3 stars because it was readable, but I won't be passing this on to anyone - it's nothing too special.