Customer Reviews

Crazy in Love (Warner Forever)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

At the urging of her sister, ne'er-do-well Flynn leaves her dilapidated South Boston apartment to run an inn passed down by their great Aunt Esther in upstate New York. She soon encounters a host of eccentric townspeople, most employed at her inn. While she fights her attraction to sexy bartender Jake and the inevitable questions about whether her family plans to sell the inn, she avoids responsibility and decision making at all costs. Oh and she has to dodge crotchety Aunt Esther's ghost, particularly after moving her collection of kitschy cow creamers. Jake draws her into an investigation of town real estate shark Gordon Chase who wanted the inn so bad he might have killed for it. When Flynn loses her heart to the inn and Jake, will she be able to convince her dad to give her the responsibility she needs to grow up?

Rich has an incredible talent for coming up with funny plots and unleashing her wit and wry observations on readers. Her leads sizzle off the page; Flynn's sister Freya is a hysterical bundle of tension; and Aunt Esther is one funny ghost. I don't think I've laughed quite as hard as I did when Flynn developed a gastro-intestinal disorder while making out with Gordon. It was a funny read from cover to cover. My only criticism is that there was often too much going on and sometimes too much can be... well, ... too much. But with a great catchphrase like CWIL (crazy woman in love), you can't find too much fault with the story! I have yet to read a bad novel penned by Rich - other stand outs include "Maybe Baby" and "The Fortune Quilt."

What happens when you're almost thirty and have difficulties maintaining a steady job and a steady relationship?

If you're Flynn Daly, you find yourself presented with an offer you can't refuse. Tired of worrying about Flynn's safety, love life and diminishing bank account, Flynn's family schedules an intervention. She joins the family hospitality business and is sent to the Goodhouse Arms inn. The inn belonged to her great-aunt. Now that Aunt Esther is dead, Flynn's job is to keep the staff calm until her father finds a buyer for the inn.

Jake Tucker was a cop until a key piece of evidence in a high-profile case he was working on went missing. He's now a bartender at the inn. Mercy, his sister and the inn's chef, is hoping that he'll move on with his life. But is it a coincidence that Gordon Chase offered to buy the inn just before Aunt Esther died? And is there a connection between Chase and the missing evidence?

Flynn's job is to keep the staff calm but she finds herself drawn to the inn and the friendly people. She also finds herself sharing her room with the ghost of great-aunt Esther. Jake finds that his first impression of a spoiled rich girl is wrong. There is something about Flynn that he finds irresistible. Has Flynn finally found a job and a guy that she can commit to?

Crazy In Love is a sweet, fun book. The plot keeps moving, there's plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and likeable characters. Flynn and Jake are people you'd want to be friends with. The sibling relationships were also a lot of fun. Flynn and Jake have great relationships with their older sisters. Freya and Mercy are convinced that they know what's best for their younger siblings. Mix in embezzlement, unsolved crime and some CWIL (Crazy Women In Love, an acronym that I love!), and you're in for a treat.

Armchair Interviews says this blend of mystery and romance is very satisfying read!

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I liked Flynn and Jake and thought they had amazing chemistry. I also liked Dead Aunt Esther and her ceramic cow obsession and the mystery surrounding her death. This book was well written and the dialog was great.

My favorite thing was that Finn wasn't super successful or incredibly wealthy but trying to find herself and her purpose. I liked that. I liked that she had jobs that weren't glamorous too.

The only thing I didn't enjoy about this book was the ending because it confused me. The whole embezzlement scheme was never fleshed out enough for the ending to really add anything. A sum up would be better. And why, for the love of god, did they steal Mercy's saucier?

This is my second Lani Diane Rich novel. My first was The Fortune Quilt which I enjoyed a lot.

But while Quilt's strength was the likable heroine and her strange and strangely relatable situation with her family but with a rather weak romance, Crazy in Love (Warner Forever) is strong on characterizations, the pairing (Flynn/Jake) have undeniable chemistry, the dialogue is witty without being forced, and the secondary characters are as interesting as the main characters without taking over.

Oh yeah, there is a plot with a rotten scoundrel (or two), an old historic inn, murder, a ghost and sisters getting their way all happening in the prerequisite sleepy smalltown hamlet that doesn't seem to get much sleep.

And it is loads of fun and on the fun factor alone, I would give this novel 5 stars.

So in reality, this novel gets 5 stars plus more because it reminded me just how much fun a romance novel could be.

Lani Diane Rich has got to be the most underrated author in the romance genre. Her writing is every bit as good as Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Jennifer Crusie, but somehow you just don't hear as much about her. I highly recommend all of her books. Her heroines are spunky and her dialogue is great.

Don't miss the sort of sequel to this book- "Wish You Were Here" which tell's Freya's story.

STORY BRIEF:
Flynn is 29 years old with no direction in life. She has had a variety of short term jobs, but has never really learned or achieved anything. She has no passion for anything. Her father Richard is a wealthy real estate developer. They inherited a hotel from Flynn's great aunt Esther who recently died. Richard asks Flynn to go to the hotel to be a presence, while he finds a buyer and negotiates a sale. She knows nothing about hotel management or accounting. She is reluctant to go because the hotel is in a rural area, and she doesn't like nature or bugs. She prefers the city. While there, Flynn is bothered by frequent visits from Esther's ghost.

Jake is a former cop who is currently working as a bartender at the hotel. He and Flynn are attracted to each other. They end up solving some suspicious deaths and money embezzlements. Along the way Flynn discovers she cares about the people and the hotel and wants to stay and run the hotel rather than sell it.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
This was an ok story, but it didn't hold my interest as well as other books have. I had no major problem with it other than I wasn't drawn into the characters as much as I would have liked. It's hard to say what was wrong other than it wasn't a good fit for me. I loved the sequel "Wish You Were Here."

DATA:
Story length: 309 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: 1, 4 pages long. Setting: current day Boston, Mass. and Scheintown, NY. Copyright: 2007. Genre: romantic fantasy mystery with some suspense.

OTHER BOOKS:
For a list of my reviews of other Lani Diane Rich books, see my 4.5 star review of "Wish You Were Here" posted 11/2/08.

This author was recommended by another Amazon reviewer and I have been devouring all her books this past week. In this book Flynn is quilted by her family to head to upper NY state and oversea an Inn that was left the family by here great-aunt who recently died. This books had it all , laugh out loud moments, mystery , murder, romance, ghosts which all leads to a great read!

If you enjoy this genre I would also suggest; Wish You Were Here (Freya Daly story - Flynn sister from this novel) andThe Comeback Kiss (Warner Forever).

The guilt was unbearable even though Flynn Daly knows she did nothing wrong. The pressure from her family is incredible for her to get back into the family business as even sister Freya arrives in South Boston to persuade Flynn that they need her. Reluctantly after her sister pulls out the daddy had a heart attack card; Flynn agrees to temporarily run her late Great Aunt Esther's inn The Goodhouse Arms in Scheintown, New York.

Former cop Jake Tucker works as a bartender at Aunt Esther's inn. He believes Gordon Chase killed Esther because she refused to sell her inn to him; the motive is to get the heir to sell. Jake is attracted to Flynn, but thinks she had one too many Boston baked beans. Flynn assumes she must still have the aftereffect of her one time indulgence in chocolate martinis as she is halfway in love with the bartender and worse believes Esther's ghost is playing matchmaker while demanding her niece and her employee find her killer.

Few authors if any can match the entertaining Rich insanity as this author does consistently (see THE COMEBACK KISS and MAYBE BABY). Her latest tale is a madcap paranormal romantic mystery with a strong lead couple CRAZY IN LOVE and a deep support cast especially the ghost, the potential buyer, and other inn occupants. The investigation is clever and the romance enjoyable as Aunt Esther interferes with both leading to a wild one sitting read.

Harriet Klausner

I honestly have trouble remembering what this book was about. It has nothing to do with my memory and everything to do with the fact that Rich has shoved half a dozen different plot senarios into a tiny paperback with characters that are far from memorable.

It starts with a "change your life" ultimatum, then you think it's going to be about the ne'er do well daughter making something of herself ... but she never really gets into the business of being in charge, then there's a ghost whose presence is only logical in the sense that it throws the heroine into a romance, then the espionage, followed by the psyco chick trying to kill the heroine. All in less than 340 pages. Needless to say none of the senarios work themselves out to any kind of satisfying story with a good solid conclusion.

Okay, maybe the romance follows through. Maybe. It's not satisfying but it is an ending.

And what about the ghost? We never find out if the ghost ever makes her way to the big bright light in the sky or if she haunts the heroine for eternity just because she can't find a pop-tart.

When we first see Flynn she is a slightly flighty bohemian who enjoys her life in NYC. She caves to family pressure (sister Freya can be very persuasive) and goes to upstate NY to oversee a B&B left to the family by Aunt Esther. The plan is for Flynn to hang around and keep the place going until Flynn & Freya's daddy , the real estate mogol, finds a buyer.
Flynn is met at the train station by Jake, former cop and now bartender at the B&B. Jake would like to find out who is behind the mysterious death of his father , he and Flynn become involved in a private eye op.
Flynn is helped in her adjustment to rural upstate NY by Aunt Esther the Deceased.
Then there are the cow creamers, CWILs, dead bodies, 2 dectctives--one pro and one very amateur.
There is murder, mahem, mystery in this delightful story.
Two of the many things that I enjoyed about this book . Well 3 if you include Jake the Yummy. Flynn's character development. NYC to upstate was a good move for her. The other was the mystery. It was tense, tight, with a surprise conclusion.