Customer Reviews

Love Overboard

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Long before author Janet Evanovich loosed Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter extraordinaire, on the citizens of Trenton, NJ, she wrote 12 short romance novels, all screwball comedies with happy endings, some involving just a tad of mystery/suspense. These small treats, (like a piece of good chocolate, they lift your spirits), were published, originally by the Loveswept line between the years 1988 and 1992. I have read and enjoyed them all - but then I love almost everything Ms. Evanovich writes. "Love Overboard," was released by Harper Torch, (Harper Collins), in January 2005 for those who missed the book first time around when it was titled, "Ivan Takes A Wife." Very few changes have been made to the original material other than some necessary editing.

Oddly enough, "Lover Overboard's" heroine is named Stephanie too, Stephanie Lowe, and could very well be the ancestor of Ms. Plum. Like Stephanie Plum, Stephanie Lowe is bright, witty, sexy, and in law enforcement....a former a cop. When she graduated from the Academy she looked all of sixteen, perfect to work undercover as a narc at a high school. She had personal reasons for wanting to help the kids to stay off drugs, and to put the pushers away for a long time. When she was identified by the bad guys as a cop and almost killed, she resigned from the force, burnt out. She wanted a change of pace, scenery and local culture, so she moved a good distance away from New Jersey.

Her dream home is in Camden, Maine, overlooking the ocean. Stephanie plans to turn it into a B&B for the tourists who flock to the area each year for the Windjammer cruises, as well as to spend time on the gorgeous Maine coast and offshore islands. She purchases the house, called Haben, from schooner Captain Ivan Rassmussen, a descendant of pirates. His family had lived at Haben for generations. After the sale is completed, she discovers that the toilet is dysfunctional. It leaks so bad that the bathroom floor collapses and falls into the kitchen and downstairs bathroom. The bathroom mirrors go the way of the floor. A new heater is needed desperately before the cold sets in, and the wooden porch floor is rotten. Stephanie, with limited funds, feels she has been swindled by Ivan, And the final straw, his ancient Aunt Tess, long departed from this world, (at least physically), haunts the widow's walk. Fortunately for Ivan, the ghost will only speak to women.

Stephanie's cousin Lucy, the chef on the "Josiah T. Savage," the Captain's schooner, is engaged to a plumber. The couple plan to take a week off to wed and enjoy a short honeymoon. Lucy promises Stephanie that if she will take her place as cook on Ivan's 100 year-old ship for this one week, and feed the handsome Captain, a confirmed bachelor, the crew and passengers, she will have her new husband install the toilet. Although our protagonist barely knows how to boil water, she desperately needs an indoor john. As she steps onboard the "Savage" and greets Ivan, something happens to both of them that never surfaced during the house signing. Sparks fly!! Bigtime! Ivan the Terrible finds the temperature rising rapidly. And Steph, although a virgin, really feels the heat!

The sea trip with passengers is a blast. The kitchen is only a mega disaster for a day or two. The dialogue is fast, furious and delightful. Ms. Evanovich's outrageous humor will be immediately recognizable to fans of the Stephanie Plum series. It is also fun to glimpse prototypes for her future characters.

This is a short, simple, well-written romance - wonderfully entertaining fluff. It's the perfect read for a plane trip or a dismal weekend afternoon. I enjoyed! Hope you do too!

JANA

Ivan Rasmussen has a 19th century schooner that he charters for short cruises during the warm months of the year. He has a regular crew that he works with, but the person he ended up with in his galley was an acquaintance Stephanie Lowe, and she knew nothing about cooking with an old wood stove. It turns out his normal cook, Lucy, decided to get married, and Steph was covering her shifts in exchange for plumbing services provided by the new groom. Ivan and Steph felt an immediate attraction, but there were many reasons they couldn't get involved. The main reason was that Steph had already thrown herself at him, and he turned her down. Then there was the fact that Ivan didn't want a committed relationship - he is a direct descendent of a pirate, and Steph was just getting on her feet after being an undercover cop for years. There was also the issue that Steph just purchased Ivan's family home - Haben. Who knew working this one-week could last so long?

Steph was getting Haben ready to turn into a B&B when Ivan turns up. He makes her a proposition. He needs a place to stay for the off-season and she needs a handyman. His real agenda is to seduce her, and make her realize she can't live without him. How far would he go to get his beloved family home Haben back? When a corpse is found and makes appearances, Steph starts to wonder.

Entertaining and funny. A lot of laugh out loud moments!

It is definitely interesting to see the beginnings of Stephanie Plum in this novel. The Stephanie in Love Overboard -- a former cop who moves to Maine to start a bed and breakfast, with a down to earth attitude and penchant for wacky highjinks is pretty much the future Stephanie Plum transplanted out of Jersey.

I can't quite recommend this novel, as it is a bit disorganzed and the motives for many character's behaviors are pretty unbeleivable. Ivan is pretty much a non-character, he's a nice guy, looking for the right woman and seems about as complicated as vanilla pudding. Yet, it is entertaining, and you can clearly see Ms. Evanovich beginning to hone her trademark writing style (a style I personally love). If you just want a really quick read and have pretty good suspension of disbelief skills -- this will probably hit the mark while waiting for the real steph's next novel. However, if you're new to the Evanovich scene, seriously forget this and read one of the real Stephanie Plum novels.

Janet Evanovich wasn't really meant to write romance books, perhaps this explains why she wasn't originally published during her first years as an author. She's just far too good at coming up with a plot line, mysterious events and comedic timing. After the revisions or her original books, this, among others was re-released and are better than ever. Her characters are sweet and funny and the story has a deep plot, even too deep for a love story because you'll feel satisfied at the ending, but like all of Janet Evanoviches books, you want more and more. All of her stories are great! Much recommended!

Having been busy with my recent wedding, I did not have a lot of time to read so I began looking for books that I knew would be quick and easy and not take much thought. My first thought was the Janet Evanovich romance books that have been sitting on my shelf just waiting for me to read them. I picked up "Love Overboard" and within the first few pages I was completely hooked. It was already evident that Evanovich's humoress and funny ways of telling a story was going to be seen throughout this book.

"Love Overboard" tells the story of Stephanie, an ex undercover cop who moves away from the city to deal with her own problems and past ghosts. When her cousin Lucy decides to get married, Stephanie finds herself as the replacement chef aboard a ship manned by none other than Ivan Rasmussen, the sexy sailor who Stephanie bought her current residences from. As any romance novel will come to prove, the story goes from stuffy to steamy rather quickly but not without our fair share of Janet Evanovich twists, including glowing ghosts, disappearing dead bodies, and ancient family curses.

I laughed, I smiled, and maybe I even got a tear in my eye. This book is definitely well worth the few hours it will take you to read. So grab yourself a copy, settle into your favorite chair, and lose yourself in the wacky world of Evanovich.

I'm use to the Stephanie Plum series of mystery novels by Ms. Evanovich. So, I was recently surprised to learn that Ms. Evanovich has written quite a few romance novels.

So, I read this book out of sheer curiosity to see how Ms. Evanovich's romance novels compare with her mystery novels. "Love Overboard" is a cute, light, fast and funny read! It's just perfect for a weekend escape from reality. The characters in this novel were great fun and very likeable. There were also a few plot surprises along the way that made this book fun to read. Highly recommend this book.... Enjoy!

I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced, feel-good book, which was easily read in one sitting! It was funny and sassy, with a wonderful sleepy-town coastal Maine setting aboard an interesting old schooner and a magestic old mansion. Adding some adventure and mystery, a wacky ghost story and some practical jokes round out the story.

Janet Evanovich, best known for her immensely popular Stephanie Plum series, has taken home a mantel full of awards for her fast paced mysteries - everything from the Silver Dagger to the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association's Dilys Award (this honor twice).

In 1989 Ms. Evanovich tried her hand at another genre - romance, and penned "Ivan Takes A Wife." That story has been recently released under the title "Love Overboard," and is charmingly read by voice performer C. J. Critt.

For those who like a light hearted look at romance, this is an entertaining way to spend 5 hours. Stephanie Lowe finds herself doing business with a Maine schooner captain, Ivan Rasmussen, the descendent of pirates. In Stephanie's mind, Ivan doesn't deserve to be called captain but more appropriately Ivan The Terrible, and surely a pirate himself because the house she just bought from him is near tumble down and perhaps even occupied by ghosts.

Ivan has a tendency to complain about what Stephanie considers to be either inconsequential or unavoidable, but he is very attractive, can be charming, and is madly in love with her.

What to do? Listen and see.

- Gail Cooke

I expected this to be a lighthearted, easy sappy read. I listened to the audio version. I never comment on the voice of the reader, but I found this particular reader to be extremely annoying. Stephanie, who was suppossed to be the quirky, cute love interest came off annoying and eccentric. Ivan should have sounded like a big, manly pirate-bloodied captain. I hated his voice! It was so hard to picture him as the suave male interest he was suppossed to be when the narrator did such a poor job with his voice. Since I shuddered at their voices, I had a really hard time liking any of the characters and seeing why any of them liked each other. Melody should have been eccentric and interesting - instead her voice made her sound masculine and dumb.

The voices aside, I just didnt really get anything about this book. The whole premise is based on the ideas that Stephanie is cooking on a ship in exhange for plumbing services. When she is finished and returns to the house she just bought (from the ship's captain) to turn into a bed and breakfast, she discovers it is haunted. The story lost me here. I normally love a good ghost story, but nothing in this book worked for me. It came off as a bunch of random events experienced by a group of characters. Nothing that happened in the book seemed scary (even though it should have been). Nothing about Stephanie or Ivan seemed charming, and while you should be rooting for them to fall in love, you just are not. Maybe it is poor character development, maybe it is just overall poor writing, or maybe I was just so turned off by the narrarator that nothing worked for me.

Whatever it is, I was disappointed by this book and think others can find better ghost and love stories elsewhere.

Stephie Graf...Janet Evanovich...they're all good!

At first I thought this was supposed to be a period piece and I wondered how I was going to like it, so I was so glad to read that it was in current times and just aboard a renaissance boat.

This story was funny, quick paced, and fun to read. It had a bit of mystery and intrigue with ghosts and flying corpses. It has some romance and some denial of sexual attraction. It makes for fun reading and is classic Evanovich.