Review: Charlie All Night by Jennifer Crusie.

Hero: Charlie Tenniel
Heroine: Allie McGuffey
Grade: 5/5

Dumped by her boyfriend and demoted from WBBB’s prime-time spot, radio producer Allie McGuffey has nowhere to go but up. She plans to make her comeback by turning temporary DJ Charlie Tenniel into a household name. And if he’s willing to help her cure her breakup blues with a rebound fling, that’s an added bonus.

Charlie just wants to kick back, play good tunes and eat Chinese food. He’s not interested in becoming famous. But he is interested in Allie. And after all, what harm in a little chemistry between friends?

But suddenly their one-night stand has become a four-week addiction. Night after night on the airwaves, his voice seduces her. . .and all the other women in town. He’s a hit. It looks as if Charlie’s solved all Allie’s problems. . .except one. What is she going to do when he leaves?

The last time I picked up this little gem to read, I didn’t own it.

I do now.

This book was just as good this time around as it was the first time. Jennifer Crusie is the best author to pick up for those quick reads that tickle your funny bone and makes you sigh all within the space of 100 pages. She’s a genius at taking normal characters and throwing them into the most bizarre situations that will never fail to make you laugh out loud each and every time.

In this book, we have Allie McGuffey, a producer who just got dumped both professionally and romantically by Mark. Allie made Mark into the star that he is today and she is royally pissed off that he dumped her and cut her loose from Drive Time. But instead of staying down, she goes out and meets Charlie Tenniel who is going to be her next project. He’s going to be the next best DJ and she’s going to make him an even bigger star than Mark. The only problem with that is Charlie doesn’t want to be a star, he doesn’t want anything that Allie wants for him but he sure does want to keep her in his bed. Scene after scene, these two just ignite the pages with witty dialogue and a snappy storyline.

Allie is one of those heroines that is just flat out funny. Her sense of humor had me chuckling because I could totally see myself and my friends doing and saying some of the things she said and I loved that she didn’t rush home after Mark dumped her to lick her wounds. I loved how she just jumped right back into the fray and went to work on the next best thing. She did kind of irritate me with some of the stuff that she bugged Charlie about but not enough to ruin the book for me. She was a delightful heroine and I really enjoyed her character.

Charlie has a secret and even though I thought it was kind of lame when thinking back on it, I think Jennifer Crusie did a wonderful job making me fall into the story anyway. Charlie was just an average hero, not that he wasn’t great because he really is but he’s not this super rich corporate executive or this big bad Navy SEAL who saves lives everyday of his life just for fun. He’s a regular guy who’s after something and does what it takes to get the job done. He’s a great hero in the sense that he’s hot. He’s smart and he was good to Allie. He was good for Allie and I just loved him to pieces. Jennifer Crusie doesn’t know how to write a bad hero and Charlie was proof of this.

I heart Charlie.

You won’t be able to help yourself as you fall in love with these characters. It amazes me that Jennifer Crusie can build a world and a story in so little pages. This book flies by fast but the story doesn’t feel forced or rushed at all. It’s just the perfect summer read for the days when you laze around on that beach towel trying to get darker.

Pick it up and read it, you’ll laugh, I promise.

This book is available from Mira.

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