Review: Maybe this Time by Jennifer Crusie.

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Rowena’s review of Maybe this Time by Jennifer Crusie.

Hero: North Archer
Heroine: Andie Miller

Andie Miller is ready to move on in life. She wants to marry her fiancé and leave behind everything in her past, especially her ex-husband, North Archer. But when Andie tries to gain closure with him, he asks one final favor of her before they go their separate ways forever. A very distant cousin of his has died and left North as the guardian of two orphans who have driven out three nannies already, and things are getting worse. He needs a very special person to take care of the situation and he knows Andie can handle anything.

When Andie meets the two children she quickly realizes things are much worse than she feared. The place is a mess, the children, Carter and Alice, aren’t your average delinquents, and the creepy old house where they live is being run by the worst housekeeper since Mrs. Danvers. What’s worse, Andie’s fiancé thinks this is all a plan by North to get Andie back, and he may be right. Andie’s dreams have been haunted by North since she arrived at the old house. And that’s not the only haunting.

What follows is a hilarious adventure in exorcism, including a self-doubting parapsychologist, an annoyed medium, her Tarot-card reading mother, an avenging ex-mother-inlaw, and, of course, her jealous fiancé. And just when she thinks things couldn’t get more complicated, North shows up on the doorstep making her wonder if maybe this time things could be different between them.

If Andie can just get rid of all the guests and ghosts, she’s pretty sure she can save the kids, and herself, from the past. But fate might just have another thing in mind…

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a Jennifer Crusie book. I haven’t read any of her co-written books and I almost didn’t read this book but when Holly passed it on to me, I thought what the heck.

I’m glad that I picked it up because I enjoyed this book even though I wasn’t sure I was going to. Crusie strikes again with a most memorable and charming cast of characters doing outrageously funny things and I totally ate this book up.

Andie was a fantastic heroine and watching her fall in love with those kids was such a treat because I was falling in love with them right along with her. Alice was a crazy little girl but she was such a loveable character. She may have been a brat but she was a cutie little brat and she just needed a mother’s influence and Andie did such a great job getting to know her and breaking down the wall that Alice put around her. As much as I adored Alice, it was Carter that captured my heart. He was so young to be carrying such a burden and watching him hold everyone at arm’s length made me want to hug him close and never let anything happen to him.

For me, it was Andie that made this book. I adored getting to know her and watching her fall back in love with North all over again. It was funny how their romance was for the most part handled through telephone calls. Andie needed something, North got it for her. Seeing North realize that he never got over Andie and Andie realizing the same about North was just too cute.

When Southie (North’s brother. His name cracked me up) brought the chaos to Andie and the kids home, it was good to see that there was someone in the kids corner. I loved how protective Andie got for her kids and I loved that Alice and Carter loved her right back. It was good to see Andie’s relationship with the kids grow from beginning to end because by the end of the story, the kids got what they needed, a family and I was glad for them.

Things that irritated me to no end in this book? The reporter and Will. Ugh, they were so annoying that I was hoping the ghosts would push them off the balcony just like they did Mae and what not.

This is classic Crusie at its best. Loads of laughs, a cast of characters that you’ll fall in love with and really, the story with the ghosts was different but it wasn’t bad. It was interesting and it took me no time at all to read this book because I wanted to know what was going to happen. This book is entertaining and we were gifted with Gabe McKenna from Fast Women. Man, it was good to see Gabe again and hear that Riley is up to no good. Loved seeing him again.

Would I recommend this book? You betcha, fans of Crusie will enjoy this addition to her book list for sure.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from St. Martin’s Press. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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