2012: #44 – Faking It (Jennifer Crusie)
Title: Faking It
Author: Jennifer Crusie
Format: Audio
Length: 11 hrs 23 min
Release Date: April 14, 2003
Publisher: St. Martin’s
Source: personal copy
Meet the Goodnights, a respectable family who run a respectable art gallery—and have for generations. There’s Gwen, the matriarch, who likes to escape reality; Eve, the oldest daughter, who has a slight identity problem (she has two); Nadine, the granddaughter, who’s ready to follow in the family footsteps as soon as she can find a set that isn’t leading off a cliff. And last, Matilda, the youngest daughter, who has inherited the secret locked down in the basement of the Goodnight Gallery, a secret she’s willing to do almost anything to keep, even break into a house in the dead of night to steal back her past.
Meet the Dempseys, or at least meet Davy, a reformed con man who’s just been ripped off for a cool three million by his financial manager, who then gallantly turned it over to Clea Lewis, the most beautiful sociopath Davy ever slept with. Davy wants the money back, but more than that, he’ll do anything to keep Clea from winning, including break into her house in the dead of night to steal back his future.
One collision in a closet later, Tilda and Davy reluctantly join forces to combat Clea, suspicious art collectors, a disgruntled heir, and an exasperated hit man, all the while coping with a mutant dachshund, a jukebox stuck in the sixties, questionable sex, and the growing realization that they can’t turn their backs on the people they were meant to be…or the people they were born to love.
My thoughts:
If there’s one thing that Crusie is good at, it’s writing a fun story. From the moment Tilda and Davy bump into each other in Clea’s closet to the final page, there’s ne’er a dull moment in the lives of the Goodnights and Dempseys.
It’s hard to imagine a dull moment in their lives even without that bump in the night. Everyone in this book is a character with a capital “C”. It could have been overkill, but I think Crusie gives them enough “real” characteristics to balance out the wacky. You want to root for them, even for the unconventional hit man.
The search for the Scarlett paintings gives a bit of meat to the romance, and I enjoyed it. For the most part, I really like what Crusie does. It’s a little like if Carl Hiaasen wrote romance books.
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | WorldCat
Other reviews:
- “This quirky, light-hearted romantic comedy was an enjoyable read that stands alone just fine, but I do wish I’d stop backing into series this way.” — Dangerously Curvy Novels
- “I can’t complain about this book. It…just didn’t do anything for me.” — OSgA Book Reviews
- “Faking It was the first Crusie book I read and the reason that I’ve purchased several of her books.” — An Abundance of Books
