Memphis Reads Archive

Fiction/Romance

Doris Dixon reviews CRAZY FOR YOU by Jennifer Crusie (St. Martin's Press, 1999)

There is something exhilarating about reading a writer at the top of his or her game. I’ve read novels that Jennifer Crusie published before and after 1999’s Crazy For You. This is my favorite. She knew what her readers wanted and gave it to them. According the dust jacket, Crusie analyzed the structure of women’s fiction for her Ph.D. dissertation in literature. This information makes me wonder about the years of study and practice that shaped Crazy for You, a tight, funny, satisfying romance. Here's a quick summary:

Quinn Mackenzie is sick of her life. Sick of teaching art to high schoolers. Sick of her boring, worrisome live-in boyfriend, Bill. He never listens. Things begin to change for the better when Quinn adopts an abandoned dog. Bill calmly orders her to get rid of it. She refuses and he takes the dog to the pound behind her back. After reclaiming her dog and dumping Bill, Quinn makes other changes. She pursues bad boy mechanic Nick, who was once married to her wild sister Zoe. Quinn longs to be wild, too. Nick is just the spark she needs, but Bill refuses to accept that his relationship with Quinn is over.


Doris Dixon, Raleigh Branch Library

Labels: Contemporary Romance, Reviews by Doris Dixon, Romance