Title: Anyone But You Author: Jennifer Crusie
Published: January 2, 1996
Genre(s): Romance: Contemporary
Page Count: 283
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:For Nina Askew, turning forty means freedom—from the ex-husband, freedom from their stuffy suburban home, freedom to focus on what she wants for a change. And what she wants is something her ex always vetoed—a puppy. A bouncy, adorable puppy. Instead she gets...Fred.
Overweight, middle-aged, a bit smelly and obviously depressed, Fred is light-years from perky. But he does manage to put Nina in the path of Alex Moore, her gorgeous, younger-by-a-decade neighbor.
Alex seems perfect—he's a sexy, seemingly sane, surprisingly single E.R. doctor—but the age gap convinces Nina that anyone but Alex would be better relationship material. But with every silver-haired stiff she dates, the more she suspects it's the young, dog-loving doc she wants to sit and stay!
In the interest of full disclosure, I pretty much only read this book because it advertised a dog. As anyone who knows me well is aware: romance novels with cute animals (particularly puppies) are one of my greatest weaknesses. So, in that regard, I’m happy to say that Fred, the depressive basset hound in Anyone But You, is basically the best. Also, I really enjoy the younger man/older woman trope, so that was nice also. But in general, I’d say this book is only good—not great. I’m no Jennifer Crusie expert, but I’m sure she’s written better.
Overall, the biggest problem with Anyone But You is that it’s really rushed in the second half. There’s a lot of lead-in to Nina and Alex’s first kiss, but after that it just sort of skips several weeks and goes to the part of the novel where there’s the traditional “thing-that-tears-the-couple-apart-so-they-realize-they’re-meant-to-be” moment. So two-thirds the book, roughly, is Nina and Alex as just friends. Then there’s one nice romantic moment, and then we skip time to the penultimate drama scene, and then jump into the reconciliation. Considering this book is significantly shorter than the standard romance novel, I definitely think Crusie could have done much better. The aspects of the plot were all there, but they weren’t fleshed out enough for me to buy into them.
Other than that, though, I was very happy with this book. Nina and Alex meet in the beginning and become friends first, then move into romantic territory. I like the gradualness of their relationship—not many books do it, and certainly not as well as Crusie. Also, obviously, I love the dog, Fred; he’s not just some story prop, either—he’s a definite character. Yay puppies!
Like I said, I would have liked the book better if there had been more of it. I was enjoying this book so much that I was disappointed when it was so hurried towards the end. However, overall, Anyone But You is a solid, sweet romance with an unconventional couple and sad-eyed rescue dog. It’s very much my sort of story.
