Bet Me & The Cinderella Deal (Books 1 & 2/26)

Jennifer Crusie is a fun author to visit, even if almost all of her novels begin to blend together after a while. She's definitely a firm believer in the romance novel formula as every one of her books I've ever read follows the exact same format (two people meet-cute but hate each other, they're thrown together in some "please suspend your disbelief" way, they fight a mutual attraction only to eventually give in [sex scene placement option 1], a misunderstanding separates them, and then they're reunited [sex scene placement option 2]). But I'd be a raging hypocrite if I called this a problem, as I am frequently heard spouting the argument "Well, of COURSE we know they're going to get together! The whole fun of it is seeing HOW." when anyone argues against watching another romcom or me buying another pink-covered book. That's why I have no shame in having several of Jennifer Crusie's novels in my rereading rotation.

Bet Me is among my favorite books. That's a dreadful statement coming from someone with a degree in English Literature, I know, but it is. It's terribly enjoyable, and I have a crush on all three of the main guys in the novel (well, Roger is kind of a pushover...but Cal is fantastic and Tony is awesome and totally one of my BookBoyfriends). Jennifer Crusie has called this the best book she'll ever write, and I agree. It's laugh-out-loud funny and unbelievably hot. There's a lot of sarcasm and quick-witted humor, which I really enjoy. It's full of good food, characters you'd want to be friends with, and a kid you'd love to adopt even if he does barf all the time. The scenes with the antagonists do get a bit tedious, and I'll admit to skimming them on a couple of my rereadings of this novel, but I don't remember having that feeling until the number of rereads reached close to double-digits.

Cinderella Deal is one that I cannot figure out why it took me this long to read. It's by Jenny Crusie, which is usually a guarantee I'll enjoy it, and it has my literary obsession of a "marriage of convenience" storyline. History professor Linc pays former teacher/struggling artist Daisy's back rent if she'll agree to pose as his fiancee while he interviews at an out-of-state University. She agrees, and through a comedy of errors they end up carrying the deal through and going ahead with the marriage. This is a little less polished than some of her other novels, the plot gets a little scattered at points, and the supporting characters aren't as well developed as they are in other books; however, it's still a great book that I've reread three times in just three months.