Maybe This Time - Jennifer Crusie

Last Friday night, I did something almost unprecedented for me.  I went out.  I know!  I couldn't believe it myself.  I just felt like I needed to go out.  So I grabbed my book and my iPod and headed into Doylestown to go sit and relax at the coffee shop.  Well, I hadn't realized that it was First Friday, which means musicians playing and other fun things going on, so town was packed.  I went into Saxby's, got a cup of coffee, sat down and started to read, and was able to enjoy a small live jazz band!  Didn't even need the iPod.  Yay.

And it was in Saxby's that I realized that I wasn't going to keep reading the previous book I wrote about.  When I was done there I decided to walk around town a bit and went into the local independent Doylestown book shop.  As much as I think about an e-reader, there's something about a local, independent book store that just can't be matched.  And while I knew that I shouldn't buy any more books, since I'm still not through "the shelf," I wanted to look around.

I was surprised to see an area on one wall called something like Advanced Release Books.  I went over and was surprised!  They have books there you can borrow for free!  I looked into it a little further.  There were about 15 or 20 books there, one copy of each.  And apparently these are all books that haven't been released yet.  I guess publishers send out advance copies...and this is what these are.  You can borrow, for free, up to two; you just have to sign them out at the register.  And they include a link where you can post your review of the book.  I was intrigued and found two books that looked interesting.  This is the first of these books.

I'd read one book that Jennifer Crusie had co-written with bob Mayer; it's called Agnes and the Hitman and is a book I completely adored.  When I saw this - a new book, coming out in hardcover in September of this year, I decided to give it a whirl.  And I am so glad that I did.  The story is about a woman named Andie who decides she needs to close out her issues with her ex-husband, North, before she moves on with the new man in her life, Will.  And it ends up that Andie goes to take care of these two children of whom North has become guardian; she agrees to do this for one month.  Except, of course, there are ghosts.  Ghosts of what happened to these children, ghosts of her former marriage to North, and ghosts of dead people in the house where the children live.

This is such a great story.  It won't change your world, it won't make you think about realigning your core beliefs, but it will draw you in.  Parts are comical, parts are freaky, parts are mysterious, parts are a good love story.  I haven't read a book in a long time that's drawn me in as much as this one did.  Literally, last night, I looked up after reading; I thought maybe 45 minutes had gone by, and it was about 2 hours.  And I couldn't stop reading to go to bed last night; I just had to finish the book.  I was that hooked!  Andie's relationship with the kids, Alice and Carter...the ghosts haunting this old house...some of the crazy characters, like Andie's mother Flo and a medium...then North and his family...they're all just great.  Part of the reason I like Andie so much is because she seems so real, like someone I might actually know.  She's got some issues, she's flawed, she's confused on what she wants, she doesn't have perfect relationships.  Sounds like me and lot of people I know.

The only thing I didn't like about the book were the names Andie (the main character) and Alice (the girl Andie's taking care of).  The way my crazy brain works, those two names are easily confused, so I had to keep stopping to think through who is who.  But I think most people's brains work differently than mine do when it comes to names.

Point being: when this comes out in September, go read it.  And in the meantime: support your local book stores.