4.25/5It’s not every day you stumble upon a good older woman/younger man book with a wonderful animal character that you can’t help but fall in love with. People who know me know that I’m a sucker for novels with animal characters. So, I must admit that after catching a glimpse of the cover, I just couldn’t resist picking it up. And ‘Anyone but You’ didn’t disappoint! It was such a pleasant read, full of fun, love, joy, and laughter. Jennifer Crusie created a nice blend of humor, drama, romance,...

Opening Line: “The last thing Nina Askew needed was Fred.”Newly divorced Nina Askew has just turned forty and found her freedom. Of course freedom from her stuffy husband and suburban home comes at a cost and Nina now finds herself a tad on the lonely side. Rambling around her apartment, watching old movies and drinking Amaretto milkshakes with her BFF just aren’t cutting it anymore. She needs something else. What she needs is a puppy; a perky, rambunctious, adorable puppy. What Nina gets is Fre...

5 stars – Contemporary Romance40-year-old divorcee Nina is feeling free at last, but a little bit lonely, so what does she do? She adopts a part basset, part beagle, fully morose, and middle-aged dog from the pound, but surprise, surprise, her woman’s best friend Fred turns out to be cupid in disguise and exactly what the doctor ordered. After all, without Fred, she wouldn’t have met her hottie ER doctor neighbor Alex, and that would have been a damn shame ‘cause the yumtastic hunk who’s 10 year...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 STARS⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Jennifer Crusie can still lit up a smile like no one else's! ❤️ this book!

Loved it! I have a new favorite author. :-) This is the first book I've read by Jennifer Crusie and it will not be my last. I read most of this book with a smile on my face. What a terrific sense of humor! The print is very easy to read--double space--and the style has it flowing beautifully. This was a book I didn't tire of reading and remained engrossed in both the story and the characters. There were actually three main characters: Nina, Alex and Fred (the dog). What a character the latter wa...

With her fairytale marriage-gone-bust, Nina Askew was ready to move on. She had just turned forty-years-old and had a new apartment and a job that suited her but she was lonely. She decided it was time to adopt a cute little puppy; something her ex-husband would never consider.Instead, Fred became a part of her life; as in, a much-older half-basset, half-beagle Fred. With his droopy eyes, a yawn-like moan and a large back end. He was patient, loving and listened when Nina needed a pair of ears.T...

This was one of my favorite romance novels back in the 90's and, being all burned out and jaded, I decided to pick it up again to see if I'd enjoy it as much as I did back before I became so grouchy.Much to my surprise, I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Though a few of the pop references are dated, the humor and the romance were both a delight to read and it brought me back to those days when I looked forward to spending an afternoon reading to my hearts content.This book is about Nina, a newl...

Okay, I get the Crusie thing now. The first book I read by her was Welcome to Temptation, which was so-so. Then Bet Me, which kept me up late into the night, compulsively reading, and inspired a blog post in which I navel-gazed in my customary fashion. I liked Bet Me a lot, though I never could put my finger on why, exactly. But oh, oh, oh, I loved this third one.Note to anyone who ever wishes to write an older-woman, younger-man romance novel: This is how you do it. Just exactly like this. Anyo...

An excellent book.

I love the story, but I couldn’t wait for it to be over because the audiobook narrator was awful.I read the paperback several years ago and laughed a lot. I recently listened to the audiobook. I didn’t laugh because I knew what to expect, but I still really enjoyed the story.I was so drawn to the characters. I loved the slow building relationship between Nina and Alex. I enjoyed other characters as well, especially the 75 year old physically fit neighbor Norma.AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR - Susan Ericksen...

I didn't realize there was a Crusie I hadn't read yet so was delighted when I saw this while looking for something else entirely. It was a light, fun read with the charm and wit I expect from Crusie.The rating is a bit on the generous side as the story was pretty predictable and there were few surprises along the way. The characters were fun, though, and Crusie made a ten-year older woman feel like the perfect fit in a wonderful romantic couple. Props for that being rare and well done and an int...

First things first... Do NOT give your dog chocolate! This bugged me to no end. Chocolate is like poison to dogs, and these characters fed their dog Oreos, which sent me into screaming fits!Now, on to the rest of the story - I stand by my rating: It was OK. The characters were likable and funny. The parallel action was also engaging. The reason for my stilted rating is that the romance felt a bit rushed and obvious to me. Romances tend to be a bit predictable, but this one was especially so. But...

A quick, cute read, though this is definitely an early Crusie: there isn't a plot so much as a series of convenient and rather repetitive excuses to draw the book out to its required length. I'm also beginning to wonder why it is that Crusie is so insistent that none of her heroines have or want children: trying to buck genre constraints, or something else? Still, this was very funny, Fred the depressive beagle was adorable, and it's got an older woman/younger man romance—definitely worth the co...

A wonderful, funny, and heartwarming read!

I'm a huge fan of pretty much anything Jennifer Crusie writes and this book was no exception.But...I'm not apparently a huge fan of the miscommunication plot device. (Potential non-fatal spoilers follow). I had a really hard time believing that the hero/heroine could spend hours and hours watching movies and hanging out and talking together A) without jumping each others bones and B) not ever talking about the fact that she didn't ever want the big house/ambitious man thing ever again. I mean, E...

I picked this audiobook on impulse because I needed a filler before my next audiobook gets delivered by the library. I've heard of Jennifer Crusie but have never read any of her books, so this will be first.From the first disc, I though the reader's voice sounded familiar. When I recognized it as Erickssen's of the In Death books, the story rose in my estimation. (Okay, I'm shallow. There are certain readers that can read me a shopping list, and I will enjoy it...LOL)It turned out to be a light-...

I loved this book. Nina and Alex were amazing together, but Nina was the real main character for me. The author was able to write Nina in a way that felt so real, I felt her emotions, her deeply with her. She was wonderful. Her struggles to accept that Alex could love her body was brought across in a very believable way. I loved how Nina knew (now) what she wanted and what she deserved, and that she wasn't shy to go for it. Alex was perfect for her. I loved that they didn't fall in insta-love, b...

This was sweet, short, entertaining and overall lovely low angst romance.From the way Nina decides which dog she is going to adopt (came for the perky puppies, left with a depressed-looking dog that '...on his best day, this dog would look like a professional mourner') to the way their relationship develops, it is lovely.I wouldn't mind Max's book.

A lite fun book about a May/December romance. Loved Alex, he was witty charming, and and old soul in a young man's body. I think that's why he connected with Nina. Fred the dog was a nice addition, and made for some humorous and sweet moments in the book. He was the one who brought them together. At one point the book almost seemed to stall and I felt as if I was rereading the same chapter over. Then it picked up again and wrapped up nicely. Moral of the story "I love you just the way you are."

I found this book hilarious. Nina, Fred, and Alex were cute together. Even though this story was a bit predictable it was just too cute not to finish. Fred was definitely too funny and cute especially when he Nina told him to "Go Free" lol

The notes I had for this said I liked the cover with the slippers better (I can find no cover with slippers) and also that this is a picture book. Now maybe I just clicked on the wrong book(s), or maybe, I was drunk with love. You decide.Library copy

This is a great romcom funny stupid. Over the top with a sweet smelly dog and funny h and a younger even funnier H. Loved it.

This was my first Jennifer Cruise book. I like how it was a quick read, although it took me a few days to finish it. I would only read it on my break at work. I'm debating or rather or not I should give it 2 1/2 stars or 3 stars. I know that I have highlighted three stars.As I have said before the book is a quick read. I like reading chick lit books. Good, catcher books. I wish the book was different. There's so much that I didn't like about this book. 1. Alex was a 30 year old kid. I know that

A sweet, funny, lighthearted romance...Jennifer Crusie's standard fare.Nina is newly divorced after fifteen years of marriage. So she's still finding out who she is by herself. But she's lonely, and decided that she needs companionship NOT of the human kind and goes to adopt a dog from the local shelter. While she wants a young, perky puppy, its the old smelly basset hound mix that steals her heart. Enter Fred, the comic relief and matchmaker of the story. Fred inadvertently sets up a meeting be...

This book is hysterical. I listened to the audiobook while driving to work and laughed myself silly. I absolutely loved Nina and Alex and of course, Fred. I'm not usually a chick-lit kind of girl but I absolutely loved this one.

Jennifer Crusie has her own style of romances. Her stories are rather fast-paced, funny, sometimes hilarious, and there is always a wise message. This time, that sometimes people care more about their own ego than what the other person wants, and that their behaviour can seem unselfish, caring - although it is in fact otherwise.There was also a bit of meta-level - about writing novels by women about relationships and how they are read later by readers. Was it the author's own experience? I wonde...

4.5 stars - great! I really love this book. Nina and Alex are pretty great, and Fred (the dog) is just fabulous. :-) But for me, this book is not as wonderful as Getting Rid of Bradley or Manhunting (both also by Jennifer Crusie), so it *only* gets 4.5 "great!" stars. ;-)This story sees Nina, 40 years old, rescue Fred ("part basset, part beagle, part manic-depressive," page 33) from certain death at her local shelter (it was his last day; I cried, it was so touching). She meets Alex, 30 years

The interwebs seem to agree that Jennifer Crusie writes above-average romance novels, so after reading several books that were very srs bsns, I decided to finally give one a try. This started out great: liked the snarky dialogue, liked the unusualness of an older woman/younger man pairing, thought the characters all seemed agreeable enough. The plot was really thin, however, and what little there was totally goes off the rails at the end—I’m not sure I get the logic of writing a romance novel wh...

What a pleasant surprise this book was!! I loved it from start to finish. Nina's character was just so real, with her insecurities about being 40 in a world that idolizes the looks of a 20-year-old. And Alex's ignorance of the realness of her insecurities was also very true-to-life. Nina is somewhat recently out of a very one-sided marriage, and all she wants is her independence and a dog. And of course, everyone knows that a good pet can be a good connection for friendship - which is all Nina w...

This was my first Jennifer Crusie novel and it was a fun easy read. It is easy to get into and Nina is a character who is easy to love. I think the thing I liked most about this novel was the realness of Nina, she is like your average woman with all the same insecurities about herself and her body.Alex is an interesting character and doesn't seem to be your typical 30 year old hero. They are a perfect couple it just takes them a while to figure it out. Fred, of course, regularly steals the show....