CRAZY FOR YOU

Romance has a new star in Crusie (Tell Me Lies, 1998): if she had written Our Town, Emily Gibbs would have lived a longer life and died a happier woman. Quinn McKenzie is in a rut. Her little-town life in Tibbett, Ohio, is boring, dull, even “beige.” Though she lives with Bill, Tibbett’s most winning coach, she doesn’t precisely love him, but went along with the idea of cohabitation simply to avoid an argument. Quinn’s mother is also in a rut: she goes to garage sales with her friend Edie and waits on her husband Joe, who watches ESPN day and night. And Quinn’s best friend Darla is in a rut; she thinks her husband is interested in Barbara the bank officer, who changes her hairstyle each time she sets her cap for a different married man. But Quinn’s existence goes through a tectonic change when she adopts a small neurotic dog named Katie. Bill, who doesn’t want a dog, takes Katie to the pound, causing a furious Quinn to leave and move into her own house, where she begins to reexamine her life. She sets her cap for Nick Ziegler, the bad-boy mechanic who was once married to her more exotic sister Zoe. Nick doesn’t like to make commitments, and he fights his feelings for Quinn until the day he decides they should have sex once, to get it out of their system. But as romance fans know, one time seals his doom. By the end, Quinn discovers that her mother and Edie have been doing more than cruising garage sales together; Darla finally gets her husband’s attention; and Kate has an empowering (for her) confrontation with Bill. The only jarring note in this sexy, lighthearted confection is Bill, who turns into a pretty serious nutcase. Crusie should stay with her strengths, which mark her as one of the few in the genre who can make you laugh out loud. (Author tour)