Liviania’s review of Strange Bedpersons by Jennifer Crusie
Contemporary romance released by HQN 24 Nov 2009

I’m supposed to focus on new releases, not reprints.  I picked up this Jennifer Crusie because I know she’s a favorite of many.  (I’ve even seen her on my mother’s shelf.)  I figure it’s all right then, as there are probably a number of readers like me who are new to the romance genre and pick up a big name completely clueless as to whether it is new or a reprint.  I can say this after finishing Strange Bedpersons: Crusie earned her reputation.

Tess is the crunchy granola feminist.  Nick is the lawyer determined to make partner.  Together, they pretend to be affianced even though they broke up.  (Why they broke up is a bit of a headbanger.)  Nick is about to land an important client, and it matters to him who Nick is dating.  Then Tess gets further involved with Nick’s life when her best friend, retiring dancer Gina, begins to date and falls for Nick’s best friend, playboy lawyer Park.  Tess and Nick have conflicting sensibilities and desires, but an undeniable attraction to the other.

Unfortunately, Tess was the weakest part of the story.  She is utterly intolerant of other people’s points of view.  She’s that friend who tries to make you guilty for ever eyeing a cow, much less eating and wearing it.  I’m all for living in the way you prefer and not hiding your lifestyle, but people who try to shove their way of living onto others because it is the only way to really live and be a good person annoy me.  Luckily, Gina gets a great scene of calling Tess on her shit.

On the other hand, I really loved Nick.  Tess’s main issue with him is that he’s too ambitious.  However, he never comes across as ruthless or cut off from other aspects of life.  Dude wants to make partner and be secure and thus does a good job.  She’s also got a problem with the fact he isn’t instantly GGG when she tries to foist her kink on him.  Kink’s fine, but you’ve got to look out for your partner if he or she is going to indulge you.  My main problem with Nick is that he kept pursuing this crazy chick who stepped all over him.  (That, and he messed with her clothes.  He’s not perfect, but he was more likeable and sympathetic than Tess.)

This sounds really down, but it is a major compliment to Crusie that I enjoyed Strange Bedpersons despite my initial dislike of Tess.  The book is extremely funny, particularly during the final dinner scene.  Nick and Tess have enough chemistry with each other and enough willingness to compromise (even if it does come slower on Tess’s part) that I believe the happy ending, despite the relationship’s rocky beginning.  I think I will seek out another one of Crusie’s novels, though I know some of them are considered misses.  After all, it doesn’t take much work to check out the blogs and see which ones are hits.

Grade: B-

Summary:
Tess Newhart knows her ex-boyfriend Nick Jamieson isn’t the right guy for her. He’s caviar and champagne; she’s take-out Chinese pot stickers. He’s an uptight Republican lawyer; she was raised in a commune. He wants to get ahead in business; she just wants…him. But there’s no way Tess will play second fiddle to his job.

Yet somehow she finds herself agreeing to play his fiancée on a weekend business trip that could make or break Nick’s career. And while he’s trying to convince Tess that he needs her in his respectable world, Tess is doing her best to keep her opinions to herself and her hands off Nick.

Read an excerpt here.