Faking It

This is the story of two confidence people trying to go straight. The deeper subtext is that you should be true to who you are, and people who love you should love you regardless of your faults and mistakes or weirdness.I had mixed feelings about the book. While the story is, over all, a good one, the details involved in getting from beginning to end almost annoyed me. My God, the sheer number of characters. And the characters had characters, in that Eva was sometimes Louise, and Matilda was Scarlet, and it goes on. Even the danged dog had a person-name (Steve). So that was overwhelming.Also, the descriptions of every little painting and every piece of furniture and everything anybody ever wore...almost too much. I say almost because if anybody can pull it off, Crusie can, and does. Also, the story was about things not being real, and about sleight of hand and trickery, so the detail, even up to the setting (an old, beat-up art gallery with apartments above it) provided a fully congruous experience. So, the story was fun, funny, clever, and worth reading. Even though you might need a character list at first.

Truly exceptional, even for Jennifer Crusie. Brilliantly quirky and creative. Hilarious. I laughed out loud many times. Romantic, lots of sexual tension (but no graphic sex). All the characters were fantastic. The plot twisted and turned; I never knew what was going to happen. Oh, I figured out most of the who-was-who and what, but I still couldn’t guess from moment to moment how it would play out. I loved that there was more than one romance going. I admit I read it slowly because I didn’t want it to end and was afraid she wouldn’t be able to tie all those many ends up to my satisfaction, but the ending was fabulous! Would give this book ten stars if I could. I think this is my new favorite book. I’ve been struggling with depression, and I woke up this morning feeling great because of this book.

Oh, how I love a Jennifer Crusie book! So do my friends, as evidenced by the books disappearances from my bookshelves. Once again I've resorted to getting a book on audio so I'll have it available when I want a fun and interesting read.The Goodnight family has a long and interesting involvement with art, and Tilda is the latest gifted one, and her family is just as convoluted. Resorting to burglary is a first, but she runs into a con artist who sometimes consults for the FBI who is resorting to burglary for personal reasons. And so the fun begins! I'll leave the plot clues to the publisher's blurb and skip the spoilers, but this is a great stress reducing read!Aasne Vigesaa is really great for this narration with her ability to portray the characters and situations.

Faking It is a strange romance. In my opinion it's not a traditional romance, it's quirky and the characters don't even have good sex the first time (she stressed out and he's not paying attention). But it's a witty and fun story that I've enjoyed every time I've read it.Tilda's niece Nadine sells a painting. This shouldn't be a problem because the family owns an art gallery, that's what your supposed to do. Unfortunately, this painting should have never seen the light of day. The family goes into instant panic mode (except for Nadine because nobody will explain the problem to her) and they arrange a way for Tilda to steal the painting back. Tilda is not good at breaking and entering, in fact it gives her an asthma attack. While searching Clea's room Tilda runs into Davey (in Clea's closet). Davey realizes that Tilda's bumbling is going to get them caught, so he tells her to meet him at a diner and he'll steal the painting for her. When the meet later on he hands over the still wrapped painting - which later turns out to be the wrong painting. Davey and Tilda scramble to steal the right painting (and his money back) while the Goodnight family's secrets start to crumble around them.Part of the fun of the story is the reveal of all of the secrets. Half the time things are explained in a timely manner, other times a bit too slow for me. However I was willing to overlook that for the creative plot, the colorful characters, the humor, and the fact that I just loved Tilda and Davey. Clea, one of the "bad guys", was even funny though I felt a bit bad for her. There were times when I wanted to strangle Tilda's family for putting so much pressure on her. But they were all dealing with their own painful secrets and guilt and everyone (even Tilda) tried to keep the status quo going because it seemed best.It's easy to say that Crusie's books are formulaic - murder, song or movie quotes, a dog, a cool son or daughter (of varying ages), wisecracking side characters, and HEAs all around. Sometimes that's just fun.Featured at An Abundance of Books, read full review here - (...)

Wonderful! A quirky, zany family filled with tremendous characters. A con man, stolen money, FBi, fraud and a man eater all come together in a delicious plot that will have you reeling with the twists and turns in this. Funny dialogue just adds to the enjoyment. I have the hard copy but it's now falling apart due to the number of times I have read this. A tremendous read.

One of my favourite cruise books, after Agnes and the Hitman. Worth reading

Read this book quite a few years ago lent it to a friend and never saw it again. Forgotten how much I'd enjoyed it the first time. It's a great read with lots happening to keep you more than interested one of Jennifer Crusies best story's

I enjoyed this very much

This author has the capacity to come up with such original and quirky characters you don't want to put her books down. For Crusie fans it has the usual combo of wacky characters, musical tastes and dogs but in an entirely fresh package. Perfect beach read. You'll have it finished in a day and will want to turn right back to the start to read it again. Brilliant. Loved it. Buy it!