toniroger's Full Review: Jennifer Crusie - Faking It
I bought this Faking it by Jennifer Cruise because I had read her earlier books, Fast Women and Welcome to Temptation. Out of the three, I would have to say that Welcome to Temptation is my favorite and it is in that book that I meet the Dempsey family, including Dave Dempsey (more about him later.)
Tilda...
We meet our quirky heroine, Matilda “Tilda” Goodnight, who seems to be at a plateau in her life where nothing good happens. Caught up in a never ending struggle to care for her family and the art gallery they own, she seems to be constantly in the “fix it” mode and yet somehow out of control in her personal life. I found that Tilda is the most relevant character for me personally in this book as I am the oldest child in my family and constantly changing roles as peacemaker, party starter, counselor and doctor. She is passionate but living life as it happens, passively accepting her families dysfunction and handling them all.
Tilda finds out that her niece accidentally sells a forged painting and so she sets off, determined to protect her family and herself from the law and retrieve this painting. Tilda herself forged the painting when she was younger because her dad (now deceased, but apparently quite the character) asked her to.
She manages to get into the house of the lady who purchased the painting (Clea Lewis) and jumps into the closet to avoid being caught. Once inside the closet, struggling for air and cursing her asthma, she discovers someone else is inside the room, also searching for something. Inside is Davy Dempsey, with a mission of his own.
Davy...
Davy is a con man trying to stay straight and he is totally messed up because his trusted bookkeeper stole his three million dollars that he stole fair and square from his ex-girlfriend, Clea Lewis. Suprise, the plot thickens... In order to get his money back, he has to go after Clea Lewis and so he sets off in several misadventures to get his cash. Once inside her home, he starts searching for anything that would contain the bank account numbers where his money is stashed. Afraid of being discovered, he jumps into the closet and discovers to his astonishment, a nicely padded, soft woman has already stolen his hiding place.
It does not take long for Dave to decide that seducing Tilda is definitely a more attractive way of spending that time in the closet. A “Don Juan” character in nature, he discovers there is a lot more to her than meets the eye and convinces her to meet him at a nearby café so that he can give her the painting she wants.
They meet later and she does wind up with a painting, but it turns out it is the wrong painting. All too soon, her precarious control of her life and family goes haywire as soon all of them are involved in retrieving the painting and restoring the family name. Davy too become embroiled in the situation, renting a room from her family and climbing into her bed.
Eccentric Characters:
The characters in this novel are really hilarious. Mom is uptight and dreamy, letting life drift around her as she dreams about getting away from it all and resents her deceased husband. Eve, Tilda’s sister, lives a secret life as Louise, a sexy hot number who features at the nightclub a few nights a week. Nadine, Eve’s daughter is a teen desperate to discover her identity through true love. Nadine’s father is also now gay… and the first love of Tilda’s life, which really complicates her feelings towards Eve. Davy brings in his trusted best friend who promptly seduces Louise, unaware that she is Eve. If that is not crazy enough for you, of course Davy and Tilda start an affair which begins rather badly, yet hilariously at the same time. Theirs is not an easy romance, yet somehow there is the hope that they will make it. Add in Clea's current boy friend and he other ex lover and things get really spicy!
The writing is fast paced and the reader becomes wrapped up in the adventures and sub-plots that race across the pages. I love Jennifer Cruise’s style and zany humor in every day situations like sex. She brings reality to the surface and combined with mystery and suspense kept me captivated through the entire novel.
I hesitate to write anymore because this book has so much to offer I don’t want to spoil it for the readers. I recommend this novel and her other novels as a great, carefree romance wrapped up in suspense and adventure.
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