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Anyone But You
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Anyone But You
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Anyone But You
Ebook192 pages2 hours

Anyone But You

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

About this ebook

Part basset, part beagle, all Cupid

For Nina Askew, turning forty means freedom—from the ex-husband, freedom from their stuffy suburban home, freedom to focus on what she wants for a change. And what she wants is something her ex always vetoed—a puppy. A bouncy, adorable puppy.

Instead she gets Fred.

Overweight, middle-aged, a bit smelly and obviously depressed, Fred is light-years from perky. But he does manage to put Nina in the path of Alex Moore, her gorgeous, younger-by-a-decade neighbor.

Alex seems perfect—he's a sexy, seemingly sane, surprisingly single E.R. doctor—but the age gap convinces Nina that anyone but Alex would be better relationship material. But with every silver-haired stiff she dates, the more she suspects it's the young, dog-loving doc she wants to sit and stay!

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarlequin HQN
Release dateOct 15, 2012
ISBN9781460305089
Author

Jennifer Crusie

Jennifer Crusie was researching her dissertation on the differences in the way men and women tell stories when she got sidetracked into writing romance novels. Her first book was published in 1993 (which pretty much finished off any hope of her getting that PhD) and her twenty-second book, Maybe This Time, came out in August of 2010, all of which she considers a minor miracle, especially since she is also a New York Times, USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author and a two-time Rita award winner.

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Reviews for Anyone But You

Rating: 4.208955223880597 out of 5 stars
4/5

67 ratings33 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not Crusie's best. H/h both came off a little whiney and it got old quick.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    very cute book fast read, makes me want to believe in love again....
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Love the story and this author but it feels a little fast
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love Crusie! She's truly good. But of u read some of her tomances, they all sort blend into one same story. The leads sound the same. Its like putting the same characters in different settings. I need more of Crusie!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    you mar guión sor muy bien
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    love her books great fun read
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love all of Jennifer Crusie's imperfect heroines, and Fred was just perfect!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This one had tons of telling, over-obvious symbolism and a plot that led me around by the nose, but the characters and dialog were so damn cute that I just couldn't hold it against the book. Just charmed the pants off me, it did.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    You can count on Jennifer Crusie to deliver a fun romance. After adopting a sad sack mutt at the pound, named Fred, Nina meets her downstairs neighbor, Alex, ten years younger than but very handsome. Newly divorced and just turned 40 Nina feels that dating him would be inappropriate and out of the question. With help from Fred, Nina's friends, and Alex boy gets the girl.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    How refreshing! A romance about an "older" woman who does not have kids and does not want kids. A romance that ended happily ever after but without the "a baby makes 3" happy ending. Love Crusie!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Fred is part-basset and part-beagle, and all Cupid. Thanks to her new dog Fred, Nina Askew gets to know her downstairs neighbor, Alex. Nina has just turned 40 and has gotten out of her loveless marriage. Alex has just turned 30 and happy as an ER doctor. Nina and Alex learn to find peace with their lives and love in each other. It is fun and funny and Fred leads the way.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a quick and easy contemporary romance story. I think I originally picked it up based on the reviews...but decided to read it now because the older woman/younger man circumstance relates almost identically to me now, although the characters themselves could not be more different from myself and my boyfriend.Overall I found the characters appealing, Fred, of course, being the most notable LOL This author has a penchant for incorporating unusual canine characters into her stories and although dogs aren't my favorite animal, Fred was enjoyable to read about. I could completely relate to Neene's physical shyness with Adam, I think it was really understandable to me now in a way I would never have gotten if I had read this book a year ago.Certainly a quick and amusing read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a light romance.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    She wanted a perky puppy. What she got was a depressed dog; half beagle, half basset hound. She named him Fred because he looked like her uncle. Can I just say, I love Fred? If he wasn’t fictitious, I’d want him for myself. What a character. And any dog who loves oreos can’t be half bad, right? Although, technically not supposed to feed dogs chocolate. Probably wasn’t a well known fact at the time of the original publishing.I liked Nina. She’s 40 ~ and she has all of the insecurities that go along with getting older. She’s self-conscious about her body, about her life. She’s hung up on her neighbor, Alex, who happens to be 10 years younger. I love the fact that she was real. Well, as real as a fictitious character could be.Now, Alex. What to say about Alex. Fred likes Alex. I liked Alex up until the last 25 pages of the book. Then I thought he drank too much. And he was trying too hard to prove a point. He was trying too hard to take care of Nina who (hello!!) doesn’t need to be taken care of. Around page 208, I thought he was too stupid to live. Yes, that’s right. A hero ~ Too Stupid To Live. I almost stopped reading right there. For a wedding present, he wants to buy a house...in the ritzy neighborhood that she lived in with her ex-husband, who still happens to live there. I mean if she wanted a life just like she had when she was married, wouldn’t she still be married? If I were Nina, I’d dump him right then and there. I think he needs to go to Oz and get a brain. I also noticed that both times anything significant happened ~ she initiated it. He was always waiting for the right time. Once again, Too Stupid To Live.I liked the side characters ~ Max, Alex’s brother, and Charity, Nina’s best friend. I sensed some undercurrents there and was surprised that there wasn’t a book written with them in mind. And I’m a little disappointed. I would have liked to learn more about Max. I loved Norma Lynn ~ I’d like being her a neighbor. She’d kick my lazy butt into shape real quick.I’d say the book is somewhere between Okay and Good. Yes, it’s choppy and yes, it seems Crusie skips around a lot. But, for a first novel, it’s not half-bad. And it’s not meant to be a Nobel Prize winner. It’s meant to be a light, fluffy read ~ and at that, it succeeds.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I requested this book from a bookswap purely on the basis of The Popcorn Dialogues. I know Jennifer Crusie as one half of Jenny Crusie and Lucy March (aka Lani Diane Rich), and I've enjoyed their occasionally wine-glazed podcasts on what makes movies good or bad ("Lord, it wasn't good" – I am required by natural law to admire and applaud anyone who quotes Bloom County). They are both sharp, smart, very funny ladies (who know and love Bloom County), and there is always the hope that personality really will come out in a person's writing. And, you know, it does here. I'm not at all sorry I asked for this book, nor that I read it. I don't mean that as damning with faint praise – really, I opened the book-shaped package with the Goodreads bookswap label and questioned my judgment for a minute. With a thousand books out there I know I want, I chose a possibly stupid romance novel? But: PopD. Then a GR friend recommended Jennifer Crusie in an unrelated conversation, and I picked up poor maligned Anyone But You. Jenny's personality holds true from the podcasts to the novel, and it's just plain fun. This is chick lit in its purest form, very nicely written, funny – wry, even – with an older heroine (older than the usual 20-year-old, I mean) who is not a size two, a hero who is not perfect but also not Tragically Flawed, and just a …well, a fun story with a touch of fairy tale about it. It's sweet – a quick candy read, and one of the better brands of candy at that. Four stars out of sheer sentimental gooeyness.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Older woman, just divorced, finds fun, friendship and sexy times with a younger upstairs neighbor. This was fun, but no deep thinking was involved. : )
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another brilliant read!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Cute story of a 40 year old divorced woman and a 30 year old ER doctor falling for each other. I liked it but would have liked a little more depth. A fun read - and the dog is cute too.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    PlotNina Askew is a recent divorcée who has turned 40. She moves into a new apartment, gets a depressed dog named Fred, and meets neighbor Alex Moore. Alex is an ER doctor who has turned 30 and is facing intense pressure from his doctor-filled family to declare a medical specialty, when he really loves the ER. Nina works at a publishing company that is struggling, and decides to have her friend write a book about her dating exploits to try to revive the dying company. This is a success, even though Nina's boss at first resists it. Meanwhile, Nina fights her feelings for Alex even as their friendship grows; the two frequently watch old movies together at night and share cookies while spending time with Fred. Eventually Nina comes to her senses and gets with Alex. This makes Alex turn serious, deciding he needs to specialize to be able to provide for Nina financially in the way she was provided for with her previous husband. It takes some time before Nina learns this, and gets Alex back on track, telling him to stay with the job he loves (she left the rich husband anyway, she doesn't need another one). All ends on a happy note.SettingNew York? Contemporary times.CharactersAll are fairly easy to predict. Some stereotypes (the flighty friend who has dated every man and had every relationship end badly; Alex's brother Max who dates around and never stays with one woman; abrasive, domineering ex-husband)PacingPretty fast-paced and keeps interestNarrationThird-person omniscient, mostly from Nina's perspective, but occasionally following Alex=====Language - PG-13 Can't recall, but nothing shockingSex - R - explicitViolence - noneHomosexuality - none
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Mmmm...It's one of my favourites!. At first i thought that i will read one chaper per day, but when i start reading it, i couldn't but it away..Main characters dialoges were so freakin' funny.. And Fred was so gute and funny and so one. When i read it , i could imagine the dog doing those things... It made me laugh so hardly, that all people around me thought that i was crazy, but it didn't matter to me, because i was so into it...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    So after a couple of years of having an on-and-off love affair with the Bitches over at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books - I finally decided to commit. So I went with one of their must-read Romance Authors - Jennifer CrusieI chose to start my Harlequin education with Anyone But You because I figured worst comes to worst, I would love the dog. Needless to say, Fred (the canine protagonist), made the book come to life from page 1. I absolutely loved the hero, Alex, despite the fact that he was self-confident and perfectly content in himself. Huh? Well, I considering my preference in the tortured!hero in every genre, it is somewhat surprising that he resonated with me. And as for the heroine, Nina, I loved her almost as much as Alex - despite her hang up over his age.Halfway through the book, I was high as a kite. I couldn't imagine a book getting any better than the gold I had in my hands. At that moment, the book was warm, comfy, toasty, melted-butter popcorn comfort. I honestly felt wholly content while reading the frigging thing. It was almost disturbing how much I enjoyed it.But I do have one fairly major complaint that ended up knocking the book down to three and a half stars - the last forty pages. The forty pages where Jennifer Crusie decided that the characters getting together meant it was time for them to go bonkers and completely change personality. There was epic confusion, family drama, job crises, and, well, it went on. But for only forty pages. It was just plain odd. I mean, obviously, Crusie sorted it out by the end - but why it was there in the first place still confused me. I wish I could back and unread the last forty pages - because before them I had been ready to write a gushing, fangirling, five star review. Those pages ripped me out of the wonderfully comfortable world I had just gotten used to - and it was pretty shocking to the system.The book is also a little dated. Written in the mid-nineties, the cultural references aren't so out of date - but the thinking kinda is. It was a contemporary romance, without a doubt, but still the assumptions that the characters had to get over just seemed rather redundant. Maybe it's because my generation has a lot fewer barriers to leap over when it comes to love, but I really did have to push myself into believing that the relationship obstacles, were, you know, obstacles.Over all, I consider my first foray into contemporary romance section pretty darn positive. I look forward to reading other Cruise books, and of course continuing my work through the Smart Bitches Rec Pile!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Fun, quick read - very light romance.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A lot of people name this as their Crusie favourite. Me too. I loved the dog, and I got a lot of funny looks laughing and giggling to myself while waiting in various lines and waiting rooms. The romance was sweet and tight, and I always enjoy Crusie's psychological pictures. It made my day (and a long day that was).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    One of the many things I love about Crusie is her ability to write non-traditional romances. While the majority of romances I've read revolve around female characters who are young, slim (yet curvy, the lucky gals), and generally naive, Crusie writes instead about women outside this stereotypical mold. In truth, she writes about real women. In this particular novel her main female character is recently divorced and has just turned 40 and the only things preventing her relationship with the male lead are their age difference (he's 30) and her worries about her body and the effects of aging like a normal person. While "Bet Me" remains my fave Crusie, this book is another example of her humour and ability to make romances between real (or at least non-stereotypical) people believable.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A romantic comedy that you can read in 2-4 hours (depending on your reading speed -I tend to be toward the slow end of the scale). It's an uplifting peice of humor set around the main character Nina: a divorced, newly-turned 40 year old, who only wants a happy, perky puppy to come home to and ends up with Fred. Fred is most people's favorite character -half basset hound, half beagle and they wouldn't be wrong, Fred is the most memorable character, who can make any scrooge smile with his fire escap antics. So Nina ends up with Fred who leads Alex, her attractive 30 year old, ER doctor who lives in the apartment below, right to her door. Could a woman ask for a better dog? I think not.A plot line of frustration, fear of messing up a friendship, humor, alcohol addiction, "unconditional love", and oreos ensues.All in all, a short and simple book that will bring a smile to your face and perhaps a desire to find your own Fred....
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    this is an early book of Crusies (1995) and it shows. It has her humor and her traditional heroine, but it's more labored than her later books. I liked Fred the basset hound (apparently everyone does, in her into Crusie says that everyone remembers this as Fred's book) and liked Nina, in that she felt real. One thing that struck me was that no Crusie heroine has children, which made me wonder if she does (but I seem to recall reading somewhere that she does) Just an aside...It's about Nina, the 40 yo recently divorced woman who moves in an apartment over a 30 yo er doctor and Fred, her basset hound, brings them together. So while I'm here musing to myself - it's okay. B. It's sweet, I liked certain aspects but I won't kill myself to reread it. She's a wonderful writer and an absolute keeper for me, (I even buy her in hard back!) so I'm glad to have this to complete my collection (I still don't have and have actually never read Cinderella man, but that's the only book of hers I've never read) but if you've never read her, don't start with this one - start with Welcome to Temptation, that's a classic!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Anyone that has a dog will love this book. So full of tenderness, true and feeling for this animal, very well written. A 40yrs old divorced woman, starting all over again, falls in love with not a puppy but a dog!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It was my first Crusie book and I loved it! An easy read with great characters with Fred, the dog, being the best.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    As always, Jenny Crusie is hilarious on the subject of modern romance, and as always, her humor has a sharp point on it. Nina is newly divorced, newly forty, and newly aware of just exactly how much her body has changed since the last time she had a date. She meets Alex (with the help of her adopted basset hound Fred) who lives in the same apt building as her. He is the worst possible kind of man, he's sexy and much younger, but the sparks fly between them.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    On her own after her divorce, 40-year-old Nina Askew wants a perky puppy to keep her company. What she finds, however is a droopy older dog who is so pathetic she can't pass him up. Luckily, Fred is a fabulous companion and a skilled matchmaker.Laugh-out-loud funny.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    'Anyone But You' was my first introduction to this particular author's work and one that, I'm happy to say, won me over within the first few pages. A light-hearted and fluffy tale of Nina Askew, a 40-something, newly divorced editor starting over in the world; Fred, a matchmaking chronically depressed basset hound that Nina rescues from a shelter; and Alex Moore, a young ER doctor who lives in the downstairs apartment and is more than willing to share his bag of oreos with both Fred and Nina. Laugh out loud funny, this book had me smiling from beginning to end. With fun, exciting characters, witty dialog, and a pooch that will steal your heart, Cruise definitely won me over as a fan.