Review: Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie

Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Format: audiobook
Source: Pleasanton Library

What it’s about: When Andromeda Miller returns ten years’ worth of alimony checks to her ex-husband, she is met with a surprise. A job offer. A job for one month. Salary: 10,000 dollars. An offer too good for Andy to reject. Andy’s ex-husband North knows that when he sends Andy to the haunted castle she will figure out a way to handle any and all problems–all without missing her 3 o’clock baking session with the child Alice. Her mission is to take care of two orphaned children in a rebuilt castle in rural Ohio, a castle complete with its own moat.

Andy arrives at the castle to find two kids suffering abandonment issues, one seedy housekeeper who doesn’t keep house, a dilapidated structure…oh, and a trio of ghosts. As if that’s not enough, Andy is visited by an opportunistic journalist, an ex-mother-in-law, a mother, a fiance, and an ex-husband convinced he can uncover a charlatan.

Andy is a problem solver and soon has matters in hand. Still, even Andy’s skills are challenged when the ghosts show up. Can Andy trust the beautiful dancing ghost who offers love advice? What are the old specters’ intentions concerning the children?

Miss J and Peter Quint are old specters now devoid of souls, bound to a house that was transported piece by piece from England. Devotees of Henry James will find much entertainment here with Miss J and Peter and the two abandoned children as allusions to James’s famous ghost novella The Turn of the Screw.

What I thought: This is a delightful romp with zany characters balanced by the calm restraint of one North Archer who, although he’s Andy’s ex-husband, is still very present in her thoughts. Readers will love to root for Andy. She’s brave and honest and creative.

I originally picked up a print version of this book and returned it, judging it a bit simplistic. Later, I decided to give this novel another chance in audio format and realized it was too joyful to put aside, and in fact, the story becomes more complex as it moves forward. While some characters are two-dimensional, the children will charm readers. The author does a wonderful job of exposing their hard-won strength in the face of much adversity as well as revealing their poignant vulnerability. They become the impetus for Andy’s character growth. Andy, who never wanted children, evolves into their fiercest advocate and protector against any and all villains.

The author clearly enjoyed playing with names. Ensconced in the crumbling castle is the greedy Mrs. Crumb. Mrs. Crumb, the wicked housekeeper, is soon joined by North Archer, the straight shooter; and Southie, the ne’er do well brother. Then there are the aforementioned old ghosts pulled from Henry James’s novella. Whenever authors have fun with names, so do I as the reader.

I also had fun watching Andy wrestle with her love life. She loves the children, but does that mean she can reunite with their 3rd cousin, who happens to be her ex, the cerebral North Archer? Well, romance is in the air, along with some not-so-friendly ghosts, so you can probably guess.

If you’re looking for a romantic ghost story with a gutsy heroine, if you believe in second chances for family and love, then maybe Maybe This Time is the book for you.