Welcome to Temptation

Jennifer Crusie's Welcome to Temptation is a novel about the children of a con man coming to visit a small town in Ohio to make a movie at the behest of the town's success story --- the high school ingénue who went off to Hollywood. The hereditary mayor-for-life, his mom, his political rival, the other loony city council members, the police chief, the ingénue's self-important news anchor husband, the mayor's daughter, a boy dog named Lassie, and a freezer full of Dove bars round out the cast. Witty dialog, good sex, a pool table, and a tone reminiscent of Westlake's Dancing Aztecs make it worth a bit of a slog through the early pages that set up the action. But then they start to make the porn movie under the eyes of the burghers and it gets really amusing. The real attraction, though, is Crusie’s ability to actually capture human interaction, and show those flashes of insight when one character understands another.  While this isn't as good as Bet Me, it's still an excellent story.  And in a world where romance novels have been supplanted by "mommy porn," three-dimensional characters are a real pleasure.

Bet Me

I was originally induced --- though perhaps seduced would be a better word --- to read Jennifer Crusie's Bet Me when I leaned over in bed one evening to ask my darling wife what she was reading and she said "don't bother me now, I'm just to the part where she's tied up and he's eating donuts off her boobs." And the scene in question does not fail to deliver. However, what amazed me throughout the book was that Crusie has just used "romance novel" to hang a real story from, and in doing so, she has real characters who actually occupy three dimensions and undergo character development, even the supporting cast. The dynamics of the main characters' families is pretty amazing, and was magnificently written. And the development of the relationship between our protagonists is deep and affecting: they each understand the other’s family in a way that gives them insight into one another. Very good stuff on multiple levels. 

[[This review published today in honor of our wedding anniversary, because Liz recommended this book to me.]]

"There are three possible parts to a date, of which at least two must be offered: entertainment, food, and affection. It is customary to begin a series of dates with a great deal of entertainment, a moderate amount of food, and the merest suggestion of affection. As the amount of affection increases, the entertainment can be reduced proportionately. When the affection is the entertainment, we no longer call it dating. Under no circumstances can the food be omitted."

     --- Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, by Judith Martin