Faking It (Dempseys, #2) by Jennifer Crusie

Faking It (Dempseys, #2) Reviews

• 
  Jilly

  How could I not love a romance novel that has the couple's first sexual encounter be an absolute disaster? There was no magic, or multiples, or insta-love. It was awkward, not fun, just-waiting-for-it-to-be-over, fake-orgasm sex.
  
  
  They had gluten-free pizza sex. With pineapples and anchovies.
  That bad.
  
  So, she tells him that she prefers her vibrator to him, and he tells her that it was awful but he's willing to have them practice and get better. And, if that wasn't just the truest example of the male/female mindset I don't know what is.
  
  
  
  This book, like the first one in the series, had a lot of characters in it. They were all very quirky and fun with their own little stories going on. I like how Jennifer Crusie is able to juggle all of that so well. But, it does make it take a little longer to get hooked into her stories (for me). But, like the first book, I found myself really invested about halfway through and I'm looking forward to reading more.
  
  The story itself is about a guy trying to steal his money back from the lady he originally stole it from, and a girl trying to steal a forged painting back from the same lady. This lady is not having a good day. But, don't worry, she deserves a LOT of bad days.
  
  They meet while each of them are hiding in the lady's closet after they separately broke into her house. Instead of a meet-cute, it was a meet-loot. So romantic!
  
  
  Came for the goods. Stayed for true love.
  
  The two of them end up deciding to help each other and it's funny craziness throughout.
  One warning: the guy is kind of a dick for a bit. He is continually checking out other women even after these two sleep together. I was happy when she told him that her vibrator was better than him. He totally needed a slap-down. But, he ends up being awesome by the end.
  
  I don't know if these books are for everyone, but I like the sarcasm and craziness going on and am going to read more of her stuff.
• 
  Anna

  I loooove this book. Jenny Crusie is a goddess and a scholar and I will not hear any differently.
  
  Faking It is the story of con artist Davy Dempsey - younger brother to Sophie Dempsey, from Welcome to Temptation - and Matilda Goodnight, born to a family of art forgers.
  
  Jenny’s books always have an amazing, complex, sprawling cast, and they read like a movie. There are always ten things happening at the same time and every supporting character has a whole crazy story arc, and the romance is always full of real life moments and so much intensity.
  
  I think someone made a chart once of things you can always find in Jenny’s books and it was perfect. I can’t remember all the items, but there was definitely a crime and a stray dog in there, plus a signature dessert. What else could you possibly want in your romance novel??
  
  I’m always laughing out loud at the characters’ antics and this book is no different. Can’t wait to reread it again next summer break! 😂
• 
  Stephanie

  What if someone wrote a Harlequin Romance while dropping acid? I'm pretty sure this book would be the result. Jennifer Crusie, whose known for her quirky romance novels, outdoes herself with this tale. Who else would create a heroine who has to fake an orgasm with the hero the first time they have sex because it's so bad? Who else would describe their first kiss as "tasting of vodka and disaster"? This book is just so much fun.
• 
  Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell

  I just recently read BET ME and was thinking what a shame it was that I didn't have any more Jennifer Crusie books... and then this one literally just fell out of my closet and beaned me on the head.
  
  Was it put there by my bookish fairy godmother? Or did Trash Nenia actually do something right for once?
• 
  Mitticus

  3.5 flashy painted stars
  
  Popsugar challenge #4: libro que involucre un robo.
  
  

  “Everybody’s crooked,” Davy said. “The trick is to find out how they’re bent. Then you make sure the consequences are so great they stay straight anyway.”

  
  
  This is like one of those old movies of screwball comedy... made me feel nostalgic; I really miss them.
  
  Lot of crooked faulty charming characters, and it made me chuckle sometimes too.
  :)
  
  
  Davy Dempsey quiere sus 3 millones de vuelta. Su ex- le sustrajo su dinero con ayuda de otro ex-amigo. Que él primero le robara el dinero a su ex, pues eso apenas registra en su radar.
  Tilda Goodnight anda detrás de un cuadro. La reputación y el bienestar de su familia, de su madre, hermana y sobrina depende de ello.
  Ambos colisionan en una armario y besos más tarde parece que ella no podrá quitarselo de encima, y que tal vez ambos puedan beneficiarse y conseguir dinero y cuadro.
  Bueno las cosas no funcionan exactamente de acuerdo al plan.
  
  He’d been a pool player long enough to know that if you had to choose between skill and luck, you chose luck; a con man long enough to know that if you had to choose between a great plan and fate on your side, you picked fate. And here he was, up to his ass in skill and plans
  
  Davy es un estafador desde la cuna, y todos sus amigos parecen cortados igual. Por otra parte, Tilda tiene sus propios esqueletos en el armario con las pinturas , la galeria de arte que es el negocio familiar y su familia.
  
  Si a alguno esto le asemeja a How to Steal a Million (Como robar un millón, 1966), puede que sea o no una coincidencia :P
  
  
  
  
  O sea, pinturas, y closets y...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Hay dialogos rápidos y con mucha charla acerca de sexo. Como el hecho de que el primer encuentro sexual entre los protagonistas deja mucho. mucho, que desear.
  
  Y en cuanto a Clea, la ex, con Davy:
  
  What relationship?” Clea said, mystified. “What made you think we had a relationship?”
  “We were living together,” Davy said. “I thought—”
  “No you didn’t.” Clea folded her arms. This was why men were a pain in the ass. They only thought of themselves. “You didn’t think at all. You looked at me and saw what you wanted to see, a faithful hottie of a girlfriend. You didn’t want to know me, you just wanted to have me. Well, you had me. It’s over.” He was looking at her as if she were speaking Chinese, so she spelled it out forhim. “I’m not responsible for you not knowing me, Davy. It’s not my fault you never looked—”
  “Oh, come on,” Davy said. “We were living together.”
  Clea shrugged. “I saved a lot on rent. I don’t see what that has to do with this. I mean, did I ever say, ‘Davy, you’re the only one’?”
  “No,” Davy said.
  “Did I ever say, ‘I’ll never leave you, this is forever, you’re the love of my life’?”
  “This is really depressing,” Davy said, leaning against the storefront again.
  “So you’re mad at me for not being what you wanted me to be,” Clea said. “Well, I’m mad at you, too. I wanted you to be rich, and you weren’t, and I ended up with that bastard Zane.”
  
  Volviendo con el mal sexo:
  
  “Look, don’t take it personally—”
  “You’d rather have a vibrator than me,” Davy said.
  “It’s a good one,” she said, trying to soften the blow. “It’s not battery-operated. It plugs in.”
  [----]
  “You’re in a long-term relationship with an appliance,” Davy said.
  “Hey.” Tilda straightened. “I never have to talk to it, it never makes me feel embarrassed, and it never lets me down.”
  [---]
  “Look, this is not a problem. I’m an open-minded man. How about a threesome?”
  “What?” Tilda said, outraged.
  “You, me, and the machine,” Davy said.
  [---]
  Wait a minute, where are you going?”
  “To play pool,” Davy said. “I’m going to sink something in a pocket tonight.” Then he slammed the door, taking her twenty with him.
  “Men are so sensitive,”
  
  
  XD
  
  
  
  
  
  La joven abuela que hace crucigrams y sueña con tragos con sombrillas, la hermana que debe dividirse entre la responsabilidad y su propia sexualidad, la sobrina adolescente avispada, son grandes personajes todos con sus pequeños desvarios , como dije encantadoras y no lo que uno podria considerar tradicionales. Y Tilda, con todas esas supresiones y la responsabilidad, seguro que todos le echan porras.
  
  Dempsey es el bribón simpático con su propia moral y reglas. No quiere sujetarse a nada, porque se conoce y no puede vivir siempre haciendo lo correcto, le aburre.
  
  Bueno, es acerca de asumir quienes somos, un poco como aceptar quienes somos y jugar la mejor mano posible... de preferencia no cuando hay un Dempsey presente, si estamos haciéndolo por dinero.
  
  Un libro simpático, para pasar un rato y con suerte te sacará una risa.
  
  Pero creo que siempre he preferido donas a muffins... :sigh:
  
  Nadine sighed and opened a cupboard,“According to Grandma, there are two kinds of men in the world, doughnuts and muffins.”
  “Doughnuts are the guys that make you drool,” Nadine said “They’re gorgeous and crispy and covered with chocolate icing and you see one and you have to have it, and if you don’t get it, you think about it all day and then you go back for it anyway because it’s a doughnut.”
  Davy said. “So doughnuts make you drool.”
  “Right. Whereas muffins just sort of sit there all lumpy, looking alike, no chocolate icing at all.”
  “And while muffins may be excellent,” Nadine went on, “especially the pineapple-orange ones, they’re no doughnuts.”
  “So doughnuts are good,” Davy said, trying to keep up his end of the conversation.
  “Well, yeah, for one night,” Nadine said. “But then the next morning, they’re not crisp anymore, and the icing is all stuck to the bag, and they have watery stuff all over them, and they’re icky and awful. You can’t keep a doughnut overnight.”
  “Ah,” Davy said. “But a muffin—”
  “Is actually better the next day,” Nadine finished. “Muffins are for the long haul and they always taste good. They don’t have that oh-my-God-I-have-to-have-that thing that the doughnuts have going for them, but you still want them the next morning.”
  .
  .
• 
  Lois Bujold

  My favorite Crusie, who is my favorite contemporary romance writer, smart and witty.
  
  I am wanting a lot of analgesic fiction this week, so I am rereading a bunch of Crusie and Krentz (who is my Crusie-methadone go-to). Crusie never seems to write quite the same book twice, and so is much more limited in her output. (Krentz does not seem to have that disability, so she's much harder to run out of, but her books do rather blur together in my mind after a bit. My fave of hers is Light in Shadow, if you're looking for a rec.)
  
  That said, I also just reread The Cinderella Deal, an early Crusie, and doing the two books back-to-back did display an earlier and a later pass on some of the same ideas and tropes. In Faking It, Crusie is definitely at the top of her form, for my tastes.
  
  Technically, Faking it is a sequel to Welcome to Temptation, in that romance-series way that jumps to follow another somehow-related couple, but it works fine as a stand-alone as well.
  
  Highly recommended.
  
  I bought a Kindle edition, since my old paperback copy is buried in a box in my garage at present, and I didn't want to wait in line for Overdrive from my library. Mostly pretty good in terms of transfer-typos, but it is missing an italicization of one critical line; I don't know if this can be fixed. ("I'd have bought it, too." is NOT the same as "I'd have bought it too." Nor, for that matter, the same as "I'd have bought it, too!", although that does not enter in.)
• 
  Ana

  
  Faking It was the first book I ever read by
  Jennifer Crusie and is the reason I went to read every other book she has ever written. This one, however, remains my favorite. The story is one part romance novel, one part action adventure and is liberally sprinkled with humor, musical references, art and movie quotes. The heroine is asthmatic which is a first for me in fiction -- asthma as a charming plot ploy rather than the sad pathetic fat kid's problem. Here, here, Ms. Crusie! Hoorah!
  
  
  Faking It is the perfect beach read, vaction book or airport diversion. Charming and a little racy, I have returned to this book several times to visit with the quirky Goodnights.
• 
  Jacob Proffitt

  This was pure, raw fun. I didn't much care for Davy in the first book, but he turns out beyond swoon-worthy here--and without major revision of his character from the first, either. He's my very favorite romantic hero type (the humble alpha) combined with a healthy dash of good-hearted rogue. Yeah. Yum. And if that isn't enough, Tilda is worthy of her own crush what with the passionate, strong woman overcoming her learned insecurity as she strives to care for those she loves.
  
  Crusie has a real talent for creating compelling characters who fit the story exactly right without any authorial manipulation whatsoever. Further, their emotional journey is as (if not more) important as the romantical one and has as much depth and flavor and its own independent path (i.e. emotional developments didn't mirror the romantic developments and the tension between the two was so poignant it sometimes hurt).
  
  I can't wait to get my hands on some more Crusie...
  
  A note about Steamy: This was more of a straight-forward steam level and about the same as a standard Nora Roberts. Three (I think) explicit scenes of moderate length with the occasional passionate stolen moment here and there.
• 
  *The Angry Reader*

  This was not truly truly a 5 star read. But it’s my prerogative - and next year or in 3 years I’ll look back and remember this idiotic book that had me smiling throughout.
  
  It’s charming bc it’s the story of two grifters falling in love. With terrible sex. And lies. And the most insane family I’ve read outside an Irving novel. Tilda and Davy were offbeat and bizarre and real. Rather than a book where a character has a quirk or imperfection this was a story where the characters were quirks and imperfections.
  
  Matilda. Louise. Nadine. Ethan. Gwennie. Ford. Rabbit. Clea. Mason. Andrew. Eve. Jeff. Michael. Davy. And Sophie. Plus a visit from the Mayor! I am going to miss you guys so much. There was nothing normal about this book, and i couldn’t be happier about that.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Desi

  Great even on repeated readings. Good fun comfort book.
  
  Edit-
  Covid reread. Still super fun and frenetic.
  
  Edit of Edit-
  Noticed my review was sparse, Imma just pop this below...
  
  Faking it is my longtime favorite from since the days when I read physical in my actual hand wonderful new smell books. Something about the art theft shenanigans, the zanny family, the jaded male, the bad sex and the talented painter female lead with her existential crisis and utter frustration at holding shit together just tickles my funny bone. I have prob reread it three or four times. And I am generally not a rereader. My tbr list is too dang long.
  
• 
  Mela

  That was an enjoyable funny smart contemporary romance that I want to read more often. I couldn't put it down.
  
  After reading
  Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie I was excited that I had found another splendid writer of the genre. Then I read
  The Cinderella Deal and my hopes went down a little. But now, I am excited again and I am definitely going to read more of Crusie's novels.
  
  

  Pull yourself together. Or in your case, separate yourself better.

  
  The idea of Louise/Scarlett was brilliant. The depth of this concept was intense. And Jennifer Crusie dealt with characters' problems with wit and wisdom.
  
  In other words, it was first of all a fast funny reading - great for a nice weekend. But there was also some value, a message that a reader can take if she wants.
  
  

  Well, as Gwennie always says, if you can’t be a good example, you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.

  
  And like
  Barbara wrote: You actually feel like you're standing in one of her [Crusie's] crazy families and by the end of the book you feel like you're part of that crazy family. Exactly!
• 
  Yael

  dnf 38%
  חבל. ניגשתי לספר הזה עם ציפיות גבוהות מאד, ואחרי שאני כבר שבועיים בערך מנסה לצלוח אותו החלטתי לוותר . משהו בסגנון הכתיבה לא "עובד" לי... יותר מידי דמויות שלכל אחת מהן יותר מידי כינויים, שבאות והולכות במהירות ומשתתפות בשיחות מרובות משתתפים, וזורקות כל אחת חצי משפט לא ברור, עם סאבטקסט שהקורא אמור לדמיין בשתיים וחצי שניות שהדמות מופיעה ( ובלי שלקורא יש איתה יותר מידי היכרות מוקדמת שממנה הוא אמור לגזור את הסאבטקסט) ולתוך הקלחת הזו של יותר מידי שמות וכינויים, עוד זורקים כלב שגם לו החליטו לתת שם של בן אדם... מה אני אגיד...זה הרגיש לי כמו בלאגן אחד גדול ותזזיתי. ההומור לא תפס אותי, הדמויות לא הקסימו אותי ונראה לי שהדרך היחידה שהייתי יכולה לצלוח את הספר הזה היא עם ריטאלין.
• 
  Amy Imogene Reads

  Crusie is one of my all-time favorite authors, I count on her for a consistent pick-me-up! This reread was great, as always.
• 
  Punk

  Romance. The Goodnight family's been bent for four centuries, but Tilda Goodnight's going straight, as soon as she steals a forged painting and makes out with the con man she meets while hiding in the closet. This was the second time I read this, and I liked it even more this time around. Crusie's plots are a little formulaic -- there is a stray dog in every book and usually a murder -- but her writing's vivid and funny, her characters are imperfect and likable, and the sex is generally hot and free of romance novel cliches. But this isn't just a romance. Tilda's family -- and all of their problems -- play a big part in the book, along with a cast of enjoyable supporting characters with all of their accompanying subplots. This is a novel with con jobs, art forgery, the FBI, a dachshund named Steve, and a couple who actually have some bad sex before they know each other well enough to have the good stuff.
  
  Five stars. I like all of Crusie's novels, but this is my favorite.
• 
  Tammy

  When I first read "Welcome to Temptation" (one of my all-time favorite books), I fell in love with Sophie's brother, bad-boy Davy Dempsey. I was thrilled when I discovered that Davy was finally given his own story.
  
  This book was not as funny, clever, sexy or charming as Crusie's prior novels. Matilda Goodnight is disappointing and not at all what I had in mind for Davy. Her sister with split personalities, cross-dressing ex-brother-in-law, a couple of smart ass teenagers and a hit man did make the book slightly more interesting, but altogether I felt let down. The main plot became confusing. The sexual dysfunction between Davy and Matilda was frustrating. And what the heck is the real difference between a man labeled as a "muffin" and a man labeled as a "donut"?
  
  I am a HUGE fan of Jennifer Crusie's books; however, she can do so much better than "Faking It".
• 
  Jennifer

  I love it when the main character rides the line between really good and a little bad. I guess forging paintings is more than a little bit bad, and breaking into someone's house is also on the "more than a little bit bad" side - but breaking into someone's house to replace the forged painting with a real one - well - that's when you have the crook with the golden heart. Add a love interest who is also riding the naughty but nice line and a cast of a crazy family - and you have yourself a fun little book.
• 
  Saly

  Rating 3.25
  
  The first half of this book annoyed me, I almost DNF'ed it but the second half worked much better for me because the heroine worked better for me, in the first half she seemed dull, morose, lifeless and I didn't see what the hero Davy saw in her, so much so that he stole for her when he was trying to remain straight. There were many threads from the previous book mainly Clea, the seductive and conniving ex of Davy who now had his money. The heroine's crazy family grew on me later.
• 
  Drache.... (Angelika)

  I really had to pay attention here, becsuse this was quite a storyline! Liked Faking It even more than Welcome To Temptation, mostly because I felt the connection between the two main characters in Faking It much more than in Welcome To Temptation.
  I'm glad I gave this book a try, because Davy real did turn out to be a great hero (thanks for the heads-up @Jacob Proffitt!).
  Overall the storyline was much more turbulent than what I usually go for, but I really enjoyed it.
  I loved Tilda and Davy, and the many side characters fit wonderfully in Tilda and Davy's story.
  4 stars.
• 
  Cheri

  Here I thought the Dempseys were hilariously bent then JC introduces us to the Goodnights. I laughed so hard reading this book. I didn't give Davy much thought in Welcome To Temptation. In this book we see how funny, handsome, creative and sensitive he is....not to mention conniving. Really enjoyed this series!
• 
  Mel

  This was a lot of fun to read and I wish Jennifer Crusie was still writing novels, she has a very unique sense of humour.
• 
  Siv30

  לסקירה מפורטת בעברית, קישור לבלוג שלי -
  
  
  https://sivi-the-avid-reader.com/אמנו...
• 
  Anzû

  This was such a damn… what word to use? …. Hmmmm… freaky? Yeah I guess it will do. So this was such a damn freaky book! Seriously I guess all the characters in here have issues. No normal people allowed I guess. Even the dentist has issues… What the hell?!
  
  A really fun start and hilarious characters. This makes me think of that vamp series… What was the name? Ah yeah!
  Argeneau. Now I managed to read the first one (barely). What reminds me of that is the amount of characters this book has. Now Mrs. Author-for-the-Great-Argeneau-Series (forgot her name – Sands I guess… whatever) learn a bit from here. There were many characters but awesome characters. No retards here! Gah! It’s difficult these days to create a shitty book that has a huge success amongst silly desperate youngsters (yes, I’m talking about Twilight).
  
  So far so good. The story seemed nice but when I got to the first sex scene at about 26%... W-T-F!!! I should have expected this from a book having the title “Faking it” (nice pun in the title b-t-dub) but come on!!!! I felt like she was surfing channels trying to find something good on TV and failed miserably. I don’t know if I should laugh or stare like an idiot into space. It actually scarred me…. Scarred me badly….
  
  Now the best way to review this book is to give my opinions on the characters. That’s at least my idea. So here we go:
  
  • Davy (I dunno why each time I read Davy’s name I get Davy Jones in my mind… Am I losing it?) – I just loved him, my favorite character. If I could kiss his brain I would do it! Smart man this one!
  
  • Tilda – a really strange character. I mean she’s annoying most of the time, she sucks in bed and relationships but I can’t get myself to hate her. Wonder why?
  
  • Gwen – awesome grandma; I want one of those.
  
  • Eve/Louise – another piece of work – big wtf.
  
  • Ford – loved him; he’s a damn psycho killer but a silent one – guess a bit like Dexter (
  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0773262/).
  
  • Simon – smart guy, I respect the friendship he has with Davy. Too cold for me to like him though.
  
  • Nadine – cute gal really liked her.
  
  • Michael – freaky dad. Scared me at times. Ok in the end.
  
  • Steve – such a good dog.
  
  Even though the story was slightly too lengthy and boring at some points I still enjoyed it. Too much cheesiness is good for you at times. I was just expecting it to be as funny as “
  Welcome to Temptation” but the difference is the story which improved drastically. My favorite of the series is definitely “Faking it”.
  
  Top 5 quotes
  
  #5 “You do a beautiful bitch,” Davy said. “You got any chains in the attic?”
  “You’re disgusting,” Tilda said cheerfully.
  
  #4 “I was scared and he was standing between me and disaster.”
  “For which you say, ‘Thank you very much,’ not ‘Let me lick your tonsils.’”
  
  #3 He sat down on the bed and thought, She’s a crook and a liar and she’s played me for two solid weeks. Jesus.
  He’d never wanted her more.
  
  #2 “Do I know you?”
  “Yep.” He settled into the booth. “You stuck your tongue down my throat about an hour ago. Did I thank you for that?”
  
  #1 “You’d rather have a vibrator than me,” Davy said.
  “It’s a good one,” she said, trying to soften the blow. “It’s not battery-operated. It plugs in." [...]
  “You’re in a long-term relationship with an appliance,” Davy said.
  “Hey.” Tilda straightened. “I never have to talk to it, it never makes me feel embarrassed, and it never lets me down.”
  
  Read this review on
  ZombieHazard.
• 
  Rebekah

  It's hard for me to review a book that I've listened to on Audio. But put this one down as fresh, fluffy, and funny, a style that Jennifer Crusie has perfected. Lots of lovable characters and even the bad guys were entertaining. The plot and setting were original. We have a family of art-dealers and artists with a family background involving forgery and fraud, but only in the nicest most blameless way. They join forces with Davy Dempsey of
  Welcome to Temptation which I read decades ago and don't remember a thing about. Except I think that is the one that made Jennifer Crusie one of my go-to authors back in the day. Anyway they encounter romance and intrigue on the way to going straight and ending up in happy relationships and financial comfort by the rollicking climax (no pun intended.)
  I hope there are lots more Crusie titles I haven't read or haven't read for decades and can re-read. she is the mistress of screwball comedy.
  
  
  https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings....
• 
  Jane Stewart

  Ok, but not recommended.
  
  This book is the sequel to Welcome To Temptation, which was about Sophie and Phin. Davy had a smaller role in that book and now this book is about him. The plot didn't make sense to me. Someone paints pictures and signs them with a fake name in the way someone uses a "pen name" to write books. The painter in this story felt she might go to jail if anyone found out. That didn't make sense to me since the name she signed wasn't a name used by anyone else. Davy is a reformed con man who meets the painter and more events happen. I didn't enjoy the plot or the characters that much. Nothing surprised or delighted me. Only once did I chuckle at something humorous. I read this because I loved three other books by this author which are "Bet Me,' "Welcome To Temptation" and "Anyone But You." I do not recommend "Faking It."
  
  DATA:
  Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: three. Setting: current day U.S. Copyright: 2002. Genre: contemporary romance.
• 
  madandelion [hiatus 160420]

  4-FINALLY a good romance with a good plot-stars.
  
  This was such a whack-job of a book, a little unstructured here and there, but I loved it. Because, ART! From Van Gogh's sunflowers to Monet's water-lilies to Pissarro and more. What's not to love. Plus points for being pleasantly original.
• 
  Namera [The Literary Invertebrate]

  RTC
• 
  Rivka

  Okay so i definitely enjoyed second part of this book more than the first part
  
  was it an organized mess? Yes it was
• 
  Olga Godim

  4.5 stars
  This is one of those books that I own and re-read periodically, whenever I need an infusion of laughter and good writing. I love the author. I’ve read everything she has written and enjoyed it. I also subscribe to her blog. She is a master of light-hearted romantic comedy, and this book is one of them. Its plot is ludicrous but absorbing and its characters sing with life.
  Tilda is an artist. She is also a trained art forger. Her family has been in the art forgery business since the Middle Ages, and the cellar of her family house and gallery in Columbus, Ohio, is filled with forgeries her multiple ancestors painted ‘for future generations.’ But Tilda hates to be a forger. She wants to be free. She wants to paint in her own style. The problem is: she has already created several paintings in that style under a different name, when she was very young, and her late father sold them. If she claimed them now, the entire forgery enterprise might shatter at her feet, taking her whole family with it. She loves her family, so there must be another way. Maybe she could steal back the paintings and destroy them...
  Davy is a con artist. He comes to Columbus, Ohio, to retrieve his money, 3 million dollars, his former financial manager pilfered from him. He meets Tilda in a closet, while he and she try to steal from the same house: she – her painting, he – his money. A match made in heaven, wasn’t it? Davy knows it. If only Tilda realized it too...
  Eve is Tilda’s sister. She is a teaching assistant camouflaging/making money as a rock singer in a bar belonging to her former husband, Andrew, a gay man, who still loves her but is happily married to another man... Don’t ask. It’s too complicated.
  Nadine is Eve and Andrew’s daughter, a teenager with a tendency to be original. The entire family dotes on her.
  Gwen is Tilda and Eve’s mother who manages their family gallery and dreams of going away, somewhere else where boats bob on warm waves, no forgery threats hover over her family, and drinks have little paper umbrellas in them. Unfortunately, she can’t leave until the mortgage on the gallery is paid, which might take another 30 years or so.
  Rabbit is Davy’s former financial manager. He has a proper name, of course, but I don’t remember it. He is in love with Clea. It is for her that he stole Davy’s money.
  Clea is a beautiful 40+ woman, in love with herself, who wants to marry a rich man for the last time in her life. All her other, former husbands died leaving her poor (relatively). Rabbit is not on her short list, but he might be useful to protect her from Davy.
  Mason, Ford, Dorkas, Simon, and others make the story even more convoluted. Art and money are at the centre of the tale, as is love.
  I won’t recap the plot here but I will say: the writing is lovely, the humor subtle and slightly wicked, the dialog sharp and precise, with a witty flavor, and the characters alive to the point of absurdity. Or maybe absurd to the point of being alive.
  
  Here is one of the conversations Tilda and Davy are having. He wants to have sex with her, but she is doubtful. What if she comes during sex and screams all her secrets at him?

  “You’d rather have a vibrator than me,” Davy said.
  “It’s a good one,” she said, trying to soften the blow. “It’s not battery-operated. It plugs in.” When he didn’t say anything, she added, “Eve gave it to me for Christmas ten years ago, so I’ve had it a while and...” She trailed off as she watched his face.
  “You’re in a long-term relationship with an appliance,” Davy said.
  “Hey.” Tilda straightened. “I never have to talk to it, it never makes me feel embarrassed, and it never lets me down.”

  Delicious!
  
• 
  Nefise

  I loved the book! I don't know why l haven't read it years ago.
  
  I liked the plot, all the characters, and the richness of the story or stories. It amazed me how Jennief Cruise could make e a success every character with their weird, charming ways and while doing it not losing the balance between romance, humor, and some serious issues about life.
  
  The main characters Tilda and Davy, are adorable. It was delightful to read their slowly building romance and friendship with lots of bumps and adventures.
  
  Even though l don't know much about art, the heroines in this book and in the
  The Cinderalla Deal are lovely, one of the favorites heroines l loved to read.
  
  I definitely try other books of Jennifer Cruise that I've been waiting for years.
• 
  Gal

  איזה ספר חמוד וכיפי! הייתי צריכה להכריח את עצמי ללכת לעבודה ולא להישאר בבית לקרוא, וגם זה בקושי.