Before Ask Bob: A Novel the only books I read by Peter Gethers were about Norton, his wonderful cat. I loved the Norton books although I wasn’t quite sure I loved the author; he’s a bit fond of himself for my taste.

Ask Bob: A Novel substitutes Dr. Robert Heller for Peter Gethers narrating, but it is otherwise unmistakably by the same author. They are stylistically similar and the main human characters share common qualities and attitudes.

Dr. Bob is a young veterinarian beginning his practice in Manhattan. He and his beloved wife Anna live in the small upstairs apartment above both the practice and his partner’s larger apartment. Bob takes in strays that show up at the practice, human and animal, beginning with Rocky a small cat.

He begins to write a pet advice column in “New York’s most popular newspaper”. I enjoyed reading the introductions to each Ask Bob letter to see how he progressed, from an occasional appearance on television to a regular appearance, and from one book to three. The pet advice column was great, especially the grammatical lesson.

Ask Bob: A Novel moves quickly through the early years. Bob was so very happy with Anna and devastated when she dies of cancer. He does find love again, twice in fact, but you do have to wonder about his heart. The relationship with the last lady puzzled me. It started with instant desire but I never could see where the true love, the love that is based on one’s will and heart, vs. based only on one’s emotions and lust, was built. I did not find the character believable or likable.

The book is structured as a series of vignettes that together flow from one to the next, with Letters to Ask Bob acting as dividers between mini stories and as counterpoint. The Bob letters usually have some tie in to the vignettes.

I found a few annoyances. One was the constant reference to dysfunctional families. Bob, Anna and Bob’s eventual second wife, all came from families one could call “dysfunctional”. But don’t we all have some degree of oddness in our families? Bob describes Anna’s family as atrocious and Anna herself called her parents abusive, but when he and Anna visit them the family comes across more as sad than as awful. Anna’s mother behaved terribly at her funeral, but the other members simply were different, not living as fully as they could. Dr. Bob, (apparently as does Peter Gethers himself) does not believe in God and doesn’t miss many opportunities to say so.

What made the book excellent was Dr. Bob’s growth as a full human, not only as Dr. Heller or as Anna’s husband, but as a son, as an uncle, as a friend, as a pet owner. The man who started out feeling vulnerable and alone finds happiness with people and in his ability to give to them and to take from them in love.

Overall I enjoyed this very much and give it 5 stars.

Jennifer Crusie specializes in fun romantic novels with plenty of character interest and good old fashioned plot. Anyone But You begins with Nina, a 40 year old recently divorced lady, picking out a perky puppy from the shelter. Luckily she spots Fred, an older beagle basset mix who is on his last day of life, before she can pick out a puppy. Fred is not perky. He is morose, fat and a little shy of love.

Nina lives in a 3 story older home converted into flats with a fire escape running outside the window. Nina decides to teach Fred how to climb down the escape to do his business by the dumpster in the back yard. Of course she meets her neighbor Alex when Fred gets mixed up on which window to climb back into and curls up next to Alex on his couch instead of with Nina on her couch.

The Plot and Characters

The plot is cute, funny, and what saves it from being contrived is the characters have real issues. Nina is worried about getting old and fears getting involved with Alex because he is so much younger. Plus Nina works for a specialty publisher that is slowly going broke due to publishing far too many serious, boring books. Nina has to decide how important the age gap is and she takes a huge risk on a funny, sexy novel that she knows her boss will deplore.

Alex is an emergency room doctor from a family of all doctors, all of whom specialize, make tons of money and all of whom what Alex to follow their career path. Alex is happy being an ER doctor, thank you very much, but he is tempted to specialize to earn the income he thinks Nina wants.

The two main minor characters, Charity and Max, have serious life challenges they must acknowledge. The characters do work things out but there is no magic wand. Each must decide something and take action that leaves them exposed and at risk.

Deja Vu All Over Again

I read Anyone But You within a week of reading The Cinderella Deal. You can read my review of The Cinderella Deal here:

The Cinderella Deal, Romantic Comedy by Jennifer Crusie

I was struck by how Crusie reuses the same plot elements, even similar minor characters, yet manages to make the story fresh and interesting. Let’s see the parallels:

Book begins with girl finding a pet. Yes.
Girl initially believes boy is completely unsuitable. Yes.
Boy is a professional, not rich but comfortable. Yes.
Girl and boy live in the same apartment house. Yes.
Girl has career difficulties. Yes.

Overall I found The Cinderella Deal a little more intricate novel with more complex secondary plots but I enjoyed the characters in Anyone But You more.

Romance Novel

Anyone But You is published by Harlequin, the imprint notable for steamy scenes more than literary quality. Anyone But You has about 10 pages of steam and is well written.

Recommendation

Anyone But You was a fun book that I enjoyed enough to continue to get more books by Jennifer Crusie. I give it four stars.

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