This is going to be a very spoilery review – warning in advance!
Kate is an incredibly work-driven but lonely woman with a slight daddy complex – she’s very conscious of his opinion. She decides to go to a golf course/resort where rich, tall Yuppies hang out, to meet her ideal guy and get married. While there, she meets Jake – who used to fit all her requirements, but has since retired from being a high-powered tax attorney, invested all his money in his brother’s business, and now helps to run the resort.
So, I really wanted to love this one. It’s been recommended to me by other Cannonballers, and I was pretty addicted to Crusie. In some ways, it was very much what I have come to expect from her. There were wonderfully funny bits, with a heroine I could relate to. The first part of the book details Kate’s attempts at dating unsuitable guys – who all seem to end up with some injuries while dating Kate, some of which she inflicts and some which seem like fate telling her to move on. In between each date, Kate hangs out with Jake and enjoys herself thoroughly, relaxing and bonding.
After dates / encounters with approx 6 guys who end up getting stabbed in the hand or falling down a hill, Kate realises the sexual tension with Jake (incidentally, about 70% of the way through the novella). Kate and Jake promptly (really promptly, i.e. in the bar seconds after Kate realises her feelings) give into their chemistry, and have some very sexy times including an incident with a boat being sunk from enthusiastic bonking!
The necessary conflict is provided by their career issues. Kate wants a guy who is ambitious and enjoys his work, ideally someone driven like she is. He is conscious that she is very good at her job, and his small town cannot offer much to a management consultant (I think that’s what she is). He also really doesn’t want to return to the rat race of his old job, or city life. She is due to leave after two weeks, even though she loves the small town and has started waitressing at a local bar.
And then it’s all ok. They split up at the end of two weeks, miss each other a lot, and they magically resolve their career concerns when he starts trading stocks online and she moves to the tiny town and starts helping to manage her new friend’s bar. Eh, what??
Their relationship (though it sounds fast when I explain it) seemed natural, and the conflicts realistic. But they are solved too easily. After all the internal monologues from each character about how the other one could never be happy in this relationship without major compromise, it just.. falls away. It makes me want to follow up a year later to see if it all stayed smooth sailing (boat related pun, couldn’t resist!)
This doesn’t mean that I don’t want to try more Crusie, I just feel that the novella style may not be the best structure for her. I feel very sorry for letting down my fellow Cannonballers.
No letting down! I loved it, but I read it when it first came out, an embarrassingly long time ago. I remember the tiny bookstore in the ugly strip mall off Braddock Rd in Northern Virginia where I stood and read about half the book before I realized I should buy it. It was Crusie’s first book, and was completely different from anything else out there in Romance. You have a somewhat happier Romance genre landscape. You are not besieged with rape as romance and douchbags as heroes the way I was. So it’s not surprising that you would have a different experience of Manhunting. And honestly, I think you’re on the mark with your criticism.
Oh wow, I never even considered that context! I do remember reading some of the old school romances, and they’re exactly as awful as you say. The romance genre has changed so much, and one of the things I really like Crusie for is that her heroines own their sexuality – they choose to act on their chemistry and enjoy sex. There’s none of the “if he forces me, it’s fine that I like it” or alpha-male d’bags who won’t talk about their feelings (and are generally characterised almost entirely by their jobs – i.e. he’s a millionaire banker who’s ruthless in the office and always gets what he wants – character description complete!)
Can I ask – you’re patently pretty passionate about what you like and don’t like in romance novels. Have you ever read the website Smart Bitches Trashy Books? They’re unapologetic in their love of romance and hatred of rape / douchebag plot lines – and really funny about it too.
I read them on occasion. I ought to read them more often. I had mostly stopped reading romances other than a few known authors, so when I first heard about them I had more of a “I wish they’d been around a few years ago” reaction. But now that I’m reading more of everything, I need to make them a more regular stop.
I love Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and own both of Sarah Wendell’s books on romance. It’s one of the romance sites I check several times a week and the “Books on Sale” posts is one of the reasons I buy so many books that I then forget about. I also really like All About Romance, Dear Author, Smexy Books and Heroes and Heartbreakers for my romance reviews.
I absolutely agree with Emmalita on Manhunting. You have to consider Crusie’s early works in the context they were written. I had the same experience when reading Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Chicago Stars series (books that seem to be absolutely beloved by many romance readers out there) last year. The early ones especially, written in the early to mid-90s, when romance tropes were very different, quite hard going at times.
I’ve had the urge to re-read some of the romances I loved 15 – 20 years ago and re-look at them. I think I would be appalled.
The ones I read years ago were mostly Mills and Boon – they’re completely formulaic but safe and tame.
Nowadays, I could never imagine reading them – just too bland, not enough character to the characters!