Anyone But You, by Jennifer Crusie

[sophia_sol]

A romance novel that's fun but lightweight. Nina is 40 years old and has finally divorced her rich asshole husband to lead the life she wants: relaxed, not acting as support for her husband's high-powered career, and a dog-owner. Alex is 30 years old and enjoys being an ER doctor but all his family is pressuring him to switch into a higher-prestige field of doctoring, like cardiology or something. Can they make it work despite the ten whole years of age difference between them??? (honestly I don't get why the age difference is such a big deal here, it's only ten years and the younger party is 30, come on.)

The main romance was fine and I enjoyed it, but the part of this book I was most invested in was the subplot about Nina's best friend Charity finding meaning and value in her life through becoming an author. I'm so disappointed that we don't get to find out for sure how Charity's book does! And whether the self-reflection she's done in the process of writing and re-writing this thing actually helps her be happier with her life and her relationship choices going forward! I think we're supposed to assume that everything's gonna to be fine from here on, but I'd like to see it. And also does Charity's book really rejuvenate Jessica's dying publishing company? Does Jessica's change of heart on Charity's book mean that she's going to do a total turn into selling more of this kind of thing? How will Jessica feel about that once it's really real, given that the company is her family legacy and she was so horrified at the idea at first? TELL ME MORE.

Comments

[the_rck]

I'm pretty sure that a lot of the fuss over the age difference is that the woman is the one who's older. Some people think it's icky if the woman is even a year or two older than the guy. Also, in the US, women over the age of 40 aren't supposed to be attractive to anyone because, well... systemic misogyny.

[sophia_sol]

ah, fair, I forgot about the double standard about ages and age differences depending on gender. MISOGYNY IS WEIRD.

[elistaire]

I'm sure a lot of it has to do with fertility, too. What ever will happen if they can't have babies?!?

[the_rck]

If I recall correctly, the heroine is quite sure she doesn't want to have kids, and the hero is fine with that. There wasn't any indication that they would or should change their minds.

Which was another groundbreaking thing for the book when it came out.