In Crazy for Love we are first introduced to Chloe Turner. Chloe thought she had it all figured out (but don’t we all?) until she realized that her own little American dream was lacking. First her fiancées plane crashes, then she finds out he faked his death, he wasn’t actually on it. Now Chloe seems to have everyone’s attention, because naturally she is obviously queen bee of the Virginia bridezilla squad.
In need of a reprieve, Jenn takes Chloe away for a bit to a remote island retreat she worked at many summers ago. But what was supposed to be a simple getaway for the girls is no more when the Sullivan brothers show up.
Max Sullivan’s attention is instantly snagged by ‘the girl next door.’ Chloe is seemingly normal and uncomplicated compared to the other women Max attracts. She is the first person to see through his calm exterior, and it’s a breath of relief for Max.
However, will things last when Chloe is found? Will Max be able to accept her with her current baggage? When they get back to the mainland will their beach romance sizzle out? Questions, questions…
What doo I think?
Before getting into the game of couples and summer romances I want to think of the early stuff. As we get acquainted with everything that Chloe is facing (i:e dirt bag ex) I was thinking a lot of things. I was so sure that Thomas, fore mentioned dirt bag ex, left because he was a spineless brat who wouldn’t stand up for what he wanted in life, but I was wrong. Instead he was running from bad decisions and mistakes. And he’s still a dirt bag.
Anywho. On the Chloe and Max front, the only thing that bothered me is how quickly Chloe warmed up to Max. I expected it to take a bit longer than the few days she’d known him to get all revved up. Who knows, I suppose maybe she needed a good revving to get the whole shitty fiancée faking his death thing off her mind.
I did love Max though. Victoria Dahl definitely got the whole sexy super careful treasure hunter role spot on. Even his quirks such as his super-loaded anxiety were cute. I liked the way they worked together; the way Chloe was able to respond to Max’s need to be careful.
Next there is Jenn and Elliott, Max’s younger brother. These two are facing problems of their own. Elliott is recently divorced and Jenn is struggling with the Thomas and Chloe situation. Right off it is obvious that Jenn is hiding something from Chloe, I knew it wasn’t that she had been having an affair with Thomas, so I was itching to find out what was going on. Even if I hadn’t been enjoying the book I would have kept reading solely to figure out what Jenn knew that Chloe didn’t.
These two as a couple also worked. Of course there’s the side love story, there has to be. And Jenn and Elliott’s was good.
So basically, the need to know… I laughed and cried with the book. Cheesy romance novel or not, Dahl got and kept my attention. I read the book in two sittings (by that I mean the first six chapters before I passed out exhausted one night, and the other 17, I think, my first night of vacation). All in all, I’ll be headed back to the bookstore for some more Victoria Dahl before long.
Among Stories 