I picked up a book by Jennifer Crusie a few years ago (STRANGE BEDPERSONS) and it was one of those books that made me shrug. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great, and it didn't give me any desire to dig further into her oeuvre. However, last week I was really, really in the mood for something (1) contemporary (2) light and (3) funny, and Jennifer Crusie was the best name I could come up with.

This time, I decided to do it right. Jennifer Crusie has written a lot of books so I browsed around for a while, trying to figure out if there was any consensus about which of her books are really BEST. A couple of titles came up repeatedly - this one, BET ME, and WELCOME TO TEMPTATION (spoiler alert: right after I finished BET ME, I picked up WELCOME TO TEMPTATION and loved it too).

I won't recap the plot because it's been done elsewhere - Crusie's strengths are pretty well known, she's very funny, she does great dialogue, she keeps things moving along. I think a few other reviewers have noted that BET ME shows us that she can construct a good story, too. BET ME has great stakes, and Crusie tightens the noose mercilessly, ratcheting up the tension.

The difference between BET ME and STRANGE BEDPERSONS was night and day for me. STRANGE BEDPERSONS has the same strengths, yes, but not to this degree. BET ME sparkles. It feels effortless, but has real heart. I turned the last page with that happy, warm feeling that the best romance novels give me. It made me believe that Crusie deserves her reputation.