Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

So last night I labored over the world's best book review.  It was tough, I was working from my iPad while I was trying to ignore the Cardinals beating themselves up.  I'm not fast or accurate on the touch pad keyboard, so it was slow going.  However my desktop was "updating" for like seven days and only now is available to me because I gave it the stink eye and told it to quit futzing and update already.  The review was sooooo well written.  I laughed, I cried, I never dangled a single participle or broke up the grammar world's "it" couple; the infinitive.  Then I went to link the book title to Amazon, cause I don't know if you've noticed but we're all polite and make it easy for you to share our book habits, and Blogger ate my review.  I was mad.  I still am.  And now you have to suffer because I'm not capable of writing TWO amazing reviews in two nights.  You would have loved the other review.  Trust me.

I'm still reviewing the same book, but probably more abruptly.  Not because the book doesn't deserve praise, but because I'm not giving Blogger another chance to make like an amateur magician damn it.  Carrie gave me this book to read several months ago.  And I should have read it when she gave it to me because every time she hands me a book and says "I really think you'll like this.", she's usually right.  This is especially true when it comes to romances because I don't naturally gravitate them on my own; me being the Debbie Downer of this book blog and all.  Carrie has recommended other Jennifer Crusie books to me and I liked all the ones I have read.  Carrie can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure she's read all of them.  I might too when I'm in the mood for something fun and fast.

What I like about Ms. Crusie as an author is that she seems to truly understand that ordinary people don't have to be boring.  Her characters can have personalities without having to have supernatural gifts or love affairs with people who have supernatural gifts.  There are, of course, extraordinary circumstances in most of her books but that's more for providing plot points rather than providing a situation in which to create substance.  The substance is in her characters and it's fun to read about how her characters navigate through the ordinary and extraordinary.  That makes total sense in my head.  It is my sincere hope it also makes sense in words.  Mr. Mayer is an author who also happens to be former Special Forces.  Clearly I don't know much about him other than he and Ms. Crusie make a lovely writing team.

Agnes is in the middle of planning her god daughter's wedding while trying to renovate her newly purchased, secluded mansion, and still write her food column before her deadline.  Things aren't going swimmingly and that's before the not-so-professional attempts on her life occur.  Fortunately Agnes can wield a frying pan like none other, and help is nearby.  The help part is essential as the hitmen become more and more professional and the mansion and the wedding are really more than one person should have to deal with in a week as it is.  As an added bonus, help happens to be pretty hot.  Turns out South Carolina is a hotbed of a mob retirement community and just about everyone involved - even remotely - in the wedding has a secret.  Never fear...our hero hitman has it covered.

The characters are fun, the action is fast, and the ending is happy.  What more could you ask for?  Ms. Crusie and Mr. Mayer have written two other books as a writing team; Wild Ride and Don't Look Down.  I read those after I finished Agnes.  I liked them both, particularly Wild Ride, but I liked Agnes the best.  OK, I'm hitting "Publish" now.  Fingers crossed!  If this doesn't work I'm going to need a hitman myself.