Review: Crazy for Love by Victoria Dahl

July 4, 2010 By Sophia (FV) 14 Comments

Crazy for Love
by Victoria Dahl
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: HQN Books
Available: July 1, 2010
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Book received from: NetGalley

Chloe Turner thought she was going to marry the perfect man-until her fiancé’s plane crashed. And then she got the really bad news: he’d tried to fake his own death to avoid marrying her. Now America’s most famous bridezilla (a tag she most definitely does not deserve), Chloe escapes to a remote island to avoid the paparazzi. And right next door is a man who just might be the cure for Chloe’s heartache….

A magnet for wild, complicated women, Max Sullivan is relieved to have finally found someone “normal.” Chloe is his girl-next-door fantasy come to life, and best of all, she gets him. With her, he can be himself, a treasure-hunting millionaire who desperately wants out of his sexy but reckless job. But when Chloe’s notoriety catches up with them, will their torrid romance make it to the mainland?

Reviewer: Fiction Vixen

Chloe is experiencing a much unwanted fifteen minutes of fame. She is being ruthlessly pursued by the paparazzi, not because she is pop-tart-of-the-month or the latest hot mess of an actress. No, she is America’s most famous bridezilla , or at least that is how the media is portraying her. While she was planning her dream wedding, her fiancé faked his own death in an effort to avoid marrying her. She’s basically just the girl next door, an average low key kind of girl but that’s not newsworthy and now her life is a disaster and is being played out on gossip blogs and the nightly news. Chloe’s ex-fiancé is being charged with fraud and before she has to face court proceedings, she and her best friend Jenn escape for a brief vacation on a little island where they meet Max and his brother Elliott.

Max is a treasure hunter by trade and he has a few issues. He feels responsible for the safety and well being of everyone around him. He’s not just protective, he is compulsive to the point that is it disruptive to his well being and happiness. His need to care for others makes him very attractive to needy women with complicated lives and his love life has been a succession of one bad, unsatisfying relationship after another. After his last relationship he swore off women all together—that is until his meets the sweet, average uncomplicated girl next door.

Crazy for Love is a funny, entertaining, light read. It’s one of those books that makes you smile while you read. You know that one that makes your hubby ask what you’re grinning about and you didn’t even realize you were grinning? Then you blush a little and he gives you a little knowing nod. Yes, that kind of book. I spent some good quality time, sitting in my comfy chair with my Kindle, grinning with with this cute, quirky, contemporary romance.

Max is the type of hero I wonder if I might not like if I actually I had to deal with him in the real world. Maybe I’m just not “that girl”. But somehow his quirkiness comes across as charming and adorable in this story and I fell in love with him the minute he and Chloe got horizontal on the sand—yes, apparently I’m that shallow. Although Max appears to live the life of a free living playboy, he is anything but. When he meets Chloe she puts him at ease and he realizes he can learn to be himself around her.

Chloe is down to earth and really nothing like how the media are portraying her. She’s just looking for a little reprieve from the nightmare her life has become and wants to spend some down time with her best friend eating donuts and Lean Cuisine on an island. When two sexy brothers take up residence in the cabin next door, it seems perhaps a summer fling has been added to the menu. Every girl needs that now and then right? But Chloe can’t escape her reality for too long and the truth might not only ruin the good thing she has going with Max but she may have a little more truth to face that she bargained for.

This really was such a fun, entertaining story. Chloe and Max have good chemistry and the build up to their romantic relationship is not only sexy and steamy but laced with plenty of laugh out loud moments.

Max: “Come up to the beach,” he murmured. “I want to show you something.”

Chloe: “Really? Is it in your pocket? Because that sounds a little creepy.”

Although Chloe has some unpleasantness hanging over her head, the romance is still fun and exciting and the drama doesn’t really kick into gear until the later in the story. That’s where I ran into a little hiccup. Aside from the betrayal by Chloe’s fiancé, there is a secret hanging in the air that could affect some of Chloe’s other relationships. It was fairly obvious to me what it was there was really no mystery or surprise here. I just wanted the secret—that should have been obvious to Chloe—to come out so we could get on with the story.

There is a fun little secondary romance included for the price of one. Jenn, Chloe’s best friend and Elliott, Max’s brother spark up a little heat together. Jenn is painfully shy around men and Elliott is recently divorced but they manage to spend some fun, if somewhat awkward time together and they provide even more funny moments in this already comical read. I hope they will eventually get their own book.

Victoria Dahl combines smoking hot chemistry with quirky humor to create a love story (or two) that will make you alternately fan your face and then laugh out loud. Her characters are funny, and maybe just a little crazy but who am I to judge anyway? This is the second contemporary romance I’ve read by Victoria Dahl and I am officially hooked!

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