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Anyone But You  By  cover art

Anyone But You

By: Jennifer Crusie
Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
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Publisher's summary

For Nina Askew, turning 40 means freedom - from the ex-husband whose career always came first, from their stuffy suburban home. Freedom to have her own apartment in the city, freedom to focus on what she wants for a change.... And what she wants is something her ex always vetoed: a puppy. A bouncy puppy to cheer her up. Instead she gets...Fred.

Overweight, smelly, and obviously suffering from some kind of doggy depression, Fred is light-years from perky. But for all his faults, he does manage to put Nina face-to-face with Alex Moore, her gorgeous, younger downstairs neighbor.

Alex looks great on paper - a sexy, seemingly sane, surprisingly single E.R. doctor who shares Fred's abiding love for Oreos - but a 10-year difference in age, despite his devastating smile, is too wide a gap for Nina to handle.

Ignoring her insistent best friend, some interfering do-gooders, and the ubiquitous Fred - not to mention her suddenly raging hormones - Nina thinks anyone but Alex would be a better bet for a relationship. But the more silver-haired stiffs she dates, the more she suspects it's the young dog-loving doctor she wants to sit and stay!

©2005 Jennifer Crusie (P)2005 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: Romance

Critic reviews

"Considered by many to be a romantic comedy classic....the novel is given a note-perfect reading by Susan Ericksen....Also worthy of note: the upbeat, jazzy score." ( AudioFile)

What listeners say about Anyone But You

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Jennifer Crusie knows how to have fun

I had read "Fast Women" because is was on sale and very entertaining. So I thought I would try another by this author. what a great story with lots of laughs.
The narrator did a great job. I understand that some of the narrators for Ms Crusie books are not as enjoyable. I suggest a listen before purchasing.
I enjoyed this one very much and recommend

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Susan Ericksen Rules

Listen to anything that she reads! She's amazing!
The book was good... funny at parts, REALLY funny at other parts!
I enjoyed it! A nice "fluff" book for when I just don't feel like remembering names or dates or trying to figure out who the killer might be!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great as a comedy, so-so on the smexy

I really enjoyed this, but not so much as a romance. This was a fun comedy about a 40 year old gal getting her groove back. My favorite “couple” was actually Nina and her BFF Chastity, who reminded me of an Elizabeth Banks type of gal. The scene where Chastity was giving chapter titles to her autobiography for all her exes was comedy gold (Forest Grope, Gone with her V-y, Animal Louse, Mobey Dk).

Two things caused the romantic chemistry to fizzle for me. First, while the narrator is great for the gals, she didn’t voice the guys in a way that brought the heat. I suspect a male narrator (or even duet narration) would have helped. Second, the hang ups that kept them apart went on too long. When she thought he was a twenty something fast food worker, I got it. But, once she knew he was a 30 year old doctor, the “he’s too young” schtick didn’t make sense. Worse, the body insecurity was aggravating, especially with her BFF and elderly neighbor being such strong, supportive women.

At the end of the day, this was still a sweet, romantic story featuring a 40 year old leading lady. And, the comedy was strong. So, I recommend this as feel good fiction.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Funny romance

I think I’ve listened to this book 5 or 6 times since I bought it. It’s the perfect balance between funny and romance. Great!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful story. Bad narrator.

I love the story, but I couldn’t wait for it to be over because the audiobook narrator was awful.

I read the paperback several years ago and laughed a lot. I recently listened to the audiobook. I didn’t laugh because I knew what to expect, but I still enjoyed the story.

I was so drawn to the characters. I loved the slow building relationship between Nina and Alex. I enjoyed other characters as well, especially the 75 year old physically fit neighbor Norma.

AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR - Susan Ericksen:
I don’t like this narrator. It feels like a bossy person is yelling at me, lecturing me, nagging me. It’s jaring, irritating and stressful to listen to. There is no sweetness, softness or vulnerability in her voice. It’s loud. I don’t like monotone readers, but Susan Ericksen is too far the other way. I feel like she is overacting with artificial cheeriness, overly energetic. Her emotional interpretation of men is off. Alex sounds like a bossy female instead of a guy desiring her and wanting sex.

DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Story length: 275 pages. Swearing language: mild including religious swear words but rarely used. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 4. Setting: 1990s U.S. Copyright: 1996. Genre: contemporary romance, older woman younger man.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

As memorable as a Hollywood Classic Movie

Listening to this is like watching one of the great Hollywood classic movies: The characters are smart and witty, the dialogue snappy...and you'll fall in love with Fred. I will definitely be listening to this one again and again.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Dog, romance, and fun

Nina Askew is forty, divorced, and newly freed from the last tie to her ex-husband--the stuffy suburban mausoleum of a house they lived in and she always hated. She has a small apartment she loves in the city, the third floor of a divided-up Victorian. She's swearing off men, at least in any way that involves commitment. And today, she's off to the pound, to get what she could never have while married to stuffy, ambitious Guy--a dog. A puppy. A bouncy, energetic, small-breed puppy, who will add joy to her life.

At the pound, there are indeed a whole bunch of happy, energetic, little puppies. And then there's Fred. Fred is a basset/beagle mix where the basset genes clearly prevail. He's a full-grown dog. He's definitely not small. He looks depressed--as if he knows it's his last day, and if he doesn't get adopted, it's the death chamber tomorrow. He's not at all what Nina wants, and she can't leave without him.

It's Fred, after she teaches him to use the fire escape to reach the fenced yard for potty trips, who accidentally introduces her to Alex, the handsome, ten-years-younger ER doctor in the apartment below her. They are both immediately attracted to each other.

She's convinced he's too young, can't be interested in an older woman whose body is starting to sag in a few places. He's convinced she can't be interested in a young guy she regards as a kid, who'll be dealing with medical school debt for some years to come because he's in ER, not some lucrative field like cardiology (his father), ob/gyn (his brother), or oncology (their sister).

What follows is a fun romp, with interesting characters and a great dog. Fred really is the hero here, though Nina's best friend, Charity, and Alex's brother, Max, as well as Norma, the very active and fit 75yo on the fourth floor who has her own "younger man" (in his 60s), also do their parts. It's just a lot of fun. Susan Ericksen, as always, is an excellent narrator.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Dupont made those breasts

Audible escape
Miss Erickson does a great job on the JD Robb series 41 books and counting. this story just was lacklustered and the authors dialogue just did not do justice to her skills. Not worthy of a second listen

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

No one but you...

Just as amazing as all other Jennifer Crusie books. The performance was a little slow, but audible makes that easy by being able to speed it up, thank you. This was one of my more recent Crusie books purchases, and I love it. I have the paperback version, in which I first bought/read it and now I’ve heard it too. Zany characters, dogs and food, what’s better than that? That’s just one element of Jennifer Crusie books that I love apart from the 30 something women that strong men fall for.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Would be perfect, except the narration...

Setting: River Bend (a fictional city, probably in Ohio) Contemporary to 1996
Genre: Romcom
Nina Askew is a recently divorced editor at a small press known for publishing nonfiction and serious memoirs. She has recently sold the McMansion she shared with her ex and moved into a cool little apartment in an old Victorian located downtown. To celebrate all that and turning forty, she went to the dog pound to get a puppy. Instead, she ended up rescuing a depressed, middle-aged basset/beagle mix (a bagel?) from doggie death row. Fred makes a nice, if somewhat morose secondary character who is I involved with a meet cute with Alex downstairs.
There are a couple of things going on with the book. First is the relationship with Alex. They get to know one another, and their interest is mutual, but he’s 10 years younger than than she. She finds all sorts of reasons not to act on her interest. The subplot is about Nina is asking her friend Charity to write a memoir about her many failed relationships.
This is a great story, and I enjoyed it very much. What I did not like was the narration of the audiobook. Susan Ericksen is not my favorite narrator. She just sounds too perky. She’s actually the reason I don’t buy J. D. Robb audiobooks.

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