Anyone But You

By: Jennifer Crusie

Narrated by: Susan Ericksen

Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins

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.

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)

WONDERFUL ! A must read !

This was the first Jennifer Crusie book I read and was "hooked" immediately. How fun to read a book and laugh while doing it ! Her characters are perfect and the narrator was wonderful ! Give me more !

Anyone But You

Not one of Jennifer Crusie's best. Rather formulaic. She can write much better. I'm glad I've read some of her other books, otherwise, I wouldn't bother reading her other books.

Silly and Fun Read

Jennifer Crusie has the quirkiest way of writing that is hard to draw a bead on but always likable. This was sweet, cute, silly and a lot of fun. My favorite book of hers thus far is Welcome to Temptation and where I like some of her stories more than others you can't go wrong with a Crusie book. If you just want some lovely entertainment this is the one for you!

Another Favorite, Must Read!!

Nina and Fred are a cute pair, but when you add Alex to the mix, it is sexy! Fred knows exactly how to help Nina get her man, and keep him, and Charity is great with giving her hints on how to reel him in.
The narration is nicely executed, and I would listen to more books read by her. Honestly, if you don't like the narrators people, read the book. But I like Susan, I think she did a great job of not trying to make herself seem like a guy, but she played the characters well. She really did justice to Norma and the other book club readers characters. I think that the way Crusie chooses to use he said she said a lot of the time can be covered up well with her wonderful stories!

It was okay

I thought the narrator seemed VERY LOUD and overacted it a bit. I also found it VERY unrealistic that a basset hound/beagle mix can go up and down a fire escape (aren't they similar to ladders?). I did like her well developed characters and there are some great one liners in this book! Don't know if I would read another by this author. I am spoiled by Anna Fields and her fantastic narration of SEP books.

Good Read

I would recommend this book. It was funny. I would have liked an epilogue to tell what happened with Jane's book, the book company, and Max.

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.

Funny and refreshing!

Loved it! It was funny, interesting, intriguing! It’s easy to relate to and talk about real worries we women sometimes have and encourages you not to think like that. It was truly a lovely funny book!

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.

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