Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie
Blurb:
Andie Miller is ready to move on in life. She wants to marry her fiancé and leave behind everything in her past, especially her ex-husband, North Archer. But when Andie tries to gain closure with him, he asks one final favor of her before they go their separate ways forever. A very distant cousin of his has died and left North as the guardian of two orphans who have driven out three nannies already, and things are getting worse. He needs a very special person to take care of the situation and he knows Andie can handle anything.
When Andie meets the two children she quickly realizes things are much worse than she feared. The place is a mess, the children, Carter and Alice, aren't your average delinquents, and the creepy old house where they live is being run by the worst housekeeper since Mrs. Danvers. What's worse, Andie's fiancé thinks this is all a plan by North to get Andie back, and he may be right. Andie's dreams have been haunted by North since she arrived at the old house. And that's not the only haunting.
What follows is a hilarious adventure in exorcism, including a self-doubting parapsychologist, an annoyed medium, her Tarot-card reading mother, an avenging ex-mother-in-law, and, of course, her jealous fiancé. And just when she thinks things couldn't get more complicated, North shows up on the doorstep making her wonder if maybe this time things could be different between them.
If Andie can just get rid of all the guests and ghosts, she's pretty sure she can save the kids, and herself, from the past. But fate might just have another thing in mind....
My Review:
All Andie (Andromeda) Miller wants is closure from her ex-husband of ten years, North Archer so she can marry her new love Will. But on the day Andie goes to return her un-cashed alimony checks to North he has an unusual proposition for her.
North has become the guardian of a distant cousin's two children, Carter and Alice. So far the kids have gotten rid of three nannies who all claim the children are incorrigible and that the house is haunted. So North is willing to pay Andie $10,000 a month to go to the house in Southern Ohio, fix things, and bring the children back up to Columbus.
When Andie arrives at the house she finds a crumbling mansion similar to the House of Usher and Hill House combined and the worst housekeeper since Mrs. Danvers.
As she tries to bond with Alice and Carter she finds herself haunted by steamy dreams of her ex-husband and nearly-nightly midnight visits from a mysterious girl who makes her think that maybe there really are ghosts. Especially when she sees another woman dressed in 19th-century garb across the pond in the backyard and a similarly dressed man peering at her from the turret's balcony.
Things spiral out of control when Andie's ex-brother-in-law Southie shows up with a child-bullying tv reporter and a parapsychologist who doesn't believe in ghosts; followed by her crazy tarot card reading mother, her ex-mother-in-law Lydia, Isolde Hammersmith the supposed best psychic in Ohio, her fiance Will, and finally North Archer himself, the one that everyone has been waiting for. Andie knows she must figure out how to put the ghosts to rest once and for all before somebody else gets killed. And then maybe she will realize that all everyone's been wanting is a second chance; and that MAYBE THIS TIME she and North can work things out.
This book rings true to Miss Crusie's usual witty banter and charm. There is never a dull page to be found and it makes you feel good reading it!
Yes, I've read this book again. And I still love it. But this time I find myself wishing the author would write a sequel, maybe when Alice and Carter are adults where they return to Archer House and realize that one of the ghosts (won't say which because of spoilers!) is still around. That would be awesome!
The only complaint I have after reading this book so many times is that I've begun to pick up on a few grammatical errors that never got fixed during the publishing process. But maybe I'm just picky.
My Rating:
Forever ★★★★★
5 of 5 Stars!
