Getting Rid of Bradley

This was a fun book. Lucy after leaving divorce court goes to a diner with her sister and there are two detectives having coffee there because they got an anonymous tip that the thief they were looking for was going to be there. They overhear Lucy and her sister talking about Bradley and think it's the man they're looking for and decide to follow them. Zack follows Lucy and when outside someone shoots at her (she thinks it's a car backfire) and he grabs her arm, pulls her into the alley and leans up against her to protect her. She thinks he's assaulting her and hits him with her handbag, splits his lip and punches him andthen runs away right into a patrolman who she tells a man tried to assault me. He goes into the alley, tells her to show more wait but she gets impatient and leaves after leaving a note on his windshield with her name and address. That's how it all starts. Lots of bickering, misunderstandings, jealousy, fun, laughs and they of course fall in love. show less

In the mood for the book form of a sitcom? You can't go wrong with Jennifer Crusie.

Getting Rid of Bradley is about as far from reality as you can get without actually veering into Science Fiction or Fantasy. Lucy has just divorced Bradley after catching him in her house with a blonde. Zach is a cop of the reckless, gorgeous variety chasing down an elusive embezzler and suspects her ex-husband might be who he's after. Hilarity and romance ensues amid bullets and bombs. Oh, and dogs. There are a lot of dogs.

I love Crusie's writing because she creates great characters, the kind I'd enjoy being friends with, and because she always catches my funny bone in just the right spot. Not laugh-out-loud funny a la Evanovich, but consistently show more humorous and entertaining. No dark, heavy, emotional moments are going to be found between the covers of this book; just a lot of wildly improbable action, witty dialogue, and a smattering of sex and romance.

I won't call Getting Rid of Bradley one of her best, but it is one I've enjoyed reading more than once and I know I'll enjoy reading again. show less

I am a huge fan of Jennifer Crusie books, and I wasn't disappointed with this romantic mystery-thriller. Strait laced Celeste is a target for murder, and unkept detective Zachary Warren has moved into her house to protect her. The sexual tension begins immediately. The intensity remains high right until the end, and it was easy to get immersed into the story.

I'd read this before, in the original Harlequin, but it's definitely re-readable. I don't have all of the reissues, but I do have all Jenny's books and a good number of the reissues.

Lucy Savage, like a lot of Crusie heroines, has decided to take control of her life, but so far it's not going well. Her husband Bradley stood her up in divorce court, the blonde dye job that was supposed to symbolize her independence turned out greenish, her sister keeps telling her what to do, and the sexy guy in the leather jacket turned out to be a mugger. At least she stood up for herself there--she beat him off with her physics book.

Except he wasn't really a mugger--he was a cop, and he'd knocked her down to keep her from being shot. Zack Warren's show more after an embezzler named Bradley, and when he overheard Lucy tell her sister she was going home to "get rid of Bradley" (throw out all his stuff), he put 2 & 2 together.

Now he's adding protecting Lucy to finding Bradley.

Getting Rid of Bradley is fast-moving and witty, with wonderful screwball-comedy dialogue and characters whose view of the world is just slightly skewed, but in their heads they're completely reasonable.

It just occurred to me that that's one thing I always enjoy about a Crusie novel--how clearly you can see the characters. Even when you're in their POV (point of view, not privately owned vehicle), you can see the contrast between how they see the world and how the world sees them--because everybody's a little off-center--it's part of being human.

And there's a dog--three of them, in this case, including Heisenberg, who does a "dog joke," and cracks me up completely.

I loved watching Lucy and Zack fall in love and merge their lives. You can see it happening, kind of like those clocks with clear cases so all the little gears are visible. There's no sudden about-face, no unmotivated actions, it's all right there on the page. I'm not explaining this well, I realize, but it makes perfect sense in my head. At any rate, it makes the book a joy to read, and re-read. show less

When I woke up this morning, I was in the mood for something fun...and funny. So I picked up "Getting Rid of Bradley" by Jennifer Crusie. Originally published as a Harlequin Blaze in 1994, this story is one of her earlier ones. But is one of her funniest in my opinion.

Poor Lucy isn't having a good year. Her ex couldn't even be bothered to show up for the divorce, she beats up a mugger only to find out he's a cop, her efforts to change her life via hair dye have resulted in a strange, moss-green color, and apparently someone's trying to kill her! How did a quiet science teacher who's a little spacey and decided to marry based on the second law of thermodynamics end up in this mess?

Zack is a cop who doesn't want to grow up. He's a bundle show more of energy and allergic to maturity. But his instincts are always right. And his instincts are telling him that the lady with the funky hair who he LET hit him is somehow involved in his case. His instincts are also telling him that there's NO WAY IN HELL he's going to let anyone else protect her. What? Did he just say that?

Zany, funny, laugh-out-loud romance. If you need a pick-me-up, then pick this book up. You won't be sorry. show less

The cover I have I don't know where in the story the artist got it from but nope, doesn't work for me, I wouldn' t have picked this one up from the cover, and I would have been so wrong.

I made the mistake of starting this one last night after finishing another book with the idea of reading a few pages. I read the whole way through in one sitting.

Lucy Savage has just been stood up in Divorce court by her husband Bradley, Tina, her sister, is treating her in a diner and afterwards she's acosted by a rough looking man, who turns out to be Zach and a cop. Unbeknownst to her he's rescuing her from being shot at, he's sure she's pivotal in the case he's investigating, she's willing to humour him.

The relationship builds from there. They both show more realise that they mean more to each other than just cop and victim.

I loved it, it was funny and sarky and entertaining and kept me well up after my bed-time. show less

This is one of Crusie's earlier novels, and it shows in both her plotting, and in early versions of characters and ideas that she'd go on to rework in her later novels. It's probably one of her best early novels, though, and a good, frothy read for a slow night at work. The heroine and hero have a great meet-cute, Crusie is very good at using repetition for comedic effect, and I think she does a better job of balancing the cute romance and the mystery side of things than in Crazy for You.