Fast Women: A Novel

Fast Women is my second book by Jennifer Crusie. I read Crazy for You and thought it was amusing. However, this second one started off well and seemed to trickle off. It wasn't just that the plot was a bit far-fetched or that there were some strange dynamics between some of the characters. Crusie handles that fairly well and there was a nice pace to the book. The extended cast of characters became hard to keep track of at times and I found it difficult to get my hooks into some of the players; Margie, the rather ditzy friend who was close by at her mother's violent death and who was dumped by her husband is a prime example.
Crusie has a formula that works: as in Crazy for You there are two brothers, one difficult and brooding and almost gothic while the other is more handsome but more of a lightweight, at least on the surface. A dog becomes an important and appealing part of the supporting-cast in both books. But she handles these in deft fashion, so I'm not objecting to the formula. The writing overall is witty. And there was some good suspense.
I will still look forward to reading more of Crusie's books.
But...what can I say? If it were a child's toy top, Fast Women could have done to be wound just a little bit tighter.

Fabulous! A downtrodden divorcee is given a new lease of life when she takes a job working for a PI. Watch her blossom and grow into a vibrant, sexy, confident woman. A great plot with arson, missing jewels and romance. Funny and vibrant. Recommended. I have this in a hard copy as well and have read it numerous times

Posssible spoilers!!!
First of all, I want to assure anyone who may be wondering that Ohio is full of nice, normal people. This is not the German Village in Columbus, Ohio that I know!
Fast Women starts out just fine, with a hilarious job interview. I was thinking YES!, this is vintage Crusie! Then it all went downhill.
This is the first Cruise book I've read where I just didn't like the characters very much. Nell starts off as appealing and vunerable, but became unsympathetic for me quickly. As for her two best friends, the less said the better.We have a muddled alcaholic, Margie, who has kept a less than steller boyfriend on the back burner for years. Then there is Suze, who had an affair with a married man when she was a teenager, but is astonished when the same thing happens to her after years of marraige to a jerk. These are not women I could identify with or feel any real sympathy toward. They all act as enablers for each other's most unattractive traits.
The hero, Gabe, is really nothing special, and his cousin is a man who helps an older woman feel better about herself by sleeping with her. What a prince! I wanted to like Riley, but couldn't get past the fact that he has lusted for years over a teen-ager he spied on for an irate wife. Yuck!
Jennifer Crusie is a brilliant writer. FAST WOMEN is extremely well written, and very funny. But I couldn't help but feel an undertone of bitterness all through this book. Reguardless of the humor, well written as it is, I just plain didn't like these people.
I must agree, WELCOME TO TEMPTATION is very hard to top. Having enjoyed all of the Crusie books up to now, I am really looking forward to her next novel.This one just didn't work for me.

Humour, suspense, murder and romance. This book has it all.
Nell Dysart is fading fast. She finds herself shuffling along through life trying to get over a divorce that she never saw coming. Encouraged by her best friends, she lands a job in what appears to be a run down detective agency.
Gabe McKenna, stuck in the past, divorced but still sleeping with his ex-wife, is desperately trying to keep everything as it was. This not only includes his personal life but his detective agency founded by his father long since dead. At no time did he bargain for Nell and her entrance into his life.
Throw in Nell's best friends who are somewhat dysfunctional, a case of dog napping gone awry and a mysterious past that brings all the characters together. What ensues is a fast paced story that I couldn't put down filled with twists and turns that are both funny and sad.
I would have to rate this as my favourite Jennifer Cruise thus far. For anyone looking for a quick and enjoyable book, this is for you!

After twenty years of marriage, Nell Dysart's husband tells her that he no longer loves her and plans to file for a divorce. Nell barely ate or slept for the next eighteen months and rarely left her home. Finally, she is persuaded to apply for a temporary job as an office manager in a detective agency. During the interview, she breaks the shades, tears a hole in the carpet, and spills coffee all over Gabe McKenna's desk.

Even though she flopped miserably, Gabe hires her anyway. She soon finds evidence that her predecessor embezzled money from the firm. Soon her temporary job becomes permanent even as Gabe and Nell fall in love. However, Gabe and Nell are control freaks who must find a way to forge a relationship that makes both of them happy or slowly watch it wither away.

Jennifer Cruise has always put humor in her novel, but in FAST WOMEN, it is subtler as if the author is targeting a more mainstream audience than her usually amusing romances. Readers will delight in the hilarious battle of the sexes that star two hysterically funny combatants. This novel is destined to hit the best-selling charts.

Harriet Klausner

Jennifer Cruisie is an incredibly compelling writer. However, this book is sub-par for her. It's supposed to be part mystery, part comedy and part romance. It fails on all three levels. Even at the end, when the villan is revealed, he seems tacked on, how he could have known about certain events is unexplained, three people are dead and I'm still not sure who killed them. It fails as a comedy, not even the dog character is amusing. It fails as a romance because it reads like a diatribe on "marriage as a trap for the unwary" as well as because the reader gets no sense of why Nell loves Gabe or why Gabe loves Nell. Gabe is a complete cardboard character. The only things we know about him are that he is tall, dark-haired,in his 40's and resistent to change. That is not a fleshed-out character. I agree with the author 100% that getting married should be more difficult (too many get married without enough forethought) but writing a book about how awful marriage can be and marketing it as a romance is a bad idea. At the end of the book I got the feeling that Nell and Gabe would be divorced in 5 years, maximum. The author can tell a story beautifully, she just needs to tell better stories. Who needs help being depressed? And she should get her characters the heck out of Ohio. Obviously, it is a hotbed of sordid and adulterous activity.

There were just too many things bothering me about this book to allow me to finish it.

One, most of all having been the heroine returning her girlfriend's kiss just for the heck of it. I was very uncomfortable with that. I understand that we're reading romance novels, but I think there are still lines that I don't enjoy being forced to cross. (Unless of course that's what the readers into, and those books should have big flashing warnings for the rest of us).
Two, both main characters having intimate relations with secondary characters before they get together. It was weird. I had to refer to the back of the book to remind myself just who the main characters were.
Three, Like another revewier, I didn't like the main characters much. I would have rather read about the secondaries, Riley and Suze.
Four, the writing is way too choppy! It just does not flow. I'm a fast reader and with her books i feel like I'm constantly being tripped.
And five, the Mystery/Story stunk. I didn't care at all about it, which is why I stopped reading on page 253!
All in all I would say don't waste your time. I found "Welcome to Temptation" interesting by this author, but that's the most complimentary thing I can say about her. Her writing style is just to frustrating. If you enjoy Romance/Suspence read everything by Linda Howard, Cherry Adair, Lauren Bach, and Susan Anderson. Karen Robards tend to be strange but my favorite by her was "To Trust a Stranger".

Two overwhelming impressions after reading the first few chapters. First. This is amazingly funny. Not in any sort of slapstick or sitcom terms - it is the way the story is written and the way the characters interact with each other. Nell literally pours sunlight into the fossilised office of an old private investigation agency, breaking all the rules.
Second. This story is fairly complex. The characters are all linked to each other, and it might help if you make your own scorecard to work out who is or was married to whom and who their relatives are. Then there's a murder story bound in which adds to the twists.
And don't forget the dog. It's also a mutliple love story and extremely sexy in parts.
There. I think I've covered the highlights. The characters are well-drawn and it's going to be a long time before I forget the epic relationship between Nell and Gabe. The plot, as I've said, is complex and multi-layered, but it moves smartly along.
And this book has inspired me to read more by Jennifer Crusie.
Highly recommended for those wanting a romance story with guts and good humour.

A fairly common complaint is that FAST WOMEN is not WELCOME TO TEMPTATION. Personally, I think that's a good thing. True....TEMPTATION is an excellent book. So is WOMEN. They're very dissimilar, thank heavens. Frankly, I get tired of the "cookie cutter" characters when an author finds a format that's selling and refuses to stray from it. Crusie gets edgy and isn't afraid to break away from the pack and FAST WOMEN reflects that break.
Nell Dysart has been dumped by her husband of 22 years and with the help of her two sister-in-laws, is groping for a new life. Due to a few twist and laughable turns she finds herself working for a couple of detectives in their antiquated office that she immediately decides to update,(the office, not the detectives) but not before she has innocently managed to create even more damage. By the time she has made changes in the office she has also dug through the tough shield that the #1 detective, Gabe McKenna has shrouded himself in.
Crusie developed a novel that is pure feel-good entertainment and serves up plenty of opportunities to laugh out loud. As an added bonus the reader gets to try and figure out the mystery that is brewing throughout the book. It's not heavy reading, but who wants that on lazy hot summer days? If I want to dig into WAR AND PEACE again, I'll save that for those long, dreary winter months. Until then, I'll grab every Crusie book as fast as she can turn them out.

Brace yourself, Bridget -- this is one wonderful ride of a book. My favorite Crusie since ANYONE BUT YOU. I found the characters real, the plot intriguing and complex, and the assorted romantic subplots a welcome variation on the underlying theme. As always, her trademark humor shines through in thoughts, description, and dialogue that leaves you wandering the house wishing you, too, could talk like that.
Crusie is a first-class writer. I love the way she makes every line do at least double duty, and her gift for making what seems to be a throwaway line pay off in clues (or laughs) later in the book. Nell, Gabe, Suze, and Riley aren't character, they're people, true dented average people who do their best and sometimes screw up but carry on despite their mistakes. Some reviewers have trouble with the fact that Nell sleeps with more than one man in this book: I say hallelujah, it's about time an author acknowledged that women -- especially those just pulling their lives back together -- have different needs at different stages in their journey.
Unlike many other readers, I was disappointed with Welcome to Temptation: despite the laughs and the reliably excellent writing, I never felt the main characters in that book had a hope of lasting. This time, I do. TFast Women gave me the story I needed to believe in the future of these characters: a bumpy future, no doubt, but one that will hold.

Be warned, this review may contain spoilers. I think the motto for the town this story takes place in should be "Share and Share Alike'. Most everyone seemed to be quite accepting of switching partners as long as it was for the right reasons. I am not a prude, but this had elements that left me uncomfortable. The fact that the main character Nell has a one night stand with Riley, then falls for Gabe yet no one seemed to think this odd. It is not the one night stand that bothers me--it's the fact Riley and Gabe are cousins--just seemed icky to me. Not to mention that Suze's heartache came from the fact that her husband cheats on her yet she had been the 'other woman'too. It felt hypocritical of Suze to then leave her husband for the same situation she had caused, an earlier wife of Jack's. Rather than feeling sympathy for Suze, I really felt she got a taste of her own medicine. Then Suze ends up falling for someone that her best friend Nell has slept with. Again, nobody thought this odd. Some other reviewer mentions the hot sex scenes, I didn't think the scenes between Nell and Gabe were very hot--it could have been because they were so irriating to one another. Lest you think I hated the book, let me say I did not. The opening scene was very funny, Ms. Crusie's humor is appreciated. And I did like the scene when everyone gangs up on Nell's ex.

In Fast Women, Nell Dysart, a recently divorced 40-something, starts a new life as the office manager of a detective agency in the German Village section of Columbus, Ohio. She is an master of organization, style and bossiness, but she's met her match (and her soul mate) with senior partner Gabe McKenna. The book winds it's way though family and business troubles with a strong supporting cast of characters, some laugh out loud dog stories, and some chilling suspense.

I generally do the audio versions of books, but ended up reading the paper version of this one. I wasn't thrilled with the audio reader's voice, which made all of the men sound like angry guys from the 50s and the women sound like they were 50. The book in paper version, however, was a great Crusie read.

Fast Women is an ambitious book with a large cast of characters and a complex plot. I didn't like any of the characters -- including the kidnapped dog. Unlike Crusie's past protagonists, the ones in this book are small hearted and mean spirited. There are so many characters that it is hard to keep them straight and some characters -- like the protagonists' own children -- get lost in the story line.
I hated the plot, which had grizzly little touches like a woman married to the man who killed her mother and a main character who gets even with her ex-husband by describing to him -- in a restaurant with lots of people around -- the lesbian affair she had with another sister-in-law.
I read in another review of Fast Women that if you like Janet Evanovich you'd like this book. Don't believe it. The Stephanie Plum books are laugh-out-loud funny. There's a lot of very weird stuff going on and a lot of violence. But the violence is tempered by a heroine who operates on excellent intuition, is funny as hell, and doesn't have a mean bone in her body.
Save yourself some time and money. For a decent, funny romance, pick up one of Crusie's previous books. If you're looking for a mystery with a complex plot, lots of crazy characters that is sure to make you laugh -- go straight to Janet Evanovich.

I'm never good with remembering characters. I found this confusing but I doubt others will. There were three main characters. I sometimes got them mixed up. But a great story, unique, humourous-Jennifer Crusie!

Welcome to Temptation is a hard act to follow, but Crusie holds her own in this winner. This thinking woman's romance will give you something to smile about - it is smart, hot and a whole lot of fun. And like all of Crusie's books it contains that one perfect chapter that you will read over and over.
The story starts as Nell, recently divorced, interviews for a job in a small detective agency. She manages to put a hole in the carpet, break a window, and I won't even go into the blinds ... but Gabe the owner needs help and just can't resist Nell.
Against Gabe's wishes, Nell does a major clean up at the agency and stumbles on to a 20 year old secret that people are willing to die for. Like gasoline and a blow torch ... Nell and Gabe can't help but ignite. Throughout the mystery, we follow Nell's return to sanity after divorce. And learn that real women do have sex after 40 and they like it hot.
There a number of excellent secondary relationships in this story ... Nell and Ramsey ... Nell and Suze ... Ramseey and Suze ... not to mention the kids and the cases at the agency.
I smiled all through this page turner -- and still smile just thinking about it! Many reviewers have said that this is no Temptation... I agree ... it is Temptation Grown Up. Thank you Jennifer Crusie.

Fast Women is hilarious. Jennifer Cruise has a remarkable style.
I love dogs. When she describes Marlene's (the dog) wardrobe and attitudes, I just have to laugh.
I also like the fact that the main characters are not 18. Ms Cruise writes about mature women with serious problems (somewhat exaggerated).
The mystery was a little shallow. The hero did not sweep me off of my feet, but the rest of the group makes up for him.
I found this story very entertaining. I became attached to most of the characters presented here. I have enjoyed all of Jennifer Cruise's work and this story is no exception.

Jennifer Crusie scores another bestseller with Fast Women. I read this novel from cover to cover in less than 24 hours and enjoyed every single moment aside from the fact that the story does end. This novel has it all, laughter, hot/steaming love scenes, drama, suspense, murder and mayhem. What happens when two strong-willed controlling individuals get together? The sparks fly and Nell and Gabe stir up enough to start up their own passionate voyage into the world of romance. This novel has so much going for it that you won't want to miss out it.

A good story, with well developed characters, Fast Women still missed the dark sense of humor that makes the rest of her books such a treat to read. No one else writes quite the way she does, and the trinity of Tell Me Lies, Crazy for You and best of all, Welcome to Temptation create something very tough to live up to. Though she writes the same real, and character driven story, with a off-beat and unbelievable mystery, the "I can't believe she just said that..." quality is missing, and I was vaguely disappointed. Wait for the paperback.

I love Jennifer Crusie because she makes me laugh with her witty dialogs, fun romantic pairings and general good humor mixed with good story telling. I always know I'm in for a good read. This book is one of my Crusie favorites. In addition it is full of mystery and intrigue.

I enjoyed every page of this book--for the excellent characters, humor, fun interaction (it is Crusie's premise that the two main characters, Nell and Gabe are "kissers"--people with "my way or the highway" attitude; by definition, their romantic interaction is anything but boring), great fun sex, romantic love, hot men, cool women, revenge. And, of course, Marlene. The mystery in the novel is not much to speak of, but it is still a highly enjoyable "summer" read.

I found FAST WOMEN edgier than Crusie's previous books, but no less entertaining. It begins slowly with Nell trying to recover from a divorce she can't explain by drifting her way through life. With the help of friends she lands at a small detective agency and meets Gabe. Nell thinks she can `manage' Gabe, but meets her match. The secondary characters are just as interesting as Nell and Gabe. And of course there's a dog for added enjoyment. Crusie is an intelligent, entertaining author.

I really enjoy reading Jennifer Crusie's books--but Fast Women was really weak. The book plods along and even the murder mystery is rather boring. Skip this one.

That said, I did enjoy the scenes with the main characters stolen dog--probably the funniest parts of the book.

Overall, I was bored and sometimes confused over the main characters, some of whom are so barely sketched out that remembering them was difficult.

This book was wonderful. I started reading it right after my husband left, and was amazed by how much Nell sounded like me. I had to wonder if maybe Jennifer Crusie was someone I knew writing under a pen name I didn't know. Doubtful...

This book had it all. It had romance, suspense, mystery, and humor. I touched on so many emotions I couldn't list them all here. Ms. Crisie has always been a very talented writer in my eyes, but this is one of my all time favorites of hers. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

I had my doubts about this book halfway through but what a finish. This is a story of divorce, murders, sex and finding love. Nell has been divorced for over a year and starts working at detective agency - and then the story folds out. The humor that is in most Cruisie books is more reserved. If you were looking for standard funny and entertaining Jennifer Cruise I would recommend Faking it , Temptation or Bet Me instead. I love Jennifer Cruise and will read anything she writes -- I am hooked.

I just recently discovered Jennifer Cruise and I wish I had found her sooner. Her characters are so believable and you honestly connect with them as if they were people you know personally. So far this is one of my favorites running a close second behind "Bet Me" but I still have several Jennifer Cruise books to go and I can't wait to see which one will be my all time favorite. I suspect I will have a hard time picking just one.

I really enjoy reading Jennifer Crusie's books--but Fast Women was really weak. The book plods along and even the murder mystery is rather boring. Skip this one.

That said, I did enjoy the scenes with the main characters stolen dog--probably the funniest parts of the book.

Overall, I was bored and sometimes confused over the main characters, some of whom are so barely sketched out that remembering them was difficult.

This book was wonderful. I started reading it right after my husband left, and was amazed by how much Nell sounded like me. I had to wonder if maybe Jennifer Crusie was someone I knew writing under a pen name I didn't know. Doubtful...

This book had it all. It had romance, suspense, mystery, and humor. I touched on so many emotions I couldn't list them all here. Ms. Crisie has always been a very talented writer in my eyes, but this is one of my all time favorites of hers. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

I had my doubts about this book halfway through but what a finish. This is a story of divorce, murders, sex and finding love. Nell has been divorced for over a year and starts working at detective agency - and then the story folds out. The humor that is in most Cruisie books is more reserved. If you were looking for standard funny and entertaining Jennifer Cruise I would recommend Faking it , Temptation or Bet Me instead. I love Jennifer Cruise and will read anything she writes -- I am hooked.

I just recently discovered Jennifer Cruise and I wish I had found her sooner. Her characters are so believable and you honestly connect with them as if they were people you know personally. So far this is one of my favorites running a close second behind "Bet Me" but I still have several Jennifer Cruise books to go and I can't wait to see which one will be my all time favorite. I suspect I will have a hard time picking just one.

I finished "Getting Rid of Bradley" and I couldn't wait to read another Crusie novel. Oh Lord! This was the wrong one. The characters were awful. I read it to get through, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. The fact that the hero discussed wanting to seriously BEAT the heroine is not a sign of true love to me. I could go on, but it's all terrible, so why bother? I'm going to read "Faking It" to give this author another try, but if it is as bad as this one, I'll never waste another minute with her.

As the back cover carries the words from Redbook magazine "A beach book for your brain...a sexy, intellectual read.", so do the inside pages! A hard-to-put-down book, FAST WOMEN, is the story of a divorced woman who is suffering terribly. With the help of her two close friends she lands a job as a secretary with a detective agency. She is given the chance to live again---she discovers herself, what she wants, doesn't want, likes, dislikes, etc. and discovers her abilities as a woman to take a stand. Not to mention she discovers her soul mate by the end of this fun novel.
Some scenes could have been cut shorter or more developed, but that can be the case with any book, so I got past that and continued through, only to discover myself a quick, entertaining,empowering,and uplifting read over my summmer vacation! Check it out.

I'm not generally a huge fan of contemporary romances (usually I prefer the steamier Regencies), but this particular book just seemed to hit the right chord with me. For one thing, it takes place over months, and none of the couples involved jump into the sack right away (sorta). And there's much musing about the nature of relationships and divorce that adds depth to the traditional romance story. I just plain *like* these characters, which isn't always true for me. Of the Crusie books I've read, this is my favorite.

I have not read any of Jennifer Crusie's previous books. I really liked this one! It was funny and the love scenes were entertaining. I admired Nell's ability to be free to do what she wanted and to go after what she needed. The mystery seemed like it was added on, but it didn't detract from the story. I found this book to be a fun summer read. Don't miss it!

This was my first Jennifer Cruisie book, but it will not be my last!! I adored the characters, Nell was wonderful and she grew along with the book. The women intrigued me, and the men of the agency thrilled me. I laughed till I cried at some of their antics.
Run, don't walk to pick up this "fast" read. Enjoy it for it's purely escapism story!!

I really enjoyed "Welcome to Temptation" and after reading some of these reviews, I'll try some others ("Getting Rid of Bradley" and "Bet Me," and "Faking It").

BUT this book was pointless, no mystery that I cared about, frustrating to read of Nell's harping and temper tantrums, and just meandered waiting to be put to sleep or something. I ended up skimming the last third of it. Yawn ...

Fast Women is the first book by Jennifer Crusie that I have read and I am sure it will not be the last. Some of the scenes in this book between Nell (a newly divorced woman) and Gabe (the set in his ways detective) are sure to make you blush. I enjoyed the mix of romance and mystery. Fast Women is a great summer read.

Jennifer Crusie is probably my favorite writer--I have read and loved all of her books. Perhaps that's why this one was a disappointment. It exhibits her wonderful writing and great dialogue, but I had a difficult time getting into the story and caring about the characters. The ending became predictable, and only the main character's action to help out her son in the last part of the book was a surprise. I think this book is far better than most of the genre out there, however, I didn't enjoy it as much as "Crazy For You" or "Welcome to Temptation", which is why there are only three stars. It will likely not stay on my keeper shelf.

Well here we are once again , disapointed. so far none have compared to her' Tell me lies'....Im sorry, but I just feel she's trying way to hard.and it just doesn't work. I didn't feel good about this one.

THIS IS A WONDERFULL NOVEL, The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was because I couldnt help but compare it to WELCOME TO TEMPTATION, which was 12 stars to me, and every person I have loaned it to. FAST WOMEN was fast paced and the characters were full, consiouse beings, easy to get to know and care about. Crusies style of writing is SO good, after you finish with her novels you cant help but think, I WANT TO WRITE LIKE THIS WHEN I GROW UP. In the mean time I will keep reading her stuff because it is incredible eye candy.

This was an okay book-some romance, some mystery, a lot of cheating. An overall interesting story about 3 women and how their lives intertwin with each other and with a detective agency who mostly uncovers cheating spouses.

This book was okay. The mystery part was okay. The romance part was lukewarm. The best thing about this book was the friendship between the three women. I would try another of this authors books because they are fast reads, but will not pass this one around to friends.