Wednesday 26 April 2017

*** BIG FIVE STAR REVIEW *** CRAZY IN LOVE by Annabelle Costa



 



Free on KU 



Great!  Beautiful!  Moving!  Perfect!  I can go on…

I just read one of the best books last night Crazy in Love by Annabelle Costa. I started reading yesterday evening then around 11 pm I told myself to go to bed. At midnight I tried to put the book away. Didn’t happen.  Finally, I just said to myself forget it; I'm going to read until the end. It was worth it.
Crazy in Love is a different kind of love story, very touching and beautifully written. 

Anna Flint is (as I picture her) a female version of Melvin Udal (Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets) on steroids. Her co-workers tease her unmercifully and everyone calls her Crazy Anna. She doesn’t have any friends, and, truthfully, she likes the aloneness.  

I love Anna.  She is attractive, brilliant, and the most talented programmer at her company and she is weird. She can't be touched. She has to clean her cubicle with Lysol many times during the day, and she collects cans. (Can you imagine cans stacked in the cube of a co-worker?)  When Anna is anxious, she taps in a pattern on her desk or the cans 11 times or multiples of 11 until she is calm. (There are more quirks to Anna a lot more.)

Matt Harper, her cubicle neighbor, is the only person who is kind to Anna, including her family. Matt is the hot nerd. He cruises for women at bars with his friend then rates the women and only dates a 7 or higher. Well, he doesn't really date the women he has one night stands.  Then he is diagnosed with progressive multiple sclerosis and begins to lose the ability to walk.  It changes his life.

The imagery this novel brings to mind is moving.  The characters are multi-layered and reveal new aspects to their personalities and struggles on each page. 
Crazy in Love takes place over five years as a friendship grows and Matt’s MS progresses. It is a story of two people who don't fit anywhere, but in between the crazy, they find a way to help each other overcome a multitude of hurdles and become true friends.  

I am completely in awe of Ms. Costa.  Her research is extensive, and the characters are some of the best creations ever.  They jump off the page and into my heart.  The story touched me from the first page, and my heart grew ten times by the end.  I couldn’t stop reading.  I couldn’t skim even a paragraph because I didn’t want to miss any details.  There are times when I felt sad and times when I felt happy and the end is beautifully satisfying.  It is an emotional and lovely experience that I won’t forget any time soon.  

Crazy in Love is one of my favorite books of 2017; I'll read it again whenever I need a lift.  Now I can’t wait to read more by Annabelle Costa.  You must get it ASAP.

5+ STAMPS


About Annabelle

I hate men who are too perfect.  In most romance or chick lit novels, the male love interest is tall, dark, and handsome, with abs of steel, buns of steel, and eyes as blue as the waters of Aruba.  All that is a big turn-off to me.  The "wounded heroes" have not gotten everything they want in life, and have a humility that I have always found appealing.

I'm also an avid reader, and my influences include the usual chick lit suspects: Sophie Kinsella, Jane Green, and Emily Giffin.  If it's chick lit, I've probably read it.  My favorite author of disability-related fiction is Ruth Madison.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me a line at razberripie(at)gmail.com!


** Images and Author bio from  http://annabellecosta.blogspot.com/



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