What to Do about Annie?

I am a fan of funny romances, and I am so glad I dicovered Millie Criswell. The plot has been described by other reviewers, so there's no point going over it again. I'll just say that if you like Jennifer Crusie and Janet Evanovich, you'll love this writer!

I spent several hours with some delightful character in WHAT TO DO ABOUT ANNIE. Relaxing and entertaining, the story tells about the lives, loves and heartaches of interesting, caring people. If it was the authors intention to entertain, she did an admirable job. Read it, you'll love it.

I just finished reading What To Do About Annie. I was not sure that I could like the character Annie. She is brash and independent and just a little too free-thinking for me.  Then --- I met her parents, Sid and Gina, who are also smart mouthed and brash, yet horrified because their daughter was the same.  Hmmm.....Enter Joe, the ex-priest who was in love with Annie, and his mother, the obnoxious Sophia Russo, who everyone loves to hate.  Although I loved Sophia in Mary's story, I found myself not liking her in the first few pages of Annie. I gave them a chance to change my mind.   A skilled author can make you love a less than perfect character. Every person has a story, but it takes a special author to write that story.  Millie has done this far beyond my wildest expectations!  Millie hit the very core of Joe's feelings about leaving the priesthood and about his feelings of betrayal toward Annie. I felt for Joe and I felt his feelings about the church deep in my soul, as I have also wrestled with those same feelings. Millie captured them so well and so realistically. Joe and Annie together had many obstacles to overcome, stubbornness and pride being the biggest. Annie's wall of defiance against Joe, and the harboring of the secret they shared, tore at their relationship; until she began to open her eyes to the world around her and to the many relationships she juggled within her and Joe's family.  Sid and Gina Goldman also came forth in this book as wonderful and caring parents who wanted the best for their daughter.  Even Sophia's heart of gold began to show beneath the granite casing she tried so hard to keep locked away.   The book is funny and realistic and heartwarming, and I have grown to understand and love the characters within the growing families of Little Italy. What to Do About Annie is one of the best books I have read this year and is peopled with wonderful and warm characters and is a realistic portrayal of some of life's ups and downs that we all struggle with.  

Annie Goldman is not in the best of moods. First of all, she is a maid-of-honor in her friend Mary's wedding, and she's "dressed like an rose-tinted marshmallow". Secondly, the priest officiating is none other than Joe Russo, Mary's brother, "Father What a Hunk". Joe was the love of Annie's life when he broke up with her fifteen years ago to enter the priesthood. Joe has never totally gotten over Annie. When Annie miscarried fifteen years ago after Joe had promised to marry her, he felt that he was being punished by God and left her to become a priest. Now he has decided to leave the priesthood-his heart is not fully committed to it. But Joe isn't ready to give Annie up now, even though she wants nothing to do with him. When he gets a job working as a youth counselor in the building next to Goldman's Department Store, where Annie works, the two can't help but run into one another. Sparks fly, and ex-priest Joe and unconventional Annie become an item. Obstacles get in the way as Sophia, Joe's mother, dislikes Annie and wants her son to marry a more conventional Italian girl. And Annie is only half-Italian, with ever-changing hair colors and flashy clothes. Will their love endure these tests, and can Annie ever learn to trust Joe again? For a delightful read, with a healthy dose of humor interspersed with enigmatic characters, this is a sure winner. The conflicts between Annie's family and Joe's family are hysterical as each parent is only trying to do the best for their child in their own quirky way. The supporting characters are as developed as the main characters thereby making this novel more than superficial and definitely an entertaining read. Readers may recognize Mary from Ms. Criswell's previous work, THE TROUBLE WITH MARY and can look forward to lawyer Angela's story in THE TRIALS OF ANGELA.

Millie Criswell has done it again. "What to Do About Annie?" may be more amusing and harder to put down than "The Trouble with Mary." Although, how could it not be when you put the Goldman and Russo clans in the same book?! I think Millie Criswell fans will love getting to the heart of Annie and learning what she's really all about. I know I did. I don't know if I can wait until next summer to read "The Trials of Angela." Being a lawyer myself, I can't wait to see what Ms. Criswell cooks up in the courtroom for her latest heroine. I'll let you know the "verdict" on this one next summer.