Maybe This Time: A Novel

“This is a story of faith: in human nature, in love, in romance, in connections that cannot be broken . . . [an] original and funny romantic thriller.” —New York Journal of BooksAndie Miller wants to marry her fiancé and leave behind everything in her past, especially her ex-husband, North Archer, but 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.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 . . .

Amazon.com Review

Product Description The New York Times bestselling author of Bet Me, Tell Me Lies and Welcome to Temptationdelivers her long-awaited new novel--Maybe This Time. 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-inlaw, 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… Amazon Exclusive: Susan Elizabeth Phillips Interviews Jennifer Crusie Susan Elizabeth Phillips is the bestselling author of Nobody’s Baby But Mine, What I Did for Love, and many others. She is the only four-time recipient of the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious “Favorite Book of the Year” Award and was also honored with their “Lifetime Achievement” Award. Read on for Susan Elizabeth’s hilarious and entertaining conversation with Jennifer Crusie: Susan Elizabeth Phillips: Exactly why is Susan Elizabeth Phillips your dear friend? Jennifer Crusie: Susan Elizabeth Phillips is everything I aspire to be in a writer, a Comic Genius with Incredible Insight into the Human Condition, so I stay close so I can be just like her. I remember the first time we met. It was in an elevator in Dallas. It was magic. She got off at the next floor. SEP: What do you like most about Susan Elizabeth Phillips? JC: I think it's her modesty, her willingness to give to others. And her shoes. SEP: Which Susan Elizabeth Phillips book is your favorite, or do you love them all too much to choose? JC: Heaven, Texas because I love a Cinderella story. Also her last one, whatever it is when whoever is reading this is reading this. The one that's on sale now. That one. It's amazing and you should buy it. There's probably a button for it on here somewhere. Hit that button. SEP: Oh, wait! This is supposed to be about YOU? Sheesh... For those who haven’t read it and are waiting breathlessly, share a little something about your new book Maybe This Time?JC: Maybe This Time is my version of The Turn of the Screw. It's about a woman who goes back to tell her ex-husband that she's marrying somebody else and takes a job caring for two orphans he's inherited who are living in southern Ohio. When she gets to southern Ohio, she finds out the kids are delinquents and the house is haunted. Also, the ex-husband? Still very hot. SEP: What is special about this book? JC: It's a ghost story! And a love story! With kids! It's a Romantic Comedy Ghost Story With Kids. By me! (You don' t have a copy because it's not out yet. We'll send you one as soon as we get them. Pretend you've read it and it's the most amazing book EVER. I did for you.) SEP: What gave you the most difficulty writing Maybe This Time and what gave you the most joy?JC: Difficult--Ghosts. Ghosts are not easy to write without getting cheesy. Also, I generally do not write horror so the I-wants-to-make-your-skin-creep parts were a real departure for me. Joy--The kids. I'm living with two little girls right now, ages eight and 11, and I stole from them to write Alice. Alice was so much fun to write. Not so much fun to live with in the book, but to write? Alice rocks. SEP: How do the stories you want to tell now differ from the ones you wanted to tell when you started writing? How are they the same? JC: Such good questions. Are you a writer, too? Oh, wait. Never mind. I had no idea how difficult writing fiction was when I started so I just wrote stories. Then I Learned My Craft. Now I spend a lot of time staring into space, thinking about how much I don't know and panicking. So it's harder. But the books are better, more complex, better structured, better written. Also I'm kind of over that Oh-My-God-They-Have-To-Have-Sex-Right-Now-Let-Me-Describe-It-In-Graphic-Detail. I figure anybody reading my books has either had sex or seen it on cable so maybe there's something more interesting in the characters' lives to describe in depth. Like, oh, GHOSTS! SEP: You're an amazingly entertaining writer. Are you funny in real life? (I know the answer to this, but I'm thinking all of your readers might not.)JC: Well, not as funny as Susan Elizabeth Phillips, who is a Comic Genius, but I have inspired a few chuckles here and there. Mostly, no. SEP: Once I start a Jennifer Crusie book, I can't put it down. I know your loyal readers feel the same. What's your secret? (Please reply in 10 words or less because I hate making things too easy on you.) JC: I do everything Susan Elisabeth Phillips does, except backwards in high heels. (That's twelve words. We can cut the "Elizabeth Phillips" part if you want.) SEP: Did you finally get your messy office cleaned up so it looks as good as mine? (Oops... This is about you. I keep forgetting.)JC: Yes. And then it got messy again. Because I'm a creative person and we creative people cannot be bound by the shackles of conventionality that stifle the expression of those who feel compelled to clean their offices. How's your office look?

From Publishers Weekly

Crusie (Bet Me) is back on her own--after a couple of books written with Bob Mayer--with a sweet, offbeat romantic tale of second chances. Thirty-four-year-old Andie, hoping to cut the ties that still bind her to rich ex-hubby North, winds up instead getting drafted to "fix" the troubled orphaned children of North's cousin, who live with a grouchy housekeeper and a crew of ghosts that have an interest in the kids and their gothic mansion home. But there's no ordinary fix for this unruly bunch of living and undead as Andie tries to cajole them all--troubled and lonely kids Alice and Carter, dead aunt May aiming for a do-over, newly dead Dennis, and ancient spooks Miss J and Peter--into moving on. Crusie's created a sharp cast of lonely souls, wacky weirdos, ghosts both good and bad, and unlikely heroes who are brave enough to give life and love one more try. You don't have to believe in the afterlife to relish this fun, bright romp. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The plan did not include ghosts, or working, even temporarily, for her ex-husband, North Archer. The plan was for Andromeda “Andie” Miller to march into North’s law office, return a decade’s worth of uncashed alimony checks, and depart to begin her bright new romantic future with writer Will Spenser. But somehow Andie ends up taking care of North’s two young wards. The kids have already gone through three nannies, one of whom claimed Archer House is haunted, but Andie figures she can manage for a month. Until she starts seeing ghosts herself. Six years after her last solo effort, Bet Me (2004), RITA Award-winning Crusie triumphantly returns with a bewitching tale. Graced with deliciously original characters (including a housekeeper who could give Mrs. Danvers a run for her money), imbued with addictively acerbic wit, driven by a wildly inventive, paranormal-flavored plot that offers a subtle literary nod to Henry James, and featuring two protagonists who just might get their romance right the second time around, Maybe This Time is Crusie at her very best. --John Charles

From the Back Cover

From beloved New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Crusie comes a novel that gives a new twist to old flames, second chances, and things that go bump in the night…Andie Miller is ready to move on with her 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, North asks one last favor: Since the death of a distant cousin, he’s become the guardian of two orphans who have already driven away three nannies. North needs someone to take care of the situation—and he knows Andie can handle anything.“wildly inventive…Crusie at her very best.”—Booklist(starred review) 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. Complicating matters is Andie’s fiancé’s suspicion that this is all a plan by North to get Andie back. He may be right because Andie’s dreams have been haunted by North since she arrived at the old house, and that’s not the only haunting. As Andie copes with the ghosts of her past and present, she begins to see that what she wants is the same thing that everyone in the house wants--a second chance--and that maybe this time she’ll get it.“A marvelous tale that includes [Crusie’s] patented brand of humor and human foibles.”—RT Book Reviews (HOT Pick, 41/2 stars)

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

OneAndie Miller sat in the reception room of her ex-husband’s law office, holding on to ten years of uncashed alimony checks and a lot of unresolved rage. This is why I never came back here, she thought. Nothing wrong with repressed anger as long as it stays repressed.“Miss Miller?”Andie jerked her head up and a lock of hair fell out of her chignon. She stuffed it back into the clip on the back of her head as North’s neat, efficient secretary smiled at her, surrounded by the propriety of his Victorian architecture. If that secretary had a chignon, nothing would escape from it. North was probably crazy about her.“Mr. Archer will see you now,” the secretary said.“Well, good for him.” Andie stood up, yanked on the hem of the only suit jacket she owned, and then wondered if she’d sounded hostile.“He’s really very nice,” the secretary said.“No, he isn’t.” Andie strode across the ancient rug to the door of North’s office, opened it before the secretary could get in ahead of her, and then stopped.North sat behind his walnut desk, his cropped blond hair almost white in the sunlight from the window behind him. His wire-rimmed glasses had slid too far down his nose again, and his shirt-sleeves were rolled up over his forearms—Still playing racquetball, Andie thought—and his shoulders were as straight as ever as he studied the papers spread out across the polished top of the desk. He looked exactly the way he had ten years ago when she’d bumped her suitcase on the door frame on her way out of town—“Miss Miller is here,” his secretary said from behind her, and he looked up at her over his glasses, and the years fell away, and she was right back where she’d begun, staring into those blue-gray eyes, her heart pounding.After what seemed like forever, he stood up. “Andromeda. Thank you for coming.”She crossed the office, smiled tightly at him over the massive desk, decided that shaking his hand would be weird, and sat down. “I called you, remember? Thank you for seeing me.”North sat down, saying, “Thank you, Kristin,” to his secretary, who left.“So the reason I called—” Andie began, just as he said, “How is your mother?”Oh, we’re going to be polite. “Still crazy. How’s yours?”“Lydia is fine, thank you.” He straightened the papers on his desk into one stack.A lot of really big trees had died to make that desk. His mother had probably gnawed them down, used her nails to saw the boards, and finished the decorative cutwork with her tongue.“I’ll tell her you asked after her.”“She’ll be thrilled. Say hi to Southie for me, too.” Andie opened her purse, took out the stack of alimony checks, and put them on the desk. “I came to give these back to you.”North looked at the checks for a moment, the strong, sharp planes of his face shadowed by the back light from the window.Say something, she thought, and when he didn’t, she said, “They’re all there, one hundred and nineteen of them. November nineteen eighty-two to last month.”His face was as expressionless as ever. “Why?”“Because they’re a link between us. We haven’t talked in ten years but every month you send me a check even though you know I don’t want alimony. Which means every month I get an envelope in the mail that says I used to be married to you. And every month I don’t cash them, and it’s like we’re nodding in the street or something. We’re still communicating.”“Not very well.” North looked at the stack. “Why now?”“I’m getting married.”She watched him go still, the pause stretching out until she said, “North?”“Congratulations. Who’s the lucky man?”“Will Spenser,” Andie said, pretty sure North wouldn’t know him.“The writer?”“He’s a great guy.” She thought about Will, tall, blond, and genial. The anti-North: He never forgot she existed. “I’m ready to settle down, so I’m drawing a line under my old life.” She nodded at the checks. “That’s why I came to give you those back. Don’t send any more. Please.”After a moment, he nodded. “Of course. Congratulations. The family will want to send a gift.” He pulled his legal pad toward him. “Are you registered?”“No, I’m not registered,” Andie said, exasperated. “Technically, I’m not even engaged yet. He asked me, but I needed to give you the checks back before I said yes.” She didn’t know why she’d expected him to have a reaction to the news. It wasn’t as if he still cared. She wasn’t sure he’d cared when she’d left.“I see. Thank you for returning the checks.”North straightened the papers on his desk again, and then looked down at the top paper for a long moment, as if he were reading it. He’d probably forgotten she was there again because his work was—He looked up. “Perhaps, since you haven’t said yes yet, you could postpone your new life.”“What?”“I have a problem you could help with. It would only take you a few months, maybe less—”“North, did you even hear what I said?”“—and we’d pay you ten thousand dollars a month, plus expenses, room, and board.”She started to protest and then thought, Ten thousand dollars a month?He straightened the folder on his desk again. “Theodore Archer, a distant cousin, died two years ago and made me the guardian of his two children.”Ten thousand a month. There had to be a catch. Then the rest of what he’d said hit her. “Children?”“I went down to see them at the family home where their aunt was taking care of them. They’d been living there with their father, their grandmother, and their aunt since the little girl was born eight years ago, but the grandmother had died before Theodore.”“Down? They’re not here in Ohio?”“The house is in a remote area in the south of the state. The place is isolated, but the children seemed fine with their aunt, so we agreed it was best that they’d stay there with her in order to disrupt their lives as little as possible.”And to disrupt yours as little as possible, Andie thought.North waited, as if he expected her to say it out loud. When she didn’t, he went on. “Unfortunately, the aunt died in June. Since then I’ve hired three nannies, but none have stayed.”“Lot of death in the family,” Andie said.“The children’s mother died in childbirth with the little girl. The grandmother died in her seventies of a heart attack. Theodore was killed in a car accident. The aunt fell from a tower on the house—”“Wait, the house has towers?”“It’s a very old house,” North said, his tone making it clear that he didn’t want to discuss towers. “The battlements are crumbling, and she evidently leaned on the wrong stone and fell into the moat.”“The moat,” Andie said. “Is this a joke?”“No. Theodore’s great-great-grandfather had the house brought over from En gland in the 1850s. I don’t know why he dug a moat. The point is, these children have nobody, and they’re alone down there in the middle of nowhere with only the house keeper taking care of them. If you will go down there, I will pay you ten thousand a month to … fix them.”“Fix them,” Andie said. Ten thousand a month was ridiculous, but it would pay off her credit card bills and her car. In one month. Ten thousand dollars would mean she could get married without debt. Not that Will cared, but it would be better to go to him free and clear. “What do you mean, fix them?”“The children are … odd. We wanted to bring them here in June after their aunt’s death, but the little girl had a psychotic break when the nanny tried to take her away from the house. The boy was sent away to boarding school at the beginning of August, but he’s been expelled for setting fires. I need someone to go down there and stabilize the children, bring their education up to standard for their grade level so they can go to public school, and then move them up here with us.”Andie shook her head and another chunk of hair slipped out of her chignon. “Psychotic breaks and setting fires,” she said, as she stuffed it back. “North, I teach high school English. I have no idea how to help kids like this. You need—”“I need somebody who doesn’t care about the way things are supposed to be,” he said, his eyes sliding to her neck. “I think that’s where the nannies are going wrong. I need somebody who will do the unconventional thing without blinking. Somebody who will get things done.” He met her eyes. “Even if she doesn’t stay for the long haul.”“Hey,” Andie said.“I would take it as a personal favor. I’ve never asked you for anything—”“You asked for a divorce.” As soon as she said it, she knew it was a mistake.He looked at her over the tops of his glasses, exasperated. “I did not ask you for a divorce.”“Yes you did,” Andie said, in too far to stop now. “You told me that I seemed unhappy, and if that was true, you would understand if I divorced you.”“You were playing ‘Any Day Now’ every time I came up to the attic. As hints go, it was pretty broad.”He...

About the Author

Angela Dawe is an actor and improviser working with the Annoyance Theater and Second City in Chicago. Originally from Lansing, Michigan, Angela's career has encompassed stage, television, and film work, in addition to award-winning audiobook narrations, which include young adult, suspense, romance, and historical fiction titles.Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author of Tell Me Lies, Crazy for You, Welcome to Temptation, Faking It, Fast Women, and Bet Me.

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