The Grand Finale

by Janet Evanovich

2008

Status

Available

Genres

Romance

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Standard Shelves

Publication

Harper (2009), Edition: First, 246 pages

Description

Divorcée Berry Knudsen falls out of a tree and meets the man of her dreams, hunky first grade teacher Jake Sawyer. And that's just the start of their screwball courtship.

User reviews

LibraryThing member jjmachshev

"The Grand Finale" was not, in my opinion, one of Janet Evanovich's best earlier works. The story never quite gelled and moved entirely too quickly to ring true. It's a G rated romance with lots of quirky humor...maybe just a bit too much.

The story is the tale of a young, divorcee who is struggling

to get by with her pizza business while finishing college. Since her first marriage derailed her life plan, she's now determined to stick with her goals without deviation. And none of those goals involve a hunky, inventor/schoolteacher...no matter how great he looks, and acts, and kisses, and...oh dear!

For me, this was just too lightweight all around. But it is cheery and witty and quick.

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LibraryThing member raenstorm

This is one of those books where I wish I could award 1/2 points. It was a little better than "It was OK" but not fully in the "I liked it" category either.You can definitely tell this is one of Janet's earlier works. It was a quick and easy read and had a few amusing pieces and parts. But things

happened too quickly and there's not really much depth to anyone besides the main character, Berry. It's a fun read but you never really care about anyone in the story. It has a little too much going on in that regard.Evanovich fans will recognize some of Janet's tell-tale characteristics though. It's kind of fun to see where she started and the things she always likes to weave into her stories. In that sense I enjoyed the book despite feeling unsatisfied by it overall.

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LibraryThing member ajewell

Even though this kind of follows the same pattern as most of Janet's romance novels, I thought it was kind of cute and entertaining. It is kind of nice to read something that isn't so calculated, and just serves it's purpose.

LibraryThing member barras31063

It is a fun book to read. The characters are funny and hilarious at times and make you laugh a lot. The book held my interest from start to finish. I wouldn't say it was one of her best but pretty much what I expected from Janet Evanovich.

LibraryThing member onyx95

In a short amount of time, Berry Knudsen was able to see a half naked man, which caused her to fall out of a tree, land on a large pizza, then she had to watch her own Jeep fly off a cliff, see two different cars get stolen and watch her apartment burn to ash. The next week she was living with Jake

Sawyer in his unfurnished Victorian style home with three old ladies, all while she was still trying to run her pizza place, and go back to school. Luckily Jake was a 1st grade teacher and had the patience to wait, and the determination to win her over - maybe.

Another great example of Janet Evanovich's earlier work, it is light hearted and fun and the characters are written in a way that allows a connection (at least for me it does). Absolutely great way to start a book, (in a tree going after a cat and seeing a man undressing in the window)and the addition of the old ladies and there personalities gave a great mix to the story.

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LibraryThing member bitemeeric

This short novel is laugh out loud funny. Jake Sawyer is a first grade teacher, chemist, inventor, and in love with Berry Knudsen, a college student who owns The Pizza Place. On the job delivering pizza, she comes to Jake's house where she finds a kitten stuck in a tree and decides to climb it in

order to rescue the kitten. After this her life wll never be the same..first she finds Jake extremely sexy as she sits on a tree limb and watches him remove his clothes from out side his window, her roomates are three old ladies, her apartment above her restaurant catches on fire and forces her to live with Jake..and she finds herself in love with him as well. Through some creative means, he manages to maker her stay with him a little longer.

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LibraryThing member GailL

I understand this is one of Janet's first books. I appreciate why she couldn't get it published until she'd made a name for herself. Very slow and boring after Stephanie Plum Series. I tried to read it but gave up 1/2 way through.

LibraryThing member honeydew69862004

The Grand Finale is about Berry who owns a pizza shop and is trying to go to college. Jake who is a subsitute teacher and inventor immediately falls in love with her. Berry who has luck with cars like Stephanie Plum is "gun shy" of a relationship. A really good book that is hard to put down because

it keeps you laughing.

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LibraryThing member tipsister

The Grand Finale is a quirky, fun little piece of fluff. Berry owns a pizza shop and hired three homeless ladies as delivery people. The only problem is that they weren’t really cut out for deliveries, meaning Berry had to do it herself. While out on a delivery, she climbs a tree to help a cat

and of course falls out of the tree after getting a good look at a half naked man. The man she was supposed to be delivering pizza for. Jake falls hard for Berry and her trio of old ladies. They form an odd little family with a very sweet happy ever after. This is definitely a light read and there isn’t a whole lot of substance but sometimes it’s nice to not think so much.

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LibraryThing member wakela

Great book! If you love any of Janet's other books, you will love this one. The characters are always quirky in a way that will give you a good laugh. Definitely a must read.Some of the situations that Berry gets herself into are hilarious.

LibraryThing member KC_in_KS

Total meringue, but quite enjoyable. The characters are appealingly zany!

LibraryThing member drausche

A totally funny, delightful summer read--just what I needed.

LibraryThing member SunnySD

Fun and fluffy romp populated with the quirky characters Evanovich has become known for.

LibraryThing member AJBraithwaite

I'm so behind on my target number of books for this year (all Neal Stephenson's fault - write shorter books, man!) that my excuse for reading this is because it was short. That's how desperate to catch up I am.

It's really not my type of book: submissive and scatty (yet intelligent and of course

beautiful) female protagonist, handsome, rich, attractive (yet manipulative) male love interest (with an amazing butt, naturally). And every woman's secret dream of filling a Victorian house in the 'burbs with children.

If that sort of thing thrills you, then you'll like this book. It didn't do a lot for me.

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LibraryThing member jessicariddoch

This is an early book by this author, and if I was her I would have let these quietly die. Apparently, according to the blurb in the book, theor were nine of them which all went out of print immediatly.
This story is that of a woman recently devorced who is running a pizza shop that delivers. She

advertised for a delivery boy and takes on three old women insted. Then while delivering she attempts to rescue a cat up a tree sees a nearly naked man and then nearly falls on him.
The timing is not there, the magic of lust or love is missing. convidering her later books I was simply disapointed by this book

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LibraryThing member redheadish

for a romance this was pretty funny and a kept me up al night wishing for a man that campared to Jake sawyer!

LibraryThing member Sheila1957

Fun, quirky romance. Berry owns a pizza shop. When she delivers to Jake's house, she spies Jake undressing when she climbs up a tree to rescue a cat. Jake rescues her when she falls from the tree, landing on his pizza. This begins their romance. He wants her. She wants to continue on with her plan.

Of course, her plan did not include having 3 old ladies move into her home but she could not let them live in the bus station. So Jake inherits them also.

I liked these people. They made me smile and laugh out loud at times as I read. Jake is determined to get Berry to agree to his plan but Berry will not acquiesce. It was fun watching Jake play matchmaker for the ladies. I could see elements here that were later used in her Stephanie Plum series.

This is a rollicking good time read

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LibraryThing member Dawn772

A funny book with one mishap after another. Berry is running a pizza place, going to school, and has her life all planned until she accidentally sees Jake undressing from her perch in a nearby tree. Although it is rather unbelievable, it is a fun light read that kept my interest.

LibraryThing member Preston.Kringle

Interesting story at times a little rushed with an ending that seemed to be missing something

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