Getting Rid of Bradley

by Jennifer Crusie

Hardcover, 2007

Status

Available

Publication

HQN (2007), Edition: Original, 336 pages

Description

Fiction. Romance. HTML:Lucy Savage is not having a good week. Her cheating husband, Bradley, lobbed the final insult when he stood her up in divorce court. A dye job gone wrong has left her hair green. And someone is trying to kill her. To top it off, sexy cop Zack Warren is certain that the very same man Lucy is trying to wash right out of her hair is the same Bradley he wants to arrest for embezzlement. When someone shoots at her and then her car blows up, Zack decides she needs twenty-four-hour police protection. Next thing Lucy knows, Zack has moved in to her big Victorian house, making them both sleepless...and not just from things that go bump in the night!.

Rating

½ (444 ratings; 3.7)

User reviews

LibraryThing member SunnySD
Newly divorced physics teacher Lucy Savage is pretty sure where she went wrong, and she's tired of being the staid and dependable sister. With newly died hair and a firm commitment to doing exactly what she wants to, Lucy sets out to meet her ex-husband for one last meal - hopefully to get some
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explanations out of the way.

When she is accosted outside the diner, and then shot at, Lucy fights off her assailant and goes home triumphant, if slightly bruised. Of course, things aren't as simple as they seem, and pretty soon Lucy and her dogs have live-in police protection (and a ripped up kitchen floor).

Funny - much, much funnier than I expected from a book I picked up to read over my lunch hour. Light, fluffy, and well-told. A very pleasant surprise.
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LibraryThing member Leiahc
Each of Ms Crusie' s books that I have read have been simply delightful. Her sense of humour is fresh and her characters are interesting. OK, so this isn't War and Peace. What it is is a perfect way to work away a few hours with a story that allows you to relax, unwind and laugh. These days, that
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is, in my estimation a true gift.
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LibraryThing member MuseofIre
Zach the sexy cop going from commitment-phobe to happily-ever-after-man in 5 days isn't exactly plausible (even my brother took 3 weeks to propose), but the dialog's snappy, the sex is hot, and the dogs are cute, so I'm not complaining.
LibraryThing member vgnunez
I like Jennifer Crusie's romantic comedies. They're easy to read and though the characters are fairly one dimensional, Crusie doesn't try to give them more complexity than the story requires. She doesn't force the language or story to be more than they are. I read this one in one day and it was a
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nice little distraction from the world.
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LibraryThing member BlondeBibliophile
This is basic contemporary chick lit. Jennifer Crusie is my favorite author in that category. She is hilarious. This is a good, enjoyable read.
Also, my favorite Crusie book is "Faking It". That book is wonderful.
LibraryThing member jjmachshev
When I woke up this morning, I was in the mood for something fun...and funny. So I picked up "Getting Rid of Bradley" by Jennifer Crusie. Originally published as a Harlequin Blaze in 1994, this story is one of her earlier ones. But is one of her funniest in my opinion.

Poor Lucy isn't having a good
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year. Her ex couldn't even be bothered to show up for the divorce, she beats up a mugger only to find out he's a cop, her efforts to change her life via hair dye have resulted in a strange, moss-green color, and apparently someone's trying to kill her! How did a quiet science teacher who's a little spacey and decided to marry based on the second law of thermodynamics end up in this mess?

Zack is a cop who doesn't want to grow up. He's a bundle of energy and allergic to maturity. But his instincts are always right. And his instincts are telling him that the lady with the funky hair who he LET hit him is somehow involved in his case. His instincts are also telling him that there's NO WAY IN HELL he's going to let anyone else protect her. What? Did he just say that?

Zany, funny, laugh-out-loud romance. If you need a pick-me-up, then pick this book up. You won't be sorry.
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LibraryThing member Darla
I'd read this before, in the original Harlequin, but it's definitely re-readable. I don't have all of the reissues, but I do have all Jenny's books and a good number of the reissues.

Lucy Savage, like a lot of Crusie heroines, has decided to take control of her life, but so far it's not going well.
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Her husband Bradley stood her up in divorce court, the blonde dye job that was supposed to symbolize her independence turned out greenish, her sister keeps telling her what to do, and the sexy guy in the leather jacket turned out to be a mugger. At least she stood up for herself there--she beat him off with her physics book.

Except he wasn't really a mugger--he was a cop, and he'd knocked her down to keep her from being shot. Zack Warren's after an embezzler named Bradley, and when he overheard Lucy tell her sister she was going home to "get rid of Bradley" (throw out all his stuff), he put 2 & 2 together.

Now he's adding protecting Lucy to finding Bradley.

Getting Rid of Bradley is fast-moving and witty, with wonderful screwball-comedy dialogue and characters whose view of the world is just slightly skewed, but in their heads they're completely reasonable.

It just occurred to me that that's one thing I always enjoy about a Crusie novel--how clearly you can see the characters. Even when you're in their POV (point of view, not privately owned vehicle), you can see the contrast between how they see the world and how the world sees them--because everybody's a little off-center--it's part of being human.

And there's a dog--three of them, in this case, including Heisenberg, who does a "dog joke," and cracks me up completely.

I loved watching Lucy and Zack fall in love and merge their lives. You can see it happening, kind of like those clocks with clear cases so all the little gears are visible. There's no sudden about-face, no unmotivated actions, it's all right there on the page. I'm not explaining this well, I realize, but it makes perfect sense in my head. At any rate, it makes the book a joy to read, and re-read.
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LibraryThing member jackelly
Not as great as I expected it to be, the character were pretty one dimensional and while the whole mystery was funny and kept the plot moving. The two main characters fell in love pretty quickly, even for a romance novel. From when they met to the end of book was about six days. On the plus side,
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it was a quick, fluff read which was a nice escape.
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LibraryThing member velvetsnape
Funny book. First I've read of hers and it was great!
LibraryThing member reneebooks
Light and fluffy with a bit of suspense. The funny snappy dialogue along with the adorable dogs made this book a fun read. This was your typical story of heroine whose life is in danger and hero cop moves in with her to keep her safe. I wasn't too crazy about the ditzy heroine. The cop hero was
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only OK until he does something that just melted me. He sees a filthy starving stray dog, buys a hamburger and coaxes him to eat. He takes the stray home to the heroine, just because he knew that's what she would want. He had me right there. I have a huge soft spot for big macho guys who are kind to animals. (Grade: B-)
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LibraryThing member sdbookhound
This was a cute romance. I liked the interaction between the two main characters. They were instantly likable and funny and although the relationship moves very quickly it is still believable.
LibraryThing member annekiwi
Although this is a typical romance novel/romance mystery it was really well written. The relationship between hero and heroine happens way too quickly, especially given the fact that the heroine is getting a divorce when they meet. I also didn't like how compliant the heroine was when the hero
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began refurbishing her house. He just took over and she let him. But the humor and wit typical of Jennifer Cruisie was present and kept the book trundling along to its happy conclusion.
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LibraryThing member MsBeautiful
Fun, light, sexy read
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
The cover I have I don't know where in the story the artist got it from but nope, doesn't work for me, I wouldn' t have picked this one up from the cover, and I would have been so wrong.

I made the mistake of starting this one last night after finishing another book with the idea of reading a few
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pages. I read the whole way through in one sitting.

Lucy Savage has just been stood up in Divorce court by her husband Bradley, Tina, her sister, is treating her in a diner and afterwards she's acosted by a rough looking man, who turns out to be Zach and a cop. Unbeknownst to her he's rescuing her from being shot at, he's sure she's pivotal in the case he's investigating, she's willing to humour him.

The relationship builds from there. They both realise that they mean more to each other than just cop and victim.

I loved it, it was funny and sarky and entertaining and kept me well up after my bed-time.
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LibraryThing member superblondgirl
I LOVE Jennifer Crusie - her books are always so fun and light-hearted and funny. The quirky characters make her books something way more than your average romance novel.
LibraryThing member Stewartry
I can't say how happy I am that Jennie Crusie's books are as awesome as she seems to be on Popcorn Dialogues. Pop-D is purely the reason I started reading her, and reading one book of hers is purely the reason I'm reading more: they're terrific.

Getting Rid of Bradley, for example, is a hoot. It
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hits the ground running and never stops. This is pure fun – funny, sexy, good-hearted, quick and sweet – almost a comfort read. Yay.
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LibraryThing member men1967
Absolutely my favorite Jenny Crusie book ever. I highly recommend that everyone read this book!
LibraryThing member tennwisc
You have to really use you imagination with this book, a woman with a baseball bat bring down the bad guys. I'm glad it was a quick read so I didn't have to devote to much time to it.
LibraryThing member FerneMysteryReader
What a wonderful little treasure! Contemporary characters - Lucy Savage Porter and sister Tina, Lucy's neighbor Mrs. Porter, Detective Zachery Warren and partner and friend Detective Anthony Taylor, and then those Bradley boys. I'd be surprised to learn that anyone can read this book without
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laughing out loud or without reading some of the lines to share with a best friend. Humorous, flirty, sexy - a perfect beach book!
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LibraryThing member SofiaHarper
Recently re-read this book. OMG, it was just as wonderful as I remembered. The dialogue is just on point and it has that good emotional tug. I adored the hero. Adored him. As usual, I loved the heroine because that's why I read Crusie, for the heroine.

If you haven't read it, you should.
LibraryThing member pgchuis
On the day Lucy divorces her husband she is almost shot and is saved by a police officer called Zack, who moves in with her and her three dogs for her protection (and I think you can see where things will go from here!) This was very funny, particularly the dialogue between Zack and his partner,
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Anthony, and Mrs Dover and her evil cat Phoebe. The plot was mercifully simple and there were a pleasingly small number of characters to keep on top of. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member LisaMariaC
I'm not by and large a fan of romance books--but I am a fan of Jennifer Crusie, in particular of her book "Bet Me"--an all-time favorite I rated five stars. This just doesn't rise to that level--not close. It's more the kind of book which I doubt I'll remember a year from now, while years after
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reading "Bet Me" I still remember Minerva, Calvin, and the Chicken Marsala and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. That said, this hit the spot. I read this right after the ordeal of taking the New York Bar Exam and this was perfectly fluffy, light and sweet. And it reads quickly and is lively. Crusie has a great sense of humor, great wit and the banter between Zack and Lucy is a delight. I think the only thing that rubbed against me the wrong way was the, well, romanticization of hoarding animals. Having more than one or two dogs or cats? Not imo healthy for either the animals or owners. I know we're supposed to find it endearing and cute, but for me notsomuch. Lucy also tends to verge sometimes on TSTL, without quite going over. And as I said, this also just doesn't belong in the same league as Bet Me. But in the mood for a light romance? This might be just the ticket.
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LibraryThing member Kathy89
This was a fun book. Lucy after leaving divorce court goes to a dinner with her sister and there are two detectives having coffee there because they got an anonymous tip that the thief they were looking for was going to be there. They overhear Lucy and her sister talking about Bradley and think
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it's the man they're looking and decide to follow them. Zack follows Lucy and when outside someone shoots at her (she thinks it's a car backfire) and he grabs her arm, pulls her into the alley and leans up against her to protect her. She thinks he's assaulting and hits with her handbag, splits his lip and punches him and runs away right to a patrolman who she tells a man tried to assault me. He goes into the alley, tells her to wait but she gets impatient and leaves after leaving a note on his windshield with her name and address. That's how it all starts. Lots of bickering, misunderstandings,jealousy fun, laughs and they of course fall in love.
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LibraryThing member jetangen4571
humor, romance, suspense, mystery, relationships, dogs, law-enforcement

Another Crusie book guaranteed to have you snorting your caffeine! It's got a vintage house full of dogs named after physicists, more situational humor than a Mel Brooks movie, an embezzler,the bomb squad, and more. I first
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read it years ago and several times since, it never seems to lose its appeal!
This time I got the audio, and the narrator has the desired level of enthusiasm but the most annoying voice I've come across in a long time. I honestly would have preferred an AI.
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LibraryThing member AwesomeAud
I bought this 1994 paperback at a library book sale. I've read just about everything Crusie has written, and when I see one of her books at a good price, I often pick them up in order to release them into the wild, so others can read this hilarious author! Of course, I had to re-read it yet again
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before I could pass it on.

From Amazon:
Lucy Savage is not having a good week. Her cheating husband, Bradley, lobbed the final insult when he stood her up in divorce court. A dye job gone wrong has left her hair green. And someone is trying to kill her. To top it off, sexy cop Zack Warren is certain that the very same man Lucy is trying to wash right out of her hair is the same Bradley he wants to arrest for embezzlement.

When someone shoots at her and then her car blows up, Zack decides she needs twenty-four-hour police protection. Next thing Lucy knows, Zack has moved in to her big Victorian house, making them both sleepless - and not just from things that go bump in the night!
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Subjects

Awards

RITA Award (Finalist — 1995)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1995-02-10

Physical description

7.5 inches

ISBN

0373772211 / 9780373772216
Page: 0.3562 seconds