What to Do About Annie?

Rating:
Summary: A must read: What to do About Annie!
Review: 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.  

Rating:
Summary: A must read: What to do About Annie!
Review: 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.  

Rating:
Summary: Fun and different.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: "What to Do About Annie?"
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Annie sparkles with fun and laughter.
Review: Millie Criswell picks up right where she left off in THE TROUBLE WITH MARY! as she pens another wonderful story to keep readers smiling on just about every page of WHAT TO DO ABOUT ANNIE? I believe Ms. Criswell found her niche as she writes romantic comedy like she was a natural for the genre. Her second contemporary sparkles with fun and laughter in her one-liners and Italian and Jewish characters. The story picks up at the wedding of Mary and Dan from her earlier novel, and once more we are treated to the antics of the Goldman and Russo families. But … the main story centers on "Father-What-A-Hunk" - also known as Joe Russo, and Mary's best friend - the crazy, outlandish sexual goddess, Annie Goldman.

Joe learned his mind isn't always on things of the church, especially when he's around Annie, who stirs more than past memories, and he's made the decision to leave the priesthood -- something his Mother isn't going to understand at all! He's going after Annie and try to make up for leaving her in a troubled situation when they were little more than teenagers. But, Annie isn't having any of it. She's still angry with Joe and isn't going to give an inch. She wants him to suffer as she has for the last hundred years. She doesn't want to forgive and forget - even if he does make her wild with wanting. Joe isn't going to give up or stop hoping to one day marry her. He accepts a job as counselor for troubled teens at the center right next door to Goldman's Department Store where Annie and her father work as partners, and it's inevitable the sparks are going to fly - live, hot ones! Annie is a unique, non-conformist, a wild and crazy woman, a walking sex bomb who sends Joe into cold showers on a regular basis. After all - he's been a priest for fifteen years and he hungers for Annie like a starving man hungers for a meal.

Millie Criswell brought the Goldmans and Russos to life in THE TROUBLE WITH MARY! and while WHAT TO DO ABOUT ANNIE? stands alone as another great read, her characters have now become almost like family. I don't know if we'll hear more about them or not, but I would be first in line to pick up the book that did continue with more tales of these characters. Pick up a copy of WHAT TO DO ABOUT ANNIE? as soon as it hits the shelves. You'll laugh often and love the ending. It's a real winner!

Carol Carter, Reviewer As written for Romance Reviews Today [...]

Rating:
Summary: Corrected Review
Review: My apologies to the author for the errors made in the review submitted previously. This review corrects those errors.

By the time I'd gotten about 100 pages into this book, I knew it was not going to be a lighthearted continuation of the story of Mary and Dan [THE TROUBLE WITH MARY]. Instead, I was finding WHAT TO DO ABOUT ANNIE to be a poignant story that caused my heart to ache for the younger Joe & Annie, unable to share their pain that lived within them for 15 years with any of their family or friends.

Joe Russo, a former priest, had entered the priesthood 15 years prior, in a misguided attempt to 'atone' for his sins. Over the course of the years, he discovered that in order to atone, he had to seek the forgiveness of the woman he never stopped loving but from whom he ran when the going got tough. Annie Goldman loved Joe with all her soul and hasn't gotten over the devastating effect of his defection. She wants to hate him, but she just can't.

Having a former priest as hero smacks of reality; of how most of us have good intentions but in our desire to 'do the right thing' and correct our mistake, we make another mistake. Some men enter priesthood for the 'wrong' reasons. At least Joe realized this, although it took him 15 years to reach that point. In my opinion, Annie's anger was well-founded; she had ever reason to still be livid with him. How they work out their problems and re-discover each other and the love that never went away results in a engrossing story that you won't be able to put down.

Now---the families . . . Annie's mother, Gina, suffers from nothing more than hypochondria brought on by extreme loneliness. But Joe's mother, Sophia! I kept hoping for a major maternal epiphany for Sophia, but it was not to be. I detected not one redeeming quality in her. This, however, only reinforced my sympathy for Joe and Annie. I was glad to see Joe and his father, Frank, speak up to Sophia and to do so forcibly. Just too bad it took so long to get to that point.

All that said, this is another 'two-thumbs up book' from this author. Not as light-hearted as THE TROUBLE WITH MARY, WHAT TO DO ABOUT ANNIE is just as satisfying a story that will tug on your heartstrings and leave you with a warm feeling at the end. But I would like to know just *what* Annie's wedding dress was made of!

My only quibble is with the cartoon-y covers. I suppose they're here to stay for a while, but I wish the publishers would at least get the basics right. I don't believe Annie had long hair until the very end (with extensions) and there was no cat that I remember, but there was a dog.

At the end of the book, there's a sneak peek at THE TRIALS OF ANGELA, coming next year. I was pleased to see the story features my favorite character, Joe's Grandma Flora. Tough and outspoken, she takes great delight in putting Sophia firmly in her place.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: There's something about Mary was mildly entertaining. In this book, Millie Criswell took a very iffy plot and dragged it out through far too many pages. I should have just put it down, but instead I kept reading, skipping over pages of trite dialogue and bad story line. The whole premise of the novel was barely believable - nice Catholic boy impregnates half-Jewish girlfriend, girl loses baby, boy joins the priesthood to atone for the sin of getting her pregnant in the first place . . . and because his mother told him too. Doesn't make for a very charming or believable hero. The whole book revolves around Annie's rightful distrust of this former priest. Does she love him, doesn't she love him . . . It gets very old, vary fast. The best part of the book, and the only part worth reading is the opening scene at Mary's wedding. Mellie should have just incorporated into the other book and left it at that.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth your time!
Review: There's something about Mary was mildly entertaining. In this book, Millie Criswell took a very iffy plot and dragged it out through far too many pages. I should have just put it down, but instead I kept reading, skipping over pages of trite dialogue and bad story line. The whole premise of the novel was barely believable - nice Catholic boy impregnates half-Jewish girlfriend, girl loses baby, boy joins the priesthood to atone for the sin of getting her pregnant in the first place . . . and because his mother told him too. Doesn't make for a very charming or believable hero. The whole book revolves around Annie's rightful distrust of this former priest. Does she love him, doesn't she love him . . . It gets very old, vary fast. The best part of the book, and the only part worth reading is the opening scene at Mary's wedding. Mellie should have just incorporated into the other book and left it at that.

Rating:
Summary: Oy Vey!
Review: This book tries to hard. It tries to be funny and hip and ends up being over the top and sad. Sort of like an old lounge singer.

Joe leaving the preisthood because he wanted to have... Annie just didn't work for me. And the part where he bought black satin sheets was just plain icky.

Rating:
Summary: Oy Vey!
Review: This book tries to hard. It tries to be funny and hip and ends up being over the top and sad. Sort of like an old lounge singer.

Joe leaving the preisthood because he wanted to have... Annie just didn't work for me. And the part where he bought black satin sheets was just plain icky.