Driving Miss Crazy by D.J. Van Oss {Review}

Driving Miss Crazy by D.J. Van Oss

ebook

Published December 22nd 2016 by Smashwords Edition

She wants to go places. He's got the car. If only things were that simple.

Widowed father Adrian Adams isn’t looking to change his life. He just wants to keep his seven-year-old daughter Charlie safe and happy. The last thing he expects is to suddenly lose his job as a driver for the Washington DC diplomatic community. Luckily, he’s offered a new embassy driving assignment, one that starts with a tea cup-and-tie collision with a clumsy, cute, and oddly charming Irish woman with a penchant for talking to squirrels.

Maggie MacNally always seems to fall short, especially when it comes to her family’s expectations. She’s bracing again for disappointment as she tries to forge a new life in DC. Then an out-of-the-blue summons from her influential grandmother offers her one last chance at success—a chance that puts her in Adrian’s back seat and on the road to a career in the family business of international diplomacy.

Is Maggie finally headed where she wants to go, or is her big opportunity just another wrong turn? Is Adrian ready to take a second chance at love, or is he determined to put on the brakes before Maggie drives him crazy? And what's with all the squirrels?    

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

My Review: 3.5 Stars

Based on the title, I was expecting something similar to "Driving Miss Daisy" and I got something that was similar in some ways and different in others. Maggie is Irish and working in Washington DC. She needs rides all over the city and Adrian is the lucky one who gets to drive her around. Adrian is a widower and an extremely overprotective father to seven year old, Charlie. Recently out of a job, he's grateful to have this new opportunity.

This is a decent debut novel but a few things fell a little short for me. The pieces are all there for a great story, but I wanted to feel an emotional connection to the characters. I wanted more than a superficial friendship with them. I know that sometimes people get really down on their luck and everything in the world seems to go wrong at once, but it was almost too comical with how many physical setbacks get in the way in this book. I guess I wanted to have some inner, emotional turmoil as well (there's that word again).

With that said, I did enjoy the gradual progression of Maggie's and Adrian's relationship. They come across as perfectly imperfect, which makes them realistic. That's why I wanted a deeper connection--I felt like they had the potential to be easy to relate to. I also liked the progression of the story, especially as opportunities present themselves and the fun humor. I love a clean, funny, fresh story with a feel-good romance and this one delivers in that aspect.

Content: mild romance

*I received a complimentary copy from the author, which didn't affect my opinion in any way.*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Buy Links:

  

About the Author:

Dan Van Oss (danvanoss.com) grew up reading just about everything he could borrow from the town library, although admittedly sometimes just to get the sticker segments to paste onto the Reading Centipede for each book he finished. Raised on a diet of Dave Barry columns, Douglas Adams radio serials and M*A*S*H reruns, Dan’s writing balances the line between laugh-out-loud hilarious and cleverly absurd.

“Humor is hard to do and Dan does it extremely well.”
“I am a fan of the late, great Douglas Adams, and in my opinion, Dan is the closest America has to him.”
“Van Oss's style reminds me somewhat of Douglas Adams. Very witty phrases full of Pythonesque non-sequitors.”
“Dan's style is like The Best of Dave Barry meets The Best of Dennis Miller.”

Dan’s had pieces published on humorwriters.org, won 2nd place in the Mona Schreiber Prize for Humorous Fiction and Nonfiction, was a semi-finalist in the humorpress.com writing contest, and was mentioned honorably in the Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition for Humor. He started writing during college, where he enjoyed getting red lines mercilessly drawn through his Creative Writing projects by his professor, and where he also penned a weekly column in the school paper under the pseudonym “Fletcher Ford”. You can catch his weekly humor column, the “Dubious Knowledge Institute,” at dubiousknowledge.institute.

Click the “Follow” button above and get updates on new books and audiobooks Dan is releasing.

Want more? Visit danvanoss.com for exclusive books and his latest columns.