Anyone who knows me knows I am not a haute couture kind of girl. There are no designer clothes in my closet. I don’t carry designer bags or wear designer shoes. On any given day, you will find me in yoga pants and a T-shirt. I haven’t worn makeup on a daily basis since before 2005, and I don’t remember the last time I used a blow dryer or curling iron on my hair…which is usually in a pony tail. Pretty low-maintenance.

My husband Dennis, on the other hand? Definitely high-maintenance. He owned more shoes than I did, was more concerned with clothes, and always dyed his hair before we went on vacation because he didn’t like how the gray looked in photos. I also used to call him a brand snob—Samsung televisions, Panasonic phones, Craftsman tools, Dooney & Bourke bags, sheets and towels always had to come from Macy’s.

It wasn’t just the brands for Dennis though. For the most part, we couldn’t afford designer, and honestly, I really don’t care about designer. He shopped the Ugg sales when I needed a pair of winter boots. He bought three Dooney & Bourke bags for me over the years when he found good deals. When my birthday rolled around, he waited for the sales to find the best discounts on gold jewelry. And for Christmas, he would buy perfume from Valerie at Macy’s Estee Lauder counter to get the makeup gift set deal. Even though we couldn’t always afford designer, Dennis wanted to have designer.

The year I told him I needed new pots and pans, he researched, looking for the “best” brand. I was thinking a set of five with matching lids—two sizes of skillets, two pots, maybe a saucepan. Dennis found Circulon, and I got my two sizes of skillets, two pots, and a saucepan. But he also bought one-burner and two-burner griddles, one-burner and two-burner stovetop grill pans, and a square frying pan. He never did anything small.

After Dennis passed, I sold two of the Dooney & Bourke bags and gave the Disney Cruise one to my neighbor. I never used them, and she is a huge Disney fan. When I told her it was from Dennis, she asked if I was sure. I had never used it…not once. I think Dennis would have been happy that I gave it to someone who would love it. I still have the Circulon set. I replaced one of the skillets, but the set itself has been put to very good use and is still in great shape.

Dennis knew how to find a deal, but he also knew how to find quality. I still don’t care about the name on the label, but I definitely learned from Dennis that there are some things it’s ok not to skimp on.

And for the record, I still order sheets and towels from Macy’s. 😉

---

Book Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐½
4.5 Stars for If the Dress Fits by Liz Talley

330 pages
Publisher: ARTalley Books
Publication Date: October 15, 2022
Purchased on Amazon

Publisher’s Description

Cricket Crosby is back…and she’s licensed to snoop! Fresh off divorce and a private investigator’s course, Cricket’s ready to balance running her antiques store with proving her PI chops…if someone will take a chance on her. When a local PI catches a case involving the theft of luxury goods, he hires the former debutante to go undercover to trap a thief. But snooping during PTA meetings and cotillion parties is harder than it looks, especially when Cricket’s missteps cause a hunky police detective to cast suspicion on her new bestie, Ruby Balthazar.

As a former Long Pines Correctional inmate, Ruby has a lot to lose. She’s a finalist in a local fashion competition and receives an invitation to New York City Fashion Week. Suddenly, she’s parading around town with opportunity knocking faster than a fashion designer can answer. When Ruby is arrested and made the prime suspect in the theft case, everything she’s dreamed of begins to unravel. How can Ruby create a new future if her past keeps dragging her backward?

The only solution is to catch the real thief, but that may prove more dangerous than either Cricket or Ruby imagined. Toss in an incontinent cat, a dognapping, and a hot tow truck driver, and you have a humorous tale that will keep you in stitches!

************

Main Characters:

• Cricket Crosby – full name Catherine Ann Crosby, 42 years old, freshly divorced from her Ponzi scheming criminal husband Scott, mother to recently turned 14-year-old Julia Kate, owner of antique store Printemps that she inherited from her grandmother
• Ruby Balthazar – 28-year-old assistant at Printemps, up and coming designer, did a two-year stint at a women’s correctional facility
• Juke Jefferson – Ruby’s cousin, former police officer, works as a private investigator
• Griffin Moon – Ruby’s cousin, owns Blue Moon Towing Company

Cricket Crosby and Ruby Balthazar…take two! This book begins about six months after Deconstructed ends, and even though the characters continue into this book, both are strong stand-alone novels.

When we start out, Cricket’s divorce is about to be finalized. Ruby has the attention of Cricket’s aunt, the creative director for Vogue, because of her ability to take apart vintage designer clothes and create her own line of haute couture. Cricket is nearly finished taking a private investigator course, and she has her heart set on working with Juke part-time. Cricket’s downfall, however, is that she believes in her investigative abilities a little too much.

The description details Cricket’s and Ruby’s antics pretty well, so no need to rehash them here. I still love their friendship and the way they play off of each other. Cricket’s overconfidence gets her and a number of her friends into some tough spots, and Ruby’s arrest history makes her a target. Throw in a budding romance for Cricket and rekindling an old flame for Ruby, and there’s a lot to enjoy here.

Both characters continued to develop in this story. Cricket no longer takes a back seat to any man in her life, and Ruby makes a name for herself and even mentors a friend from the correctional facility the way Cricket mentored her. I wish there had been more of them together throughout the book because their interactions are hilarious, but I understand why the author had to write them the way she did.

Again, some of my favorite parts of the book are the way Cricket and Ruby speak, both out loud and to us as readers:

• Lots of people had hobbies. They took ballroom dancing, tae kwon do, painting lessons, or charcuterie board classes (yes, that’s a thing now), so what was so wrong with exploring my natural gift? And it was a gift.
• At my core I was an introvert, and from what I had seen on TV shows and movies, Manhattan was like a drunken uncle at the karaoke mic.
• Wasn’t my circus, wasn’t my monkeys. So why did I always have to juggle their bananas?

The only reasons I knocked this down half a star are that I love Cricket and Ruby interacting together, and their story lines in this had them apart a lot. And it was a little too preachy. That said, I hope the author will consider writing a lot more of the Cricket Crosby Capers because I would enjoy reading more stories about Cricket getting herself and Ruby into comical and compromising situations.

---

If you enjoyed this post, please comment below. Subscribe for regular updates, and share it with your friends. If you’re interested in starting a conversation, send an email to booksundertheblanket@gmail.com.

^{As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using the links on my site.}