REVIEW: You Drive Me Crazy by Anna Premoli
What girl doesn’t dream of an amazing promotion working on the other side of the world?
This once in a lifetime opportunity is presented to 28 year old investment banker, Maddison Johnson and instantly fills her with abject fear.
It isn’t the New York transfer she had set her heart on… she’s going to South Korea instead.
To make things worse, her boss Mark Kim doesn’t go out of his way to make it easy for her to adapt to her new environment.
Plunged into a world she knows nothing about with a man she can’t stand, Maddison finds herself forced to adapt and grow up quickly. Maybe in the process she will stumble over something wonderful and quite unexpected…
Dear Ms. Pemoli,
I start off the book wondering just who is driving whom crazy. To be perfectly honest, Maddison does not make a good first impression either on me or – no surprise – her new boss Mark Kim. One thing though, she is refreshingly honest about her lack of ambition or drive and how there are times when she’d cheerfully chuck her investment banking job if a rich man came along. Her feminist mother – the one who’s never worked a day in her life and married young – might be horrified but Maddy’s all about shopping and if she has to work, doing it in a glamorous city with fab food. I keep reading thinking Maddy has to eventually show me her good side.
Americans are supposed to be so shite at geography but “Asia” is the only thing that comes to mind when Maddy learns she’ll be working in Seoul for a year. She’s not wild about moving there and doesn’t hesitate to let her boss know that. However, I will give her points for being willing to venture out into a city she doesn’t know with a language she doesn’t speak/read/write. The stuff about Korea is interesting but comes across more as a tourist app. Still the effort was made for us to see more than the inside of Maddy’s apartment or the office.
So what about the romance? Maddy’s got the whole snark vibe thing going. Some is justified but she unloads a lot of negativity on her boss, at work which just isn’t done anywhere much less Korea. Meanwhile I can’t get a reading on Mark. Granted with everything seen from Maddy’s POV, it’s subject to her interpretation anyway but he’s all over the place. Is he angry or frustrated, amused or horrified – I can’t tell as he seems to swing back and forth from one breath to the next. I understand his thoughts and feelings are probably supposed to be heading for some emotional reveal to Maddy but I’m clueless and not in a happy way.
Eventually these two get into a relationship but it’s not one I ever would wish to be in as it seems to make both feel miserable. One of their co-workers has to tell them they’re in love with each other and that it’s not something she ever wants to see again. Say it again Seung Hee. Mark and Maddy in a relationship is like two snapping, scratching, growling, yowling animals in a sack. If this is love, save me from it. By the time they finally yield to “love,” I’m more than ready to leave them to it and run for the door. D
~Jayne
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Sounds like Seung Hee would have made a more interesting heroine.
@Mercy: You’re right. One of the reasons Maddy is sent from London to Seoul is to improve gender relations in that office. Seung Hee – from what little we’re shown – greatly benefits and blossoms from this. I would love to have spent more time with her.