Nutcase (Crazy #2) – Charlotte Hughes

Psychologist Kate Holly is about to get evicted from her office, and her best option may be to share space with her jacuzzi-loving ex-boyfriend, Dr. Thad Glazer. That?s not going to help her patch things up with her firefighter ex-husband. With her oddball patients, meddling mother, and eccentric secretary thrown into the mix?not to mention a spree of suspicious fires?will Kate put her life back together or wind up in a padded cell?

Another cute, quick read from Charlotte Hughes, staying right on par with WHAT LOOKS LIKE CRAZY. This is just what I needed to bring me out of the reading slump I’d been in for the past week or so! Dr. Kate Holly is a really fun character for me to read about. She deals with so many crazy patients and sometimes she wonders how qualified she is to be working with them since her family is so crazy – erm, eccentric – and her life is so hectic as well.

I think I enjoyed the first book just a bit more. It seemed to have a bit more humor whereas NUTCASE actually took on a bit more of a serious tone, in my opinon. That being said, I really liked where the serious notes carried us: A few of the featured patients that Kate is treating are facing really serious issues that may sound grandiose and although they’re exaggerated for the novel and cases usually aren’t that extreme, they are still real conditions that I’m sure a lot of people don’t even realize are prevalent in quite a few people. I like that even though Kate has a lot of wacky cases, this book dealt with some more serious ones like bipolar disorder, gender identity disorder, and dissociative identity disorder (which is not the same thing as schizophrenia!). I love reading these books because it brings me back to all of those psychology classes I took in college (I almost had a minor in Psych but it wasn’t worth staying another year to take the statistics classes I needed to fulfill the minor — Plus, I hated math) and I feel like I can actually understand what’s going on! I’ve always found it really interesting, so it’s really great to read about this kind of stuff.

I think Kate’s relationships with the other characters turned more serious as well. She and Jay Rush (I just love his full name. Something sexy about it for some reason…) are still on the rocks and it’s only getting rockier. I’m really hoping they’ll work things out in future books! I’m rooting for them!

Kate Holly: Kate just can’t stay away from the extreme cases! Although I am glad to see her help them out and take them under her wing. I love how we can see how much she cares about her patients, and although I’m not totally convinced she has OCD (I’m not sure how extreme a case has to be in order to be diagnosed), she definitely has a few neuroses that put an extra twist in everyday life. She’s definitely a lot of fun to read about!
Jay Rush: Mmmm, Jay Rush. I just like his name! Both he and Kate are a little bit stubborn and/or headstrong so their marriage (well, they’re already divorced, but still) is still pretty rocky. I’m hoping they’ll figure this thing about because he clearly still loves Kate too!
Arnie: I loved Arnie’s character development in this book! And go, Arnie for being true to himself and standing up to his father! I thought it was great how he actually became a really big part of the character ensemble we have here and I hope to see a lot more of him in these books!

Read it!

These books are a lot of fun! Quick, easy, and definitely remind me of Janet Evanovich. I hope to continue the series!

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