“Crazy Little Thing” by Tracy Brogan – You Get What you don’t Want

In Crazy Little Thing by Tracy Brogan we are introduced to Sadie Turner, who cannot live her life unless everything is in perfect order, and as you can guess, it’s far from it, especially since her now-ex-husband cheated on her. 

In order to recuperate she decides to spend a summer vacation at her aunt’s lake house, in hopes of finding some peace, tranquility, and put her life back in order. During this time, she has vowed to stay away from all men, without a single exception. However, when she arrives to her aunt’s, things become everything but peaceful and quiet.

There is an eccentric decorator who wants to give Sadie a makeover, she has to live with two mischievous dogs and her two cousins, not to mention that her aunt, Dody, tries to set her up with her new, drop-dead gorgeous neighbour, Desmond, who seems to be the perfect man.

While the premise of this story may sound like that of a light comedy, the book goes beyond that. Much of it is dedicated to Sadie’s internal battles, about how she constantly gets what she doesn’t want. She looked to stay away from all men, and yet her neighbour is a flawless and perfect man, at least to the best of everyone’s knowledge. 

She becomes torn between her desires and principles, even starting to reconsider her whole approach to her life and how much she really knows about herself. While some of the characters did get on my nerves a couple of times, I have to say that on the whole the cast was quite entertaining, especially in the way they interacted with Sadie and the plans they had for her. 

Perhaps the main theme that arises in this book, at least in my opinion, is that of order against chaos, and how one leads to the other. All Sadie is trying to do is relax and restore order to her life by taking baby steps. However, once she gets to her vacation house she becomes surrounded by nothing but chaos, and slowly she comes to accept that, and even starting to wonder whether or not this is the chaos she needs in order to help her achieve true order and inner peace. 

In any case, my short and simplistic look at this novel’s themes doesn’t do it any justice, and I highly recommend that you check it out for yourself if you’re a fan of light-hearted and meaningful stories.

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Tracy Brogan Personal site Regardless of what time of Tracy Brogan’s life we would examine, there would be one remaining constant: her adoration of love and romance novels. By becoming a writer she gained the ability to create that which she loved the most in this world, giving us some impressive pieces of writing such as Crazy Little Thing and Highland Surrender.