Girl Meets Ape

Book number 34 in the 100+ Reading Challenge.

Girl Meets Ape
By Chris Manby.

Outer back cover: When Dr Jennifer Niederhauser becomes head of the chimpanzee project at Prowdes Animal Sanctuary, the uptight young zoologist is looking forward to making her mark in the conservation world. But the ramshackle regime at Prowdes seems to defeat her. The chimpanzees are uncontrollable. And the keepers are wilder than the chimps.
When Jennifer first sets eyes on her deputy he is half-naked and covered in baby-oil. How can she take Guy Gibson seriously after that? Jennifer decides never to work with animals or the childish again - but she may not have a job for much longer anyway - Prowdes is in big financial trouble.
Salvation comes in the form of a documentary team who want to film the sanctuary's most recent arrival, Ulysses. Prowdes definitely needs the money and exposure. But does Jennifer need to be exposed to the show's smooth presenter, chimpanzee expert Dr Timothy Lauder? Who is also, unfortunately, her ex....

I really liked the story in this book. I enjoyed reading it, mostly, and I think it was fun to read what the animals got up to.

However, there were things about the book that annoyed me. Besides the stupid chick-lit girl that I occasionally  wanted to slap, there were also some ridiculous over-the-top, very unlikely, "scenes" and reactions, which could have been made much better by the author not taking "the easy way out".

But as a whole I enjoyed reading the book, and I rather liked how the character Guy Gibson was written, personality-wise.