Harriet Weatherspoon is living a quiet life as a high school english teacher in small town New South Wales in Australia. She's got a passion for books and is even writing a play, mostly autobiographical telling of how her fiancé was stolen by her sister and she remains a virgin, etc. - so she's excited when her mother informs her that Brad Barrington the popular author is coming for dinner. Brad has just moved into the area and what's more actually intends to take up residence, unlike the other celebrities who just buy property in the area (Harriet's father is in real estate). Harriet's mother wants Harriet to try to land Brad as a husband and wear a dress for dinner, but Harriet, having low self esteem from growing up in her younger sister's shadow, knows Brad won't look twice at her.
Only he does, and once he's read her play he proposes to relieve her of the problem of her virginity, but he lays down the rules of no love, no lasting attachment, etc., etc., first. Making love vastly improves Harriet's perception of herself and attitude to the world, and she and Brad are bonding over the orphaned kittens they've found, but can their relationship survive all those rules...AND her sister's return?
This book is of the classic small town HP type, which is one of my favorites, as is Miranda Lee, and so it's good that this was a good book for me! Harriet's sister's return is handled well, and although Harriet does gain a better understanding of her sister, the author doesn't hesitate to ship her back off to America. In terms of Brad, he seems like a good guy - his relationship rules were definitely limited to one phase of this life, unlike some playboys who magically reform when they become book heros. My only complaint is really about the extra emphasis on the revesibility of vasectomies rather than any consideration of alternative methods of building a family, such as adoption, but I'm sure others who are more bio baby crazy than me will not be bothered in the least by it (and it is standard romance fare - is no one else incensed when a secondary character in a book is disparaged as not being willing to adopt and the the h/h who was critical goes off and has bio babies of their own?!).
ETA: I really appreciate how the characters in this book appreciate how unrealistic the heroine's backstory is, with Brad commenting on her play that it doesn't make sense that the heroine would be still a virgin, etc. - really makes it a bit more fun!
