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I was disinterested in this book based on the summary (uptight banker meets "bad girl"), but it got enough glowing reviews and then turned up on a list of feminist romance novels, so I had to read it. I'm glad I did!

The summary doesn't do justice to the complexity of these characters. Cath is not a "reformed bad girl;" she's actually someone with a very troubled past. Nev is an artist working at his family's bank, trying to sort out what he wants to do/be in life. What is particularly delightful is that Nev is confident and clear-headed, seeing early that Cath has intimacy issues. He decides to just play by her rules, pursue her unabashedly, and wait for the relationship to deepen. How refreshing that he doesn't get caught up in her angst and drama!

The challenge of this couple's story is that the only thing keeping them apart is Cath's personal issues, her feeling that she's not good enough for him (oh THIS cliche! yawn), etc. It's fairly well done, given her past. What really doesn't work is Nev's confidence that because the sex is so good, their relationship must be pretty special. Yeah. That's not advice I'd give to a friend.

But if there weren't something keeping this couple together and then apart, there wouldn't be a book to read. This kind of tension is harder to pull off in contemporaries than historicals, and with some small suspension of disbelief, this was a really good book. I was tempted to give it 5 stars, but I really do reserve that for perfection.