Bad Heir Day » (Bargain)

"An aspiring novelist who's never going to be model-thin (the only men who stop her on the street are tourists asking directions), Anna is realistic about her romantic prospects. Most of the time. She should have seen it coming when Sebastian, her filthy-rich, drop-dead gorgeous boyfriend, asks her to move out, along with the only thing he ever gave her: an old beaver coat that's started to molt." "Anna may have her pride, but she also has to eat. That's when she takes a job as a nanny to eight-year-old Zak in the palatial Kensingtom home of the Knights. Armed with a Hoover in one hand and Harry Potter in the other, Anna soon realizes that she's living with the family from hell. Cassandra, Zak's mother, is a tantrum-throwing romance novelist with a bad case of writer's block. Cassandra's husband, Jett, a onetime rock star who hasn't released anything (except his zipper) in years, is always lurking in dark, drafty hallways. As for little Zak, Anna's convinced he's a spawn of Satan. What's a woman to do? Why, meet a man, of course. His name is Jamie, and he's the dashing heir to a castle in Scotland. Anna can't believe her luck - he's got to be too good to be true. And she just may be right."--BOOK JACKET.

Publishers Weekly

One shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but the title of this superficial second novel by Holden (Simply Divine) suggests all one needs to know about what lies within. Awkward puns, shallow characters and predictable plot lines do little to prolong, much less provoke, interest. Struggling writer Anna Farrier knows that her handsome London live-in boyfriend, Sebastian Lavenham, is a womanizer, but his promiscuity becomes inescapably obvious when she realizes he has slept with most of the female guests at a wedding reception at Dampie Castle on the Island of Skul off Scotland. Anna makes a friend herself at the wedding, though, and gutsy Geri gives Anna some much-needed career advice. Thinking she is to be a writer's assistant to bestselling romance novelist Cassandra Knight, Anna leaves Sebastian and moves into the Knights' exclusive Kensington home. In actuality, the job requires playing nanny to alternately spoiled and neglected eight-year-old Zachary, whom Cassandra believes can do no wrong. When she isn't deluding herself about her supposedly gifted son or drinking excessively to drown the pain of writer's block, Cassandra engages in screaming matches with her aging rock star husband, Jett St. Edmunds. He is in the habit of shagging the nannies and practicing with his band Solstice, which he insists will prove popular again. Anna must humor Cassandra, control Zachary and avoid Jett if she is to survive this especially dysfunctional household and escape with one of the Scottish suitors she finally attracts. Flat rather than frothy, this soap opera-ish confection never quite takes off, and what should have been a guilty pleasure devolves into forgettable farce. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.