Being Committed » (Reprint)

Anna Maxted is a freelance writer and the author of the smash international bestsellers Getting Over It, Running in Heels, and Behaving Like Adults. She lives in London with her husband, author Phil Robinson, and their son.

A hopeless unromantic gets a crash course in love in the fourth hilarious novel from bestselling author Anna Maxted

After her disaster of a marriage ends when she is just twenty, Hannah is convinced you have to be out of your mind (or desperate) to tie the knot. And life without a husband at thirty-one is just fine, thank you very much. She has a steady job working as a private investigator (albeit a mediocre one); a devoted boyfriend of five years, Jason; and a wonderful relationship with her dad (it's a shame her mother is such a lost cause). Then, on a romantic weekend retreat to a faux-ancient castle, Jason proposes marriage, leaving Hannah with no choice but the obvious: to turn him down cold.

Much to her horror, four weeks later, Jason becomes engaged to his next-door neighbor, a fine baker and "proficient seamstress." Has Hannah blown her last chance at a solid relationship as her family claims? Jason agrees to give her another chance — but only if she meets his terms, among them a promise to dust off the many skeletons in her closet.

Brimming with her characteristic blend of humor and heartache, Anna Maxted's Being Committed is a perceptive look at intimacy (and its substitutes), commitment phobia, and the power others have over us.

Publishers Weekly

Sometimes it isn't snaring a man that's the problem but keeping him. In this deliciously snarky fourth novel, bestselling Maxted (Getting Over It; Running in Heels; etc.) introduces readers to Hannah Lovekin, a 30-year-old London private investigator with commitment issues and a breezy lack of sensitivity and feminine graces. At the start of the novel, Jason, Hannah's adorable boyfriend of five years-he's "enthusiastic, without cynicism, like a new puppy," the polar opposite of Hannah-pops the question and Hannah turns him down, only to realize that she wants him after all. Jason agrees to give Hannah another chance if she promises to resolve her intimacy issues, visit a therapist and make amends with Jack, her ex-husband, who's now a successful theater agent. Reluctantly embarking on the path to enlightenment ("I've been married before. When I was twenty. For five months. I'm a raddled old divorcee consumed with bitterness and regret. Is that relevant?"), Hannah is forced to realize why her marriage with Jack crumbled, as well as face the family secrets she shelved away as a little girl. Maxted tosses barbs like a champion darts player, and she paints a scathingly hilarious picture of her misguided but appealingly frank heroine. Witty, sarcastic, self-deprecating and clever, this is platinum-class chick lit. Agent, Deborah Schneider at Gelfman Schneider . (Aug.) Forecast: Maxted doesn't need an early summer release date to get books moving-expect this to hit bestseller lists as well as beach towels. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.