Sense And Celebrity

Alice Croft has a PhD, a university post, a heavily mortgaged Oxford townhouse and her young brother Daniel, whom she has brought up since he was a day old. When Daniel wins SuperStar, the national televised talent competition, it brings Stephen Rowan, SuperStar judge and number one entertainment agent, oiling into their lives. Botoxed and bronzed, he is everything that Alice despises. Quiet, highly intelligent and a size twelve, Alice has nothing to interest Stephen. A month later: He's seen her in the shower and she's seen his size zero girlfriend. He's passed out in front of her and she's covered him in SPF 30+. He's taken her to Sydney on holiday and she's given him a public bath in The Ivy. Could this be love? Or is he making good on his statement that the best woman to chase is one who thinks she's too smart to be caught? Neither of them expected anything like this, but just as Stephen isn't the vapid celebrity his image suggests, Alice isn't a snooty intellectual either. Perhaps this mismatch might just work? But when Stephen starts manipulating Daniel's love life-for the good of the boy's career, of course-Alice issues an ultimatum. Unfortunately, Stephen spends every day controlling other people, and the habits of a lifetime are hard to break. Being at the top only means it's a very long way to fall.