Love Letters

Hardworking author Fforde's (Wedding Season) latest delivers a cute but meandering story with a Nora Ephron feel. A chance meeting gives quiet bookshop clerk Laura Horsley a chance to organize a literary festival. Though Laura is initially unsure of herself, she gains the support of a potential sponsor, on the condition she fly to Ireland to find and bring back reclusive author, Dermot Flynn. Contrary to her expectations, handsome Dermot agrees—on the shocking condition that she sleep with him. Laura, a virgin, acquiesces, only to fall asleep before the deed is done. After Laura returns to England, circumstances bring Laura and Dermot together to teach a writing course, and Laura finally fulfills her earlier agreement. But when an encounter with a rival for Dermot's affections leaves Laura feeling like nothing more than a one night stand, she becomes determined to avoid Dermot. In the old-fashioned tradition of the great misunderstanding, Linda and Dermot's quarrels are eventually resolved. The focus on the heroine's personal growth and the closed door sex scenes lends this novel a comfortable if predictable retro Cinderella chick lit sensibility. (Jan.)