MarkAlan

This is the best pure romance that I've read in a long, long time. Wonderful characters, a believable plot, and the ups-and-downs of relationships portrayed for once without the irritating Dr. Phil-style psychologising that infects so many modern American romances. The author is from New Zealand, and that's where the book's events take place, which is so refreshing. Too often non-American authors place the plots in the US, and it gets a bit monotonous. It's nice to read about places that aren't Montana or Wyoming or New York or Seattle. 

Here's the blurb:

Is Rachel Robinson the only one on campus who doesn't know who Devin Freedman is? No big deal except that the bad-boy rock star gets a kick out of Rachel's refusal to worship at his feet. And that seems to have provoked his undivided attention. Devin, the guy who gave new meaning to the phrase "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll." Devin, the guy who somehow becomes wedged between her and the past she's kept hidden for years.

It's up to this librarian to find out firsthand just how "bad" he really is. Because her secret—and her growing feelings for a man who claims he's bent on redemption—depend on his turning out to be as good as he seems. Which is really, really good.

What's not mentioned in the blurb is that the book is also about parents who should never be parents, religious fundamentalism, domestic violence where the wife constantly refuses to admit that her husband is an abuser, a mother who was forced to give her child up for adoption, what happens when they find each other, a son who needs to confront the fact that his mother has a lover at 65. And, of course, that love conquers all :)

And there is a very, very funny bedroom scene.

Highly recommended.