Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl

In this winning romp, bestsellers Murphy and Simone (A Merry Little Meet Cute) perfectly balance heat and sweet. Recent law school grad Maddie Kowalczk has just been dumped by her politician boyfriend when she leaves Los Angeles for Kansas’s Astra University, where she’ll be a political science lecturer and nanny on the side. Having been a “good girl” all her life, Maddie decides, on her first night in town, to try on being bad, leading her to a red-hot hookup in a local bar. The next day, however, she’s shocked when she shows up to the childcare gig that the university arranged for her and finds the client, a single father, is her one-night stand, Astra ecology professor Bram Loe. He needs help with his first-grade twins and teenage daughter, but will he and Maddie be able to keep things professional? Bram is usually “the guy for whom the term unruffled was invented,” but Maddie gets under his skin like no one else, which leads to some scorchingly erotic, lightly kinky sex scenes. It’s easy to fall for the endearing leads, and the supporting cast is just as charming, especially Bram’s friend “Joey Fucking Kemp,” who provides humorous footnotes snarkily commenting on Bram’s love life throughout the novel. Raunchy, funny, and ultimately heartfelt, this is rom-com gold. (Jan.)