The Love Contract is a fantastic debut that delivers what I think to be a unique and refreshing take on the rom-com genre. 

📖 Zoe is desperate to have a baby, and when her long-term relationship ends, she decides to have a baby on her own. Easy breezy. Only Zoe soon finds that securing baby Hazle a spot in childcare is like waiting for rain in a drought, useless and disappointing (points if you can tell me the movie that line is from?). Enter the Dick Next Door, aka Will Flemming. Workaholic Lawyer and Zoe's nemesis. When a mishap leads to Will's boss mistaking him as Hazle's father and recommending he be the first dad at the firm to use their new parental leave policy, Zoe and Will enter a 'contract' One that has Will playing Manny to Hazle for the next three months, giving Zoe more time to find childcare and Will that one step closer to becoming a partner at his firm. As they get deeper into their ruse of a fake relationship, lines are blurred, feelings are felt and clauses are amended, but Zoe's big secret could ruin it all. 

💭 The building romance between Zoe and Will felt authentic. They are both equally strong and intelligent characters willing to do just about anything for what they love. For Zoe that's Hazle and for Will, it's his job, so seeing Will evolve and come to realise what he truly wants is one of my favourite aspects of the story.

I also really like how Steph shone a light on the reality of being a working mum. The roadblocks Zoe faced trying to secure childcare for Hazle in time to return to work, but most of all, the inequity women face in the workplace once they have children is all too real.

Thank you to the team at @harpercollinsaustralia for sending me an early copy of The Love Contract. I'll definitely be looking out for future work from this standout Aussie romance author