In this witty and stylish novel, two sisters take on modern relationships -- and find a suitor in a jokingly arranged marriage (Holly Peterson, bestselling author ofThe Manny).
When Ava Nickerson was a child, her mother jokingly betrothed her to a friend's son, and the contract the parents made has stayed safely buried for years. Now that still-single Ava is closing in on thirty, no one even remembers she was once engaged to the Markowitz boy. But when their mother is diagnosed with cancer, Ava's prodigal little sister Lauren comes home to Los Angeles where she stumbles across the decades-old document.
Frustrated and embarrassed by Ava's constant lectures about financial responsibility (all because she's in a little debt. Okay, a lot of debt), Lauren decides to do some sisterly interfering of her own and tracks down her sister's childhood fiance.
When she finds him, the highly inappropriate, twice-divorced, but incredibly charming Russell Markowitz is all too happy to re-enter the Nickerson sisters' lives, and always-accountable Ava is forced to consider just how binding a contract really is . . .
Claire LaZebniklives in Los Angeles with her TV writer husband and four children. She is the author of the novels
Knitting Under the Influence, The Smart One and the Pretty One, and
If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Now.
Ava is the smart sister, an LA. lawyer who hasn't dated in years. Lauren is the pretty sister, an unemployed New York stylist buried in debt. Lauren returns to L.A. when their mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. Between chaufifeuring her to chemo appointments, Lauren finds an old contract betrothing Ava to Russell, the son of family friends, and decides a reunion is in order. Though Ava finds herself uncharacteristically falling for Russell, she can't believe a man would choose her over her glamorous sister. She nearly lets her skepticism ruin her shot at llc‰
![The Smart One and the Pretty One [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/6/9/0/2_4072294.jpg "The Smart One and the Pretty One [Paperback]")