WONDERFUL ME

Heidi Rosenbloom of Just Be Gorgeous returns for another hopeless love affair, this time with a romantic Older Man. When his unsigned, flowery notes begin to arrive in the summer between junior and senior years, Heidi traces them to Lionel Moss, the handsome, deeply shy, 23-year-old English teacher at her NYC private school. Still battling her divorced parents' unrealistic expectations for her (father wants a top college, despite low grades; mother sees dumpy Heidi as a leggy beauty), Hetdi tries to handle the situation on her own and finds herself slowly drawn to Lionel. The result is an old-fashioned love affair modeled on the ideals of WW I poet Rupert Brooke: they become engaged but chaste, at Lionel's insistence. Unfortunately, just as Heidi's skepticism begins to surrender to deeper feelings, it becomes clear that Lionel's ""love"" is part of a larger delusion. Once again, Heidi is left alone, a sturdy, bittersweet character who has absorbed another lesson from another romantic trauma. Strong character, slight story, sequel probable.