| Amanda Sedgewick is beautiful, successful and wealthy. And she fears that she will marry a man who is so not perfect for her especially when the guy can't take no for an answer. Amanda turns to Joe Barrington for help asking him to pretend that they are in love. She wants to stop Avery Barrington's persistent promise of love for her by telling him that she and his brother are heavily dating. Joe at first doesn't want to go along with her plan because he doesn't want to hurt his brother. But seeing how Avery is harassing Amanda with his feelings, Joe decides to get Amanda out of the situation. Amanda has an ulterior motive for recruiting Joe to her pretend relationship: she wants to make love to Joe. Joe likes Amanda. Although she is not his usual type of girl to date, he makes extra effort to be the man Amanda wants to date. Joe has always been a shadow of his brother's excellence. Joe settles in mediocrity for he is content with his life. But when Amanda enters into the picture, he begins wanting to better himself because he believes Amanda, with her success and wealth, wants to have a successful man by her side. So he always works extra hours to earn money so that he can provide Amanda with the best date ever. But Amanda sees Joe as he is and doesn't like to change into someone he's not. She loves Joe for he makes her relax more and appreciate life better. However She gets irritated with him when he disappears for work instead of spending time with her. When they finally sleep together, Joe works even harder to please Amanda. However his time spent in his work makes Amanda feel neglected. One day when she gets promoted into partnership in her firm, Joe finally realizes that he can't compete with Amanda's standards. So he tells her his true feelings and insecurities and breaks off with her. Amanda is bewildered by the extent of Joe's insecurities. She tells him that she don't mind him being a mechanic just as long as they love each other. But Joe's years of being compared and belittled against his very successful brother makes him feel unworthy to love Amanda. When he comes home to his parents' house one day, it is only then that he realizes that Amanda has never compared her with his brother and has actually loved him more for just being who he is. He returns back to Amanda hoping that it's not yet too late for a second chance. | ||
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Plot & Themes Time/era of story Inner struggle subplot Yes Struggle with... If one lover chases another... - he chases after her Main Male Character Profession/status: Age/status: - 20's-30's Main Female Character - 20's-30's Profession/status: Setting United States Yes City? Yes City: - New York Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death What % of story is romance related? - nearly 100% Focus of story - equally on him and her How much dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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