Better than the Real Thing

Notting Hill meets Bridget Jones Baby in this whip-smart, funny, emotionally charged contemporary fiction about messy pasts, second chances and future families from a sparkling new voice.

Melbourne teacher Netta Phillips is staring down the barrel of her fortieth birthday with months' worth of negative pregnancy tests behind her, her relationship in the bin and a mortgage she can't afford. Things really aren't going to plan.

When she unexpectedly finds the childhood diary of notoriously private celebrity musician Morrison 'Mo' Maplestone, things get even messier. Mo's desperate to keep the diary's dark contents hidden from the tabloids and well away from his beloved younger brother, and he's willing to pay Netta handsomely to personally return it to him in London. The financial reward he offers would would mean Netta could keep her apartment and try assisted conception treatments; after all, the clock's ticking. Loudly. But she can't go. After what happened there twenty years ago, she vowed never to return to the UK.

Not for anything.

When necessity bites, Netta reluctantly accepts Mo's offer and life quickly becomes even more complicated. There's paparazzi to contend with, a fake date that feels all too real and a Christmas Day confession that changes everything.

Amongst the chaos, Netta and Mo forge a rare connection, and discover that facing up to the past might be the only way to find the real thing. Or maybe something even better.

About the Author

Photo credit: Jax, Gang of Babes Phototography Brooke Crawford is an emerging author of feel-good contemporary fiction, whose work has been recognised in writing competitions in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Brooke won the Romance Writers of Australia's Opal Award in 2024, has post-graduate qualifications in professional writing from Deakin University, and studied novel writing under the guidance of Australian author Josephine Moon.

Having previously worked in public relations, creative account management, advertising and education, she now runs a successful copywriting business from her home in Melbourne, where she lives with her partner and their three children. Better than the Real Thing is her first novel.