These days, it seems to me, Harlequin books break down into two huge categories: Fluffy romances between two people without many problems and heavy, angst-laden stories featuring a couple with one or both so burdened with exceptionally heavy baggage that readers have to wonder how it’s possible to get up in the morning. Rebel with a Cause is definitely in category two.

Sophy Braithwaite is the lightweight in the couple. She grew up in a happy, loving family even though she tries to find her angst in the fact that her parents and siblings are over-achievers. They are all lawyers, and she’s not. In fact, she didn’t even finish her law degree. Instead, Sophy is the glue that keeps her over-committed family together as they careen off pursuing their careers. She is an enabler who runs errands and generally steps up.

Lorenzo Hall is her polar opposite – a bad boy from a broken home and a series of foster homes, who’s managed to climb out of poverty and deprivation to make a name for himself as an entrepreneur. Even though his projects and his charity help those who need a hand, his bitterness and rage about his upbringing or lack thereof has caused him to keep himself aloof from love and affection. Like Sophy, however, he has a low opinion of himself and his impact on the world around hm.

When Lorenzo’s secretary, a friend of Sophy’s, must take emergency medical leave during her pregnancy, she begs Sophy to step in for her since she knows Sophy is super organized and capable. Sophy does, and is stunned by Lorenzo’s good looks. But she’s heard about his love-‘em-and-leave-‘em reputation with women so she knows she can’t get involved with him. After all, she’s already suffered heartache at the hands of a former fiancé, who used her to get close to her father, a powerful judge.

So far does anything sound like something readers have never been told before? Not to me. I kept waiting for another shoe to fall – this time one that was different, unusual, or just plain interesting. But anyone who’s ever read an older Harlequin knows what happens next: Sophy and Lorenzo start a torrid love affair, Sophy falls in love, Lorenzo backs away, and a big fight leads to a happy ending.

At 192 pages, the book seems more like a longish outline than a real novel. What kept me going, however, is that every once in a while Anderson writes a nice turn of phrase or an arresting description. These unexpected gems show Anderson’s talent as a writer, but she needs to expand her page count and rethink her plot to make this novel the success it could have been.