Jen has rebuilt her life after breast cancer, but she can't seem to find it in herself to start dating again. Unfortunately, "I'm not ready" isn't what her mother wants to hear. Her hippy-at-heart mom doesn't even care if she marries, but thinks Jen definitely needs an orgasm in the near future.

With her sister's help, Jen devises a plan to bring a man to Thanksgiving dinner who'll shut her mom up, at least for a little while. She needs someone conservative. Someone who's the antithesis to everything her hippy mom believes in. That shouldn't be hard to find. In fact, the man is sitting in her section at the bar where Jen waits tables.

Zach Coxwell is at a loss. He doesn't seem to have the same plans or interests as his friends, all of whom are on the fast track to success and spend lunch talking about clothes. Ugh. It's just not him and he feels adrift from all the people in his life.

Then he meets waitress Jen. Her surprising invitation to spend Thanksgiving with her family may be a little odd -- I mean, what kind of first date is that? -- but he's game. Even though he expects her family to be a little concerned over his past, which includes an arrest for marijuana, imagine his surprise when his past brush with the law finds approval with Jen's hippy family. And Jen feels totally betrayed -- the guy her mom was supposed to hate meets with way too much approval. What's a girl to do?

Jen and Zach both have a fair amount of baggage, and it certainly clutters their trip into a new relationship. Can they quit obsessing about the past and build a future?

You'll enjoy this thought-provoking romance. Jen's issues alone are enough to add depth to the novel; but the genuine angst brought from the main characters is counteracted extremely well with some interesting secondary characters, giving just the right blast of lightness to ALL OR NOTHING. Again, Claire Cross does not disappoint.