Fans of Naylor's previous books, including DOG HANDLING and LOVE: A USER'S GUIDE will enjoy THE GODDESS RULES.

Kate Disney lives in a garden shed in the posh London Primrose Place on her friend, Leonard's, lovely and large property. Her mainstay is painting portraits of people's pets while keeping her caddish on-and-off boyfriend, Jake, in check. Kate adores her musician lover, but is continually disappointed by his lack of devotion to her.

Kate yearns for a diamond ring to seal the deal after three years of relationship ups-and-downs. That's when Mirabelle Moncur, an aging but still ravishing French starlet, reappears on Leonard (and Kate's) doorstep, followed by scads of paparazzi. Mirri commissions Kate to paint a portrait of her cat, Bébé, a tiger cub she's brought from the wildlife preserve she maintains in Africa.

Mirri and Kate initially seem to repel one another, but grow closer when Kate watches Mirri's adept nature with men. Mirri never seems to fall in love, and Kate wishes she could emulate it. It doesn't help that Mirri refers to Jake as "The Slug" and refuses to say much about him other than that he takes Kate for granted.

Kate begins to believe it, too. Then Louis returns to her life, at the zoo of all places! Louis is a college friend, as well as an artist who's made a name for himself, and comes to ask Kate to paint a large portrait for an installment at the Tate Museum. Kate's thrilled, and when Louis admits his adoration for her, she's torn between two loves -- Jake, who's begun to realize what life is like without her loveliness in it, and Louis, whose 10-year-old crush on her is in full effect.

When Jake finally proposes, what will Kate do? Accept the proposal and live with "The Slug," or wait and see if she and Louis, with the smoldering eyes and raven hair, will burn more brightly? Read and see.

THE GODDESS RULES is an engaging book, full of believable story twists and turns. It's British chick lit at its finest.