I Heart Beat

the long version

Beatrice has got a deadbeat mum, an addiction to online messaging and an aversion to the sun. If she could stay inside all summer she most absolutely would. Except she's being shipped off to stay with her 'Grummer' - a grandmother she barely knows - while her mum has another go at rehab. If Beatrice is going to have any chance of having some peace she will need to distract Grummer with a husband. Unfortunately there aren't many eligible bachelors hanging around this cranky old dorp. Her plan is simple: identify the target, establish contact and ensure eternal love. But all does not go to plan for control-freak Beat. Suddenly she finds herself ditching the factor 50 for freckles from swimming in the reservoir; her cucumber and tea-only diet is overtaken by peanut butter sandwiches, and the very important 'rely on no-one' policy has to make room for Toffie; a boy with a bike, a shock of red hair and a love for the natural fauna of South Africa. Beat always knew that love was found in unexpected places. She just never thought that it might find her.