Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl
by Julie Murphy; Sierra Simone
You must sign in to see if this title is available for request. Sign In or Register Now
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 15 Jan 2026 | Archive Date 5 Feb 2026
HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction | HarperCollins
Description
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy and USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone comes a brand-new college town raunch-com about a sexy single dad professor and a feisty law school grad turned nanny in this steamy tale of Academic Affairs…
She wants to be a good girl. He’s dying to teach her.
New to town and freshly single, rookie lecturer Maddie isn’t looking for trouble … until she ends up in bed with Bram – a sexy, grumpy single dad – on her first night.
The catch? He’s her new boss at home (he needs a nanny), and her colleague at work (he's a professor, too). So to make it work, they set some ground rules:
- No more sex
- They can never be alone in the house together
But Maddie’s great at breaking these rules, and Bram’s even better at dishing out consequences…
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9780008718565 |
| PRICE | £4.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 416 |
Available on NetGalley
Average rating from 49 members
Featured Reviews
I genuinely don't think I could have loved this more, from the insanely hot spice to the incredibly sweet love story via the absolutely unhinged footnotes, I'm not sure I remember when I last had such a Good Time reading a book. The giddy, kicking your feet at 1am type of Good Time. When you put the book down but all you want is to pick it back up and rejoin these characters that you love.
Bram, Plant Daddy, you quiet, stoic, nerdy, secretly filthy and deeply moral gift of a man, I am obsessed. Please, find me. I will be so good.
I love when the MMC doesn't necessarily have to be an alpha male toxic stereotype to be insanely and deliciously filthy. The quiet ones are always the worst/best, and I loved that Maddie brought out this dirty side of Bram that he'd clearly never allowed himself to own or explore, in a way that felt so empowering to them both. But I also loved that Bram was at heart just a damaged, loving, beautiful man who never allowed himself to hope for more love than he had found, until Maddie showed up.
And Maddie, my brilliant badass queen, who just needed someone to fix her crown and believe in her so hard she remembered how to believe in herself.
This whole book was giddy, joyous, tropey perfection and I will be starting a riot if Leo doesn't get his own book.
4.5 Stars
Maddie + Bram
Maddie was just broken up with by her fiancé's 'people'.
She's not 'fit' to be a politician's wife.
That's why she's not in California anymore and that's also why she's now living in her car in Kansas while making enough money to rent an apartment.
Money is being made as a professor and a nanny in the afternoons.
Bram is the nanny part of the job. His ex wife is out of town for a couple of months so he needs help with his six year old twins.
Is it weird that he unknowingly had a one-night stand with his new nanny the night before?
Probably.
And she's also working at the same university as him.
Plus we're still super attracted to each other...
Let the fun times begin...
══════════════════
Well...that was ... adorable.
What you will notice is that it is very sexy. A bit kinkily baby-BDSM-ishly slightly cringily sillily sexy. But it was okay. It kinda fit the story.
But next to all the sexy moments we have so many other different things!
We have the sexy nerdy plants Professor with his adorable six year old twin girls and a 17 year old who wants to be school president just so that her ex won't get the job.
Then we have our just dumped plus sized heroine who is living in her car. She's a law student turned professor, but she's not sure if this is her future. She's dreaming of being a politician.
We have a big dog! (All my books need a dog!)
We have adorable and funny moments and of course all those erotic moments.
And now the best part of the book: the friend group! (Including his ex-wife and her new partner!)
Bram has an amazing friend group. They've been besties for decades now.
And since this is a series, I really hope that we get some of their stories.
Especially....drumroll.... LEO! Oh Em Gee!
Are you familiar with Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar books??
(if not - go read them now!)
I present you: Windsor Horne Lockwood III two point oh!
Leo Saint James! Chocolate Imperium Billionaire Heir of Leisure and (ex) highschool bully.
I need his book. His trilogy. His own tv show!
I really enjoyed reading this.
I think with all the 'things' in this book, it could've been a trilogy for Bram and Maddie alone. Which - who knows - might still happen - I'm only halfway through as I'm typing this. But I hope for Leo next!
► FUNDAMENTALS OF BEING A GOOD GIRL was an adorable and funny and very sexy age gap professor single dad love story - READ IT!
Tiny little info: Maddie is the sister of Nolan (from Julie + Sierra's Christmas Notch series) who will have a little cameo here. You do not have to read those books to enjoy this one, but why not?
Another tiny thing. The review copy was very complicated to read - which is not the fault of the story or the authors - it was just almost unreadably formatted. The story has footnotes - which I loved, but they were all over the place and not at the bottom where they belong. I'm sure they will change that for ebook readers before the book comes out!
Readers who liked this book also liked:
Jane Fallon
General Fiction (Adult), Mystery & Thrillers, Women's Fiction
Gilly Macmillan
General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers
Matt Browning
Entertainment & Pop Culture, Nonfiction (Adult), Reference
We Are Bookish
General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction