Almost Perfect

ALMOST PERFECT
Julie Ortolon
ISBN: 0-451-21640-7
September 2005
Signet Eclipse
Paperback
Contemporary Romance

Maddy Howard, along with her friends Christine and Amy, are excited when they realize their old college roomie has written a self-help book entitled How to Have the Perfect Life.

Until they realize their friend has used all three of them as examples of how people let fear ruin their lives. After they recover from the shock, they realize that their friend has a point and together they decide to make a pact: They each have one year to face down their fears.

Maddy is well on her way. As the artistic one in the group, she’s always dreamed of making it big, yet she’s let her fear of success keep her from taking a chance on an art career. To fulfill her part of the pact, she takes a job as an Arts and Crafts Coordinator at a children’s summer camp near Santa Fe and plans to submit her artwork to one of the nearby galleries.

Only facing her fear suddenly seems like the least of her problems, when faced with confronting her old high-school sweetheart, Joe Fraser, the man who runs the camp. Joe is still angry with Maddy for trampling on his heart all those years ago, yet he can’t deny that some things never die. Like their attraction for each other. As Joe and Maddy struggle with the business of falling in love again, will Maddy get everything she’s always dreamed of, or find herself giving that pesky fear of success the upper hand?

ALMOST PERFECT is a fun, contemporary romance full of humor, sensitivity, and sweetness. Maddy and Joe are two very likeable characters and Ms. Ortolon does a fantastic job of portraying the push-pull moments between the hero and heroine.

Ms. Ortolon tackles a theme that all of us can relate to: facing fear and facing rejection, yet she adds a unique twist. What if someone is so afraid of success that they continuously put themselves down while building others around them up to an exaggerated degree? This, in a nutshell, is what Maddy wrestles with, and Ms. Ortolon does a spectacular job of showing readers Maddy’s fears in a poignant, yet humorous way. Especially when it comes clear, at least to readers-it takes Maddy much longer to realize it-that Joe plays a big part in her overcoming that fear.

Fun, flirtatious, light-hearted, yet poignant, ALMOST PERFECT is the perfect read for...well, almost anywhere. This reviewer eagerly awaits the second installment in this trilogy, JUST PERFECT, coming from Signet in October 2005.

Reviewed by Cindy
October 2005