"What do we think a perfect man would be like? I've never thought about it in those terms."

Mr Perfect by Linda Howard

Here is the thing. I love Linda Howard and I loved this premise. Sounded like a perfect selection for me. But I did not like it, not nearly as much as some of her other b ooks. Let me explain why.

I LOVE the premise. And it is actually something my friends and I have discussed. What group of women haven't? It is a great premise.

SPOILERS:

Thing number one I disliked. The tone. It was so odd. This gets awfully dark as a book, yet the tone remains light and chirpy. It was strange. I could not understand why the tone read like Chick Lit while the book read as a dark and very VERY disturbing mystery.

I knew who the killer was..immediately.

The romance between neighbors failed to stir me.

I LOVED it in the beginning. As soon as the tone starts to change and shift, there went my attention.

I think had the mood been less..I am sorry but "chirpy" IS the right word, maybe I'd have liked it more. The book turns so dark. Women being killed AND sexually assaulted by another WOMAN and yet the book's tone feels so light and frothy..it did not fit. It turned me off.

I love her work still and "Death Angel" will always be one of my favorite books but this was a miss for me. ( )

My second read of this title. I really enjoyed it although the amount of deaths was hard to take knowing what was going to happen the second time. Still the hero is a pretty perfect guy, strong, charming, sexy, confident, funny and totally into the heroine. The heroine was great too, confident, feisty, snarky but not too snarky. Their sexual tension was off the charts. Lovely romance and the suspense part held together well too. ( )

Another highly regarded title that I disliked. ( )

It's too late to write a review now, but just in case I forget later:

I loved it!!

“His mouth was hot and hungry, and he kissed the way no man should kiss and still be allowed to run free.”

It has steam, a likable heroine, a hot cop neighbour, suspense, mystery, humor and it was just a book I really needed to read right now.

"I knew you were trouble the first time I saw you."
"What do you mean, trouble?"
She sat up, glaring back at him.
"I am not trouble! I'm a very nice person except when I have to deal with jerks!"
"You're the worst kind of trouble," he snapped. "You're marrying trouble.”

( )

Mr. Perfect
4.5 Stars

Jaine Bright and three of her friends and co-workers get together one night and devise a list of the traits for the perfect man. When the list goes viral, the four women become the target of a deranged killer and Jaine turns to her sexy yet unpredictable neighbor, Detective Sam Donovan, for help. Will they be able to unmask the killer before its too late?

My initial attempt at reading this book as a teen was a dismal failure probably due to the slow build up at the beginning (which is a characteristic of the author’s writing style). However, I’ve recently read and enjoyed other books by Howard, and as this one fit into a challenge, I decided to give it another go and I’m really glad I did.

The first half of the book falls into the contemporary romance genre with the development of Jaine and Sam’s love/hate relationship. With their witty banter leading to numerous laugh-out-loud moments and their incredible chemistry, Jaine and Sam set the pages on fire.

The second half is more romantic suspense as Jaine and her friends are targeted by a killer. In this respect, premise of a list of the perfect man’s attributes is compelling, however, the strong negative reactions that the women receive is more suited to the eighties than the noughties when this book was published. That said, the serial killer subplot is intense (although it is easy to guess the identity of the culprit and their motive) and the climax and resolution are exciting and action packed.

In sum, Mr. Perfect isn’t a perfect read by any stretch of the imagination, but it is well written with a smart and engaging heroine, a sexy and confident hero, well developed secondary characters and an entertaining suspense story. I really need to give books a second chance more often. ( )