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A review by jessorella
Perfect by Judith McNaught
4.0
Considering she's one of the powerhouses of American romance fiction (30 million+ books in print), it's surprising to me that this is the first of Judith McNaught's books that I've read. My copy is a PROPER doorstep American romance from the nineties, with large swirly lettering and a cover emblazoned with pearls, roses and lots of pink. I loved it on sight.
This book reminded me of the time when I first started reading real romance books, when I experienced those frissons of excitement as the characters fell in love, the wrenching pain when they were split apart, and the feverish page turning in the lead-up to the inevitable reunion. It did not disappoint me. Yes, it's got a slightly un-PC plot with a set-up that doesn't seem entirely plausible (although I know next to nothing about the US legal and penal systems, so my misgivings could well be misplaced). Yes, there are times when the heroine is a little too simpering, a little too perfect, a little too rom-com kooky. There are also times when the hero is just that little bit too mean, too stand-offish, too brutish. But them's the breaks in nineties romance, when the overhanging mist of the Mills & Boon boss/secretary dynamic was still pervading many books.
This book, for me, was like a great cheeseburger. It may not have been the most literary, most politically correct, most plausible or most feminist-friendly book I've ever read, but it really satisfied me. It brought me the thrill, the satisfaction, the agony and the yearning of a Proper Romance Novel and that was exactly what I wanted. I'll certainly read more of Ms McNaught's books.
This book reminded me of the time when I first started reading real romance books, when I experienced those frissons of excitement as the characters fell in love, the wrenching pain when they were split apart, and the feverish page turning in the lead-up to the inevitable reunion. It did not disappoint me. Yes, it's got a slightly un-PC plot with a set-up that doesn't seem entirely plausible (although I know next to nothing about the US legal and penal systems, so my misgivings could well be misplaced). Yes, there are times when the heroine is a little too simpering, a little too perfect, a little too rom-com kooky. There are also times when the hero is just that little bit too mean, too stand-offish, too brutish. But them's the breaks in nineties romance, when the overhanging mist of the Mills & Boon boss/secretary dynamic was still pervading many books.
This book, for me, was like a great cheeseburger. It may not have been the most literary, most politically correct, most plausible or most feminist-friendly book I've ever read, but it really satisfied me. It brought me the thrill, the satisfaction, the agony and the yearning of a Proper Romance Novel and that was exactly what I wanted. I'll certainly read more of Ms McNaught's books.