"Fabulous contemporary"

Artist Maddy Mills, Dr. Christine Ashton, and Amy Baker are elated for former college roommate Jane Redding, who has written a self-help book "How to have the Perfect Life". However, they become angry when they realize Jane used the trio as classic examples of how fear can destroy your life. Angry and feeling ridiculed the threesome vow to prove little Ms. Perfect wrong by regaining the passion they lost when they allowed phobias to paralyze them.

Maddy has overcome her fears (see ALMOST PERFECT) and now it is Christine's turn. Her objective is to overcome her fear of heights by riding a ski lift with her ultimate goal being to gain her father's praise. Her new job should go a long way towards receiving his accolades. Search and rescue worker Alec Hunter agrees to provide Christine with skiing instructions. She assumes he is an unemployed ski bum, which angers him. When they work together to assist a snowboarding accident victim, they begin to fall in love, but her family thinks he is beneath her; to marry for love means giving up the job that would finally earn her daddy's praise.

The second Perfect tale is a fabulous contemporary that uses comedy and romance to provide readers with deep messages: you can't earn love by living someone else's life and don't let fears stop you from being yourself. Christine is a terrific protagonist struggling to gain daddy's approval, but never achieving the mark; she must choose between her father and Alec. Fans will hope she makes the right choice for her, which can only occur if she accepts that she will never be perfect to her dad and almost is not good enough for him.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted September 15, 2005

Summary

Maddy, Christine and Amy are thrilled that their old college suite-mate has written a bestselling book, How to Have the Perfect Life—until they realize she used them as examples of how women let fear screw up their lives. The worst part is...it's sort of true. Together they make a pact: they each have one year to face down their fears—and maybe show Miss Perfect a thing or two!

You have to be tough to work in the ER—but Dr. Christine Ashton's courage doesn't extend to riding a chairlift, no matter how much she loves skiing. Her challenge is to strap on a pair of skis and conquer her fear of heights. The bigger challenge, though, will be resisting the sexy ski instructor her friends have deemed off-limits.

Alec Hunter is more than just a fun-loving charmer and nothing like the users, losers, and strays Christine usually winds up with. But she's still giving him the cold shoulder, and he's determined to prove how wrong she is about him.

After helping the victim of a snowboarding accident, the two fall hard and fast—with enough heat to melt the mountains. And everything is just perfect—until Christine must face kind of fear and choose between her dream job back home and her dream man in Colorado.