ALMOST PERFECT

Author: Susan Mallery ISBN: 9780373774906 7/2010 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: HQN

Back in high school, Liz Sutton was the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Then she'd stolen the heart of the most popular boy in town, and their secret romance helped her through the worst of times. Until Ethan Hendrix betrayed her and everything they'd ever meant to each other. Devastated and pregnant, Liz left Fool's Gold, California—forever, she thought…. Now Liz must return to town and face the man who doesn't know of their son's existence. And this time she won't have the option of making a quick getaway. Ethan and Liz can't deny their passionate attraction, even after all these years. But will their desire be enough to spark a second chance at love?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

ALMOST PERFECT is the second book in the Mallery’s Fool’s Gold series. Liz Sutton grew up in Fool’s Gold, California, the daughter of the local drunk prostitute. She found love at seventeen and became pregnant, but the teenage boyfriend betrayed her.

Years after she fled the town, she returns, wealthy and successful, to help her brother’s kids. She runs into Ethan Hendrix, her old flame, and her world falls apart. Though she’s been led to believe he wanted nothing to do with their now eleven-year-old son, that is far from the case. He, his mother, and much of the small town, are furious that she’s kept their son from him. However, it is so obviously Ethan’s own failings that prevented him from learning about the son, that I could almost hear the fingernails grating on the chalkboard every time this entitled, immature jerk came on scene.

And that’s where I hit wallbanger status on this novel, and the feeling never really went away. Ethan is such a jerk, and I never felt he redeemed himself. Liz is a true heroine, but Ethan was never worthy of her, other than being handsome and rich, of course.

That’s my opinion. If you are following this series, don’t let this hero stop you. There is plenty to enjoy in Fool’s Gold, just not Ethan.

Heather Hiestand