CHASING PERFECT

Author: Susan Mallery ISBN: 9780373774524 5/2010 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: HQN

Perfection is in the eye of the beholder Welcome to Fool's Gold, California, a charming community in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. There's lots to do and plenty of people to meet, especially women. Because there's just one tiny problem in Fool's Gold: the men don't seem to stick around. Maybe it's the lure of big-city life, or maybe it's plain old bad luck, but regardless of the reason, the problem has to be fixed, fast. And Charity Jones may be just the city planner to do it. Charity's nomadic childhood has left her itching to settle down, and she immediately falls in love with all the storybook town has to offer—everything, that is, except its sexiest and most famous resident, former world-class cyclist Josh Golden. With her long list of romantic disasters, she's not about to take a chance on another bad boy, even if everyone else thinks he's perfect just the way he is. But maybe that's just what he needs—someone who knows the value of his flaws. Someone who knows that he's just chasing perfect.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

CHASING PERFECT is the first book in the new Fool’s Gold series, and I suspect Mallery has struck gold with this one! A sweet, small town setting with three-dimensional secondary characters has me fired up to read the next novel.

Our heroine is Charity Jones, escaping the Las Vegas suburbs after learning bad news about yet another boyfriend. She has no idea there’s very good reason for her to feel right at home in the Sierra Nevada mining town that has an overload of women. Regardless, there are men for a pretty twenty-something to date, and she has three offers right away. This is the woman who does background checks on her men though, so she’s not going to rush into anything.

The problem is Josh Golden, town hero and sex god. Charity knows she needs to stay away, but she just can’t avoid him. It’s a small town, so he just happens to live next door. He’s her landlord and a close friend of her boss, too.

At first I couldn’t see much reason for the two to stay apart though the conflict built some. Still, there is plenty to keep the reader entertained, and I flew through the book. Enjoy!

Heather Hiestand