Name: Lover of Romance 's review of Mr Perfect by Linda Howard
Item: Mr Perfect
Rating: 4
Author: Lover of Romance

Linda Howard

What would make your perfect man? That's the delicious topic heating up the proceedings at a certain table of professional women at their favourite restaurant. As the conversation picks up momentum, so do the quartet's requirements for Mr Perfect. And they write down a tongue-in-cheek list that's both funny and racy. The next thing Jaine Bright and her three girlfriends know, the List becomes an overnight sensation, grabbing the interest of local newspapers and television coverage. No one expected this avalanche of attention for something that began as a joke among friends. But the joke turns deadly serious when one of the four is murdered... The prime suspect in the case is the victim's boyfriend, one of a number of men who found the List sexist and offensive. But an impenetrable alibi gets him off the hook. Now, with the help of Jaine's neighbour, an unpredictable police detective, the puzzle must be solved - and time is running out as a deadly stalker targets the three remaining friends, and the dream of Mr Perfect becomes a chilling nightmare.

Mr Perfect

Lover of Romance 

Mr. Perfect

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review. 
 


First Impressions
Mr. Perfect has been on my TBR wishlist for the longest time, probably a decade at this point haha I have been wanting to explore this author much more and after reading this one (not going to lie that I skipped on over to the library for some more books from her) but I really have been wanting to pick up some more romantic suspense (so if you have any recs let me know) but I actually adored this book so much. It really worked for me in so many ways. And while it wasn’t a perfect read for me, there were many aspects to this one that I wish more romantic suspense had in them. I have really learned to love this author’s writing style, it’s different from what you normally see today. It has that classic contemporary style that is so memorable. I knew it was romantic suspense but I really found it to be such a story that gave me a few surprises along the way and there were some twists and turns that just balanced out the romance in such a delightful way,

Summary
Mr. Perfect sets off with Jaine Bright who has just moved into a new house and is living the best of her life except for her growly next-door neighbor who makes noise all late hours of the night and yells at her for keeping the noise down during the day. Jaine and Sam are instantly at odds with each other, and they definitely have a hate/tolerate relationship with each other. But as they start to learn each other, and become more understanding of each of their different set of circumstances, they begin to open up to each other more and more. But when Janie and her three girlfriends one night come up with a list of attributes of “Mr. Perfect” and what would make the perfect mate, it somehow gets famous and put in the newspapers, everything turns terribly wrong when one of Janie’s friends is murdered and Sam is the one to stand by her side and look for the one responsible as he works in law enforcement. But they are being hunted by a psychotic killer….will Janie survive and find the culprit behind it all?

What I Loved
There was so much to love from Mr. Perfect and even though I had some issues with it (see category below) I had so much fun with this one here. It had so many fun delights to it. I really adored the chemistry that builds between Sam and Janie, they have such a fiery explosive relationship that actually fits their personalities so well. When you first meet them together in the beginning, you wonder how on earth they can work together, but it ends up working out so perfectly. I really enjoyed seeing the suspense plot that builds within the story. I especially loved the prologue which shows the background of our killer and to see the beginnings of this behavior and it does build up the tension within the story so well. I was intrigued in seeing who it really was that was behind on the murder. The friendship between the four women was just beautiful and seeing them connect just showed how dynamic their bond was to each other. They are all so different from each other, but I truly enjoyed seeing how their sisterly bond to each other was built within the story. Then we have the actual romance. It is closer to an instant love connect style of a story. I really didn’t mind this at all. I also loved how tight they were once they were fully together and no unnecessary drama.

What I Struggled With
There were a few things. I did feel like this couple got together way too quickly. I felt like it could have been built more slowly a bit even would have made a difference for me. And also I didn’t like the angst at the beginning, I just didn’t see the reason they were so hateful towards each other. They are both mature adults so it was confusing to me.

Overall View
Overall I found Mr. Perfect to be a delightful read that will sweep its reader of their feet in a way that will bring the thrills of an intense suspense while balancing with a romance that delivers in the tension and feels. You can’t go wrong with this classic.

Becky

I hadn't known what to expect with this one. Many of the books on my AAR Top 100 list are from authors I've heard of even if I've not read them but Linda Howard was a new one. I've been fancying a good mystery for a while so a romantic suspense book about someone hunting down four women that made a tongue in cheek list for the perfect man seemed ideal.

First of all, I have to say this was exactly the type of read that I wanted. THere was steamy romance, interesting characters and a mystery to the killer that was interesting enough that I didn't get bored. Jaine was a great MC. She was a spitfire and a character you can easily grow to like. She's blunt and she sharp but I quite like characters with a bit of fire to them. I didn't adore her, I did find myself rolling my eyes at her a little, but I did like her. Same goes for our resident love interest, Sam. His gruff and brash attitude to Jaine has me rolling my eyes but I did quite like him. Same goes for his frankly sexist comments at times and the way he would interact with Jaine. It was almost crossed the line for not accepting consent but I took his jokes as just that, a subtle dig to rile up Jaine and not serious. As for the consent thing? Since we, as a reader, know how into Sam Jaine is it was ok but since I'd spied a joke that bothered me I then started looking for things.

Now, apart from characters who at times almost made me not like them but redeemed themselves cos they were fun characters, the story itself was as well. Since it's a romantic suspense you want a decent amount of suspense occurring. I admit it was more of a mystery than a suspense for me because I was never on the edge of my seat. Hell, it wasn't even a mystery because I called the killer after person number one kicked the bucket. It's the second time this has happened with a major plot twist I saw a mile off and I don't know if my deductive skills are crazy good or if it was just really obvious so I won't comment on that but I did see it coming. Not gonna lie which again bothered me when reading. Shouldn't be able to see it coming a mile off if you want a book to be suspenseful.

That being said, I honestly didn't want to put this book down. I spent a lazy Sunday morning speeding through because sure, I knew who the killer was, but I wanted to see who was gonna make it out alive. Hell, I was even invested in Jaine and Sam getting it together and even though they individually had moments which annoyed me together they were brilliant and had me grinning at the quickfire conversations. Sure, they felt hella rushed but I believed their dive head first into a crazy romance. This book didn't feel long are arduous, I just wanted to keep reading.

I may have to check out more Linda Howard if this is a good example of her books. I enjoyed myself and that's always a good thing.

lilreaderSakura

loved it real page Turner, I kept trying to guess who did it and the drama and writing was excellent

Lover of Romance &
Mr Perfect by Linda Howard

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