5 (Still) Perfect Stars!!Re-read time June 19 to 21 2013.Still perfect after all this time. I've reread this book more than I could count and it never fails to make me laugh, cry and swoon. This book is what made me a fan of Linda Howard's writing. This was Linda Howard at her peak writing form; witty, fun, hilarious and terrifying at the same time. Mr. Perfect is a story about four friends and their idea of Mr. Perfect. The fours friends understood, of course, that Mr. Perfect doesn't really exist in real life but that didn't stop them from making the Mr. Perfect list. It was supposed to stay between them but one thing led to another and suddenly, the ladies find themselves as the newest national sensation. Worst of all, they also attracted the attention of a very disturb and sinister mind who will stop at nothing to hurt them. As to who and why he'd want to hurt them, well, I say, you must read the book because I'm not spoiling anything. :D Why I love this book...We're all familiar with that book where the heroine meets the hero and it was viola! Instant attraction, lust and even love at first sight. And then we get a heroine who keeps saying in her head, "He's so gorgeous," or "he's the most beautiful man I've ever met," or "he's perfect I wanna devour him." That plus the gushing and clenching their girly parts. This book doesn't have that. You'd get the exact opposite. First of all, Jaine (that's our female MC) thinks that Sam (our male MC) is foul-tempered drunk and a world-class jerk. No ifs and buts about it. She wasn't a bit attracted to him. In fact she contemplated on boiling her fingers because it touched him. :D All she knew was that he was a rough-looking character, and he didn’t seem to hold down a regular job. At best, he was a drunk, and drunks could be mean and destructive. At worst, he was involved in illegal stuff, which added dangerous to the list. He was a big, muscular guy, with dark hair cut so short he almost looked like a skinhead. Every time she had seen him, he looked as if he hadn’t shaved in two or three days. Add that to the bloodshot eyes and bad temper, and she came up with drunk.It was downright hilarious the moment they "officially" met too. And boy, was Jaine ever wrong about her first impression of the guy. “I haven’t had any sleep, any breakfast, or any coffee. I’d better leave before I hurt you.” He nodded. “That’s a good idea. I’d hate to have to arrest you.” She stared at him, taken aback. “What?” “I’m a cop,” he said, then turned and walked back into his house. Jaine stared after him, shocked. A cop? “Well, fuck,” she said.See, what I mean? That was just refreshing to me. I always find it fascinating when a romance author tries to subvert a well known trope, in this case the insta-attraction or insta-lust trope, and give us something different.Of course, this dislike turned into something a lot more pleasant when Jaine saw Sam in his birthday suit outside her kitchen window. Jaine's inner monologue in that one was seriously funny and seriously hot. I swear reading that part made me wish, I had a hunky neighbor I could perv on. LH described Sam's nakedness and Jaine's reaction to it in way that make you laugh and turn you on at the same time. What then happened wasn’t her fault. She was standing at the sink rinsing out her cup when the kitchen light in the house across the way flicked on and Sam walked into view. She stopped breathing. Her lungs seized, and she stopped breathing. “Sweet baby Jesus,” she croaked, and managed to inhale.She was seeing more of Sam than she had ever thought she would; everything, in fact. He stood in front of the refrigerator, stark naked. She barely had time to admire his buns before he took a bottle of orange juice from the fridge, twisting off the top and tilting it to his mouth as he turned around. She forgot all about his buns. He was more impressive coming – no pun intended – than he was going, and that was saying something, because his butt was severely cute. The man was hung.In spite of that encounter, they didn't immediately jump into bed and have sex. They had to work out some issues first, plus the fact there was a killer on the loose after Jaine and her friends. But when they did? YOWZA! LH writes some of the best love scenes around. She's not overly descriptive. There's almost like a brusque quality to the way she writes these scenes that does something your imagination. And for someone with a very active imagination like moi, this was just perfect for me.Sam Donovan, or as Jaine referred to him as the jerk, was a wonderfully swoony character. He is alpha without being too over the top and the jerk is funny. He can totally match Jaine in the wit department. Plus, he ain't that bad looking either. Oh, who am I kidding? Sam is gorgeous in a totally manly way and most of all, he's got the right equipment. “I tracked it down on the Web. It was funny stuff – Ms. C.” She gaped at him. “How did you know?” she demanded. He snorted. “Like I wouldn’t recognize your smart-ass mouth even in print. ‘Anything over eight is strictly for show-and-tell’,” he quoted at her. “I might have known you’d remember only the sex stuff.” “Sex is much on my mind these days. And just for the record – I don’t have anything for show-and-tell.” If he didn’t, he hadn’t missed it by much, Jaine thought, remembering with great fondness how he had looked in profile. He continued, “I’m just happy I’m not in the point-and-laugh category.”The story was seamlessly told in multiple POVs, with Jaine having the most of them. We also get to be inside the mind of the killer and let me tell you, it was creepy as hell and very disturbing. I have to warn you though, there is much sadness that happened in this book. I won't elaborate anything more than that but this book isn't all hearts and rainbows. But it does have an HEA.Overall, very solid and pretty much unforgettable story from Linda Howard. Definitely worth the five stars!
I only read SEVEN PERCENT of this book. So take my review with a grain of salt.I often search the internet for "best romance novels of all time." There are, surprisingly, a lot of lists dedicated to enumerating the best romance novels ever written. I've found quite a few gems this way. THIS novel made the top ten of most of those lists. I spent most of my life thinking that all romance novels were a waste of my time and intellect, until I rediscovered romance about four years ago. I discovered that romance can be well-written AND highly enjoyable and entertaining.But this novel is an example of why I turned up my nose at the genre 25 years ago.Life is too short to waste on drivel. I can see where this book is going from 1200 miles away. Four friends are in a bar having a HILARIOUS good time. OMG. Men suck. Yeah, men are so sucky. What kind of man would you want if you could have THE PERFECT MAN? OMG. Don't talk like that. You're insane. No, really. What's the perfect man? No. You're taking it too far. Heheheheheheh. Funny stuff. Seriously. Okay, he would definitely have to be faithful. Seriously? Really. Well, if you think so. Yeah, that's MOST important. What about a sense of humor? OMG. You are SO right. A sense of humor. OMG that's funny. Teehee. He should be good looking. Teehee. He should be great in bed. Teehee. He should be rich. Teehee. He should be responsible. DUDES!!! This is all so original and FUNNY. Seriously though? He should have a ten inch penis. Hmmmm.....where does the story go?....hmmm...I already know this is a murder suspense romance. The next door neighbor is a cop.....hmmm.....there is a serial killer and the title is Mr. Perfect....hmmmm.....nah, not predictable at all. I really have no idea what could possibly happen next. Oh, are the friends going to be murdered one by one? By a serial killer that heard about their original requirements for a man? Or something to that effect? WHATEVER. I seriously don't care.This is an example of severely dumbed down writing. Romance readers are idiots, right? Otherwise they would read serious literature instead of romance trash. Obviously romance readers can't handle big words or nuanced narratives. And of course, grammatical integrity, consistent voice and a plot that takes more thought than a infant can muster would just be TOO MUCH for a romance reader to handle.EXCERPT:Why on earth her mother had wanted her to baby-sit the cat, instead of Shelley or Dave, was beyond her. They both had kids who could play with BooBoo and keep him entertained. Since school was out for summer vacation, that meant someone was home at both their houses almost all day, every day.But, nooo. Jaine had to keep BooBoo. Never mind that she was single, was at work five days a week, and wasn't used to having a pet. If she did have a pet, it wouldn't be one like BooBook, anyway. He'd been in a feline pout ever since he'd been neutered, and he took out his frustration on the furniture. In just one week, he had frayed the sofa to the point that she would have to have it reupholstered.And BooBoo didn't like her. He like her well enough when he was in his home, coming around to be petted, but he didn't like being in her home at all. Every time she tried to pet him now, he arched his back and hissed at her.To top it off, Shelley was mad at her because Mom had chosen Jaine to baby-sit her precious BooBoo. After all, Shelley was the oldest, and obviously more settled. It didn't make sense that Jaine had been chosen over her. Jaine agree with her, but that didn't soothe the hurt feelings.No, what really topped it off was that David, who was a year younger than Shelley, was mad at her too. Not because of BooBoo; David was allergic to cats, No, what had him steamed was that Dad had stored his precious car in her garage--which meant she couldn't park in her own garage, since it was a single, and it was damned inconvenient. She wished David had the blasted car. She Wished Dad had left it in his own garage, but he'd been afraid to leave it unattended for six weeks. She understood that, but she didn't understand why she'd been chosen to baby-sit both cat and car. Shelley didn't understand the cat, David didn't understand the car, and Jaine didn't understand any of it.You and me BOTH Jaine! I don't understand the purpose of the entire passage. Is this an obvious set-up for future happenings in the plot? The cat will be murdered and the car destroyed? Is this a pathetic attempt at characterization? Because now I hate Jaine and think she's a whiny baby. I feel no accord with this character.Or was this merely an attempt to pad the word count?It was all so stilted. Unnecessary. Like a conversation with someone who gives you way too many details about a story they're about to tell and you're just sitting there thinking: "Please get on with it. For the love of God--please."
What do You think about Mr. Perfect (2003)?
Jaine Bright and her three co-workers and best friends are out one night having drinks and the subject turns to men. On a lark, they create a list of all the characteristics of the perfect man. What started out as a joke soon ballooned to local and then national notoriety as the list goes viral. And that's not the worst of it. While a lot of men have their noses out of joint about the list, one person is murderously angry because of it and wants to teach the women a lesson. This story was alternately funny, sexy and suspenseful, achieving a wonderful balance of all three making for a perfect reading experience. All four women were well developed, with their personalities true to that form. The relationship between the women was fun and entertaining. Jaine's burgeoning romance with the sexy detective next door was steamy and nicely drawn. Even though I guessed who was out to hurt the women pretty early on, it didn't interfere with the suspense level and the ending couldn't be more exciting. I listened to this on audiobook and hated for this one to end. It is one of my most favorite by Linda Howard.
—Jonetta
* Audio book review: June 2015 5 Perfect Stars!!! 4 Friends make a list....and their lives will never be the same. I LOVED this book!! One of my favorites by Linda Howard!!!Jaine, Luna, Marci, and TJ are co-workers and best friends who meet one Friday after work at their normal meeting place for dinner, their conversation turns into what would make the perfect man. Soon they have their criteria for their "Mr. Perfect". The List*Faithful*Nice*Dependable*Steadily Employed*Sense of Humor*Financially Stable*Good Looks*Good Lover*10"....I think you get it!*At Least 30 Minutes of Thrusting...again, I think you get it!!Meanwhile, Jaine is battling her growing attraction to her neighbor Sam, who upon first impressions seems to be deadbeat drunk until during one of their heated confrontations she learns he's a cop, a Detective actually. All of their confrontations are entertaining and fun and will have you laughing out loud at times!!Now throw in a daranged killer who takes a personal offense to "The List" which has captured national attention after going viral. The four friends are now targets of a killer, and as Sam and Jaine's relationship heats up, Sam dedicates all his time to catching the person targeting the ladies of "The List"...including Jaine. Such a great read, I could have done without a couple of things that saddened me but Mr. Perfect still remains a favorite of mine.· Narrated by Laura Hicks who does a great job!!!· Originally read in April 2011
—Dorsey aka ❤️ Wrath Lover and KA Addict ❤️
kkkk...oh, man, I know really what you mean, for me it'll be much more expensive cuz I have to buy it using amazon brazilian version..kkk...nobody deserves...arghhhh
—Mo
