Striving for Perfection by B L Mooney

We all strive for it and everyone’s definition is different but what cannot be denied is that  “Perfect” does nothing more than describe what is completely unattainable.

Nothing in this world is perfect but yet we are all guilty of setting the bar so high that getting even close is a major achievement.

But when Rachael caught her boyfriend with someone else, all illusions for her “perfect” life dissipated in that very instance. Her perfect relationship, life, job etc. all gone in the blink of an eye.

What she didn’t see on that day was that it was she who had ruined her dream by relying on him to provide her perfection. She set herself up to fail when she thought she could have the fairy tale –because we big girls learn early on that fairy tales are not real!

As if this was not devastating enough, her disillusionment was father compounded when the cheating bastard used every trick in the book, including blackmail to make sure that she was still under his control.

He kept her where he wanted her and did everything he could to make sure that she knew that he was calling the shots even though they were no longer together.

I suppose this was his revenge for the fact that she had found the fortitude to walk away from him on a personal level – because professionally she was beholden to him.

And what did Rachael do about it – well to be honest, professional not enough. She allowed herself to be down trodden by this muppet, subjugating herself in the process.

But privately she is made of sterner stuff and she promised herself that she will never make the same mistake again.

The gloss of a happy ever after was gone forever.

Carl on the other hand, had his version of perfect – until much like Rachael, his world fell apart around him.

His wife hid the fact that she was ill until it was too late and she lost her battle with cancer. The only comfort he was left with was the fact that his gorgeous daughter Amy was still with him and she gave his life purpose and meaning.

Life had become an existence for Carl and his crappy attitude became his defence mechanism, much like his need to keep his wedding ring on – it stopped the questions that he didn’t want to answer being asked.

Carl and Rachael have history – sort of – it is slightly complicated in that Carl and a thing for Drew (Rachael’s Brother’s fiancé and Carl’s daughters child care provider) that got more than a little out of hand.

But what it did result in was that not only did they have to deal with how they felt about each other they had to take family sensitivities into account – see nothing is perfect!

Carl although had one absolute doozy in his camp – the slightly deranged Cil (sister in law) – Jesus the woman was a complete fruit loop- and a spiteful one at that too!   His wife’s parents while they were nice enough and meant well they didn’t understand that Amy was all Carl had and he would not let her go, no matter what the persuasion they put forward.

The unlikely pair were actually thown back together when Carl hired Rachael to do a job for his company.

The job put her back where she belonged, behind the camera – doing what she does best.

But when we discover towards the end of the book the really story behind the photo’s it brings the focus back to where it needed to be – living for the moment, failing to forget the past but accepting that what you have now is much better that what you hope for, because that hope may never be ascertained and the disappointment of failure is a much greater burden to bear.

Racheal and Carl were both slightly skittish about admitting they were developing feelings for each other as time progressed  but what we all know is that when your heart gets its sights set on what it wants – hell, will freeze over before it lets your head get in the way.

Sense and sensibilities are out of the question for this pair – they were destined to be together and to have their own little deviation of a happy every after with as close to perfect as anyone is every likely to get.

I enjoyed the way the story flowed and I especially liked the characters although at time is found myself re-reading passages to catch up on the twists and turn of the tale. Nothing is completely straight forward and having not read book one- in the series- a little of the family induced drama was confusing to me.

But it did not deter from what in essence was an engaging romance, one that lets us see that sometimes – perfect is not the answer it’s the problem.

Rating 4.5 out of 5