LynneC’s review of Nothing Short of Perfect by Day Leclaire
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin Desire 1 Nov 11
Day LeClaire is a great example of someone who has been writing for the Desire line for a very long time but manages to keep her characters and situations fresh and interesting. More than interesting. I love the hero and heroine in this book.
While many category writers are out of step with modern technology, writing about PDAs instead of smart phones, for instance, Day LeClaire’s geek hero knows his way around technology. True, he’s an engineer, but engineers have a great deal to do with tech these days. The deliciously named Justice has developed a computer program to help employers find the perfect employee for certain jobs, and he and his uncle have tweaked with the program to provide himself with the perfect wife.
He wants a wife partly for him and partly for his uncle, who suffers badly from agoraphobia and never leaves the house. After a car accident six months before, he realizes he needs someone in his life. When the emergency staff ask him who to contact, he has no one. His uncle can’t come because of his illness. He has a housekeeper, but he wants more. He wants children. Justice has no problem attracting women, but he spends most of his time in his remote house. However, he has to go to a conference.
This is where the story starts. Daisy is at the same hotel as Justice and recognizes his name. She’s there to sign the children’s’ books she’s written, but she gatecrashes the engineering conference. She doesn’t understand much of Justice’s speech, and while she recognizes that he’s done well since she last saw him, she doesn’t realize how much people idolize him. Justice is a star of the engineering world, and since his childhood in foster homes, he has made himself rich. He met Daisy in his last foster home and the two young people fell in love.
What Daisy doesn’t realize is why Justice walked away. I won’t spoil the reason, but suffice it to say it’s a really, really good reason. While I don’t usually believe in many of the reasons why a couple is separated, this one is perfectly believable, and although Daisy wasn’t at fault, the consequences of their affair hurt Justice badly. But he doesn’t recognize her and they spend the night together. His car accident caused him some amnesia, and although he doesn’t recognize her, he is drawn to her and they spend the night together. Then he recognizes her and boots her out.
Daisy arrives at his house with their child nineteen months later. Normally I’d object to that, too, but Daisy has done her best to contact Justice. Because of his remote address, and because he has instructed everyone that he doesn’t want to talk to her, she has resorted to setting a teenager and computer geek to find out where he is. They find a strange house. Daisy has brought the teenager, her housekeeper and the baby with her, and that is something else I shouldn’t like – a cute kid and a precocious teenager, as well as a loveable and capable housekeeper. But LeClaire makes them real people, albeit heightened ones.
She takes the reader, in this case me, on a journey, after making me care about her two leading characters. I read the book wanting Justice and Daisy to get together, understanding that they fill parts of each other’s personalities they would otherwise be missing. The book shows how people have to change and adapt if they want to love and be loved. Both Justice and Daisy have a way to go, but they set out with humour and courage to achieve it, and by the end of the story, I get what I haven’t had for some time – the happy sigh.
I wanted more Dantes, but the “perfect” story is obviously the first in a new series, where the program concocted by Justice’s uncle, with help from the teen terror, will form the basis. So far, so good. I’m happy.
Grade: B+
Summary:
First comes marriage—and Justice St. John has a plan. Using a foolproof equation, the brilliant scientist designs a program to find the perfect woman. But after a night of unexpected passion, he discovers that Daisy Marcellus is entirely the wrong woman—and it’s back to the drawing board.
But their passion has consequences…. And when Daisy—with little Noelle in tow—tracks him down, she brings life and color and chaos to his cold and orderly world. Their negotiations for the future are just starting when Daisy discovers he’s still searching for the perfect wife….Read an excerpt.
