Just Perfect

I LOVED this book. Its great. Maybe the fact that i love the winter and skiing and all that stuff may have helped. but whatever. it's still my favorite. I've read it so many times. Its my favorite of the trilogy by far.

Julie Ortolon's Just Perfect is the second book in the Perfect trilogy. Just Perfect is a wonderful story of love, compassion and understanding. Dr. Christine Ashton has vowed to face her fear of heights by riding the ski chairlift to the top. She hires a ski instructor to also help her get back up to speed to beat her competitive brother. Christine instructor Alex Hunter is everything she tries to avoid in a man, fun loving, good looking and a charmer. Alec Hunter a search and rescue team leader is taking a much-needed vacation. He is helping out his friends by teaching skiing at a local resort. He agrees to help the ice princess in her goals. After they both help a victim of a snowboarding accident they realize that their first impressions of each other were way off base. Christine and Alec start an all out vacation affair but they both fall deeper then planned. Each must do some serious soul searching to make this relationship last beyond Christine's vacation. Christine and Alex both have unresolved family problems that have shaped them to who they are today. Just Perfect is just that perfect. The characters are well written and you can feel their pain and joy. The chemistry between these two is palpable and deeply moving. This story will stay with you long after you have turned the last page. Looking forward to the final book Too Perfect.

I adored the first book in this trilogy, and now - - the second book is my "new favorite." Julie Ortolon continues her "Perfect" trilogy with Christine. I think what I love most about this book (besides the great scenes) is the fact that both our hero and heroine are not perfect. On the surface, Christine appears to have everything: Money, a great career ahead, she comes from a great family. And on the surface, Alec too seems be a bit of a playboy, easy-going, having a good time type of guy. In "Just Perfect" Ortolon delves into these characters, exposing their not-so-perfect backgrounds. Christine has an overbearing family, where she never feels like she has never measured up. Alec has the opposite, he's from the other side of the tracks, and pulls no punches with Christine about his less-than-silver-spoon upbringing. I love how both characters were challenged. They had to grow, they had to learn - - and sometimes it was painful to watch. The scenes where they call each other were very poignant and often downright sad. We DO get a happy ending, however. (I mean why else would I read romance?) Yes, Ortolon makes these characters work for it...but in the end it's much more satisfying and a "Just Perfect" read! And now I get to read about Amy! Can't wait!!!

Maddy, Amy, Christine, and Jane were roommates in college ten years ago. Jane became a TV anchor, but has now just published her first self-help book "How To Have The Perfect Life". Maddy, Amy, and Christine are thrilled for Jane, until they realize that Jane has used their lives as bad examples! The three decide to prove Jane wrong. They each have one year to face their biggest fear. Christine Ashton is the doctor if the group. She has finished her residency and now works in an ER as a trauma specialist. It is a hard and exhausting job that only the toughest can pull off. But Christine has lots of courage, except when it comes to heights. Maddy and Amy decide that Christine's challenge is to join her family for their skiing vacation at Silver Mountain during the holiday season and conquer her fear of the chairlift. So Christine hires a ski instructor and arrives a week before her family is due. She knows how to ski but needs to face the chairlift problem before her older brother, Robbie, arrives. Christine's father has always been proud of Robbie. Yet nothing Christine ever did was good enough. All er life Christine has wanted a simple smile from her dad, perhaps hear him say "Well done" or "I'm proud of you" just once. Now her chance has come! Christine has been offered a job in the ER of St. James, where she'd be working with colleagues her father respects. She can prove her worth to them. Perhaps they will tell her father how much of a success she is and maybe, just maybe, she'll earn his pride. Alec Hunter oozes charm and everybody likes him, including Christine. But she thinks he is just an unemployed ski bum. He plans to prove how wrong she is about him. After they finish helping a victim of a snowboarding accident, they both learn a lot about each other and become close. Very close. Now Christine has a new fear. Does she take the job of her dreams back home or give up everything for the man of her dreams? ***** A stellar novel! Comedy, romance, tension, it's all in here. Once you begin reading you will not want to stop. In fact, I did not stop reading until I finished the entire book ... and realized the night was almost over, dawn was on the horizon. Therefore, I highly suggest you pick up a copy of this book and don't start reading until the weekend. You are going to lose a lot of sleep with this story! ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Artist Maddy Mills, Dr. Christine Ashton, and Amy Baker are elated for former college roommate Jane Redding, who has written a self-help book "How to have the Perfect Life". However, they become angry when they realize Jane used the trio as classic examples of how fear can destroy your life. Angry and feeling ridiculed the threesome vow to prove little Ms. Perfect wrong by regaining the passion they lost when they allowed phobias to paralyze them. Maddy has overcome her fears (see ALMOST PERFECT) and now it is Christine's turn. Her objective is to overcome her fear of heights by riding a ski lift with her ultimate goal being to gain her father's praise. Her new job should go a long way towards receiving his accolades. Search and rescue worker Alec Hunter agrees to provide Christine with skiing instructions. She assumes he is an unemployed ski bum, which angers him. When they work together to assist a snowboarding accident victim, they begin to fall in love, but her family thinks he is beneath her; to marry for love means giving up the job that would finally earn her daddy's praise. The second Perfect tale is a fabulous contemporary that uses comedy and romance to provide readers with deep messages: you can't earn love by living someone else's life and don't let fears stop you from being yourself. Christine is a terrific protagonist struggling to gain daddy's approval, but never achieving the mark; she must choose between her father and Alec. Fans will hope she makes the right choice for her, which can only occur if she accepts that she will never be perfect to her dad and almost is not good enough for him. Harriet Klausner