I am pretty sure this is my favorite romance of all time. I recently re-read it for (I think) the third time, and once again found myself swept away by the magic between Zack and Julie.
Technically, it’s not perfect. Like many of McNaught’s books, the beginning is slow, as she spends many pages painting a picture of two unique individuals going down dramatically different paths through life. Zack, kicked out of his home at the age of 18 with only the clothes on his back (prologue), heads west to Hollywood where he becomes a famous movie star. Years later, he is wrongly convicted of the murder of his wife, and sent to prison.
Julia, meanwhie, is abandoned at birth, has a run of horrible luck that keeps her from getting adopted, and at the age of eleven is arrested for stealing cars. Most people think she’s a hopeless case, but one psychologist sees the spark of good in her, and helps her find a new adoptive family. When she accepts that this new family truly does love her, trust her, and want to keep her, she vows to be perfect.
Their paths eventually meet, completely by chance, when Zack escapes from prison. The breakout doesn’t go as smoothly as hoped, and he ends up having to hitch a ride — with Julia. When she recognizes him, he has no choice but to kidnap her until he can leave the country.
What follows is a wonderful emotional roller coaster. I think, because we know them both so well, that it is easy to want these two to fall in love and live happily ever after. Yet there are a lot of obstacles keeping them apart, not the least of which, at first, is the fact that he kidnapped her and she thinks he’s capable of murder.
The falling action is somewhat gradual as well, slowly easing you out of the story the way you were eased in. In another book, it might have felt like it dragged on, but in this case, it felt to me like a complete story. And by the time I got to that point, I knew them so well, that I needed to be gently eased out of their lives.
I first read this book when I was a teenager. I read it again about two years ago, when I got back into romance after almost fifteen years away from it. I reread it most recently a couple of weeks ago. I will read it again, and I cannot recommend it more to incurable romantics.
5/5 stars
Title: Perfect
Author: Judith McNaught
ISBN: 0743474171
I have not read this yet, but I love many of her others. I need more time in my life to get to the books I want to read. thanks
I know what you need about needing more time! This is one of those books I pick up whenever I need a familiar old friend.
I love books like that. Old friends. Thanks for sharing 🙂