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Welcome to Fool's Gold, California, a charming community in the
foothills of the Sierra Nevada. There's lots to do and plenty of people
to meet, especially women. Because there's just one tiny problem in
Fool's Gold: the men don't seem to stick around. Maybe it's the lure of
big-city life, or maybe it's plain old bad luck, but regardless of the
reason, the problem has to be fixed, fast. And Charity Jones may be just
the city planner to do it.
Charity's nomadic childhood has left her itching to settle down, and she immediately falls in love with all the storybook town has to offer—everything, that is, except its sexiest and most famous resident, former world-class cyclist Josh Golden. With her long list of romantic disasters, she's not about to take a chance on another bad boy, even if everyone else thinks he's perfect just the way he is. But maybe that's just what he needs—someone who knows the value of his flaws. Someone who knows that he's just chasing perfect.
Charity's nomadic childhood has left her itching to settle down, and she immediately falls in love with all the storybook town has to offer—everything, that is, except its sexiest and most famous resident, former world-class cyclist Josh Golden. With her long list of romantic disasters, she's not about to take a chance on another bad boy, even if everyone else thinks he's perfect just the way he is. But maybe that's just what he needs—someone who knows the value of his flaws. Someone who knows that he's just chasing perfect.
Genre: contemporary romance
Publishing date: April 2010
Mature content: yes
Review: Chasing Perfect is book one in Susan Mallery's Fool's Gold series, and though I've read (and reviewed here) a few other Fool's Gold books, somehow I had failed to grab the beginning of it all.
In a way, I'm glad I skipped Chasing Perfect, because if I had read it first, I'm not sure I would have dedicated so much time to some of the other books. The writing is Ok, and so are the characters, even if some of them could benefit from a bit more of depth.
But for me, the worst is the plot. And not because it's predicable, but because it's just not realistic.
First, I do not believe a mayor would hire a city planner with the purpose of bringing more men into town. Really? Why were they not there in the first place, when there were plenty of women? There's a vague explanation that the men tend to leave town and the women tend to stay, which is starting to become, it seems, a demographic problem. But does that even make sense at all? Why would the men leave what seems a perfectly normal small town when, on the contrary, women are coming from other places to live there? Maybe I'm making a huge case of this instead of just enjoying the romance, but unfortunately, though I love romance novels dearly, they need to make sense. If I don't believe the plot, then half the magic is gone.
And there's the case of Josh. Josh was actually my favorite character and despite everything, he was the most coherent of them all. But I didn't get why every women in town was swooning over him. Every. Single.Woman. Ok, I get that he's a good looking guy, but to treat him like a god seemed a bit too much. It was a recurrent theme throughout the book and frankly I got a bit tired of reading it over and over.
Then Charity, which seemed a rational, sensible girl and ended up throwing herself at Josh, doing exactly what she sort of despised other women for. They had unprotected sex while she still believed he'd been with other women just days before. She got pregnant, mimicking the trick he complained other women had played on him before. But in this case he realises he loves her, so it solves the problem. There is a happily ever after, but it's such a mess to get there that this is a read-if-you-have-time-on-your-hands-and-nothing-better-to-do. Otherwise, there are plenty of other wonderful books by Susan Mallery to choose from, even in the Fool's Gold series.
In a way, I'm glad I skipped Chasing Perfect, because if I had read it first, I'm not sure I would have dedicated so much time to some of the other books. The writing is Ok, and so are the characters, even if some of them could benefit from a bit more of depth.
But for me, the worst is the plot. And not because it's predicable, but because it's just not realistic.
First, I do not believe a mayor would hire a city planner with the purpose of bringing more men into town. Really? Why were they not there in the first place, when there were plenty of women? There's a vague explanation that the men tend to leave town and the women tend to stay, which is starting to become, it seems, a demographic problem. But does that even make sense at all? Why would the men leave what seems a perfectly normal small town when, on the contrary, women are coming from other places to live there? Maybe I'm making a huge case of this instead of just enjoying the romance, but unfortunately, though I love romance novels dearly, they need to make sense. If I don't believe the plot, then half the magic is gone.
And there's the case of Josh. Josh was actually my favorite character and despite everything, he was the most coherent of them all. But I didn't get why every women in town was swooning over him. Every. Single.Woman. Ok, I get that he's a good looking guy, but to treat him like a god seemed a bit too much. It was a recurrent theme throughout the book and frankly I got a bit tired of reading it over and over.
Then Charity, which seemed a rational, sensible girl and ended up throwing herself at Josh, doing exactly what she sort of despised other women for. They had unprotected sex while she still believed he'd been with other women just days before. She got pregnant, mimicking the trick he complained other women had played on him before. But in this case he realises he loves her, so it solves the problem. There is a happily ever after, but it's such a mess to get there that this is a read-if-you-have-time-on-your-hands-and-nothing-better-to-do. Otherwise, there are plenty of other wonderful books by Susan Mallery to choose from, even in the Fool's Gold series.
Happy readings,
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