Mrs. Perfect
by Jane Porter
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Book Reviews of Mrs. Perfect
Book Review: A great book to bring to the beach!
Summary: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (6/08)
"Mrs. Perfect" centers on the life of super mom Taylor Young. She appears to have it all- she is married to her handsome, successful husband Nathan, has three beautiful girls, and lives in a gorgeous and pricey mansion. Definitely an alpha-female, she is very competitive when it comes to volunteer opportunities at her daughters' school. So, determined to procure all of the spots that she deems worthy, she even e-mails the teachers before the start of the year explaining to them why she is qualified to be a room mother. To further try to solidify her front-runner position she also purchases welcome gifts for the teachers.
Normally everything works out in her favor and she is assigned the duties that she wishes, but this year is different. When she sees the room assignments she realizes that another parent has been chosen over her to be one of her daughter's class room mothers. If you didn't find the character of Taylor to be slightly annoying up until this point of the book you definitely will now! She has a sense of entitlement to her that just eats at you. I think everyone knows a "Taylor" in real life, a person who thinks that they are better or more deserving than everyone else.
However, you don't have to dislike her for much longer, as soon into the novel her world as she knows it is about to change drastically and she is going to be hit with a dose of reality. While out dining with a friend her credit card is declined when she goes to pay the bill. She then finds out that her husband has been keeping numerous secrets from her and that she will no longer to be able to maintain her current standard of living. This fact terrifies her and we watch as she struggles to keep her head above water while trying to act like everything is the same around her friends.
This is the first of Jane Porter's novels that I have read and I really enjoyed. "Mrs. Perfect" is a fast read and would be the perfect novel to enjoy at the beach. The four hundred and seventeen pages fly by so quickly that I read the book in one day. Porter's novel is full of memorable characters, and they stick with you long after the last page is turned. I look forward to going back and reading her previously published work. I am also eagerly anticipating her next novel, which is scheduled for a July 2009 release!
Book Review: A fun, engaging summer book
Summary: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Tracy Kokemuller for Reader Views (5/08)
Five ways to know you're Mrs. Perfect: 1) You volunteer for everything because no one else volunteers. 2) You hate relinquishing control because you can do the job better than anyone else. 3) You wouldn't dream of showing up late for Back-to-School-Night. 4) You know when your kids' reports are due, even if they don't. 5) Your Christmas cards are already addressed and stamped by December 1. So reads the back cover of "Mrs. Perfect" by Jan Porter.
This is the story of Taylor Young. She is beautiful, wealthy and dressed in designer's clothes. She has a gorgeous wealthy husband and three lovely daughters. Her friends are equally wealthy and look up to her to volunteer the biggest fundraiser at school every year. The year starts off with a surprise when Taylor learns one of her friends has been ostracized from the group because the gossip circles suggested she had an affair. Taylor is cold to her friend as are the rest of the group, even though she knows she should be more forgiving. She also finds out the person she likes the least, Marta Zinssner, has been picked to be the homeroom mom. Taylor soon finds out that everything is not what it seems, and she has some big lessons to learn.
When I opened the first pages and realized the first chapter was about how the characters looked, what they wore, and how wealthy and perfect they are, I thought, "There is no way this book is for me." What I soon discovered was that the author designed Taylor to have a lot more layers to her character than first expected, and as the story went on, the reader gets to peel off each one slowly, until we begin to fully discover a rich, complex woman. I was pleasantly surprised a few times.
The author does like to tidy things up a bit in the end, but there's nothing wrong with that when the storyline keeps you engaged and you have come to care about the main character. The women in the book have a book club that Taylor participates in, but she never reads the books because she finds them dark and depressing. I know that Taylor would pick this one up for her book club because it is just the opposite. "Mrs. Perfect" is a fun, engaging summer book, so grab this one, and hang out at the beach.
Book Review: Fun Read
Summary: 4 Stars
Taylor Young presents the perfect life. She has the perfect husband, the perfect children. She is the perfect room mom and the perfect hostess in her perfect home. If she can just keep from ripping her perfectly coiffed hair from her perfectly scheduled head, she might just survive the less-than-perfect circumstances this year brings.
From the very first page you will be absolutely certain of the frantic pace of Taylor's life. And unlike some of those braggy acquaintances we all have who are busy, busy, busy and love to talk about it so that we will be impressed, you really get the feeling that Taylor knows she's overextended and wants out. But she's far too responsible for that, not to mention far too efficient and good at all things organized-and, someone's got to do it.
After I read Odd Mom Out, also by Jane Porter, I wasn't sure I would enjoy a book about Taylor, Marta's nemesis. I identified too much with Marta. But I found that I also identify with Taylor. They are both more alike than either of them would believe. They care passionately about their children and their work (whether a paying job or volunteering at the school), and they are both kind of control freaks. I loved one passage in which she wrote, "I'm fine. We're fine...When what we're actually screaming is Help me, help me. Oh God, someone help me...Why can't we accept help?"
This book is positively riveting. So while my control freak self knew I should put it down and put my house in an immaculate state, I couldn't do it. And though there are a few things that were hard to swallow, like a SAHM (stay-at-home mom) with a nanny and Taylor scaling down to a "tiny" house the size of the one I live in (so I know it is possible), I totally got who Taylor was and could even understand why these things were problems for her. I absolutely, hands down, recommend this book.
Armchair Interviews agrees this is a fun read.
Book Review: MRS. PERFECT is the PERFECT read
Summary: 5 Stars
Leave it to Jane Porter to pull off the impossible. When we first met Taylor Young in ODD MOM OUT, she was one of those women you love to hate. You know the kind, right? Totally put together; the perfect house, the perfect family, the perfect outfit, the perfect body. Not to mention the perfectly condescending attitude and the perfect snarky comments reserved exclusively for those not quite in her social league. The kind of woman who makes you run and hide the minute you see her approaching. With so few redeeming qualities, how in the world could such a woman be expected to gain our sympathy and trust; enough so that we willingly follow her along for 417 pages, cheering her on at the end?
Why? Simply because Ms. Porter is a brilliant writer, with the THE PERFECT GIFT when it comes to tapping the emotional jugular vein that resonates with women worldwide. She translates into words what we feel in our hearts; what scares us, what excites us, what saddens us. We're drawn into Taylor Young's life, and suddenly we're part of that perfect world as it begins to crumble. And we feel her pain. And we begin to realize the difference between the "perfect women of the world" and the rest of us. We're wearing make-up, while they're struggling not only with make-up, but keeping up that perfect veneer.
Ms. Porter takes us through the painful process as Taylor Young is stripped raw of the layers of veneer that make up her life. It's certainly not pretty, and in these hard economic times, indeed, it's rather painful. But as always with a Jane Porter novel, it's real. Breathtaking, heartwreching, can't-stop-reading-even-though-it's-1 AM-real.
My recommendation: Run, don't walk, to the bookstore and buy this book. It's the PERFECT read.
Book Review: Mrs. Perfect is just that!
Summary: 5 Stars
In Odd Mom Out we got to know Marta Zinsser, a single mom battling the working world while trying to get along with her teenage daughter. One of the obstacles in that story was that one of the PTA mothers at her daughters' elementary school was often giving her a hard time. We finally get to hear Taylors side (the mom in question) in Mrs. Perfect the newest release by Jane Porter.
Taylor Young makes being a stay at home mom look like an Olympic event. She has perfected every task she has come up against, whether it be running the yearly PTA auction or figuring out the perfect anti-aging regimen; she has it covered.
This book starts a year after the last one ended and small cracks in Taylor's perfect life are starting to show. The big event, however, that really gets the storyline running is when she finds out that her husband has been lying to her. For the past seven months he has been jobless and searching. The trouble is, he has also been keeping from her that they are in massive amounts of debt. The good news is he has found a job; the catch is that it is in Omaha!
So, off he go's to acclimate to his no job and she is left with her head spinning. Not only does she have to prepare the house she and her husband built together to be sold, but she also has to figure out a way, all on her own, to get them out of debt without having to declare bankruptcy.
Mrs. Perfect was a great read! I enjoy how Jane can make a story more realistic and less fairy tale, but still make it that it is immensely enjoyable. It is heartwarming without being preachy and definitely shows that with hard work and some great friends to bring you through, life is not so impossible after all.