Her Perfect Life (Signature Select) [Mass Market Paperback]

Vicki Hinze (Author)

Book Description

Series: Signature Select | Publication Date: April 11, 2006

Everyone thinks she's dead
While flying a routine border patrol mission over Iraq, air force captain Katie Slater's plane is blown from the sky and hurtles deep into enemy territory. And Katie awakens to hell.

But six years later she comes home
Helped by a compassionate guard, Katie is finally free. But the perfect life she left behind has vanished. Her husband is remarried, her two children -- who barely remember her -- have another mother. And Katie's former copilot, C.D. Quade, her rock and confidant, can't let go of his guilt over leaving her behind.

And now nothing is the same

Losing everything means not only coming to terms with an imperfect past, but putting the military behind her and taking a chance on a long-held dream of starting her own garden business. Does Katie have the strength to grow a new life -- on her own terms?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Katie Slater's whole life is a war story, and her only weapons have been ripped from her soul. To fight to freedom, she dons an emotional armor that only love can pierce." --Joyce Holland, Northwest Florida Daily News --NW FL Daily News

"Her Perfect Life is the perfect read.  From the very first sentence, I was hooked by this engaging and heartfelt story of a woman's journey through danger, adventure and romance."     -Susan Wiggs, best-selling author --Susan Wiggs

Hinze honors the bravest of the brave with Her Perfect Life and I am proud to have read it.                              -JoyfullyReviewed.com --Joyfully Reviewed

"Occasionally a book is written which profoundly touches anyone who reads it, and the story penned by Vicki Hinze is constantly thought-provoking and engaging."
--cataromance --CataRomance

"An incredibly emotional read.  Have Kleenex handy-you'll need it.  C.D. and Katie are wonderful protagonists and their story is the reason why one picks up a romance novel."  TOP PICK AWARD  -Kristi Ablers, RT Book Club --RT Book Club

From the Author

This is one of my most favorite books.  It stemmed from a news report about no man being left behind in a war zone.  And that got me to thinking about Scott Spicher, whose fate was unknown from the first Iraq war to the second.

What would happen, I wondered, if a female pilot were shot down?  If there were confirmed reports of her death and yet she was a prisoner?  What if her husband buried her, moved on with life, remarried and her children loved their stepmother?
And what if the POW were then rescued and returned home?

All she knew and loved is gone.  Her perfect life is gone.  She is a stranger to her children, and the life she had is over.  What now?  What does she do now?

That's where Her Perfect Life begins.   And what she discovers is that what you thought was perfect might or might not be.  If you have the courage to look ahead rather than back at what is behind you and no more, you might find an even more perfect life.  You might find love.

HER PERFECT LIFE AWARDS
RITA (tm) nominee
RT Top Pick
Holt Medallion
Reader's Choice
Reviewer's Choice

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (April 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373836929
• ISBN-13: 978-0373836925
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,450,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was raised in New Orleans. After I married a Hurricane Hunter/Special Ops officer, we and our children moved every few years. Some of those places? Mississippi (recently devastated by Hurricane Katrina); California; Illinois and Florida.

I've been writing full-time since 1987, have written over thirty books--novels and nonfiction--and for the last ten years or so, I've spent a lot of time teaching new writers or running mentoring programs like [e-mail], when I answer questions on the craft, business and writing life, sharing what I can to help. I also have a free online writers' library, ON WRITING, on my website:(www.vickihinze.com)that WritersZone members and others are welcome to use. Additional podcasts and feature articles are available there, too. I'm a sponsor of As a Mom--love their project teaching history--The Book Club Network, and of International Thriller Writers.

Between family and writing commitments, I don't have as much time for hobbies as I once did. My favorite? Home-improvement projects. I'm active in ITW, MWA, RWA, ACFW, NINC, ACRA, AG, AWSA and other writing organizations.

Blogs? Oh, yes. My Kitchen Table for chatting, On Writing about craft, business and the writing life. VICKI HINZE'S FAITH ZONE, on spirituality. THINKING ALOUD--a thought per day to ponder for the busiest among us. All are on my website at www.vickihinze.com/blog I love hearing from readers, typically via my website or Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vicki-Hinze/197809543636310) and Twitter ( http://twitter.com/vickihinze ).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling story of a female POW, June 28, 2006

By 

Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Her Perfect Life (Signature Select) (Mass Market Paperback)

After spending six years as a POW in an Iraqi prison camp, Katie is rescued thanks to the efforts of a compassionate Iraqi officer and returns the US. During the rapes, the torture, the beatings, and the forced deprivation of food and water, only the hope that she would be reunited with her family helped her cling to hope. Imagine her shock when she returns only to find that her family has moved on and her husband has a new wife he has no intention of leaving.

With the help of her good friend and co-pilot CD, she is finds a job, lodging, and is reintroduced to her reluctant children who barely remember her. Her husband Sam seems more concerned with paying back the life insurance money than with welcoming his wife home. Sam intends to divorce Katie and remain with Blair and they iron out an amicable split to keep the children from further pain. Katie leans more and more on CD, who has always been in love with her and wants to have a future with her if she could only forget about Sam. She misconstrues this love for guilt over leaving her in the Gulf (despite his being unconscious and left for dead).

With the help of Blair (who let's face it is far too good to be true), Katie is able to develop a relationship with her children. She really wants to hate the other woman, but Blair makes that impossible, as the two become like sisters. Will she be able to move on from her past and forge a new life free of fears and nightmares?

This is a compelling subject that would have made an incredible fully developed novel. Author Hinze chose to concentrate on Katie's return, with mere glimpses of what she suffered while in Iraq, which was fine, but it only skimmed the surface of so many emotions in under 300 pages.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Her Perfect Life, February 7, 2007

By 

M. Nix - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Her Perfect Life (Signature Select) (Mass Market Paperback)

Shot down flying a mission over Iraq, Captain Katie Slater has been a prisoner of war for six years. Suffering abuse at the hands of her captors in silence, the only thing that has kept Katie sane is her need to see her husband and children again. Katie lies in her cell at night mourning the death of her copilot and wishing for the day someone will find her in her desert hell and she can once again be free. Katie's wish comes true days later when she is liberated.

Back in Florida, Katie is one unhappy captain. Something is wrong and no one will tell her what it is. Demanding answers and refusing to cooperate with her doctor, Katie wants to see her husband and her children and she wants to see them now. Katie's doctor finally relents and Katie is allowed to see her husband Sam after six long years. The reception Katie was expecting from Sam doesn't happen. When Sam comes clean about his life and their children, Katie has to be sedated.

C. D. Quade, Katie's copilot, can't believe the love of his life is alive! Filled with joy but tremendous guilt for all she suffered in the last six years, C. D. demands to see her. What he finds is a shell of the woman he has loved through life and death. Vowing that he will not leave Katie, C. D. sets out to prove to her just how much she is loved.

Katie has to fight her way back to normalcy. Refusing to talk about her time in captivity, she is unable to come to grips with her abuse and let it go. With C. D. by her side and her children slowly learning to love her again, Katie has a fight on her hands--a fight she will not let her now dead captors win.

Her Perfect Life by Vicki Hinze absolutely tore my heart out. I can't imagine being in Katie's shoes and the fact the story is so realistic made Her Perfect Life dearer to me. I wanted to choke her husband Sam but then couldn't fault him for decisions he made. As much as I couldn't stand Sam, I loved C. D. Patient, kind, and extremely supportive, I thought him the perfect love for Katie. As for Katie, if she were a real person, I would honor her bravery and service. Her character was that well written.

Her Perfect Life was emotional, romantic, and just an all around poignant read. It made me angry, laugh, cry, and then smile for a job well done. I feel Ms. Hinze honors the bravest of the brave with Her Perfect Life and I am proud to have read it.

Talia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars tense character study, April 13, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Her Perfect Life (Signature Select) (Mass Market Paperback)

For six years Air Force pilot Katie Cole Slater has been a prisoner of war held by a warlord in Iraq, but now is free to go home. She survived her ordeal due to her now frayed photos of her husband Sam and their two children Molly and Jake. First the army psychiatrists want to know more about what went wrong. Katie is uncooperative as she is irate that they keep her from her family and that they assume team when she was abandoned and her team was that of one. Her motto now is do not depend on anyone except yourself. However, even home is not what it was when she went on active duty as her spouse Sam has remarried as she was assumed dead.

Heartbroken her only connection is her copilot C.D. Quade who she thought died when their plane crashed. Still she is irate with C.D. because he failed her in the desert by leaving her behind. C.D. feels guilty for what happened to Katie, the only woman he loves. He plans to help her readjust though her world has seemingly collapsed in the time she spent as a captive.

HER PERFECT LIFE is a tense character study that grips readers from the moment that a justified belligerent Katie comes home and has to deal with the brass, a remarried former husband, and the belief that her pal deserted her. The story line is totally Katie as she adjusts to life in a strange America after six plus years of captivity. The romance between her and C.J. augment a strong look at a former POW trying to regain her equilibrium.

Harriet Klausner