Customer Reviews

Mrs. Perfect (Bellevue Wives)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

Jane Porter did it again!! I loved Mrs. Perfect as much as Odd Mom out, and Flirting With Forty. She writes so you get drawn into the story and can visualize the characters.

Pass the word on to your friends on this fantastic writter!!

After finishing Flirting with Forty, I rushed out to get Odd Mom Out and was happily surprised that Mrs Perfect was also sitting on the shelf beside it. I got both that day.

I have to say. I didn't like Taylor in Odd Mom Out. And yet... even though I didn't like Taylor for the first 1/4 of Mrs Perfect... I devoured the book in a night!

I think that by not initially liking Taylor made me appreciate her more by the end of the book and watching her overcome so many obstacles in her path. I mean... once Jane put that wench into her life... I was wanting to see how Taylor was going to get through it all.

Wonderful book!

In Bellevue, Washington everyone envies thirty-six year old Taylor Young who seems to live the perfect life. Her husband adores her and they have three wonderful children as they share an affluent lifestyle. Taylor looks forward to being super Head Room Mom for her daughter Tori's fifth grade class.

However to her shock, MRS. PERFECT is bypassed as class supermom as her enemy and complete opposite hippie mom Marta Zinsser is selected. As the two women fight over everything, Taylor learns her affluence is gone and her trust devastated; her spouse has been unemployed for six months but hid it; he no longer can. As everyone seems to cut her off only her enemy combatant Marta still talks with her.

ODD MOM OUT was a deep character study of Marta that focused on personal and professional relationships; this time Marta plays a secondary role as Jane Porter places her spotlight on a supermom MRS. PERFECT in another deep character study. Taylor evolves from her image is the message lifestyle to the realization that true friends are there when things turn nasty. Fans will appreciate Ms. Porter's strong look at what happens to relationships when the walls come tumbling down.

Harriet Klausner

We first meet Taylor "Mrs. Perfect" in Jane Porter's previous 5 Spot book, "Odd Mom Out". While it is not necessary to read "Odd Mom Out" first you should because it is also a good book and sets the stage for "Mrs. Perfect".

On the outside looking in, Taylor seems to have the perfect life with a handsome, rich husband, three beautiful blonde daughters, a gorgeous house on the waterfront in an exclusive area of Bellevue, Washington, a fabulous wardrobe, and country club set friends.

She is a super-mom doing everything to volunteer at her daughters' schools. She volunteers in all of the classrooms and chairs the auction committee for an annual fundraiser. She set her own career in PR aside when she became a wife and mother.

Slowly Taylor's seemingly perfect world begins to unravel when shockingly she learns that her husband has lost his high paying, high power job and has actually been unemployed for the past several months. Everything changes for Taylor when her husband moves across country to accept a job in Omaha, Nebraska.

Suddenly Taylor finds herself with none of the security or money she had before--she has a closetful of designer clothes, but nothing of substance. I was hooked from the moment Taylor sat down in her husband's den and went through all of the unpaid bills and realized just how much in debt they were and how far behind they had fallen on the payments.

You will cringe when Taylor's credit card is rejected at a restaurant much to her humiliation and in front of a girlfriend. You will feel bad for her when her ATM card is not accepted at the grocery store when she is buying treats for her daughter's Halloween party. You will laugh when she turns her hair orange after being forced to color her own hair!

The book is funny and sad and real and empowering all at the same time. Taylor finds her own strength as she sells her things at a garage sale, gets a job beneath her qualifications after being out of the job market for so long, sells her beloved house to a woman she can't stand, tries to save her marriage, finds out who her real friends are, etc. I don't want to give anything else away.

I give this book 5 stars!! "Frog Prince" used to be my favorite Jane book...but "Mrs. Perfect" may have taken its place. Read all of Jane's books--she speaks to women and we can see pieces of ourselves in all of her characters!

What would you do if the very role that defined you was taken away? Taylor Young, a periphery character in Jane Porter's previous novel, ODD MOM OUT, now takes center stage in MRS. PERFECT, where she faces that exact dilemma.

An attractive mother of three beautiful girls, wife to the very successful Nathan, and sort of a ringleader for her group of seemingly perfect moms in their upper-class Bellevue, Washington neighborhood, Taylor had left behind a career in public relations to be a mom, and her days couldn't be busier. She scored the coveted but labor-intensive job of running her daughters' private school's charity auction, in addition to chauffeuring her children around to their various activities and keeping their spectacular house up, as well as taking time to make sure her own appearance was topnotch, scheduling appointments for the requisite manicures, pedicures, waxings and highlightings.

Sound exhausting? It is! To be an uber-mom today, you need the time management skills of an army drill sergeant, the negotiating tact of a SWAT team and the outward appearance of a supermodel. And although it's daunting, Taylor relishes her life and status. It redresses all the wrongs of her neglected and not-so-glamorous childhood, when she was known as the less-than-perfect Tammy Jones. Despite the careful image she has created for herself, she recognizes the role it serves: "I like being Taylor Young. I need to be Taylor Young. I never want to be Tammy Jones again." She revels in her inward and outward attributes and accomplishments, and can't understand people like Marta Zinsser, who disdains a more feminine appearance, choosing to don leather jackets and well-worn boots instead of couture clothes.

But soon the expensive designer rug is pulled out from under Taylor when her husband reveals that they are financially strapped --- worse than strapped. Thanks to their high living and poor fiscal management, they are severely in debt. Nathan takes a job out of state to help the family regain their footing, while Taylor frantically tries to salvage the image of their perfect life. At first, it all seems too much to bear, but slowly the fighter in Taylor emerges and she starts putting her life back together, one dream at a time. Although her marriage appears to be in a precarious state, she decides that she has to focus on what she can do to better their situation. She begins to downsize in every way imaginable, and even starts looking for a job.

When jobs that will accommodate her children's busy schedule seem to be impossible to locate, Taylor finds some help from a very unexpected source --- Marta Zinsser. Although seemingly polar opposites, by working at Marta's advertising firm, she learns that they have more in common than anyone would imagine. They both strive to be the best moms they can be and take fierce pride in their work. This unexpected kindness helps Taylor realize what's really important in life and just how she can regain those things.

In her latest outing, Jane Porter touches on so many of the universal topics that have been (and will continue to be) hot-button issues for women. Stay-at-home moms vs. working moms, falling prey to the fast-paced "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality and the endless acquisition of more possessions --- all of these issues are keenly examined in this compulsively readable and enjoyable novel. When contemplating selling off her possessions, Taylor admits, "I'm so afraid I can't survive this. It's not just the loss of things. It's not even the loss of Nathan. It's the loss of pride." How can you maintain your pride when everything you once valued has been stripped away?

Porter's charming book reminds us that it's not our possessions that define us, no matter what Madison Avenue tells us. It's who we are and how we treat each other that really counts. And as the old saying goes, that which does not kill us only makes us stronger. We root for Taylor to overcome her hardships and flourish. MRS. PERFECT is a terrific companion to ODD MOM OUT and a delicious treat for readers everywhere.

--- Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller

Having read Odd Mom Out and totally loving the character of Marta I was a little skeptical about reading a book based on the character of Taylor. I totally loved this book. Taylor is so well developed in this book. Your heart will ache for all she endures. There is so much of Marta and Taylor in everyday women. Even Lucy...who has made what appears to be a huge mistake and pays dearly comes around as being absolutely understandable in the choices she made. Jane Porter grabs you from the first page and keeps you reading. It's a shame we have to wait until July 2009 for her next book.

I loved this book! But I wasn't really surprised, I've loved every book I've read of Jane's. She is the kind of writer that can make you feel like you are a part of the world she's created in her books. I laughed, I cried, I cheered Taylor on as she dealt with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. What a great read.

Jane's voice is so engaging, as the character Taylor. I truly felt like I was sitting with a friend, listening to her story. I have never been -so inside- the mind of a perfectionist, seen the wounds, had hidden sorrows brought into the light. I desperately wanted to give Taylor a hug.

This was my first book by Jane Porter. As a relative newcomer to the mom-scene (my daughter is 4.5), and having been brought up outside of the US, I am still amazed at and amused by the "professional" and highly competitive approach to parenthood, particularly motherhood in this country. While I enjoyed reading the book - it is perfect for a long summer weekend - the message at the end gets muddled somewhat. Here is this long and somewhat labored build-up to Taylor's realizing that putting oneself in a totally dependent situation is not such a good thing, that perhaps her talents and abilities can be better utilized outside of making copies at a school office and helping with lunch, or baking designer cookies... She gets a job and seems to be at least initially successful at juggling being a mom and working full time, which is what 75% women in America do, and survive. And then, as though at a wave of a magic wand, Nathan gets a fabulous job overseas, with double the earnings, and sweeps Taylor off to Sidney, where she undoubtedly will once again fall into her seemingly perfect life of being a social ringleader, a professional uber mom decked out in designer garb, and ultimately an accessory to her bread winning husband. So, where is the message? What did Jane Porter really try to say with this book?