Customer Reviews

A Not-So-Perfect Past (Harlequin Super Romance)

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I love Beth Andrews' natural and realistic style of writing. The story is one of redemption and healing from one's past. In this case, it's both the hero and heroine who have healing to do. The hero is of course wounded and needs the love of a good woman, but the heroine also needs to be saved. Although, usually, heroines who don't stand up for themselves do not make for a good read. But in this book, Nina starts out that way, but builds herself up a little at a time until she is fully standing on her own two feet against all comers. I rejoiced when she finally reached this point because I could see myself in her. Dillon, the hero, was of course hawttttt!!! His story of abuse and neglect and the need to save his sister from that situation was beautifully and poignantly told here. I fell in love!!! A happily ever after was had by all...

This book has many of the elements that I love. Its a strong story line, it's easy to get into and in some cases it will have you reflecting on your own life. I remember towards the end of the book that I was yelling and screaming, that's how excited I was.

I'm so glad to have discovered Beth Andrews' books. I love this Harlequin line, and it produces some of category romance's best writers.

A Not-So-Perfect Past is about how appearances can be deceiving, and about how a person cannot be judged solely on past experiences. Nina is a divorced young mother who secretly suffered through years of emotional and physical abuse dished out by a husband who had a perfect façade. Always the town good girl, she is under pressure from her family to deal with the `problem' tenant living above the business she now owns.
Nina's solution is to give Dillon an eviction notice. Dillon is not trusted by most people in town because he has a conviction for killing his stepfather. He did commit the crime, but it was to stop the abusive man from raping his sister.
When a teen in a stolen car crashes into Nina's bakery, she swallows her pride and asks Dillon to help rebuild. He reluctantly accepts.

Nina and Dillon struggle with their slow-building relationship. Both have very set ideas about how the world should be, and both are quick to judge the other. They have to learn to stand on the same side, regardless of what others think. I liked both characters.

This being a Superromance, there are children and teenagers and family members involved in the story. I very much enjoyed the way the author created the younger characters; as I don't particularly care for children in books this was a bit of a surprise. These were real people and not those precocious kiddies so common in romance. I especially liked Marcus, Nina's son, and liked the evolution of Kyle, the teen who drove into the bakery.

This was an engrossing contemporary romance that kept me up much of the night.

I didn't find this book as enjoyable as I found the previous novel "Not Without Her Family". Judging by the events of that book I thought Dillon would end up with a strong woman. Preferably with his bartender/lawyer friend Allison. And I was really hoping he had by the end. I loved all the characters in "Not Without Her Family" but I can't stand them in "A-Not-So-Perfect Past". Dillon had to care for his rebel sister Kelsey and the last thing he needed was another woman to "fix". I thought Nina had too much baggage for Dillon's character.