Liam’s Perfect Woman by Beth Kery (Home to Harbor Town #2)
July 19, 2011
Contemporary Romance
Paperback
Harlequin

Reviewed by Mandi

Liam Kavanaugh is done with the high stress police force in Chicago, and has decided to return to the small town of  Harbor Town, Michigan to become the police chief. And while he wants to spend a few weeks relaxing before he takes his new position, Natalie Reyes has a proposition for him.

Sixteen years ago when Liam was only 15 and Natalie even younger, Liam’s father Derry drank way too much, got behind the wheel of his car, and started driving. He crashed into a car carrying Natalie and her mom. Her mom died, as did Derry. Natalie survived, but not without scarring on her face, and extensive therapy. Since the crash, the families have had very hard feelings on both sides. Natalie has gone on to become a successful accountant, but her personal life has been difficult. Feeling very self consciousness about her scarring, and difficulty with one of her eyes, her social life is pretty non-existent.

Natalie wants to move forward and try to accept what happened in the past. But she wants to know what made a great family guy, a successful lawyer get behind the wheel with the equivalent of 20 drinks in him. She thinks there must have been a reason, and nothing has come to light in the past sixteen years.

Liam has similar thoughts. Derry was a great dad, and a well respected lawyer. What happened to him to become such a selfish person that night? Natalie knows Liam is a hard worker, and had been following his career in Chicago. So she turns to him, for a fee, to research his own dad. Liam is reluctant at first, but Natalie intrigues him. He wants to get to know her better, and he wants to put the past behind him as well.

Liam’s Perfect Woman is much darker than I expected it to be. Maybe my expectations rested on the cover, I’m not sure, but I really enjoyed this one. At first I was a little put off that Natalie would ask Liam to research his own dad’s death. Something that affected them each so profoundly. But after we start to get into the book, it starts to make more sense. Both Liam and Natalie have unresolved issues and they go on a journey together to discover if anything happened that night. And I like that it is emphasized they might not find anything. Maybe he just honestly had too much to drink. Or maybe they will find something disturbing, and how Liam will handle that is done well.

During their work, they start to fall for each other. Natalie must overcome her shyness, and her low self-esteem. She not only feels shy in front of Liam but they have external pressure, since it is widely known these two families are not friends. But Liam pushes her and Natalie slowly starts to have more confidence. I really enjoyed their relationship. Very sensual and sexy. And fit well with the darker tone of the book.

I will say it was hard to keep all the supporting characters straight. There are a lot of brothers, sisters and in-laws and it was hard to put them with the right family. But otherwise, this is a really nice read. I’m a fan of Beth Kery’s voice and look forward to more.

Rating: B

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