Fool's Gold #3
Finding Perfect by Susan Mallery
"When Pia O'Brian's best friend dies, Pia expects to inherit her cherished cat. Instead, the woman leaves Pia three frozen embryos. With a disastrous track record in the romance department and the parenting skills of a hamster, Pia doesn't think she's meant for motherhood. But determined to do the right thing, Pia decides to become a single mother. Only to meet a gorgeous, sexy hunk the very same day.A former foster-care kid now rich beyond his wildest dreams, Raoul Moreno runs a camp for needy children in Fool's Gold, California. After his last relationship, Raoul thought he was done with women and commitment. Still, he can't get sweet, sexy Pia out of his mind—and proposes a crazyplan. But can such an unconventional beginning really result in the perfect ending?"
I was excited to read Finding Perfect - I'd read Sweet Spot and liked Raoul as well as I had liked Chasing Perfect and Almost Perfect. It's not very often I come across a storyline as unique as this one; A deceased friend leaving three fertilized embryos for Pia to birth, so I gathered Susan Mallery put a lot of work into this story to pull it off well. I'm glad that she (Susan Mallery) allowed her characters to feel some annoyance towards Crystal because, deceased or not, Crystal's actions were questionable. Pia's character was fun and honest; a breath of fresh air, I found myself chuckling many times during her witty monologue. I liked Raoul's kind nature, as well, he was very generous and pretty much like the 18 year-old I read about in Sweet Spot. Fool's Gold provided a warm backdrop for the story, I enjoyed the people and the real family feel, Mallery didn't spend half the novel describing the town, yet I could see it in my mind's eye. What I didn't like was that Pia freaked out over motherhood a bit too much and so much of the book had lapsed before she decided to go through with the implanting; I wish we'd seen her give birth. Overall, the novel was warm and I had no desires to put it down at any point; a third success in the series.