Too Perfect

Ortolon's enjoyable final novel in her Perfect trilogy ( Almost Perfect ; Just Perfect ) spins a good, old-fashioned contemporary fairy tale, but conscious suspension of disbelief is required. It's time for nurturing, curvy, Texas-bred Amy Baker to face her ultimate feartraveling alone. She plans a working vacation cruise as a nanny, but gets fired and stranded on the Caribbean island of St. Barts before the trip begins. Determined to finish her challenge, Amy takes a job as a housekeeper for Guy Gaspar, a disfigured man who lives in his extravagant fort's tower and never shows his face. Or so she's told by his jolly French assistant. In reality, the lone tenant is sexy Hollywood golden boy Byron Parks, who seeks anonymity from the paparazzi. In an Oscar-worthy performance, Byron plays both assistant and "beast," and Amy falls in love with "Guy" over the fort's intercom. In this novel's case, the title is right on: the fanciful plot twists are fun, but Amy's character reads juvenile, and Byron is too sensitive for a playboy, even one with a heart. (Nov.) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. An Ice Princess: You have to be tough to work in the ER-but Dr. Christine Ashton's courage doesn't extend to riding a chairlift, no matter how much she loves skiing. Her challenge is to strap on a pair of skis and conquer her fear of heights. The bigger challenge, though, will be resisting the sexy ski instructor her friends have deemed off-limits. A Ski Bum: Alec Hunter is more than just a fun-loving charmer and nothing like the users, losers, and strays Christine usually winds up with. But she's still giving him the cold shoulder, and he's determined to prove how wrong she is about him. A Perfect Disaster? After helping the victim of a snowboarding accident, the two fall hard and fast - with enough heat to melt the mountains. And everything is just perfect - until Christine must face kind of fear and choose between her dream job back home and her dream man in Colorado While trying to overcome her fear of heights by strapping on a pair of skis, ER doctor Christine Ashton finds herself falling for sexy ski instructor Alec Hunter, but now she is faced with a life-altering decision