The Perfect Man tells the story of Britt and Mia McDonagh, two sisters who have totally opposite opinions when it comes to love. Britt, whose debut novel The Perfect Man was an instant success, doesn’t believe in romance since her marriage broke up but Mia, single mother to Allegra, believes in The One and is still in love with her ex, Alejo.

The two sisters go on a cruise, a ship named Aphrodite, to speak about Britt’s book and meet Leo, who is hiding a heart break and Steve, who works on the ship. Nothing seems to happen until they all go home (to Dublin and Spain) and they all have to take risks if they want a happy future.

I absolutely loved The Perfect Man. The cover, the writing, the characters… it was all fabulous. It’s quite a chunk of a book - large paperback version has just over 500 pages, but there’s never a dull moment. It reads like a dream and you could imagine all of the beautiful locations described.

Books set in foreign places are always high up on my list of books to read and I thought it very unique that over half of The Perfect Man was set on a cruise around the Caribbean. The descriptions of the ship as well as all of the places the ship docks are very well described by Sheila. I’ve never been on a ship but reading about the Aphrodite makes me want to go on a cruise!

The rest of the book alternates between Dublin, where Leo and Britt live, and Sierra Bonita in Spain where Mia and Allegra live. Sierra Bonita is very well described and sounds like a beautiful Spanish town.

For once, I loved all of the characters in the book. Shelia didn’t write any of them as a villain, except maybe Alejo but he really he was more of a minor character. I liked Mia and thought it was great how, even though the love of her life had left her, she still believes in love and The One. Britt’s hesitancy with love and all things romance, as well as her potential career change, was also well written and I could see both sisters perspective on their views of love. Britt’s changing opinion on love was very well done by Sheila. Leo was the main man on board the ship and had a very sad tale to tell. I kept trying to second guess what exactly had happened and was pleased we didn’t have to wait until the end of the book to find out exactly what happened. Steve, I felt, wasn’t a main character but he was prominent to the story. I liked him and I wish he’d appeared more!

Britt, Mia and Leo had complex but very interesting back stories and as we got further into the book we learnt all about what they’d faced. Britt’s failed marriage was an interesting one - she came across as cold during the first part of the book so there was only one obvious conclusion as to why her marriage might have failed. It was interesting to find out I was wrong and, actually, Britt was lovely. Mia back-story was great, too, and I liked the scenes in Antigua Guatemala which helped fill in Mia’s story with Alejo. As I mentioned, Alejo is a bit of a villain and I didn’t really like him. Leo’s was the most interesting as I mentioned above.

There were a few minor characters, the main minor character being the Costello family who were also on board Aphrodite. Even though Sheila could have made Pippin, the Costello’s daughter, really nasty I felt that Pippin was actually lovely. Usually models in books are written as stupid and nasty but not Pippin. I’m glad that she got her happy ending.

The Perfect Man was really well written and switched easily from Mia’s to Britt’s to Leo’s perspective. It was a really great read, with a fabulous set of characters as well as great descriptions of some beautiful places. I wholly recommend it!

Rating: 5/5

I’d like to thank Headline Review for sending a copy to me for review.

Tags: sheila o'flanagan

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