Perfecting Kate by Tamara Leigh

I enjoyed "Stealing Adda"; I adore "Perfecting Kate". You just cannot go wrong with a Tamara Leigh novel!

Kate Meadows is a gifted artist. She is a struggling Christian. She has a secret (which you learn early on in the story, but which I'M not giving away here:-). And she has a complex...

Which resembles one I have myself. Wanting to be accepted for who she is, but being surrounded by people who want to change her.

Kate and her oh-so-perfect roommate Maia are selected by master makeup and makeover artist extraordinare Michael Palmier for a magazine photo shoot project that only serves to emphasize Kate's flaws and imperfections. But Michael shows an interest in her...as a woman, or as a project?

Enter Dr. Clive Alexander, a ringer for Brad Pitt, in a doctorly kind of way (since I'm one of the few women in America who isn't Pitt-fascinated...I imagined him as a George Clooney-ish, Hugh Jackman-ish doctor type:-). He hires Kate to paint a mural in the new children's burn unit...but is that all he wants from her? Or does he seek to change Kate as well?

Kate's faith is new, and it is shaky...but it is gut-level honest. You can't help but fall in love with her, and to feel what she feels. I was tied up in knots with this novel...because I am Kate in real life...maybe not being made over physically, but spiritually I feel like a project to some, and inadequate to many.

So this was a very familiar journey for me. Maybe that is why Kate's story tugged at my heart so much. I wanted her to triumph, so that I could feel as if I might too. Does she? Who loves her for being just Kate?

Well, you'll have to read it for yourself...'cause I'm not tellin!! But you won't want to miss this novel.

I give "Perfecting Kate" five bookmarks and a bonus tassel...this is one I wish I hadn't read, just for the joy of reading it again...and I will read it again. Kate is my kindred spirit...just wish she was "real" so we could do Starbucks together!!

Happy Reading!

Deena