The Perfect Happiness by Santa Montefiore

The Perfect Happiness by Santa Montefiore is a witty love story that also has risk, temptation, and much more. It is a story about a woman who is married with children, and is relatively happy, or so she thinks, until she meets a mysterious man from a faraway country. Should she tempt fate and risk it all for a once in a lifetime love affair? If she does, what will become of her life now?

Book Description
“A wife who has forgotten her own beauty and allure. A distant, distracted husband. A smart, candlelit dinner party, witty conversation, and a charmingly rugged vineyard owner from South Africa. So begins Santa Montefiore's powerful and poignant new novel in which a woman who finds herself in a common predicament must confront the most unlikely aspects of herself.

"I hope you don't mind my writing to you," begins the first e-mail bestselling children's book author Angelica receives from Jack. Surely it can't do any harm to indulge in a mild flirtation. After all, she wouldn't risk her stable marriage and the happiness of her treasured children. But things don't stop at an e-mail, and when Angelica goes to Cape Town for a book tour, her affair with Jack begins in earnest. On their last day together, he makes a stunning confession, and now everything Angelica thought she knew about love and passion, safety and experience, right and wrong are entirely upended once again.

A tender book about the true meaning of love and happily ever after, The Perfect Happiness is for any woman who has ever looked up from her steady, secure life and secretly wondered "what if . . ." – The Perfect Happiness


My Thoughts
A love story that is not your cookie cutter formula and involves actually many love stories in one? That is essentially what The Perfect Happiness is about.

Angelica and Oliver have been married for years, have children, both have great jobs and are in the upper class in London, and still something is missing. When Angelica meets Jack, something is sparked inside her, but she doesn’t quite know what to do with it. When she finally gives in to the temptation, and begins to love another man, her world is turned upside down.

I enjoyed the characters, which seemed to be a blend of Sex and the City and a soap opera. They are in the upper class, and wear plenty of fabulous designers, and the author makes sure to name drop the designers frequently. I love my fashion as much as the next fashionista, but this even started to bore me in some areas. It isn’t a book about fashion, so it wasn’t needed to the extent it was used.

On the bright side, the settings that the novel took place in were vividly described. The love affair was full of excitement and wisdom – not necessarily something that would otherwise blend together so well.

Overall, I did enjoy this novel due to the strong storyline and surprises that it throws at you. If you like your love stories to be unique, and not on the “romance style” of writing, this book is for you!


Thank you to the publisher of The Perfect Happiness, Touchstone Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, for providing me with a copy for review. All opinions expressed are my own.