Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult

No. of pages: 436
Rating: 8/10

Synopsis: A woman wakes to find herself in a graveyard, hurt and bleeding, her memory wiped clean. She doesn't know what she's doing there - or even who she is. She is rescued by a police officer, himself a newcomer to Los Angeles. After days of waiting, she is taken by complete surprise when she is finally identified by Alex Rivers, Hollywood's biggest movie star - and her husband.

Cassie is dazzled and bewildered by the fairytale in which she suddenly finds herself. But everything is not quite right, and there is something dark and disturbing behind this glamorous facade. It is only as her memory gradually returns that her picture perfect life comes crumbling down, and Cassie is faced with choices she never dreamed she would have to make.

Review: When Cassie wakes up cold and alone in a graveyard, she realises that not only does she not know how she got there, but she doesn't even know her own name. Luckily as she stumbles out on to the street, she is found by Will Flying Horse, a LAPD officer, who takes her in until someone recognises her. Then her husband comes forward to claim her, and it's none other than Alex Rivers, the biggest actor in Hollywood. So as Cassie steps into a fairytale life, she can't imagine how she ever came to have a famous husband and a mansion for a home. But then bit by bit, Cassie starts to realise things aren't quite as they seem, and her fantasy life isn't quite the fairytale she thought...

The thing I always enjoy about Picoult's novels is that she loves to tackle hard subjects, but she makes them so human in that there's no black and white, but only people who struggle to make hard choices. I did enjoy the controversial topic in this book, and also thought the choices Cassie made echoed the choices that so many women make every day, and so that made it seem very realistic. I did find the story dragged a bit in the middle, when it was flashing back to when Cassie and Alex first got together, but once I got passed that bit, the rest of the book went at a decent pace. I loved the Native American aspect to the tale, and found it all very interesting learning about the tribal rituals and such. I have to admit Will was my favourite character, he just seemed such a nice and devoted guy and I'm so glad it all ended the way I was hoping all along. All in all, this is well worth a read, and I do recommend it.