Picture Perfect

PICTURE PERFECT is like a photo album depicting a year in the life of the Trask family. The family is headed by Judge Trask, a respected member of the Eden community. His wife, Beth, is a saleswoman for Bee Beautiful cosmetics. Shyla Trask is an honor student attending college in Austin. Zane is a popular high school student, and youngest sibling, Phoebe, has just turned fourteen. Life is fairly typical for the Trask family until the day Beth Trask wins a contest with Bee Beautiful comestics, and while attending the convention in Las Vegas decides not to return home. Judge Trask, Zane, and Phoebe are left to fend for themselves. What follows is a year of change and confusion. The summer begins with a new neighbor, beautiful Beverly, moving in next door. She is determined to become part of the family and seems particularly smitten with Judge Sumner Trask. Phoebe and Zane begin to suspect that they need to keep their eyes on her or they may find their mother has been replaced. As fall arrives, Phoebe struggles to begin her first year of high school. Without her mother's presence, Phoebe depends on rare but welcome help from her older sister and the constant butting-in of neighbor Beverly. Zane rebels by joining his buddies in some teenage-type vandalism, and incurs the wrath of the Judge. The Judge has his own problems when faced with a difficult case that results in threats to his family's safety. The Trask family muddles through on the home front until Beth Trask finally comes to her senses and returns from her saleswoman adventures. Her return is not all sunshine and roses however, since her first announcement is that she has cancer. And the year continues... D. Anne Love brings the Trask family struggles to life with believable characters and experiences. From Phoebe's first kiss to Judge Trask's beating, readers will keep turning pages to find out what will happen next. Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"