I have read 3 of McNaught's books and I think it is time for me to move on to a new author. 
 Don't get me wrong - I liked Paradise, but I think Perfect and Kingdom of Dreams were just so flat. And full of empty drama. 
 I vowed to stop reading anything McNaught after reading Kingdom of Dreams because I had a problem with the plot/character development: in my opinion, I think the hero was really unjustly mistreated by said author and the heroine bimbo was seriously favoured, despite her annoying tantrum and ridiculous decisions. For what the hero was worth, he surely should have/could have done better, but for some brain-glitch. 
 For Paradise, this was not the case. To a certain extent, yes, Meredith got onto my nerves at the second half of the book (for every reason Matt listed) but she kinda redeemed herself a little bit. I'm a nice person (feel free to disagree), I have forgiven her. 
 What I meant to say was, second opportunity was provided for McNaught; she redeemed herself with Paradise, but in Perfect, the same problem I had with KOD resurfaces (in my opinion). Julie falls in love with Zack, and *gasp!* Zack falls in love back, gracious and suave as he is. No spoilers here, but after that Julie makes terrible and cringe-worthy mistakes, making Zack suffer the consequences. THe mistake is worse than infidelity (maybe, maybe not), (view spoiler)[not that Julie doesn't commit this sin anyway (hide spoiler)], it is mistrust. Right when Zack's balance and love for her lies in this sole quality. (view spoiler)[ And Zack suffers heavily because of this. Of course, when he is proven innocent after all, Julie acts as if she deserves to be forgiven?! Oh ho ho, you are lucky you aren't living in the real world, honey. Even if you were forgiven, you really don't deserve it, I wish you had the balls to keep reminding yourself that. But no, being wrongly dubbed as the sweetheart of the town makes you think you have privilege over bossing everyone else around, making others superior to you obey your every whim? I don't think so. And gosh, nobody in the book seems to think so either. Everyone goes "Damn you Zack, despite her wrongfully turning you in and making you suffer a blow in the kidney and ribs, being tortured and made a public humiliation and joke of society, how dare you make Julie suffer because she loves you and can't be with you (though she doesn't want to be in prison because it's too dirty for her precious toes)?!" I don't blame Julie for loving Zack, (though she has some twisted way of proving it), since Zack is so noble and all, but gosh, I blame Zack for being blind. Nobody cuts ZAck some slack for being wronged for 5 years and surviving the horrors of being incarcerated, and being horribly betrayed by the one person that supposedly mattered, but everyone goes gaga for some small town naive village girl?! Where is the justice in that? (hide spoiler)] 
 While I deem myself as a feminist and hate it when the guy mistreats the supposedly love-of-his-life, I can't stand it when the opposite holds true, feminism and all. (view spoiler)[ I don't see how treating a police officer's face in a manner slightly rougher than gently and dropping dead faint on the floor and becoming a nuisance to everyone can be called redemption of the guilty soul. Worse, Zack's friend Matt who is also the love of my life manages to faithfully believe in Zack when Julie can't, so it just shows how pathetic and lousy Julie's character is by comparison. (hide spoiler)] 
 I think McNaught didn't delve into the issue of guilt and mistrust as deeply as I would have liked, as if Julie's sins were part of the everyday of couples (God I hope not, or else I'd rather stay single forever). In the end, this book seemed like another goddamned chick-flick novel, catered to women as a mode of escapism where in that unrealistic world, men should and are expected to bend and contort their principles, dignity and self-worth for their very, very fortunate other half, no matter how embarrassing and whiny these females are.