Amanda McCormick has been given the chance of a lifetime.  Heading west as a mail order bride, she arrives at her destination but her fiancé is nowhere to be found.  When a kindly man asks if she needs aid, Amanda explains that Travis Baxter, her soon-to-be husband, is on his way and should be there soon.  The man leaves Amanda alone and so she waits.  When Travis arrives, he looks like sin personified and Amanda finds herself instantly attracted to him.  They spend a night of passion and upon waking, Amanda is alone.  It seems that “Travis” was not really her fiancé but a gambler and womanizer by the name of Spencer Teague.  The real Travis finds Amanda almost despondent for what she has done but Amanda marries Travis anyway and proceeds to build a life with him. 

Spencer, meanwhile, can’t get the innocent he debauched out of his mind. When he is put in jail for a crime he caused and committed, Spencer has a lot of time to think. And dream.  His dreams haunt him because a little girl constantly is beseeching him to seek out and help Amanda. Upon his release, Spencer does just that.  He goes back to the scene of his crime with Amanda and what he finds out changes his life and his priorities very quickly. 

Bonnie Dee hooked me in with Perfecting Amanda. I hated Spencer Teague with a passion and found myself glaring at every scene I read with him in it. But the further I read, the more enamored I became of him.  Especially his scenes with the baby and the talks he had with her.  Amanda was strong and very loyal to her husband despite the fact that Spencer and she had met months ago.  Travis could sense her dismay and while he loved Amanda, he knew that Spencer would be the man to be with her forever.  I cried at the emotions of all three characters and thought Perfecting Amanda was just a good story.