Review - 'Perfect Mistake' by Sophia Karlson

Blurb

Simone Levin had a dream job as a safari pilot until an unexpected pregnancy clipped her wings. Tired of juggling motherhood with her demanding flight schedule, Simone applies for an office job, unaware that her new boss is Carlo Carlevaro, the man who’d ditched her before finding out he’d knocked her up. 

Carlo returns to East Africa only to kill another fire—Ivory trafficking from his lodges threatens to destroy his company. Finding Simone back on the payroll comes as a pleasant surprise. As his employee, Simone is off-limits, but she is the only one he trusts to help with his undercover investigation. 

With time running out, Simone and Carlo strive to expose the trafficking ring, but working together rekindles their mutual desire. When Simone is implicated as a trafficker, revealing her daughter’s existence to Carlo seems inevitable. Acting on her instincts might come too late as the syndicate retaliate and hone in their threat. Will they survive to give their love a chance?

Review

Simone Levin is a pilot for the East African branch of Carlevaro Air and usually transports tourists to various Carlevaro lodges and resorts in Tanzania. Though she deals with some sexual harassment, she enjoys her job for the most part but doesn’t like flying overnight trips due to her three-year-old daughter at home. Life is going pretty well for Simone until her manager has a heart attack and the big bosses from headquarters fly in and start changing things.

Carlo Carlevaro is the CEO of Carlevaro Air and flies to Tanzania to inspect the company’s lodges and deal with a poaching problem. He didn’t expect to find Simone on his payroll, the woman he’d love and lost four years earlier. Though he knows nothing about her life and responsibilities, he assigns her to be his personal pilot for the lodge inspections and doesn’t understand her animosity. She’s obviously keeping secrets, and he’s determined to uncover them no matter what.

Simone and Carlo are wonderfully complex characters. They’ve both been through some trying times, and their bad experiences have shaped them into strong, mature, career-minded people. As a single mother, Simone lives her life around her daughter, but work often gets in the way. Carlo never meant to abandon Simone, but family and business problems took precedence over his love life. I totally loved how they grew to trust one another again and finally opened up enough to communicate their feelings and misconceptions. The sex scenes were hot and explicit, but fueled by friendship and love.

This story has a great mixture of romance and intrigue. The author wrote about poaching in graphic detail but did so tastefully, and I found the honesty refreshing and realistic. The descriptions of the Serengeti and the animals were breathtaking. The harsh realities of third world city life and healthcare were also detailed.

Carlo’s family plays a big role in the story, and I’m anxious to learn more about Angelo and Julia, his brother and sister respectively, in future books. (I hope they’ll get their own HEAs!)

The story is told in third person, in duel H/h POV, but seemed to focus more on Simone than on Carlo. Most of the loose ends are tied up. I really enjoyed the book and the author’s writing style, and I would love to read more of her work!

5 Stars

Disclaimer – I volunteered to read and review this book. Thank you, Sophia Karlson, for sending me an ebook copy. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape, or form for this review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.