At 32, flight attendant Jiselle was beginning to think that she’d never be a wife — until the amazingly attractive airline captain Mark Dorn proposed. But it’s not just Mark she’ll be getting in marriage, she’ll also be acquiring three older children. Her dreams of motherhood and marriage are made more complicated by the bizarre flu that’s been circulating. All in all, Jiselle had no way of knowing how much life really was going to change.

In a Perfect World is tightly written. I hurt for Jiselle and the situation she chooses; step-motherhood is no picnic, and she has to work her way through some tough relationships. I liked the relationship parts of this book a lot; it’s fascinating to see how these people work together (or not) when the situation in America and beyond becomes something that everyone has to deal with. Since I appreciate books that have an apocalyptic flavor, the flu and the chaos it brings were incredibly interesting to me.

In all, I liked that this book has two different but interconnected angles — Jiselle and her experience trying to put together a new family versus a world where one flu can affect even the smallest details of our lives. And while it’s not necessarily a happy story, it does feel like a real story — an authentic “worst-case scenario” that grips you until the end.

Rated: High for language (15-plus “f” words) and a couple of sexually graphic scenes.