Not a Perfect Science
A Novel
- Themes
- Marital deception, Female independence, Research fraud
Who it’s for
- For readers interested in marital deception and investigative journalism
- For readers drawn to women questioning the lives they have built
Where it sits
How strongly BookFrontier reads the book as belonging to each subject.
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For younger readers: The Romance Rivalry
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When the secretly miserable wife of a renowned marriage expert accidentally befriends the undercover journalist investigating him for fraud, all three must confront the consequences of their deceptions.
Dr. Darren Mitchell’s groundbreaking research can measure love on a brain scan, and he’s built an empire teaching couples how to make marriage last.
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Meanwhile, Nora Mitchell has played the devoted wife and mother, sacrificing her dream of becoming a journalist to support Darren’s skyrocketing career. She keeps her resentment buried deep—until a glamorous new neighbor moves next door.
A successful journalist and recent divorcée, Erika is everything Nora longs to be: bold, unapologetic, and fiercely independent. Their instant friendship awakens a dangerous desire in Nora to imagine herself outside her husband’s shadow. But unbeknownst to Nora, Erika didn’t arrive by accident. She’s investigating an anonymous tip alleging every scrap of Darren’s award-winning research is fake.
As Nora’s unwitting revelations lead Erika closer to the truth, and as Erika’s influence drives a deepening wedge in Nora’s marriage, both women must ask themselves: What are we willing to destroy to have the lives we were meant to live?
© 2026 by Hadley Leggett, all rights reserved.
Publisher details
Publisher categories
- Women's Fiction
- Family Life
- Marriage & Divorce
- Authors
- Hadley Leggett
- Publisher
- Amazon Publishing
- Published
- Forthcoming
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- Women's Fiction