Reviewed by Gloria Antypowich for Readers' Favorite

Ramona Wilkins Randal has lived a sheltered life. She comes from a conservative, upper class family where appearances mean everything. She has lived in the same community, even after she married a socially acceptable Graydon Randall III, and lived next door under the watchful eye of her parents. She has two children and she has dedicated her life to her husband and her family. Then she is blindsided by her husband’s deceit, his announcement that he wants a divorce and his pregnant mistress. What seems to be disaster opens the door to freedom. Ramona knows that she has to break free from the suffocating scrutiny of her parents and her husband’s influence. She needs to start over with a clean slate and build a new life for herself. In the face of everyone’s outrage she moves to New York with her two children, Pamela and Jake. The children adjust to their new setting, but Ramona doesn't do so well. The divorce has left her a wealthy woman. She doesn't need to work, so she builds her world around her two children and her dog Geoffrey, but grows lonely and depressed. She lives vicariously through the people she can see from her apartment, watching their activities with binoculars. Ramoma meets Kent Cunningham, a world famous fashion designer who envelopes her into his life and sets her on a path into a glamorous world totally foreign to her. He is struck by her understated beauty and she becomes his muse. He works with her like a sculptor molding a work of art, making her over to suit his needs and desires — the Pygmalion effect. Kent is possessive and protective, but showers her with devotion — something she has never known. Ramona is starved for affection and vulnerable. They quickly learn to love each other, but this is a love that can never be consummated, no matter how deep and sincere it is. Kent loves her, but he can never give her what she needs and although she doesn't realize it, he controls her too; much the way her parents and duplicitous husband always have.

I loved this book. It is a tale of a woman’s journey from life in a protective high society where her gullibility left her vulnerable, through betrayal and pain and into a new world. Love comes in different forms; betrayal comes in different ways; jealousy and vengeance wait for opportunity. She finds herself totally outside her comfort zone, but struggles to find her way and succeeds. “The Pygmalion Complex” is solid woman's fiction and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a great read.