Book review: Flawed perfection

Disclaimer: I was sent a PDF copy of this book, pre-release by the author, in exchange for a honest review. 

Author Blurb

Flawed PerfectionAuthor: Cassandra GiovanniPublished: 7 March 2014

Bobby Beckerson was the American All-Star hockey player--he was the spitting image of perfection to his family. Goofy, sweet and undeniably gorgeous, he had everything but the one girl he wanted: River Ahlers.

River Ahlers is successful in everything but love. She's been in love with Adam Beckerson since they were kids. Worst of all she's stuck right in the middle of the brothers dueling over everything and anything, and she doesn't even know she's the ultimate prize.

Adam Beckerson was a boy with a guitar, a smile that sunk girls' hearts and a stone wall around his own. He was anything but perfect, and no matter how hard he tried he was nothing compared to Bobby. Sweet, damaged, with boyish good-looks, nobody thought Adam loved anyone but himself.

Bobby loved River, River loved Adam and Adam only loved himself--or so everyone thought. Then one night everything changes, and as it threatens to destroy everyone involved a tragedy strikes that will break them all...

The first novel in the Beautifully Broken series, this was a quick and easy read, perfect for the dimmed lighting of in-bed reading or, if the weather permits, a reading session outside in the sun. Probably best described as a chick lit, this book is not just a fluffy romance. Touching on other subjects such a sibling rivalry and favoritism from parents as well as the heartache of unrequited love this novel is somewhat untypical within its genre.

The characters, especially River, initiated both positive and negative responses from me at different points throughout. Although I did sympathise and relate to her in some ways, in others the way she dealt with a situation made me think that maybe she wasn't quite the smart young women that she was portrayed to be and instead there were elements of her sixteen year old self, who we catch a brief glimpse of in the opening pages, that were more dominant. I must admit I never warmed to River and her somewhat childish ways. She always seemed to jump to the easiest way out, inevitably causing her to cry in the morning. I also found the contradictions between her devotional feelings and the way she described Adam to those around her to be confusing. One minute she was describing him as the love of her life and the next as a player who didn't cope well with monogamy, if this was a clever way of portraying her mixed feelings towards him, I never saw it.

There was a range of different personalities, cleverly woven throughout the novel - a caring and supportive boss, the slightly bossy best friend, the all round atrocious Beckerson parents ... a spring board for the stereotypical, horrible in-laws maybe? And the completely submissive parents of River. Although I did enjoy seeing how these different personalities interacted and developed as the story continued I was somewhat confused by the assigning of personalities, and sadly this made the majority of them unrelatable to me.

Overall, I enjoyed the concept of this book and how different it was from the majority of the other Chick-lit available and I am definitely glad that I read it. However, the apparent lack of character development and the confusion that the different personalities caused me means that I will not be re-reading it soon.

Rating: 2/5