ARC Review of Better Than Perfect

Better Than Perfect By Melissa Kantor 

Stars: 2 

Source: Edelweiss 

Release Date: February 17th 2015 

Juliet Newman's life is perfect, she gets perfect grades, she has the perfect family, a perfect boyfriend of four years and she's on track to start Harvard in the fall. But when the threads holding Juliet's perfect life together start to unravel she realizes that perfection isn't all it's cracked up to be. 

After her father leaves her mother Juliet comes home to find that her mother has overdosed on sleeping pills and is unconscious in the bathroom. After finding out it may not have been an accident Juliet is forced to move in with her boyfriends family while her mother stays at a mental institution. 

On top of worrying about her mom, keeping up with her grades and trying to get a better score on the SATS Juliet now has to worry about the stranger she had a one night stand with, the stranger who just showed up in her English AP class.

I was not a big fan of this book, so many things about it didn't add up and the character's were so undeveloped it drove me crazy. 

First off for somebody who finds their mother unconscious in the bathroom covered in blood she was very calm about the situation. There wasn't really any drama or climatic scene. She found her. They went to the hospital and she didn't talk about it afterwards. 

Secondly, I hate cheaters, whether it's a kiss on the cheek or if you're getting naked in the back of your car, a cheaters a cheater and I don't like you. I don't trust you and I won't be rooting for you no matter what else happens in the story. She never owned up to her mistakes or had to deal with any consequences of her cheating. 

And thirdly, I don't know if I'm the only one who noticed this or if maybe I'm the only one who got creeped out by it but there is a scene in the book where Juliet has just come back from visiting her mother and is thinking about whether or not she's going to turn out like her and her boyfriends mother (Grace) comes into the kitchen. One minute she's hugging Grace thanking her for being there and the next she's eyeing a meat cleaver wondering about how the kitchen would look if she smashed in Grace's brains and splattered them across the room... What. The. HELL? 

Juliet's mother is in a psych ward because of an overdose, she didn't try to bash someones head in with a cooking utensil! Yet here Juliet is, randomly wondering about killing her boyfriends mother. Yes. That makes perfect sense and flowed so well with the story... 

There were so many other things in this book that made me want to pull my hair out but I feel like if I don't stop now this is going to be ridiculously long. 

In short, no I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone and at this point I'm a little put off by the authors writing and I'm unsure if I'll be reading anything else by her. 

Until next time,

Ginger 

In compliance with FTC guidelines I am disclosing that this book was given to me for free to review. 

My review is my honest opinion.